The Status of Gaza: An Inside Account of Delivering Aid to Gaza: ‘Every time it’s getting more desperate’ (The Conversation with Mary Louise Kelly at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
That translates to about 1 out of every 115 people in Gaza killed. Neighborhoods have been flattened, hospitals and shelters are inundated and overwhelmed, and families have been decimated.
The plight of people still in Gaza has become dire because of a potential truce for a hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas.
The commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency spoke to All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly about the situation in Gaza.
Mary Louise Kelly is a lady. I’m sure you’re back from Gaza. You were there last week. This was your third visit since war began. And I saw where you said that every time you go back, you think it cannot get worse. I gather it gets worse. Philippe Lazzarini: Each time it’s getting worse. Each time it’s getting more desperate. I went last time on the eve of the truce.
At that time, I have seen how desperate people were in the United Nations shelter. They were overcrowded. They were living in a room with no blankets or pillows, sleeping on the floor. Winter is coming. And when I went last week, I thought that what I saw before was already heartbreaking enough.
Thousands and thousands of people are living outside of the shelter. Is there one story, one person who you spoke to that’ll stay with you?
Source: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: ‘Each time it’s getting more desperate’
The story of a man who started to burst into tears: “Every time it’s getting more desperate”: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza
Lazzarini: Well, the story is the story of the man who is a father of children who basically started to burst into tears when he told me that he feels that his dignity has been stripped because he cannot take care of his children anymore, since they are begging every day for a sip of water, for a loaf of bread. The people are waiting hours to go to the toilet, and they feel like animals.
Lazzarini is a man. This is something new, and I warned before that people will die due to weakened immunity, disease outbreak, and hunger as a result of the bombardment.
Most people that I was talking to during my visit told me that they hadn’t eaten in two days. Sometimes we have to skip for three days. “So in an environment like this, indeed, people are so desperate that they try to jump on our truck and take the food from the truck and just eat it from the street.
Source: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: ‘Each time it’s getting more desperate’
The bottleneck of the humanitarian crisis is too big to swallow, so why do so many people still live in Gaza? A spokeswoman for the Gaza Agency
Our goal is very clear. We need the full opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel. Two days ago it was open again. Few trucks came. Unfortunately, there’s not yet a enough scale to respond to the humanitarian crisis.
It’s incredibly frustrating to hear that Israel is blaming the U.N., and I was just talking to you and you said that we could get more in if Israel opened the crossings. How do you break the impasse?
We only had 46 trucks from Kerem Shalom and a hundred trucks from Rafah. Even though the crossing is open, we don’t have more trucks coming into the Gaza Strip. What we need is something much more meaningful because what we are getting today is far from enough to respond to such a crisis.
If we would allow trucks to go into the final destination, this would not be a problem. So the bottleneck is a series of issues related to the conflict but also to administrative procedure.
Before I let you go, I want to speak with your team, your staff, because I learned that 135 of them have been killed in Gaza since the war began. How many do you still have there and how are they doing?
Lazzarini: So indeed, we have 135 people who have been killed since the beginning of the war. This has been devastating for the agency. Today, we still have between 3000 to 5000 staff working on a daily basis. They are living the same condition as everyone else they are supporting. They are having trouble finding food, water, electricity and a shelter. And many of the staff are, in fact, coming to work with their children, because basically what they say is, “I want to be sure that either I see my child at the end of the day, or if we have to die, we will die together.”
Gaza deaths top 20,000; Colorado supreme court justices threatened [Up First briefing: Gaza-deaths top 20-000-colorado-supreme-court-justices-threat]
Good morning. You’re reading a newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry. It says 70% of those killed are women and children. The Security Council was not able to agree on a resolution that would have let the U.N. inspect aid trucks and speed up the arrival of food and fuel. A U.S. veto will be avoided if the language is weakened by U.N. negotiators.
A rise in online rhetoric has followed the Colorado Supreme Court’s disqualification of former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot. Personal information of some of the Colorado Supreme Court justices is circulating in far-right spaces online, as well as calls to arm up to hurt or kill perceived political foes.
Source: Up First briefing: Gaza deaths top 20,000; Colorado Supreme Court Justices threatened
The Story of Celie’s Triumph Over Abuse: A Briefing for Gaza Deaths Top 20,000; Colorado Supreme Court Justices Threat
This essay was written by Michel Martin. Morning Edition and Up First are hosted by her. She’s previously hosted Weekend All Things Considered, the Consider You can listen to Tell Me More on this Saturday.
I’ve been asking everybody I’ve talked to about The (new) Color Purple film, set to hit theaters Christmas Day. They should know when they first saw a version of the work, such as the 1982 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker, the 1985 film directed by Stephen Spielberg, or the 2005 Broadway Musical.
I know why some people remember their first time so well. Danielle Brooks is the new actress in the movie, and she was in the Broadway show. The 1985 movie and Broadway shows were star-making vehicles for others: They are: Cynthia Erivo, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg.
The story of Celie’s triumph over abuse was the first piece of art they experienced that made them feel less alone.
Source: Up First briefing: Gaza deaths top 20,000; Colorado Supreme Court Justices threatened
The Color Purple: What I Meant Before I Meteorized The Dark Side of The Bardolinsky Prisoner’s Conjecture
I am almost embarrassed to tell you I don’t remember how I first knew about The Color Purple. I used to go to shows in New York with the cheap seats. I read a lot. Always have.
Movies: In The Zone of Interest, director Jonathan Glazer depicts the family of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Höss as they go about their daily routines while a massive machinery of death grinds away next door.
TV: The final season of The Crown ended with a farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. The show attempted to portray the royal family in all of its truth, but that wasn’t able to be done.