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00:00To get more insight on the situation, we can speak now to founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, Arwa Damon.
00:08Thanks so much for joining us, as always, Arwa.
00:10I mean, we're looking at the pictures there, but you have contact directly with Palestinians inside Gaza.
00:17What's the latest you're hearing from them?
00:19Well, what we understand now from both speaking to people inside Gaza, but also from various other reporting, is that this group of Palestinians were making their way down to one of the distribution points early in the morning.
00:38You have to remember that they have to walk for hours to be able to get to the point.
00:43And so it seems like this happened at some point in the middle of the night, in the dark.
00:48And what numerous eyewitnesses are saying is that they were fired on both by a tank and by a quadcopter.
00:54But what this really goes to underscore and show is exactly why the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's distribution mechanism quite simply does not work.
01:05And that is because you cannot have a handful of hubs that are trying to feed over 2 million starving people.
01:13There is going to be chaos.
01:15There is going to be massive difficulties in trying to crowd control.
01:20And there is not going to be a humane or dignified or even successful distribution of humanitarian aid.
01:28There's a reason why aid organizations know what they're doing.
01:31There's a reason why aid organizations in Gaza, for example, have more than 400 distribution points set up across all of the Gaza Strip,
01:40or why some organizations such as mine deliver directly to the shelter and the communities that we serve.
01:46It is absolutely absurd that the U.S. and Israel have gone for this sort of alternative distribution mechanism
01:52when there already is a system in place that has been proven to work.
01:56And as a result, because this is the only aid distribution that Israel is allowing into the Gaza Strip,
02:03the reality for all the Palestinians, they're simply not getting any aid at all still, right?
02:09A lot of them are not.
02:11I mean, we've all seen the chaotic scenes of, you know, mobs trying to rush the aid that has come into these distribution hubs
02:19set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
02:23And if you're lucky, you're able to grab a food parcel.
02:26But then if you manage to get that back to your tent or wherever it is that you've been displaced to,
02:31what are you exactly supposed to be cooking it with?
02:33Look, even an organization like the World Central Kitchen that has the capacity to cook up hundreds of thousands of meals a day
02:41has not been permitted to bring in its supplies.
02:45The little bit of flour that has been permitted to enter for distribution by the UN has only been given permission
02:52to be delivered straight to the bakeries.
02:55And of course, then you have the issue of massive mobs collecting at the bakeries.
03:00What we are seeing, and as Israel very clearly stated when it broke the ceasefire,
03:04that it was going to be implementing a policy of starvation is right now we have something of a policy of scarcity.
03:10And that scarcity is going to continue to lead to severe levels of hunger.
03:14It is not going to pull the population back from the brink of famine.
03:18And it's really not going to do anything except for prolong the suffering and misery of those who are trying to survive in Gaza.
03:25So week by week, Arwa, we're seeing the ongoing dire situation, the hellish situation in Gaza,
03:31and still no reaction from the international community.
03:35There's nobody coming to help the NGOs, to help organizations like your own?
03:39No, there isn't.
03:42And the international community, really, despite the fact that we are seeing sort of a growing slight cacophony of voices from Israel's allies themselves,
03:52such as, you know, Canada and other Western nations,
03:56the reality is that as long as the US continues to stand firmly by Israel, nothing is really going to change on the ground.
04:03No other country has the level of leverage that the US has over Israel and no other country can really put the pressure that is needed on Israel.
04:12We're also hearing increasing levels of criticism from former senior Israeli officials themselves about what is happening.
04:20We're seeing growing demonstrations in Israel with Israelis themselves really fed up and very frustrated with their government's inability to bring the hostages home
04:29and negotiate some sort of a deal that is going to ensure that.
04:33The ceasefire talks right now are at something of an impasse, to put it lightly, with, in a nutshell,
04:40Hamas, on the one hand, wanting to see some sort of a deal that is going to, at the very least, guarantee or have the US guarantee a permanent ceasefire.
04:49And Israel wants a deal that would allow it to resume bombing after 60 days.
04:54I mean, looking at that international reaction on a nation level,
04:59but is there anything, Arwa, that the average human being outside of Gaza can do to have any impact?
05:08I mean, you know, one would like to believe that, you know, the average person has a voice
05:13and that a collection of voices would actually mean something.
05:17And we have been seeing an increasing number of people really begin to sort of speak out and advocate for an end to all of this.
05:26And I would say, you know, the best thing to do is to support organizations that are working on the ground in Gaza,
05:32support those that are working, you know, with Palestinian communities outside of Gaza,
05:36and to keep speaking out and demanding an end to all of this.
05:40And Arwa, where do you see things going from here?
05:42I mean, you know, it's been ongoing for so long.
05:46You know, you have constant contact with, again, people in Gaza.
05:51I mean, yeah, where does this go from here?
05:54I wish I had a positive answer for that.
05:58I wish I had an optimistic answer for that.
06:01You know, it's hard to see this current trajectory diverging from anything that looks other than
06:09either the complete and total annihilation of the population or its forced displacement
06:15into either an ever-shrinking territory in Gaza or even out of Gaza itself.
06:21Look, if, you know, the Trump administration and Netanyahu have their way,
06:25they would have kicked all of the Gazans out of Gaza into neighboring Egypt or Jordan
06:30and set up that absolutely ridiculous, you know, Trump-Gaza plan with, you know,
06:36five-star resorts and casinos being built along the Strip shoreline.
06:40And it's really going to take a massive effort on countries at this stage who not necessarily
06:47are able to pressure Israel, but who might actually be able to pressure the United States.
06:52But that was a tall order, even under the Biden administration, and it's an even taller order
06:57right now under the Trump administration, given how cozy Trump and Netanyahu appear to be at this stage.
07:04Arwa, Damon, we'll have to be there.
07:05But thank you so much for joining us once again here on France 24.
07:08Your time very much appreciated, Arwa, Damon.
07:10They're the founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance.