'Aid being deliberately engineered' to displace Palestinians, NGO says

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00:0072 Palestinians killed this Thursday in Gaza.

00:05Most were killed in Israeli strikes across the territory,

00:07but there were a further 21 people shot dead

00:09while trying to get desperately needed food aid

00:13for what has been designated as a food aid supply hub.

00:16The bullets fired by Israeli soldiers.

00:19Karis Garland with this.

00:23Rushing to Shefa Hospital in Gaza's north,

00:26Palestinians transport those wounded in Israeli bombing.

00:30Witnesses said the strike hit tents,

00:33sheltering displaced people near a market,

00:35killing multiple people, including women and children.

00:41We were passing by Al-Suzi Mosque at Al-Shati refugee camp.

00:44A missile landed and next to it was a soup kitchen

00:46where young children were.

00:48We went looking for my niece.

00:49They said she was martyred.

00:51My niece is still missing and my other sister is missing as well.

00:55The strike on Shati refugee camp

00:57was one of several reported across the strip on Thursday,

01:00including ones hitting Jabalia and Khan Yunus.

01:04Meanwhile, local officials said more than 20 people were killed

01:07near aid distribution sites in southern and central Gaza.

01:10The Israeli army said troops had fired warning shots at suspects

01:14approaching them in the Netzerim area,

01:17but that it was not aware of any injured individuals.

01:20As the territory faces what the UN calls famine-like conditions,

01:24Palestinians say they have no choice but to collect aid

01:27to feed their families despite the dangers.

01:30You either come back with food for your children

01:33and they are happy,

01:35you come back in a shroud,

01:36or you come back without food and your children cry.

01:40See, see, they are shooting randomly and were by the sea.

01:45According to Gaza's health ministry,

01:47more than 300 Palestinians have been killed

01:49while trying to reach aid distribution points,

01:52but the company handing out the supplies, GHF,

01:55has accused Gazan officials of regularly releasing inaccurate information.

02:00The image is very much telling the story.

02:02Karis Garland there with the words.

02:04Let's bring in our guest,

02:05Alexandre Chatillon's director of the NGO Supernova.

02:08Now, it's an organisation that works to help children in conflict zones.

02:12Alexandre himself and his colleagues

02:13are working to help the children of the Gaza Strip.

02:15And thank you, sir, for coming in to talk to us about what you're doing.

02:19Can I ask you first, Alex, for a comment on what we've just seen?

02:23More people in the Gaza Strip.

02:24Being shot whilst trying to collect food.

02:27It's absolutely a nightmare.

02:29That's the worst case scenario for any humanitarian.

02:33My job is to alleviate suffering in the most complicated countries in the world,

02:37in the most complicated situation in the world.

02:40I have to say that I have never seen something like this,

02:43where aid has been deliberately engineered

02:47in a way to attract population into a small portion of territory

02:52so that most likely Israel can keep the rest, the north, for themselves

02:57and be killed while getting food.

03:00And they are being killed deliberately by forces that most likely belong to Israel.

03:05So that's the worst scenario that can happen in Gaza.

03:08You've been very diplomatic with the language.

03:10Some would say it is Israeli soldiers doing the shooting.

03:13I will add, from their perspective, they say that people are approaching,

03:17they've fired shots and inquiries underway.

03:18But I think if you look through those words, you see the fact that bullets are being fired.

03:23Who's got the bullets?

03:24It's the Israeli soldiers.

03:25The Palestinians are being killed.

03:26And it's something like 400 people have been killed trying to seek food.

03:30How on earth is this happening?

03:32How can it happen?

03:33I think we will all be judged by history as people who had access to this information

03:39and being liable for not doing anything.

03:44We're trying, though, but really the history will judge upon us for that.

03:49I don't know how this is happening.

03:50I don't know how the United States democracy can really stand by the side of Netanyahu to authorize that.

03:58So, indeed, it is either the Israelis themselves or this private security company

04:02that was hired and funded to supposedly support the distribution of aid.

04:09Whoever does this, the result is always the same.

04:12400 people died.

04:14We only have 30 trucks entering the Gaza Strip on a daily basis

04:18to feed 2 million people.

04:21It's just simply not sustainable in the long run.

04:24And that is obviously designed to kill people.

04:27This is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation set up to kind of replace,

04:33I say kind of because it is only kind of replace,

04:35the work that the UN through UNRWA was doing,

04:37United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

04:39I'm wondering where you fit in to the whole equation here

04:42because clearly many children are being killed,

04:45many people without parents, without schools,

04:47without any kind of structure to their lives now.

04:49How can you and your colleagues work in such chaos to help these children?

04:55That's a very interesting question.

04:57Indeed, there is a mistrust, that's the least we could say,

05:00between Israel and now the US toward the UN system.

05:03So now the money and aid is not channeled through the usual way,

05:08which is usually the UN and international NGOs.

05:11It goes through this GHA Foundation, which is very weird,

05:14which is very fishy, that has been under inquiry by the Swiss government

05:19because it is located in HQ in Switzerland.

05:23Having said that, our job is to empower kids,

05:26to allow them to go back to school.

05:28So one could say, but why are you doing this while people are killed?

05:30It's because we want to provide hope to new generations.

05:34If we stop providing education to kids,

05:36what will they become in the next generations?

05:39So the way we do it is we do it with Palestinian organizations.

05:42Locally, we have set up temporary learning spaces,

05:45which is wording in our industry.

05:48But I mean, schools under shelters, literally shelters,

05:51with teachers that we pay on a daily basis so that they could welcome kids.

05:55We're talking about class between 50 to 75 people.

05:58And through a partnership with World Food Kitchen,

06:02we're feeding these kids one meal a day at least.

06:04So we're touching a thousand kids and we have 150 teachers on our payroll.

06:13So this is how we do things, locally,

06:15providing local solutions to the best of our ability.

06:18And every child that you reach in this way,

06:20you're providing them with a different message about what life can offer

06:23and about what the world can offer them to.

06:26Of course.

06:26And this, of course, might help to combat those negative messages

06:29that they're already picking up because of their actual life experience.

06:33Totally.

06:34The message we convey is that there is a future, a future ahead.

06:38And it's far from battles, far from weapons,

06:43and this is of utmost importance.

06:45We do it with the kids, but we also have a psychological support program

06:48for people in camps where we have psychologists touring the different camps

06:53in the Gaza Strip to start breaking this vicious circle of violence,

07:00try to prepare people not to take up weapons against people,

07:04but try to rebuild once it's possible.

07:06It's difficult, but it's really the only way forward.

07:11It's essential work, Alex.

07:13I'm getting that very, very clearly, but it's also dangerous work.

07:16And people listening to what you're saying will be wondering

07:18about the chances that you take, the chances that your colleagues are taking,

07:22how much risk you're putting yourselves at.

07:24It is the most risky working environment I've been working in,

07:28and we are present in Sudan, we're present in Libya, in Yemen.

07:31It is by far the most dangerous places I've ever been.

07:36So just for people to know that when a humanitarian actor is like everyone else in the Gaza Strip,

07:44same level than any Palestinian, any Gaza national.

07:47So we're there.

07:47We are open to be killed.

07:50So I was in my house, over the house of our office last time I went,

07:54and we saw missiles over the house, you know, just landed a couple of hundred meters away,

08:01which is very close.

08:02So it is very dangerous.

08:04It is also very difficult because, of course, Israel makes it impossible to operate.

08:10It's also the lack of funding.

08:13We are struggling as humanitarian actors to get fundings for Gaza

08:16because access has been difficult and fundings are reduced.

08:21We all know that the Americans have cut their development assistant funding,

08:25and it's difficult.

08:26So we are launching, like everybody else, a donation campaign.

08:30So if anyone wants to give for Gaza, give to whoever,

08:35whatever cause you feel like giving,

08:37like Action Against Hunger, like Supernova,

08:41but give so that we could help more people.

08:43Alex, the message is clear, and the work you're doing is essential,

08:46and it's brave.

08:47And thank you for coming in here and sharing with us

08:49and with everybody watching the extent of what you're doing

08:51and how you're trying to help the children of the conflict zones,

08:54and especially as we've been focusing in this segment on the Gaza Strip.

08:58Alexandre Chatillon of Supernova, the NGO helping children in conflict zones,

09:03and as Alex was saying, especially right now in the Gaza Strip.

09:06Thank you, sir, very much for coming to see us here at France 54.

09:08We appreciate your time.

09:10Thank you very much.

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