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00:00Next, let's show you the latest images we have today from the Gaza Strip, where more
00:05Palestinians are fleeing Rafa as Israeli forces pound the city. Over one million people had
00:13been sheltering in Rafa, but now some 600,000 of them are thought to have moved again. Now,
00:20some have arrived in the Masawi camp. That's where Israel is encouraging Palestinians to
00:25head to, despite a lack of food, medicine and shelter. Palestinians there, and indeed
00:31across Gaza, say nowhere in the enclave is safe.
01:25I'm very pleased now to welcome to the programme Louise Waterridge. She's a spokesperson for
01:29the UN agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA. She herself was in Gaza for three weeks. She
01:35left just two days ago. Thank you very much indeed for speaking to us on France 24. First
01:41of all, let's talk about Rafa, that city in the south of Gaza that Israel has said for
01:48a long time it plans to attack. We understand that incursion has now got underway. You were
01:53in Rafa. Tell us, first of all, what you witnessed there.
01:57I mean, the transformation of Rafa over the last three weeks has been unbelievable. When
02:03I arrived in Rafa, the makeshift shelters were almost tent to tent. There was not a
02:08lot of space between these shelters. People were crammed in. This is a city that used
02:13to have around 250,000 people, and there were around 1.4 million people sheltering there.
02:21In the space of about six days, Rafa emptied. It was devastating to see how these people fled
02:29in absolute fear and terror, especially as the bombardment picked up through the night.
02:37There was certainly one night that the bombardment increased so much. The drones
02:43above, you had Navy shelling from the sea, and then also incursions coming nearer from the east
02:50of Rafa. That night was really a deciding point for a lot of people. The whole next day,
02:55anyone and everyone who could move was moving. As I left Rafa, these areas that were filled
03:03with families just days before, the only thing left was rubbish lying around and packs of dogs
03:10going through this rubbish, trying to find any scraps of food to eat. In the space of seven days,
03:17this area just completely transformed and was left very, very eerie.
03:22Such a bleak picture you paint there of what you witnessed in Rafa. As I mentioned, Israel has been
03:30calling on Palestinians there to go to this place called Masawi. It's not a city. It's a pretty
03:37small strip of land. Israel says that's the safest place for them to go now. What do you make of that?
03:46There's nowhere safe. There's absolutely nowhere safe. My colleague, Jamal, just a few days ago,
03:53he was one of many people and many families who had to flee Rafa for this so-called safety,
04:01and he was killed. He was killed in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Bala. This is the reality that
04:07people in Gaza are facing. They are being forced to leave multiple times. They are being told there
04:14is safety somewhere else. There is not. There is no safety. People are dying. People are being
04:21killed. People are starving. People are in absolute fear and terror. It has not stopped. Seven months,
04:28everyone you speak to is exhausted. They are wearing this exhaustion on their face.
04:34They are so tired of this life that they are living. It's not a life. It is a survival,
04:42and it is not acceptable that people are experiencing this and surviving through this
04:48suffering. As you say, it is a question then for those Palestinians trapped of trying to
04:54survive now amid the bombardments, but also, as you say, because food in Gaza is so limited now.
05:01Tell us a bit about what UNRWA is able to do in terms of getting food, water and medicine to
05:10people because we've been reporting that the border with Rafa has been shut. Obviously,
05:17there have been significant restrictions by Israel on your own agency, on UNRWA.
05:22UNRWA continues to do everything possible. We're working very closely with partners like WFP,
05:28the World Food Programme, to do anything and everything we can to safely distribute food
05:34to people. This is in the north of the Gaza Strip and the south. As you say, the world is
05:40very aware with the crossings in the south of the Gaza Strip not functioning, this makes it
05:46incredibly difficult. This also comes on the back of seven months, seven whole months of unsustained
05:53aid delivery. It's not the case that the crossing is closed now for a week and that's an issue.
05:59It's never been enough aid. There has never been enough food. Yes, now when you have the crossing
06:06closed one day, two days, two weeks, it is a huge problem. Of course, it's a huge problem. People
06:12have not eaten, they've not had enough sustained food for the duration of this war. Right now,
06:19not only are people fleeing for their lives again in terms of forced displacement, they are also
06:24very aware that this border crossing is closed, food is limited, and that creates even more panic,
06:30more fear for people. If we are to get any limited aid in, it's not enough. It's nowhere near enough.
06:37The humanitarian agencies are doing everything they can, but there's very limited fuel as well.
06:43They're working on an hour by hour basis. How is it possible to sustain critical food and life-saving
06:50water and supplies and medicine to an entire two million population when you can't even plan the
06:56next day of your operations? It's just unbelievable. I'm interested in perhaps what
07:04struck you personally most about this trip. You were in Gaza for three weeks. That is really
07:11quite a long time given the immense dangers of being in Gaza, the immense humanitarian crisis
07:19as well. You travelled to different parts of the Gaza Strip. Tell us perhaps just personally, what
07:25stayed with you? The people. I've worked in the Gaza Strip for four years now. I know some friends
07:33and colleagues very well. The people always stay with me at the Gaza Strip. People in Gaza are so
07:39warm and welcoming and kind. I was very surprised that given everything that these people have been
07:46through over the last seven months, they still carried this warmth, but it's just with a real
07:52tone of sadness, because how are they still living in this life? How are they still surviving in
07:59these conditions? Despite this survival and persevering, they still have this warmth
08:04and kindness. I don't think anyone would ever experience anything like it. These people have
08:10been through so much, not just the last seven months, but in their lives. Before this war,
08:16they were living under blockade. It's never been easy, but certainly the last few weeks,
08:22there was a huge shift in when I arrived in Rafah to when I left, because this displacement is
08:29really for a lot of people, it's the last straw. They don't know what else to do. They don't know
08:35where else to go. It's not even the fear and the terror, it's the future uncertainty. How do you
08:43just stay alive day by day for your children? A lot of the colleagues were telling me, I have a
08:48one-year-old daughter, I have a five-year-old son. I just am staying alive for them. I want them to
08:54at some point have a future. That is so bleak. It's such a bleak reality that these people are
09:01living in. Absolutely. In terms of the UNRWA's role now, you mentioned that you are still
09:09operating with partners inside of the Gaza Strip. To get that aid into the enclave though,
09:15where's the block? Because Israel is blaming Egypt, Egypt is blaming Israel. From your end,
09:20from the perspective of a humanitarian, where does the pressure now need to be put to bring in that
09:26food, to bring in that medicine? There has never been sustained access and sustained humanitarian
09:34supplies entering the Gaza Strip, not in the north, not in the south, not ever, for seven
09:40months. The pressure needs to be on these border crossings opening on a regular basis with a
09:48sustainable amount of aid coming in. Before the war, there were around 500 trucks a day.
09:55This was humanitarian and commercial supplies. We have not seen anything close to that,
10:01nothing close to that. Now we are in the complete middle of a war. It is not acceptable that there
10:08is not enough aid coming in. There are so many different efforts. I can see on the screen now
10:16dropping from the air, this aid. That is the absolute last resort. You have UNRWA on the
10:21ground. You have World Food Programme. They are working together. The United Nations are there.
10:26There is a huge humanitarian presence of staff ready to provide aid where it is needed, but we
10:32do not have the access. How can people do their jobs if they don't have the access and they don't
10:37have the aid coming in? It is that simple. Open the crossings. Let the aid in. Let the humanitarians
10:44do their jobs. This will not continue. People will not starve. The United States says that
10:52they have now completed the pier that they want to build just off the Gaza Strip and the waters
10:58off Gaza to bring food and supplies in that way. What do you make of that? The easiest way to bring
11:07in any aid to the Gaza Strip is through the land crossings, through trucks, through the people on
11:12the ground and through the systems and mechanisms that we have in place. It is that simple. That is
11:18the way that aid needs to be delivered to people. It goes straight from the crossings to the people
11:24in the shelters to the people to be distributed. It is the simplest, it is the easiest way and that
11:30is where the pressure needs to be. Louise Waterridge talking to us from UNRWA. It has
11:36been really interesting to get your perspective. Thank you very much indeed for talking to us today.
11:40Thank you.