Palestinian legal representatives accuse Israel of using humanitarian supply blockades to Gaza as a "weapon of war" at the International Court of Justice. Kazem Abu Khalaf from UNICEF assesses the aid shortfall in the Palestinian territory for DW. Gaza residents "need anything that you can think of," he said.
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00:00Kazam Abu Khalaf speaks for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, and joins us from
00:07Jerusalem. Welcome to DW. So after a month without water, food and medical deliveries,
00:13how would you describe the situation in Gaza?
00:18Thanks for having me. For 58 days now, since the 2nd of March, nothing has been allowed into the
00:23Gaza Strip, absolutely nothing. So this makes it even worse than it used to be prior to that.
00:30It was the ceasefire period, 42 days, if I'm not mistaken, was just like a dream for the Gazans,
00:36but now they need anything that you can think of. So they need water, they need medicine, they need
00:43equipment, they need diapers for children, they need anything that anybody can think of in the sense
00:48that the Gazans would be able to survive and they're not getting anything. Before the war,
00:54Gaza used to be described as a big prison. Now it's actually a big graveyard, according to some,
01:00and it's the worst place for children ever. Nobody is safe, no place is safe, nothing is safe in the
01:07Gaza Strip. And when Israel says there is no shortage of aid in Gaza, what do you say?
01:14Well, I can tell you that UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies, our partners, are out of
01:24stock almost, in a way or another. In one of our warehouse located far south in the Gaza Strip,
01:31we cannot even access it. The reports that are coming from Gaza, the screening of the malnutrition
01:38of children are saying that people are in need for any kind of aid that could enter into the Gaza Strip,
01:45which is not entering actually. I do remember that on the 9th of March, the power that the electricity
01:52that was feeding the desalination plant in there was cut off. Now this affected 1 million people,
01:59including 400,000 children, because this caused a drop of 85% of the production of water. So,
02:08I mean, the figures on the ground and our colleagues on the ground are saying otherwise.
02:14And tell us what your colleagues have told you about what happens on the ground.
02:18Aid trucks head for these crossings into the Gaza Strip. And what happens?
02:27Well, they're not allowed in. I mean, they are on the other side of the border waiting to be allowed
02:32in. If the truck is loaded with food, then definitely most of it probably has expired. There is a lot of
02:40medical equipment, CPAP, incubators, water, clothes, diapers, antibiotics. All of this is pending to be
02:52allowed into the Gaza Strip. We have to remember that in the Gaza Strip there are probably 20, maybe 22
03:00out of 36 hospitals that are partially functioning. And on the other hand, we have in the actually,
03:04according to some of the reports, 16,000, 15,000, sorry, 613 is the number of children killed since
03:13the 7th of October. So if you divide that on the days of war, then you're talking, you're talking the
03:19average of 27.9 children killed every day. Give me one place in the world where you can have 27.9
03:26children killed every day for 18 months. I guess then you are hopeful that today's ICJ
03:32hearing will change the current situation. We are all, we're always hopeful. I mean, I mean,
03:40the ICJ has conducted this proceeding in a separate manner than the rest of the UN system. We respect
03:47that. We don't have the mandate actually to comment on it. But what I can tell you is that any effort
03:53is needed in the Gaza Strip in terms of the humanitarian response, topped by the effort
03:58put by by ANRWA being the largest UN agency delivering services in the Gaza Strip.
04:04Thank you so much for joining us and outlining that so clearly. Kazem Abu Khalaf from UNICEF. Thank you.