People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on Tuesday, after receiving humanitarian aid from an aid distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images
Helen, a medical student at Al-Shifa Hospital, says the situation is so dire in Gaza City that she is praying “right now to die.”
“We’ve been through difficult times during the war, but not like this one,” she told NPR in a voice memo. Helen asked that we not use her full name because she fears retribution for speaking out.
“We [are] literally starving. We haven’t eaten for days … I’m so tired. I don’t know what to do.”
Middle East conflict
Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza
Since May 26, a private group supported by the U.S. and Israel called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has managed food distribution in Gaza. But since the new system began, the U.N. says more than 800 people have been killed trying to get food and thousands more injured.
According to the Associated Press, Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and blames the U.N. for failing to deliver food Israel says it has allowed to enter Gaza. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites.
This week, the U.N. World Food Programme said that nearly a third of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are not eating for multiple days in a row. And on Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies and human rights groups wrote a letter of warning that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza. The letter calls for a ceasefire and that aid flows through an U.N.-led mechanism.
“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,” according to a statement from the aid groups.
These groups say they are watching their own colleagues waste away.
“We really are at a precipice here where we are tipping into a point of no return,” said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps, one of the aid groups. “And by that, I mean things have gotten so far afield towards famine and really significant food insecurity that we may not even be able to turn this situation around if there were more aid going into Gaza because it’s causing so much damage.”
Middle East
Mercy Corps official warns of ‘mass starvation’ in Gaza
Phillips-Barrasso told NPR that a simple sack of flour costs $480. Her staff is spending a lot of their time, every day trying to find their next meal for themselves and their families. They are seeing people faint in the streets due to dehydration and lack of access to food.
“They’re also hearing stories from people in the communities they live in and from our program participants, you know, that their children are saying things like, you know, I just want to die because at least in heaven, there might be food.”
Meanwhile, at the waiting room of Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza City, mothers hold frail children. This is the only hospital in North Gaza treating severe malnutrition.
Najah Abu Shihada told NPR producer Anas Baba that her 1-year-old was admitted to the hospital for malnutrition six days ago.
His weight? Seven pounds.
“There is no milk, no food, no diapers. I sleep hungry and wake up hungry,” she told Baba.
Interview highlights
Inside a Gaza hospital: A British surgeon on what he’s witnessing firsthand
Dr. Saeed Salah, the clinical director of the hospital, told Baba that with so little food, the number of patients with malnutrition is soaring.
“That’s why all the people, even who admitted and we discharged the patient, after five days, back again of malnutrition,” Salah said. “So starvation will be increasing day by day. Today, the prognosis is bad than yesterday, and tomorrow will be more bad than today.”
Israel’s military has argued that there is no famine in Gaza.
“The only starvation is the starvation campaign that Hamas is conducting,” Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the U.N., told NPR.
“There are issues, and we know that there is suffering in Gaza today, but no one can blame Israel for that,” Danon told All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro on Wednesday.
This interview is edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Ari Shapiro: I just want to make sure I understand your position. Are you arguing that trucks with enough food to feed Gaza are entering the enclave but not reaching the civilians there, contrary to the reporting we’ve heard from other sources?
Danny Danon: So, when you look at the amount of food — and not only food … the formula for babies, medical supply.
When you look at the load that’s coming in Gaza, it’s more than sufficient. You know, as we speak, you have trucks that actually passed the checkpoint, waiting in Gaza to be distributed, but the U.N. is not capable of distributing it. [inaudible].
Displaced Palestinians receive donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City on Tuesday. Jehad Alshrafi/AP hide caption
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Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Shapiro: Well, the U.N. put out a statement saying, currently, the Israeli authorities are the sole decision makers on who, how and how much enters the Strip and the type of supplies allowed in. They said the amount of aid that has been entering Gaza is a trickle compared to the immense needs. So, the U.N. contradicts what you’re saying.
Danon: Yeah, it’s very easy to blame Israel for everything.
But as we speak — and I checked it before this interview — you have 626 trucks that actually passed the checkpoint, are in Gaza [Wednesday] and are not being distributed by the U.N.
They have their own logistics problems. You have drivers who are not willing to work or are afraid to go to certain areas. You know, we know it’s sophisticated, it’s complicated, but the blame is not on Israel. The blame is on Hamas.
And let me add one more point with your permission. There is a ceasefire offer on the table. We said yes, for that ceasefire, which would [inaudible] days for people in Gaza to go back and acquire things and will allow us to receive part (ph) of the hostages.
Shapiro: You…
Danon: We accepted the ceasefire offer. Hamas rejected it.
So the blame is on Hamas.
Shapiro: You’re breaking up a little bit, but I want to clarify. You are saying that Hamas is able to prevent food from reaching the civilian population. Israel has spent almost two years heavily bombarding the Gaza Strip. If that was not enough to loosen the grip of Hamas, does that mean Israel’s strategy in this war has been a failure?
Danon: No, absolutely not.
When you look, we accomplished a lot. You know, we received and we were able to bring back home most of the hostages. But I agree with you, we haven’t finished the job. We still have 50 hostages in the tunnels in Gaza. You still have areas that Hamas still has control. So yes, we have to finish the job, and this role will end when all the hostages will be back home. We cannot call it a day and move on.
Palestinians hold onto an aid truck returning to Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Jehad Alshrafi/AP hide caption
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Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Shapiro: The last time you and I spoke, you were unable to say what the post-war plan for Gaza was. That was in January. Seven months later, does Israel have any more of a plan than it did the last time you and I talked?
Danon: Absolutely. And I think there are many plans, many players …
Shapiro: Who will run Gaza? What is that plan? Why has that plan not been released?
Danon: So, there are many players who are willing to speak about the reconstruction of Gaza. But two things will not happen. You will not have Israelis in the tunnels in Gaza and you will not have Hamas in power.
Shapiro: With respect, when I asked seven months ago, you couldn’t say. Can you say now?
Danon: Absolutely. So I’m telling you, those two preconditions will be met. And then [inaudible] international community.
Shapiro: I’m afraid your line is breaking up a little bit. We’re not able to hear every word you’re saying.
Middle East conflict
Agence France-Presse says it wants to pull its hunger-stricken journalists out of Gaza
I do want to ask you one question in our last minute, which is, the account you have offered differs from so many accounts we’ve had of people living in Gaza, including our own reporters.
Why doesn’t Israel allow war correspondents who understand the risk to enter Gaza and document what they are seeing?
Danon: Well, first, you know, every day you receive video tapes and you hear testimonies from all over the world, including Gaza. You have Wi-Fi in Gaza and you can see everything that’s happening there. We don’t want to allow reporters. It’s a war zone. God forbid someone will be killed over there, I can assure you that the blame will be on us.
NPR’s Anas Baba, Kat Lonsdorf, Daniel Estrin and Emily Feng contributed to this reporting.
