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00:00Going back to our story, of course, of the humanitarian situation unfolding in Gaza,
00:05we can bring in Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN's Office for the Coordination of
00:11Humanitarian Affairs, who joins us from Gaza City. Thank you very much for speaking to us
00:16here on the program today. Talk us through what the situation is like where you are.
00:22Thanks so much for having me. The situation here is beyond description, to be honest with you.
00:28It is now the third month since the crossings for the entry of all cargo, which includes
00:34humanitarian assistance, have been closed by the Israeli authorities. So we have been rapidly
00:39running out of supplies, which of course includes food. Our food partners have distributed the last
00:46of their stock to the hot meals kitchens several days ago. And since then, these hot meals kitchens
00:53have also been closing. About 35% of them have now closed. And those that are still running,
01:00they're basically having to reduce the portion sizes, to reduce the diversity, which is already
01:05at its lowest. And everyone is telling me that I speak to here that they have no idea how they're
01:12going to survive if the situation continues this way.
01:14So if the facilities you're saying that we're serving these hot meals are forced one by one
01:23to start closing, what is the population in Gaza being fed then?
01:29So obviously, they're trying to find the kitchens that are still open. We're still able to produce
01:36through our food security partners about 800,000 meals. But this is, of course, individual meals that
01:43have been, a lot of them have been, as I said, reduced in portions. And to begin with, we have 2.1
01:49million people living in Gaza. So people are trying to pull resources as much as they can and see if they
01:56can basically help each other. Those who managed to find some money, they tried to go to the market.
02:02But of course, the prices there are absolutely unaffordable for most of the population. And so the situation
02:11is dire. And unless something changes very quickly, I don't even want to think about what it will become.
02:19Olga, you must be aware that Israel has outlined a new military strategy for Gaza, where essentially
02:25they would push the entire civilian population to the south. And I'm curious to know, you're there.
02:33How will this impact the civilian population that is already struggling to survive without basic necessities?
02:44It will have a massive impact. And we have always, we've made our position very, very clear that we
02:48would never support any kind of forced displacement. And this plan that they've outlined and they've
02:56briefed us on is in contravention with every humanitarian principle. It risks leaving people
03:03behind, it puts people at more risk, and it just has very dire consequences. And it's attempting to shut
03:10down the humanitarian aid distribution system that is already in place.
03:15Now, Israel also wants to change the way aid is distributed. In Gaza, Israeli authorities say that
03:22aid is going into the hands of Hamas, and then they want private partners involved. In your opinion,
03:29what is wrong with what Israel is proposing?
03:33So exactly what I've just listed, basically, this proposal is in contravention with humanitarian
03:39principles that have been globally established within the bounds of which we operate. And these
03:43principles are, of course, humanity, independence, impartiality, and neutrality.
03:48If any party to the conflict gains any more additional operational control over how aid is distributed,
04:01this will violate every one of these principles. And to the claim that there's a large-scale
04:11diversion going on by Hamas, this is not the case. And we have no evidence of this happening. And
04:24we are confident in saying that the aid is going to the people who need it.