'How Are We Still In This Situation?' State Department Spox Grilled On Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza

3 months ago

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza eight months into the conflict.

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00:00Matt, so on that, what mechanism does the U.S. think could be put in place to improve

00:07the lawlessness – to improve the law and order in Gaza to allow a distribution?

00:11Is there anything specific that you're talking about?

00:14So let me answer it two ways.

00:16One is in the short term.

00:17As I said, we are working through this with the UN and the IDF and COGAT and others inside

00:25the Israeli Government.

00:26Some of this is the measures I just talked about, and there are other things that I don't

00:29want to get into from here because they're the subject of conversations with those two

00:31parties that I don't think should be made public.

00:34And then, of course, long term, we want to see a ceasefire and the reestablishment of

00:39Palestinian-led governance, and ultimately we have ideas for providing security inside

00:44Gaza and providing governance and reconstruction, all of these things that would go to a restoration

00:48of law and order.

00:49But that is the long term.

00:50It in no way accounts for the here and now, which is what we're working on, as I said,

00:54with the UN and the Government of Israel.

00:57And who's responsible, in your eyes, for putting that kind of mechanism in place, especially

01:01when it comes to security?

01:03So right now, it's something that needs to be resolved between the UN and the IDF.

01:06Obviously, the IDF is the dominant security actor inside southern Gaza right now.

01:10There are IDF brigades that are operating inside southern Gaza.

01:15The UN is the humanitarian implementer who is carrying out the delivery of humanitarian

01:19assistance, so they need to be able to work together to resolve this security situation.

01:23And is this the best option right now for U.S.

01:27Government to improve distribution and to get in more aid into Gaza?

01:33The best option is to get a ceasefire.

01:35That is the – no, I'm not – that is the best option.

01:37The best option is to get a ceasefire and – and end the hostilities.

01:40That has been very lucrative, so we're talking about in the meantime.

01:43I'm wondering if there are any other avenues that you are pursuing, or is this the main

01:47one?

01:48This is the main one.

01:49This is also a substitute for the land route aid coming in through Kerem Shalom.

01:54Obviously, we've been able to supplement aid coming in through the ground at times.

01:57We've been able to supplement it through the pier, and we've been able to supplement

02:01it at times through airdrops, but those are supplements.

02:04The main delivery route needs to continue to be through gates into Gaza.

02:08Right.

02:09And final thing is – and I've asked whether this is the main thing and this is your best

02:13option, because you must have seen IPC's update.

02:16It now talks about nearly half a million people are living – are facing the most

02:22severe form of starvation, and they say clearly that after some slight improvement things

02:29have – there is renewed deterioration after Israel has started its Rafah offensive.

02:35So how is the U.S. going to remedy this situation?

02:39And how – it's like, help us wrap our heads around the fact that how are we still

02:45in this situation eight months into this war?

02:48So I think we are in this situation because of the difficulty that this conflict poses

02:53to delivering humanitarian assistance, and it is not just a question, as we've seen

02:58over the past month or so, of getting humanitarian assistance delivered to the gates.

03:03There was a long time where we were just trying to get the numbers of trucks coming in to

03:07Kerem Shalom every day up.

03:09We were able to get the number of trucks coming in to Kerem Shalom up, and now we're dealing

03:12with a different problem on the other side, which is the breakdown of law and order and

03:17the inability in some cases, or at least the extreme difficulty, of delivering humanitarian

03:22assistance inside Gaza.

03:23That was actually a problem several months ago.

03:25We were able to work to resolve it.

03:26It has become a problem again.

03:28So these are always problems that pop up that we are trying to resolve, which is why I say

03:35– and this is something the IPC said in their report today – which is the only real

03:39way to resolve – to fully resolve these challenges is to get a ceasefire.

03:44You can work to deal with problems as they pop up, but I think our experience shows us

03:50over the past eight months that to fully get the amount of humanitarian assistance into

03:56Gaza and then delivered to the people in Gaza who need it, we need to see a ceasefire.

04:01Another thing I want to say about the IPC report, though – obviously, it confirmed

04:03what we all know and what we've been dealing with for some time – is that the humanitarian

04:07situation on the ground is extremely dire.

04:09That's why we have been so incredibly focused on alleviating that situation.

04:13It did note some improvements, however, especially in the north, and I think it is important

04:17to note that in their last report in March, the IPC predicted that famine was imminent

04:22in the north and that we would reach famine, I think it said, by May.

04:26The United States Government intervened and did a lot of work to get Erezgate open, Zikum

04:31open, to get Ashdod Port open, to get humanitarian assistance delivered into the north, and that

04:37has happened.

04:38Now, the IPC assessed today that that prediction ultimately did not bear true, and I think

04:45you have to assess it's because of those efforts to get humanitarian assistance, which

04:48is in no way to declare that the job is finished.

04:52Of course, the job – the work remains ongoing.

04:55The situation is still incredibly dire.

04:57We need to continue to get more humanitarian assistance into the north and, of course,

05:01address the stagnation and in some cases the reversal in situation in the south, and that's

05:05what we're trying to do.

05:06I have one final thing.

05:07Sorry.

05:08Did you get any specific assurance from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Golan towards this end

05:13yesterday?

05:14So I don't want to speak to the specifics of it, but I can tell you that we went through

05:17a number of specific things that we want to see resolved when it comes to the humanitarian

05:23situation and gotten assurance to continue to work on those, and we'll follow through

05:27with the Government of Israel in the coming days.

'How Are We Still In This Situation?' State Department Spox Grilled On Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza

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