More than a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected Israel invasion that seeks to eliminate Hamas’ leadership after its deadly incursion.
Aid groups warn an Israeli ground offensive could hasten a humanitarian crisis.
Aid groups warn an Israeli ground offensive could hasten a humanitarian crisis.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 One million Palestinians have been displaced since the 7th of October.
00:05 UNRWA sadly has lost 14 staff members who work with the agency in the Gaza Strip since the 7th
00:16 of October. Many of our own staff themselves, they have been displaced. Many have taken refuge
00:24 with friends and relatives, but many, many more are taking refuge in UNRWA facilities,
00:30 including in facilities that were not meant to become shelters. The siege on the Gaza Strip
00:38 continues. UNRWA has not been able to bring in any supplies since the 7th of October,
00:46 and our own supplies are running out, and they're running out fast. Our colleagues who continue to
00:53 be in Gaza, who continue to stay and deliver for people in Gaza, including those impacted by
01:00 this war, are reporting that they are down themselves to one liter of water a day in our
01:11 offices in the south, where we have relocated our center of operations. They tell us that they
01:18 cannot even reassure their children to tell them that it's going to be okay, because maybe it's not
01:26 going to be okay. We feel that the levels of desperation and frustration and exhaustion
01:33 among our staff specifically increases by the hour. The longer this goes on, the longer
01:41 the fatigue, the exhaustion, the frustration. What we are calling for at UNRWA is for the siege
01:48 to be lifted, the siege on the Gaza Strip to be lifted, so that organizations like UNRWA,
01:55 but also other sister UN agencies and other humanitarian agencies are able to bring in
02:01 much-needed supplies into the Gaza Strip to provide assistance to those in need.
02:10 The shelters are overcrowded. The shelters do not have enough sanitation services. We are getting
02:19 reports that hundreds of people are sharing one toilet, for example. So, related to the previous
02:26 question, we do have serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases in the Gaza Strip,
02:33 especially among those displaced. Many of those displaced are actually UNRWA colleagues,
02:40 and they tell us that they are shell-shocked. They are shell-shocked simply to lose their home,
02:46 to become homeless, and to come and take refuge in what is a UN facility, whether it's a school
02:52 or a logistics center or a medical facility. Of the 14 colleagues who were killed,
03:02 the vast majority of them were teachers. It was a mix of men and women. We had one woman who was a
03:11 gynecologist. We had one engineer. We had support staff. This is what we have been able to confirm
03:20 thus far. However, it is likely that the numbers of fallen UN colleagues is higher. Some were
03:31 killed in their own homes with their families.