UNRWA on Crisis in Gaza: Exhausted, Starving Teams in Need of Care

CGTN Europe

Juliette Touma, Director of Communications at UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) spoke to CGTN Europe. UNRWA teams in Gaza are stretched thin, with humanitarian workers collapsing from hunger while trying to help others. The situation in Gaza has worsened, with over 100 reported deaths from malnutrition, many being children. The UNRWA calls for a ceasefire and the lifting of the siege to provide aid and support Palestinian colleagues in Gaza.

Transcript

00:00You are Juliet Tuma from the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees.

00:05Juliet, welcome back. What are your teams seeing in Gaza? What are they telling you?

00:11Yes, thanks for having me. Similar to what your correspondent from Gaza was saying,

00:19is our teams are absolutely exhausted. They are starving.

00:23They go on for days looking for some food for themselves and their children.

00:30We've had several of our colleagues fainting while on duty due to starvation.

00:36Our correspondent Rami El-Maghari was telling us about his search for food for his family.

00:41We're seeing humanitarian staff collapsing from hunger while trying to deliver aid.

00:48How are your teams coping? What challenges are they facing?

00:53Yes, the caretakers in Gaza are now in need of care themselves.

00:59The doctors, the humanitarian workers, the medical workers, and also the journalists

01:05who are putting their lives at risk to capture the atrocities that are taking place right now in Gaza.

01:14And so those caretakers are in need of care themselves.

01:19And yes, they are collapsing. They are fainting.

01:23Some have been sent to the hospitals because they are very, very hungry.

01:30The United Nations Human Rights Office says over 1,000 aid seekers have now been killed in Gaza since May.

01:37How concerned is UNWAR about the safety of civilians?

01:42Well, we've passed the threshold of being concerned or worried a very, very long time ago.

01:49It's been 650 days of these atrocities.

01:55And civilians are the first to suffer and the most to suffer.

01:59And this foundation that was put in place, supported by the governments of the United States and of Israel,

02:07is taking more lives than saving lives.

02:10And so what needs to happen is a ceasefire is lifting the siege so that the United Nations,

02:16including UNRIA, the largest humanitarian organization, can go back into Gaza with supplies and do our work.

02:25We also need to support our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza.

02:29A deal is long overdue.

02:32It will be a win-win because a deal will also secure the release of the hostages who have been held in Gaza

02:39so that they can also reunite with their families and loved ones.

02:43The United Nations has stopped short of formally declaring this a famine,

02:48but presumably Gaza has already crossed that threshold.

02:54Look, there is a very technical way to determine whether there is famine or not,

03:04according to the latest technical assessment, which is a bit outdated because it is a few months old.

03:11There was severe hunger in many, many parts of Gaza.

03:16So it's time to renew that assessment.

03:19It's very difficult to do these assessments, given also the restrictions that we have on the UN,

03:27banning many of us from going back into Gaza.

03:29But certainly things have dramatically worsened.

03:35And according to local health officials, it's over 100 people who have died because of hunger,

03:43because of malnutrition.

03:44The vast majority of them are children.

03:47Juliet, thank you for coming on the program.

03:49Juliet Tuma from the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees.

03:53Thank you very much.

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