'People are going to continue to die': Gaza urgently needs int'l effort 'to bolster aid, help facilitate access to aid'

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00:00There are reports Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza, with mediators

00:16in Qatar saying they were at the closest point yet to achieving an end to 15 months of war.

00:22The three-phase truce would begin with the release of 33 hostages over a six-week period

00:27in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.

00:32Israeli forces would withdraw from population centres and there would be a surge in humanitarian

00:37aid.

00:38However, Qatar's foreign ministry has warned against over-excitement until a deal is signed.

00:43Emerald Maxwell has more.

00:48Following 15 months of war and a year of negotiations, key mediator Qatar said that Israel and Hamas

00:54were at the closest point yet to reaching a phased ceasefire and hostage release deal.

01:01The drafts have been delivered to both parties.

01:03The obstacles to the main contentious issues between the two sides have been overcome and

01:08discussions are now underway regarding the final details.

01:12The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed that the final details were being ironed out to

01:16get the agreement over the line.

01:18They are being discussed right now with the delegations from all parties in Qatar and

01:25we are really hoping and hearing good news in the next few hours.

01:29Also hoping for good news soon, Israeli protesters gathered outside parliament.

01:34Some hostage families fear that the deal taking shape will see only some of the remaining

01:38hostages freed.

01:40We hope that in the coming hours we will hear news that there is an agreement and that this

01:45agreement includes the return of all 98 hostages without exception.

01:51It's time for a deal that includes everybody.

01:54That is what we demand and what we expect from the prime minister.

01:57My son, he doesn't deserve to rot in Gaza.

02:01The plan needs the final approval of the Israeli cabinet.

02:04A majority of ministers are expected to back it but it has not found unanimity.

02:10Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir on Tuesday threatened to quit, a day after fellow hardline

02:15nationalist minister, Betzalel Smotrich, called the emerging truce catastrophic.

02:21The deal that's being formed is a deal made for Hamas.

02:24I call on my friend, Minister Betzalel Smotrich, to join me in full cooperation against the

02:30deal being drafted.

02:31Together, we can go to the prime minister and inform him that if he goes ahead with

02:35the deal, we will resign from the government.

02:38Ben-Gavir also said he and Smotrich had used their positions to block the deal for a year.

02:44Both ministers want to keep up Israel's military campaign.

02:48Even as intense diplomatic efforts continued over the last 24 hours, Israeli forces pounded

02:53targets across Gaza, killing dozens.

02:58Meanwhile over a dozen Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Tuesday.

03:03According to medics, a strike in Deir el-Bala killed at least 10 people and wounded several

03:08others, while a house in Rafah was bombed, leaving five people dead and four injured.

03:13For more on the situation, Awad Damon, founder of Inara, an NGO that provides medical and

03:20mental health care to children impacted by war or natural disasters, joins me now.

03:26Thank you very much for speaking to us on France 24.

03:31Thank you for having me.

03:32What are the most urgent needs on the grounds for civilians in Gaza?

03:37Winter is setting in and we've heard reports of children dying in the cold.

03:42What is the top priority?

03:46It's really hard to designate a top priority in Gaza, which has always been the challenge,

03:51because everything is a priority.

03:53But right now, actually, the priority is fuel, because fuel is at a frighteningly low level

04:01with the health sector and also the sector that's responsible for desalination, water

04:08distribution, hygiene, sewage, you name it, reporting that their fuel stocks are at zero.

04:18And of course, without fuel, you also end up jeopardizing the lives of patients inside

04:23hospitals.

04:24So there's roughly 2,000 patients who are relying on lifesaving machines or treatments

04:31that require machines, that require electricity, that will end up having their lives jeopardized.

04:37There's also a severe shortage in food, especially in flour.

04:42And this has been going on since November, December, where I remember I was last in Gaza

04:48in December and children were being crushed to death at lines in bakeries.

04:52And then, of course, you have winter and the lack of what we call winterization kits,

04:58which is anything from warm winter clothes to additional blankets to providing families

05:05with things like sandbags so that they can fortify their tents or extra plastic sheeting,

05:12which is leading to, as you mentioned there, at least eight babies having frozen to death.

05:17And so this is the situation that has continued in Gaza that we repeatedly have been warning

05:22about for months and months and months right now.

05:24And all we see is the situation continuing to deteriorate.

05:29And what is the difference in needs between the people in the north of the territory,

05:33where Israeli troops have been focusing their efforts for months,

05:36and for those in the south who've tried to find refuge?

05:41So if we go to Gaza's extreme north, which is where the Israeli military has been launching

05:48its most intense operation since November, October, November, the Jabalia area,

05:54Beit Lahya, Beit Hanoun, there people have had no access to proper food and very few

06:01humanitarian missions are actually being granted access by Israel to be able to go to these areas.

06:08You only have one functioning hospital after the Israeli forces went in and basically decimated

06:16the Kamal Adwan Hospital and detained a significant number of its staff, including its director.

06:22And most recently in the last 24 hours or so, yet two more missions were denied.

06:28And these missions were specifically going to the one remaining hospital to deliver essential

06:32things like food, water, and also medication, fuel for the hospital.

06:38This was denied.

06:39And there's absolutely nothing that we can do as humanitarian organizations to be able

06:44to actually access these particular areas.

06:46The other thing to keep in mind, too, is the Netzerim Corridor, which basically splits

06:51Gaza in half.

06:52So to the north of that, you have Gaza City, and then these northern areas I was just talking

06:57about.

06:57And to the south of that, you have central and southern Gaza.

07:01And what kind of makes this whole system rather absurd and illogical is that I was just speaking

07:08about a flower shortage.

07:10Now, this is happening mostly in southern and central Gaza, where a 25 kilogram bag

07:16of flour, if you were to somehow find it on the market, would cost you roughly $400, which

07:21is an absurd number if you think about it.

07:24That same bag of flour costs $1.50 in Gaza City, because Israel has been letting flour

07:30into the northern part, into Gaza City, for example.

07:34And when we as humanitarian organizations try to put in permission to be able to move

07:41items, for example, that are being let into Gaza City to the south or vice versa, those

07:46permissions are repeatedly being denied.

07:49So it's not just a case of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

07:53It's also about which access point is that assistance able to get in from?

07:57Are we able to safely pick it up?

07:59And then our inability to actually move aid within the Gaza Strip based on the needs of

08:04the population.

08:06All right.

08:06Well, at this stage, we only have a vague outline of a potential ceasefire deal.

08:10But if it is signed, it's supposed to allow for a surge in humanitarian aid.

08:15How would you even then allow for its safe passage into Gaza?

08:20I mean, especially after we've seen attacks on convoys by gunmen in the past.

08:25Well, there's right now roughly 120,000 tons of aid that is waiting to be cleared by Israel

08:34and to be able to access Gaza from three different crossing points.

08:38So the aid is there.

08:40In terms of the ceasefire deal and what it means for distribution inside, we would hope

08:48that this would allow for a certain greater level of security.

08:53Because the main issue is that the looting and the criminal gangs that are targeting

08:59the aid trucks, and these are gangs that operate in areas that are fully under Israel's control,

09:06they're in what's designated as a red zone, so an active combat zone that's constantly

09:11being monitored by these drones, that that would allow for a certain measure of security

09:16along those routes.

09:17Plus, it would give us freedom of movement so we wouldn't end up having to just use the

09:21routes that Israel designates for us to be able to use.

09:24And then it's also a supply and demand issue.

09:27So if there is aid, and if there is a flood of goods onto the market, a flood of aid into

09:33Gaza, the financial gain that these criminal gangs are getting from looting and stealing

09:40the aid is also going to drop significantly.

09:42But it's really important to point out here that a ceasefire that's just going to stop

09:47the bombs from falling is not going to be sufficient to save lives in Gaza.

09:51That will save the lives that are being lost by what's coming down on Gaza from the sky.

09:57But unless there is a very real effort to bolster aid and help facilitate the population's

10:03access to aid, people are going to continue to die.

10:06I have a case that my charity, Inada, is working on right now of a little girl who's in Gaza

10:11City and has what's called a protein C deficiency, or at least that's what doctors think that

10:15she has.

10:16They can't run the full scope of tests to definitively determine that because those

10:20tests don't exist in Gaza anymore.

10:23But she's at risk because of this deficiency of already losing one of her limbs.

10:28And she needs to be moved to the south and needs to be emergency evacuated out of Gaza

10:34immediately.

10:34So along with everything else, we also need a greater level of facilitation for all of

10:38these medical emergencies and other patients, including a significant number of children

10:45who need to receive treatment outside of Gaza as well.

10:48Right.

10:48And what about education?

10:50I mean, even if there is a ceasefire, I mean, they've been without education for months,

10:54these children, it's not like they would have many schools to go back to.

10:58No.

10:58And what you do end up seeing is, I mean, it's kind of an impressive effort because,

11:03you know, anyone with an education background, a lot of teachers are kind of setting up what

11:07we call these makeshift education tents.

11:10And, you know, you see the kids sort of clustered underneath a tarp, just so desperate to learn.

11:16And, you know, you have organizations like Save the Children and UNICEF that are trying

11:21to put together an education program.

11:23But here's the other challenge.

11:25The importation, getting Israel to clear things like notebooks and pencils and other things

11:33you would need to actually, you know, run a makeshift education program, those items

11:38are being rejected.

11:39They're not considered lifesaving.

11:42And so that's an extra added challenge that we all face, is what actually is going to

11:48end up being allowed into Gaza.

11:50I mean, it seems rather absurd that, you know, notebooks and pencils and pens and other items

11:54continue to not be permitted to cross into the Gaza Strip.

11:58But that's the reality that, you know, we as humanitarian organizations and Gazans are

12:02facing.

12:03All right.

12:04Awe Damon, we're going to have to leave it there.

12:05Thank you very much for your insight into the situation in Gaza.

12:10The founder of Inara Awe Damon there.

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