00:00Salim Owais is from UNICEF and joins us now from Gaza.
00:04Salim, welcome. The Board of Peace meeting taking place now.
00:08We're hearing about future funding and future coordination.
00:13Here and now, what's the situation on the ground?
00:17Well, honestly, this is my first time after the ceasefire
00:22and I'm seeing little change for families.
00:27While we can see that more commodities are in the market
00:32and a little bit of more aid is going in,
00:35our ability to deliver the last mile to the people themselves is increasing.
00:39But still, that's not what is needed.
00:42It's just part of it. It's just a portion of it.
00:45Children and families are still struggling with daily tasks and daily needs.
00:52We're talking about water. We're talking about food, shelter.
00:55All that is still not adequate for the children and families in the gas strip.
01:01So, whatever is happening on the bigger scale, or at least on the political scale,
01:05it's not reflecting on the ground as fast as it should be.
01:09Okay, well, why is that?
01:11Why isn't that support reaching children fast enough?
01:16Well, the ceasefire has brought some hope, but it's not enough.
01:21We're talking about the volume of aid coming in.
01:25We're talking about the kind of aid coming in.
01:28Also, the commercial goods market might be more stocked now than ever,
01:35but it's still far away from the reach of so many families because it's highly priced.
01:41And to just balance that, we need more aid in for those families that are completely reliant on aid.
01:48But also, we need commercial goods to come in to kind of stabilize the market and make it more affordable.
01:53So, that's on the aid and the commodities.
01:57But also, we're talking about two years, almost two and a half years right now,
02:01of continued bombardment and continued violence.
02:05And just the few months of fragile ceasefire is not yet enough to deal with all the needs and all
02:14the challenges,
02:14including, as I said, shelter, safety, and overall well-being of children and family.
02:20Can you give us a sense of what the reaction in Gaza is to this meeting in Washington
02:26and the wider role of the Board of Peace?
02:31Well, I think Gazans now are really busy with their day-to-day needs.
02:36They're still fetching water.
02:38They're still thinking how to put food on the table.
02:41And now it's the holy month of Ramadan,
02:44where it's supposed to be a peaceful and connecting time with family and friends.
02:52Unfortunately, that's not the case for them.
02:54It's a challenging time to make sure that they have everything that they need.
02:58So, I think we're still far away from this connection.
03:03People are still struggling, and that's what takes most of their thinking.
03:08Salim, good to talk to you.
03:09And thank you for coming on the programme.
03:11Salim Oas from UNICEF, joining us from Gaza.
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