United Nations relief agency describes the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza

Amna Nawaz:

Today marks 97 days of the war against Hamas in Gaza, and the humanitarian toll on its population has been devastating.

According to the United Nations, 90 percent of Gazans are displaced. More than one in four are starving. There's not a single hospital there that's fully functional, and communications are severely limited.

Earlier today, Ali Rogin was able to speak with a representative from the U.N.'s Relief Agency through a shaky Internet connection for an update about what's happening on the ground.

Ali Rogin:

Scott Anderson with the U.N. Relief Works Agency in Gaza, thank you so much for joining us.

The World Food Program recently tweeted that everyone in Gaza is hungry. Can you just give us a sense of just how dire the food scarcity situation is right now?

Scott Anderson, Deputy Director of Operations, United Nations Relief and Works Agency Gaza: Yes, I'm joining you from the Rafah governorate in Southern Gaza, where there are approximately 1.4 million internally displaced people here.

The only food that most people have is what comes in through the crossing, either Kerem Shalom or Rafah, and it's simply not enough to accommodate the basic needs of this many people. And I have seen a convoy where people are chasing the convoy down the street because they're just desperate to get any food that they can.

We did have a convoy that managed to go north a few days ago with trucks of flour, and as they were carrying their flour away, you could see how happy they were. But the situation really is quite desperate, children begging for food because they don't have any. It's just a very difficult situation for them, and I can't imagine how their parents feel not being able to provide for them.

So I think that, overall, we need to do more as a humanitarian community. We need to get more food in.

Ali Rogin:

And what responsibility specifically do the various stakeholders in this conflict have, including Israel, Hamas, and other regional players?

Scott Anderson:

First, we would ask that all the parties to the conflict respect the sanctity of the United Nations and that they do everything they can to protect the civilian — innocent civilian population that's here in Gaza.

And we have had great difficulty accessing Northern Gaza north of the Wadi. There's a checkpoint that we're required to traverse to take aid to the north, where we think there are 300,000 people. Since January 1, only eight of the 24 missions we have requested have been approved to go north. They're very hungry. They're very cold. They're very much in need, and we would very much like to get our convoys to the north to help deliver aid to those people.

Ali Rogin:

The United Nations has called Gaza a graveyard for children. Can you talk about the situation specifically for children right now?

Scott Anderson:

And children, obviously, they bear the brunt of this. They're much younger and they're less resilient. Their bodies are just smaller.

I mean, in addition to the lack of food, the trauma that everybody has suffered, one in every 100 Gazans has been killed at this point during the conflict. They need psychosocial support and they need some normalcy. And I feel that we're in danger of losing a generation educationally, between COVID and the negative impact that had, and now we're losing a whole school year most likely during this conflict.

The impact is quite negative to children everywhere in Gaza.

Ali Rogin:

As the Israeli military operation continues, what does that mean for your operations as more and more people are crowding into a smaller and smaller area?

Scott Anderson:

Oh, there's not sufficient water for hygiene and certainly for people to clean themselves, nor is there sufficient water for everyone to drink.

People are living in quite close proximity, so we're worried about waterborne disease and any kind of disease that would spread quickly. Women have borne the brunt of hygiene here. There's not enough feminine hygiene kits. Women don't eat or drink, they have told me on visits to shelters, because they don't want to have to wait in line to go to the bathroom.

We're certainly not able to import at scale any of the monthly hygiene needs that women have, and it's something we're working very hard to correct.

Ali Rogin:

You have lost colleagues in this; 146 UNRWA workers have been killed since this conflict began. Can you just describe the toll that this war is having on your colleagues, humanitarian workers, and the work that you do?

Scott Anderson:

We say that nowhere is safe in Gaza, which I think is very true. Even the house where I live in has received fire from Israeli forces.

You can't talk to any of our staff or any of their families that haven't been impacted by the loss of a loved one or the severe injury of a loved one. Despite the loss, they get up every day, they come into work, and they're trying to help their fellow Gazans.

Now, we have one staff member that works on our cross-border operation, both his brothers lost everyone in their family, except one son. And despite that horrific event, he was there at the crossing the next day trying to make sure aid was flowing in to help take care of people.

So I think that the resilience and the bravery and courage they show is incredible. But it also has to be very heavy on their heart that they don't know sometimes when they leave if their family will be there when they go home.

Ali Rogin:

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA. It accuses UNRWA of having an anti-Israel stance and of not being hard enough on Hamas.

How do you respond to those criticisms?

Scott Anderson:

I think we do a lot of work to maintain our neutrality, which is one of the core humanitarian principles.

And I certainly am not anti-Israel in any way, shape, or form. We're here to do a job, to do it with — as I said, with neutrality, which is one of our core principles. Sometimes, that means we say things that people don't like to hear. What we are is pro-humanity, and we want to do everything we can to keep as many people as safe as possible and make sure we're meeting their basic needs every day.

Ali Rogin:

Scott Anderson, the deputy director of UNRWA in Gaza, thank you so much for joining us.

Scott Anderson:

My pleasure. Thank you, Ali.