'Nowhere is safe in Gaza, nowhere at all'

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00:00The situation now, a third day running where the aid is not getting through.

00:16All right, we'll try to bring you that report.

00:18...released by the Israeli military show trucks lined up on the border with Gaza.

00:23Some of 93, it says, it allowed into the enclave on Tuesday to distribute aid.

00:29But the United Nations said that none of the aid that got through had been distributed.

00:34The trucks were carrying flour for bakeries, food for soup kitchens, medical supplies and baby food,

00:40the latter of which the UN has been prioritising in the first shipments.

00:44But one British surgeon working in Gaza says the situation couldn't be any more urgent.

00:50Because of the blockade, there's so little stuff getting in.

00:54There's no food getting in, so people are starving.

00:56There's very little medical supplies coming in.

01:01But also the other very noticeable thing is the massive extent of destruction.

01:08I mean, Khan Yunus looks like Stalingrad.

01:10There was no let-up in bombardments with explosions above the territory visible on Tuesday night.

01:17Gaza's civil defence said 19 people were killed in airstrikes.

01:21Israel's offensive and its 11-week blockade have earned it a rare rebuke from some of its Western allies,

01:28including France, the UK and Canada.

01:30While 17 of 27 EU member states on Tuesday backed a Dutch proposal to review ties with Israel.

01:38Experts have warned of a risk of famine in Gaza if aid does not get to vulnerable populations.

01:44While the United Nations said up to 14,000 babies in the territory could die in the next 48 hours.

01:50Now, in that report, you saw Dr. Tom Podokar, who's a surgeon with the Ideals charity.

01:59He joins us live from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunus.

02:05Thank you for being with us here on France 24.

02:07Yes, good evening.

02:13You work at the Amal Hospital, and we've been in a week where hospitals have been targeted.

02:20Tell me about the situation where you are.

02:24So, the situation here is there's been bombardment going on all day around the hospital in the vicinity.

02:33Some very close.

02:36There was one blast earlier on this afternoon, a very close emergency department,

02:42then filled up with patients being rushed in.

02:47For two children, very young children, who were brought in, one with a head injury and a broken arm,

02:54and the other one also with head injuries.

02:56And some adults as well with extensive lower limb injuries.

03:04We've been operating this morning during the typical sort of cases that are the result of this kind of conflict scenario

03:15of use of high explosives in highly built-up, dense urban areas.

03:20Yeah, and in Khan Yunus, where you are, there had been these evacuation orders earlier in the week.

03:27What's happened since then?

03:30So, yes, those evacuation orders came on Tuesday, I think it was,

03:36and for a very large area of Khan Yunus and a large part of the city.

03:42In fact, the evacuation, it's by sectors, so the region is divided into sectors,

03:49and that comes right up to the front of the hospital.

03:52So, many people left from those areas.

03:55Many of my colleagues who are working here, the nurses, the surgeons, many of them lived in those areas,

04:02so had to get back to their homes as rapidly as possible to try and get their families out, to move out.

04:09And they've all headed to different parts, I mean, towards the west, towards Al-Mawasi,

04:16but as we know very clearly, that is not safe either.

04:19And there are literally thousands and thousands of people living there in tents,

04:25just all cramped together in not very hygienic conditions.

04:30And so, you know, lots and lots of people have left, which means then that the, you know,

04:38since then there's been a fairly regular bombardment started today at about five in the morning,

04:45and it's going on pretty much all day.

04:48And how are you able to work?

04:49How is your charity able to get its supplies in?

04:52How are you able to get enough food even for your staff?

05:02Well, our staff, I don't know how they manage.

05:07They've certainly lost a lot of weight, that's for sure, colleagues that I've known for a long time.

05:11For ourselves, we have to bring in all the food we need for a month,

05:16which obviously fills up most of the sort of baggage that we're able to bring in.

05:24For the medical supplies, I mean, fortunately, they are not,

05:29certainly in this hospital, they're not yet running out.

05:32But this is not necessarily because there's an oversupply or anything of medical supplies.

05:38It's just because so many hospitals are now out of action.

05:42So, for example, I was at European Gaza last week,

05:45and that was evacuated and is no longer in service.

05:49But some of my Palestinian colleagues who were working there,

05:53they went back the next day at enormous risk to try and get equipment,

05:59get medical supplies out of that hospital and bring them to this hospital.

06:04And they were able to bring some stuff.

06:07But we also saw the day before yesterday, you know,

06:11there was a significant action between our hospital here and NASA hospital.

06:16We're only about 700 metres apart.

06:18And the main storage part of the hospital in NASA was hit.

06:23We had a lot of WHO medical items in there.

06:27So, obviously, those are no longer available.

06:31So, yeah, it's very much a case of day by day.

06:34NASA hospital, the Indonesian hospital last week, the European hospital.

06:39How do you explain it?

06:44I can't, really.

06:45I can't explain it.

06:46I mean, it's, you know, yes, we've seen it throughout the course of this.

06:51We'll, you know, back, I'm sure, reviewers will remember the Sheeper Hospital,

06:55you know, in the early days.

06:58And as you say, so many hospitals now out of action.

07:03The Indonesian hospital was, you know, besieged this week.

07:06And strikes within the compound of the European Gaza hospital that put it out of action.

07:12And I can't explain it.

07:17The aid that's been held up with the intense bombardment that you're describing,

07:23it sounds logical that it's not able to get in.

07:29Sorry, there was just quite a loud bombardment there.

07:32So I didn't actually hear your question.

07:33I'm saying with the airstrikes continuing on such a regular basis,

07:42it's understandable that the aid is not getting in.

07:46How would you, how can you deliver aid in these circumstances?

07:51Well, there are systems to do that.

07:54And, you know, up until the blockade was in place, you know, things were coming in.

08:00And, you know, there is a, this is not the only place in the world

08:05that is in a conflict scenario.

08:08And there are organizations and the United Nations and all sorts of other,

08:12you know, the International Committee of the Red Cross, MSF,

08:15lots of organizations that are extremely experienced in this type of environment.

08:20And the whole setup to be able to deliver supplies has been here for a long time

08:27and has functioned well.

08:29And the only reason it can't function at the moment is because it's blocked at the border.

08:36Blocked at the border.

08:38And Tom Podokar, at this point in time,

08:42is this week where we've had deaths by the dozens every day,

08:49is it the worst week of the war?

08:51I don't know statistically.

08:57I mean, it's not dozens, it's more like hundreds, to be honest.

09:01But whether it's the worst, that, I, you know, I don't know.

09:07It's certainly very, very bad at the moment.

09:10And, you know, has been for some time with absolutely no signs whatsoever of it letting up at all.

09:18The Israeli government's pushed for the population to leave.

09:22How do you see, how do your Palestinian colleagues there feel about that?

09:28Well, many of them have already evacuated multiple times, some colleagues up to 10 times.

09:36And, you know, they get told to evacuate from one area to go to somewhere else that is designated safe area,

09:44only to find out that it's not safe.

09:46And then they get requested, ordered to move from there to go somewhere else.

09:51So, you know, when this happens multiple times, you can imagine the psychological stress as well

09:58and just the general weariness of this way of living where you'll constantly move from one place to another.

10:07And, you know, as has been said umpteen times by umpteen people, you know, there is nowhere safe in Gaza.

10:14Nowhere.

10:15Tom Podokar, many thanks for speaking with us from Han Yunus.

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