Refugees International head discusses difficulties getting humanitarian aid into Gaza

Geoff Bennett:

For more on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, we turn to Jeremy Konyndyk. He's the president of Refugees International. That's a global humanitarian organization. He previously served in the Biden administration as executive director of USAID's COVID-19 Task Force.

Thanks for coming in.

Jeremy Konyndyk, President, Refugees International:

My pleasure.

Geoff Bennett:

This incident in Gaza City, as we saw in Nick's report, Israeli forces firing on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid, at least 100 people were killed. It's not clear how many people were killed from gunfire or in the ensuing panic.

What more can you tell us about what transpired and really what contributed to it?

Jeremy Konyndyk:

Well, one thing that I think is really notable here is that the traditional humanitarian organization seemed not to have been involved at all.

So this was — did not involve the U.N. Relief and Works Agency or other U.N. bodies that are normally involved in coordinating major distributions. This seems to have been organized more by the Israeli government. It was secured, as Nick reported, by Israeli tanks. That's not typical of a humanitarian distribution.

And it suggests this is Israel trying to find some other ways to show that they're doing something without actually working with the humanitarian capacity that exists in the territory.

Geoff Bennett:

The U.N. says a quarter of Gaza's population is one step away from famine, infants dying from starvation.

Jeremy Konyndyk:

Yes.

Geoff Bennett:

Your team was just on the ground there. What did they encounter and what did they witness about really the unspeakable devastation there?

Jeremy Konyndyk:

They heard just shocking stories of the damage from the war. They talked to one man who is a pediatric surgeon in the European Hospital in Khan Yunis who told the story of his brother and his nephew.

So, his brother had a child, a 5-year-old child, with cerebral palsy who he didn't want to evacuate their home because the child didn't do well outside the house. Their house was raided by the IDF. Both of the parents were killed, and the child's older brother then had to drag him overnight to the hospital. The 5-year-old had caught shrapnel in the face.

He ended up losing his eye. It is just all of these stories of incredible deprivation, incredible harm to civilians and really, as we saw with the report today, to all appearances, really indiscriminate military action by the IDF.

Geoff Bennett:

The Biden White House is considering airdropping aid into Gaza, given the dire need and the slower pace of land deliveries.

You could argue that that's one solution, but not the best solution, given that, how do you get aid to 2.4 million people? Are there other viable routes to not just get aid in, but to make sure it is delivered in a fair and logical manner?

Jeremy Konyndyk:

Yes.

So, when I served, I served previously in the Obama administration in like disaster response there. So, I used to coordinate airdrops like this. And we only used them when we had absolutely no other option, because they're the worst way to get aid in. They cost a lot of money. They are difficult to mount logistically, and they get very little volume in.

What we need to see is opening of border crossings. We need to see Israel doing much more to facilitate humanitarian action. They have been actively blocking humanitarian groups from getting into Northern Gaza and restricting access even to Southern Gaza.

We're only resorting to airdrops because of the blockages by the Israeli government.

Geoff Bennett:

The other side of that, though, is, how do you do that when the IDF is fighting the better part of, what, some 20,000 Hamas fighters who are underground with hostages who are engaged in this high-intensity combat operation against the IDF?

Jeremy Konyndyk:

They are engaged in a pretty difficult combat operation. They have also conducted that in an extraordinarily indiscriminate way now for five months.

And the way that they have conducted the war, even U.S. government officials, even the president himself has said it's indiscriminate, and the words he used, over the top. If they had conducted this war differently, it would be a lot easier. It would not be easy, but it would be a lot easier for humanitarians to operate there.

But the way Israel has conducted the war has made it nearly impossible, because they have not done it in line with international law and the expectations outlined there.

Geoff Bennett:

As Amna reported earlier in this broadcast, the Gaza Health Ministry is reporting now that 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since the start of this offensive.

That figure, even though it comes from the Gaza Health Ministry, is widely viewed as the most reliable figure available. What does that say about the way that Israel is conducting this war?

Jeremy Konyndyk:

I think it just underscores the indiscriminate nature of what they have done.

To go five months, to have made as little progress as they have against their own objectives, their own military objectives, while incurring this amount of civilian damage, it is the definition of disproportionate and indiscriminate military action under international law.

And the U.S. government has yet to take a firm stance on that. They're going to need to, because the Rafah offensive, which could be looming in the next few weeks, would put to — would overshadow anything that's happened in this war to date. Every offensive so far, people have been able to move out of the way, not everyone, but a lot of people have been able to move out of the way.

With Rafah, there's nowhere left to go. So, this would be happening amidst a civilian population in a literal tent camp. It would be devastating.

Geoff Bennett:

Jeremy Konyndyk, thanks so much for your time and for your insights this evening. We appreciate it.

Jeremy Konyndyk:

My pleasure.