'It’s going to take years to return to normal in Gaza', aid worker says

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00:00bring in Shania Law. She is the communication advisor for Norwegian Refugee Council. So part

00:06of the deal, obviously, it's humanitarian aid being able to enter Gaza. So how is it going?

00:12Do you have any words of if it's going well? Well, we've seen already reports of trucks coming in

00:19today. They seem to be in addition to the fuel that's been desperately needed. We know that the

00:26people of Gaza deserve to have this aid come in. They deserve to start rebuilding their lives thus

00:33far. It seems that it is going all right. Of course, there are many obstacles to delivering

00:40that aid due to the destruction of infrastructure inside of Gaza that makes it difficult to

00:46traverse roads, the incredible amount that needs to be rebuilt, the deterioration of the

00:52humanitarian sector as a result of 15 months of hostilities. But we and our partners are working

01:00round the clock to be able to execute, deliver to people in need wherever they are.

01:09Hi, Shania. Hello. I'm Lila Jacinto from France 24. I have some questions about the distribution

01:16of the aid. Do you foresee any, you know, what are the challenges that you face in distributing

01:23the aid? And I'm also wondering, because in the next two weeks, the main UN agency, UNRWA,

01:30is supposed to suspend its operations. Is that in any way going to affect

01:34your organization's aid distribution projects?

01:39Well, UNRWA, if UNRWA stops operating in Gaza, it will impact the entire humanitarian sector,

01:46because they've been, for the last 15 months, the backbone of the response during the hostilities

01:52and have been present in Gaza for 75 years providing assistance. They have an infrastructure

01:58and are a size unlike any other agency operating in Gaza. So we need to continue to push

02:05So we need to continue to push world leaders to tell Israel that they cannot bring this

02:10bill into force and that UNRWA must stay and support the humanitarian response.

02:17In terms of the things that we're anticipating over the next few weeks,

02:21we're anticipating large-scale movement of people, particularly as people are,

02:26if and when people are able to move from south of Wadi Gaza back to Gaza City and northern Gaza.

02:33That will require us to be quite agile, because as humanitarians, we like to do assessments. We

02:39like to understand what the needs are and where we need to deploy resources to. And so, of course,

02:45a large movement, mass movement of people is going to make it difficult to know where exactly

02:52to deploy those resources. But we do know what's needed. That's food, water, medicine,

02:59shelter materials, which have been desperately needed this winter. We've seen multiple

03:03babies die from exposure and hypothermia. And so we're continuing to assess the ground,

03:08monitor what's happening and be sure that we can deploy the resources wherever they're needed.

03:14Shania, obviously there's much work to be done. And I was wondering,

03:19how long do you think, if the truce holds, how long will it take to have to a near normal, I would say?

03:26It's going to take years to return to normal in Gaza, just with the tremendous amount of

03:33devastation and destruction. 90 percent of housing in Gaza is damaged or destroyed. This is not

03:39something that we can rebuild in a matter of six weeks. That's why it's desperate that this

03:45temporary ceasefire turn into a permanent truce and ultimately pave the way for a political

03:50agreement that can end this 75-year conflict. So in terms of what we're focusing on right now,

03:57it's really still an emergency response, moving into early recovery. We're going to need lots of

04:03heavy machinery in order to remove all the rubble and start repairing infrastructure,

04:09water infrastructure, electricity, and then be able to start rebuilding from the ground up.

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