00:14for your time and joining us indeed from Gaza. You know, you're sitting there where it's happening.
00:20Maybe try and give us the latest on the situation around you.
00:23Thank you very much. Good morning. I don't know by what I could start because actually
00:30each night it is a nightmare for colleagues from Gaza. You mentioned it perfectly. Each
00:37night there are some airstrikes, especially in these moments in the north of Gaza, in the
00:42east and in the north. People are obliged to move and they never know if they can come
00:48back or not. If you are going to Gaza City, it's totally destroyed. You have tents everywhere.
00:53And they don't know what to do. If they have to go to the south or to stay. They don't have
00:58enough food. They don't have enough water. And it is exactly the same situation in the
01:03south. And we hear regularly airstrikes everywhere.
01:07You know, we're hearing today over 170 international charities, humanitarian groups, looking at these
01:13distribution sites, which have become such deadly sites. Hundreds of people killed by the Israeli
01:18military as they queue for food. You know, warning about the situation, saying it is massacres on
01:22a massive scale, according to Doctors Without Warders.
01:27What is put in place actually by the Israeli authorities through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
01:34is a way to totally dismantle the humanitarian assistance that we have all tried to give to
01:43the Palestinians. So each distribution is deadly distribution. So it's the first time in the world
01:49that we see that type of situation is totally unacceptable. We should not accept this type
01:54of situation. So it's the reason that we are urging to stop this type of distribution and to go back to
02:00the system which was working perfectly well before. During the ceasefire, we were able to send a lot of food,
02:06a lot of supply. It was not perfect. But at least the people, they were not starving and they were not
02:11going to go to a place where they put their lives in danger. Because it is what is happening. We receive a lot of
02:18people injured in our structures, just because they are starving and they need food.
02:24Now, Israel has always justified this change in the distribution of meagre amounts of aid because they say Hamas and other
02:32terrorists were stealing the aid that was being delivered. You were in Gaza. I mean, what have you seen?
02:37What I see today is a chaos everywhere because there is no role. And in the site of distribution,
02:48it is the first one who is arriving in this site who can have something. You have only four sites of
02:53distribution. When before there was 400 sites, there is no list of beneficiaries. So it is, I would say,
02:59the strongest who can have access. And after you see the food in the market, but with prices which are
03:05totally insane, nobody can buy it. And then you see disputes between the different families and between the
03:11families and the Hamas. So I don't see where is the added value and the positive point to organise something because
03:18we have the feeling on the ground that there is a kind of orchestration of the chaos in order that there is no
03:24possibility to everyone to live in peace.
03:27So impossible to live in peace, creating, as you say, further tensions and starving people. Meanwhile, as you were
03:33telling us, the air raids, the missile strikes continuing, you know, it's hit hospitals, it's hit tents where
03:40refugees have been sheltering. Israel, again, always saying, well, actually, there's Hamas militants hiding out in
03:46those areas. That's what we're targeting.
03:48I don't know. Me, what I can tell you is that we are working in hospitals and health facilities. We are
03:55talking with people who are missing everything. I was in Gaza before the war. And what I see today is very
04:03shocking because people, they were living in houses, they had access to school, they have water, they have
04:09electricity, and now they are in the middle of nowhere, in tents, in the sand, they have to do the queue for
04:15water with jerricans. And the children do not go anymore to school. So I don't know, because this is more
04:23a political, I would say, question. But me, what I see is a lot of people who are just in a very dire
04:30situation.
04:31Yeah, tens of thousands. I mean, and also the amount of hospitals that have been targeted. I mean, where is
04:36Gaza when it comes to health care facilities now? We're hearing from other organisations that there's pretty
04:40much nothing left available to people.
04:44No. The entire health system is totally destroyed. We have some hospitals which succeed to maintain
04:52some activities. The humanitarian actors, we put in place some field hospitals, but obviously we
04:57not replace the proper hospitals. And what happened with this food distribution is that all the hospitals
05:03were completely overloaded. And you have people in the corridor, there is not enough space for the
05:09intensive care. And even our colleagues are receiving injured people in the primary health centre where
05:15normally we don't receive this type of patient because we don't know. So everybody is trying to save these
05:20people and to treat these people, but we do not have enough capacities, we do not have enough supply
05:25because since months we do not receive enough supply. So we try each other to support, but it's not enough.
05:32So we are not able to treat properly the people in need.
05:36And, you know, you were in Gaza before the war. You're in Gaza today. They're almost two years into a
05:42constant shelling, constant stress, trying to get just enough to survive. I mean, how are people coping there?
05:51I don't know how we do. Frankly speaking, I just don't know. They are totally desperate. They have no hope.
06:00They have the feeling that nobody cares about them. So obviously they have a lot of hope on the talks of ceasefire because
06:08they are tired, they are exhausted. They see their society totally collapsing. There is a total destroying of their society.
06:15They still hope that if there is a ceasefire, they will be able to go back to school, to university, to have food, to start against the economy.
06:26But they are desperate. They are desperate because they feel alone and they have the feeling that we all abandon them.
06:33And we have seen even, you know, the solidarity marches by people around the world. They've even been clamped down on.
06:39And, you know, one wonders what could help make a difference for the people there in Gaza.
06:45I think that the difference would be a political agreement. There is a need of ceasefire. There is a need to stop this war
06:52and to help the people to go back to their life or at least to help them to request something. Because I cannot imagine after two years
07:01how they will be able to cope, as you say, because everything has been destroyed and they need to rebuild themselves.
07:08It will be very long. They will need the support of everyone. But it is a political solution which is needed.
07:13Indeed. And just finally, in your work for Doctors Without Borders, you know, have you ever seen anything like the situation in Gaza?
07:21Like, you know, how do you see it? The reaction as well from the world? Yeah, just try and put it into context for us.
07:27It looks like something we've never seen before, to be honest.
07:31In Gaza? No. For me, we never see that. And we are used to working in many situations. And I think that this one is the worst that we never heard.
07:40And we can talk about other conflicts where the situation is very, very complicated.
07:45But we do not give any choice to the people in Gaza. So we are working also in a very insecure situation.
07:54We never know each day when we are sending our teams on the ground, because we do a lot of water trucking, what will happen.
08:00And it's always a dilemma saying, OK, what do we do? Do we send our teams or are we very, I would say, conservative?
08:09So, no, it's too dangerous. But if we do that, we do nothing. And we want to support these people as much as we can.
08:15Indeed. And as well as the bombing and the food supplies and all the aid, I believe even communications is difficult there in Gaza.
08:22That's also now often cut off.
08:25Yes. When I arrived three weeks ago, there was a shutdown in terms of communications. So it was not very easy.
08:33We managed, but indeed, it is very important to maintain the communication. And what is also a pity is that there is only our Palestinian journalist who can be there.
08:46And it would be great if there was authorization for the foreign journalist to come to testify about what is happening here in Gaza.
08:56Absolutely. Marie-Elizabeth Ingress will have to leave it there. But thank you so much for joining us live from Gaza and trying to once again impede on us that horrifying situation that is ongoing in Gaza.
09:06Marie-Elizabeth Ingress there for Doctors Without Borders.
