Relief organizations ready to surge aid to Gaza as ceasefire takes hold

John Yang:

In the Middle East, there's relief in both Israel and Gaza as the pause in fighting appears to be holding in Tel Aviv. Hagai Angrest eagerly anticipates the return of his son, kidnapped soldier Matan Angrest.

Hagai Angrest, Father Of Hostage Matan Angrest:

We are very excited waiting for our son and for all the 48 hostages. Want to thank to — many thanks for President Trump. He did it and all the American teams in Gaza.

John Yang:

Palestinians stream north on foot toward Gaza City. Their relief is tempered by the magnitude of the destruction.

Ahmed Al-Jabari, Displaced Palestinian (through interpreter):

I'm happy that there is no blood, no killing. People can sleep in calm and are reassured. Now when the war is over, where will we go? I am displaced in a government area building, but we have to move from there. Where will we go?

John Yang:

As Israeli forces pull back in Gaza, relief organizations prepare to move in with desperately needed aid.

Before the cease fire took hold, foreign affairs correspondent Nick Schifrin spoke with Antoine Renard, the World Food Programme's director for the Palestinian territories.

Nick Schifrin:

We have seen over the last two years, since the October 7th terrorist attack, enormous suffering in Gaza. From your perspective, how bad is the suffering today compared to in the past?

Antoine Renard, World Food Programme:

Today in Gaza city you have 400,000 people that are being cut off from the rest of the Gaza Strip. We went with our team actually to also ensure what were the conditions out there on 22 August. The famine conditions were actually confirmed in the area of Gaza City.

And what we've managed to do over the last month is actually to bring more volume of assistance into Gaza and the Gaza Strip. You have on an average, you know, now two meals per day, while it used to be one meal per day just, you know, two months ago. But yet what was the area that was most at risk? You have 400,000 people that are being trapped and there's no more assistance that is reaching them.

Nick Schifrin:

So explain that shift over the last month. How many more trucks are being allowed in and are they reaching the people who needed the aid the most?

Antoine Renard:

The World Food Programme has been working actually since end of July is to have at least on an average 100 trucks at minimum per day. Out of all the trucks that I've managed to enter into Gaza over the last few weeks, WFP has been doing practically a third of all of those.

What we've managed to bring is more than 55,000 metric tons of food over the last two months. To give you a reality of what it is, it's a third of just the staple food that people require in Gaza. But that is not enough because you need also to have the proper fresh food that is out here. People are not just relying on canned food and wheat flour. They require to have proper access to fruits, to vegetables, to meats, to dairy products.

So the reality is that we managed to bring a bit more, but at the same time it is not enough. In north Gaza, clearly the conditions, famine conditions are still are out there. Since 12 September, we did not manage to actually bring the food as were in the recent weeks. In central and south of Gaza, you actually have more goods that are coming in.

The problem that you have is that those that were recently displaced, how are they going to afford it just to go from Gaza City all the way down? Some people actually have to borrow sometime up to $1,000. You might have more food on the market, you might have more capacity for people to get the food there, but they can't afford it. And that is the biggest challenge that we have.

Nick Schifrin:

Can you give us a little bit more detail on the people of Gaza City? Obviously, we have been seeing images of people who are struggling with malnutrition, children who health authorities say have died from famine, from hunger. How does it compare today to what you've seen in the past?

Antoine Renard:

I mean, I was in Gaza at the end of July and beginning of August, I went again to Gaza City meeting the same families. They see the children which actually don't want to be waked up because they actually don't even know if they're going to have a proper meal on a daily basis. That's what you're telling me.

And they feel such a deja vu of these things that have happened again and again. That's why more than ever in Gaza City, we require the assistance to reach the population and at scale.

Nick Schifrin:

The people who have gone down to Deir al Balah, gone down to the south. How great are the needs of the recently displaced who have left Gaza City and how much are you able to get to them?

Antoine Renard:

Well, one of the challenges that you have every time that you are being displaced is that you lose assets. You need potentially to again find a tent, if there is any tent on the market, many of them actually worth more than $1,200 just to find a simple shelter, where to go, you need again to see where is the queue for any of the hot meals that are out there, where is the access to the water, where is the medical area? So all of these people, again, are struggling just to find the basics.

Nick Schifrin:

And on the flip side, are you ready to surge humanitarian assistance?

Antoine Renard:

The reality is that we have all the food, being in Egypt, being in Israel, being in Jordan, and we have all the teams that are on the ground. As we speak, we have more than 100 staff that are actively reinstating bread in many areas, reinstating nutrition, because people deserve to actually have the bare minimum. We have food out there for the next three months. We are ready and we will make it happen.

Nick Schifrin:

Antoine Renard, thank you very much.

Antoine Renard:

Thanks to you.