Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/humanitarian-concerns-mount-in-gaza-as-u-n-calls-for-cease-fire Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript As fighting continued in Gaza Friday, U.N. officials said they would resume their aid shipments to Palestinians after receiving assurances from the Israel that aid workers would be better protected. U.N. and Israeli officials give their views on the situation. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: And finally tonight, daily life and survival amid the Gaza conflict. Margaret Warner has our report. MARGARET WARNER: The humanitarian toll in Gaza and Israel is growing more dire, with the war now approaching its third week and both sides rebuffing a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire.Of the nearly 800 Palestinians reported killed, about half were civilians. And among the 3,000 injured, many are children.On the Israeli side, at least 10 soldiers have died in the fighting, as well as three civilians.And as the ground war continues, relief agencies say it's getting harder to provide basic food and services in Gaza.I spoke with the United Nations' top humanitarian official, Undersecretary General John Holmes, this afternoon.JOHN HOLMES, United Nations undersecretary-general: … people are subjected to continuous bombardment and shelling and planes and drones overhead. They're very difficult in other respects, as well. People are increasingly cold and hungry, without services, with very difficult access to hospitals and medical services. So the situation is really bad, and I'm afraid it's getting worse all the time. MARGARET WARNER: But the Israelis, who launched the offensive after weeks of Hamas rocket fire into their territory, say they are determined to protect their own population living near the Gaza border. Sallai Meridor is the Israeli ambassador to the United States.SALLAI MERIDOR, Israeli ambassador to the United States: We are making every effort and we continue to make every effort to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza.It is a very difficult situation. Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, is acting from civilian population. They're purposely choosing civilian neighborhoods in order to fire from and fight from. And we have to, on the one hand, make every effort to hit their terrorist capacities, because otherwise our citizens will be under fire and they are under fire, at the same time to minimize the damage to civilians on the Palestinian society.So just to share with you, I've never seen such an effort in any war of this kind. Israeli pilots, when they're targeting targets of Hamas within civilian population, are making sure that these are only Hamas targets and that they are using only the munition that is minimal in order to hit terrorists.