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STORY: GAZA / HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
TRT: 03:05
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 31 JANUARY 2024, UNRWA SCHOOL, DEIR EL-BALAH, CENTRAL GAZA
1. Various shots, displaced persons in crowded school building
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shahira Mekdad, Displaced Person, Gaza City:
“Look at our children. Look at our women. Look at our school. We need food. We need water. We need clothes. You should see the how children cheer in happiness when they see an UNRWA vehicle. They want food. They want water.”
3. Wide shot, displaced persons in crowded school building
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shahira Mekdad, Displaced Person, Gaza City:
“We haven’t had food in the past few days, and kids are starving. People are lost. They bring us medicine.”
5. Wide shot, people walking in crowded school yard
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Heba El-Semeery, Displaced Person, East of Deir Al-Balah:
“We have children, sick people, and elderly people, they all deserve that you support us and people like us as well. We pray that the situation will improve and there will be a pause.”
7. Pan left, displaced persons in crowded school building
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saffeya El-Loh, Displaced Person, Nuseirat Refugee Camp:
“Many children got sick in the war. There is no cleanliness or care. Is UNRWA going to abandon us? If that happens there will be famine and death. They need to provide us with everything. We need blankets and mattresses because it is cold. We need everything. We need clothing for our children. We left our homes. Our homes we bombarded, and we left with nothing.”
9. Various shots, UN truck unloading humanitarian supplies in school yard
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Abu Khammash, Displaced Person, Bureij Refugee Camp:
“As displaced persons, we are fully reliant on the services that UNRWA provides during the current and continuing escalation - 99 percent of displaced persons are relying on the aid provided by UNRWA. Secondly, some people here have chronic diseases and need treatment almost on a daily basis. This treatment has almost stopped.”
11. Various shots, people walking in crowded school yard
12. Wide shot, children chanting in in crowded school building
The colossal humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza now face the risk of deepening following the decision of 16 donor countries to stop financial support to UNRWA.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee to the south due to bombardment and fighting in Khan Younis over the last week, adding to more than 1.4 million people already crammed in the southern governorate of Rafah. Most are living in makeshift structures, tents, or out in the open, and now also fear they might no longer receive any food or other humanitarian assistance from UNRWA.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shahira Mekdad, Displaced Person, Gaza City:
“Look at our children. Look at our women. Look at our school. We need food. We need water. We need clothes. You should see the how children cheer in happiness when they see an UNRWA vehicle. They want food. They want water.”
“We haven’t had food in the past few days, and kids are starving. People are lost. They bring us medicine.”
Most of those fleeing Khan Younis have already been displaced several times, and many are forced to leave the largest UNRWA shelter in the Khan Younis Training Centre. UNRWA staff, themselves forced to flee their homes, continue to deliver food and tents to those newly displaced around them.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Heba El-Semeery, Displaced Person, East of Deir Al-Balah:
“We have children, sick people, and elderly people, they all deserve that you support us and people like us as well. We pray that the situation will improve and there will be a pause.”
Across the Gaza Strip, nearly 2 million people -the vast majority women and children- depend on UNRWA for their sheer survival as the Agency manages overcrowded shelters, food assistance and primary health care. Their humanitarian conditions are getting worse as the war continues and humanitarian access remains largely restricted.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saffeya El-Loh, Displaced Person, Nuseirat Refugee Camp:
“Many children got sick in the war. There is no cleanliness or care. Is UNRWA going to abandon us? If that happens there will be famine and death. They need to provide us with everything. We need blankets and mattresses because it is cold. We need everything. We need clothing for our children. We left our homes. Our homes we bombarded, and we left with nothing.”
In the north where famine is looming, UNRWA has had very little access since the war began.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Abu Khammash, Displaced Person, Bureij Refugee Camp:
“As displaced persons, we are fully reliant on the services that UNRWA provides during the current and continuing escalation - 99 percent of displaced persons are relying on the aid provided by UNRWA. Secondly, some people here have chronic diseases and need treatment almost on a daily basis. This treatment has almost stopped.”
When presented with serious allegations by Israeli authorities that some UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October abhorrent attacks on Israel, UNRWA Commissioner-General took the decision to immediately terminate the appointment of these staff in the interest of the Agency and seized the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services in New York, which launched an investigation. Full accountability and transparency are expected out of this process, should the allegations be substantiated. Shortly after the UNRWA announcement, a number of donor countries suspended US$ 440 million worth of funding to the Agency.
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza. Of its 13,000 staff, more than 3,000 continue working, they are the backbone of the humanitarian aid operations.
UNRWA provides assistance to Palestine Refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
