CGTN Europe speaks to UNICEF Communication Specialist Kazem Abu Khalaf following the latest Israeli attacks on the last remaining hospital in Northern Gaza.
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00:00Let's get more on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Kazem Abu Khalaf is Communication Specialist at UNICEF, which of course is the UN Children's Fund.
00:09Thanks very much for joining us. What reports are you getting from your teams in Gaza about the situation on the ground?
00:17Thanks for having me. It's really dire. I mean, I keep talking to my colleagues on the ground and they keep telling me stories, very sad stories, to be honest.
00:25I mean, in terms of children paying the highest price of this conflict, as in anywhere else in the world where there is a conflict.
00:34Let me give you an example, for instance, of 2,500 children that need medical evacuation out of Gaza seeking treatment.
00:41Now, the average is 22 children being evacuated for medical treatment per month. That is less than one child per month.
00:49If you do the math, you're talking about no less than maybe seven, nine years to evacuate 2,500 children.
00:55Assuming that this would stop, I mean, the number would stop at 2,500, of course.
01:00The situation is really bad. The health system is on its knees and we all have seen the reports on Kamal Adwan and also the reports of newborns passing away because of the cold and the hypothermia.
01:11What detail do you have about what's going on in northern Gaza now that we're hearing that Kamal Adwan is effectively the last hospital standing and it's not functioning anymore?
01:25Look, Sally, I mean, in all of the Gaza Strip, we're talking about 36 hospitals, not even one single hospital of them works like it is fully functional.
01:35So only 16, maybe 17 are partially functional according to the numbers of the WHO.
01:41And Kamal Adwan was one of the three or three hospitals partially functional in the government of north Gaza.
01:47Now that it is out of the picture, out of the circle, we're talking about only two hospitals.
01:52And the news have it that, you know, 15 critical cases plus probably 50 caregivers and 20 staff have been forced to move to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which already lacks medical supplies and enough staff.
02:08So, of course, 15 critical cases, moving them forcefully means that you are jeopardizing their lives, needless to say, right?
02:14So this is just a part of the challenges that are taking place in Gaza, but especially in the north.
02:21We've seen these humanitarian pauses to administer polio vaccines to children.
02:28Are there any plans to try and create some sort of temporary pause in the fighting to help children in the most distressed areas?
02:39Look, that is the core part of our messages.
02:42Whenever we meet with any of the parties to the conflict, we continue to urge them to, at the very least, if not stopping the war once and for all, at the very least, just, you know, go for a ceasefire for some sort of a truce.
02:56If not, then at the very least, give some safe zones, safe passages so we can we can reach as humanitarian organization all areas in the Gaza Strip.
03:06But unfortunately, this is not being so fruitful for now.
03:10We continue to hope, just like many others, that the talks will become fruitful and then hence a ceasefire is achieved.