00:00 More reaction to that bill and an update on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, we can
00:04 cross to Bushra Khalidi, the West Bank policy lead for Oxfam. Thank you so much for taking
00:09 the time to speak with us today. And I do want to start by asking you about this new U.S. aid
00:14 package for Israel. It does include some aid for Gaza. What do you think of it?
00:18 I mean, the U.S. has cut $258 million for UNRWA. The level of devastation we're seeing in Gaza,
00:29 the level of trauma, the level of starvation, where we have an entire civilian population
00:36 at the brink of famine, there's very likely already pocket-likes of famine in the north,
00:42 because in order to have a famine declaration, you already need to have famine-like conditions
00:48 to be able to make such a declaration, which has not yet been made, but has been warned that by May,
00:53 if the situation does not improve, it's very likely that the IPC would be declaring famine
00:58 in the north in Gaza. And I mean, to be selling arms to a government, any government or any party,
01:08 and transferring lethal weapons that have caused the killing of almost 15,000 children.
01:15 Yesterday alone, 14 children were killed in one airstrike in Rafah. And now with the Rafah
01:24 military incursion that keeps on being threatened by the Israeli authorities and the IDF,
01:29 I mean, what more? When does this stop? When does this onslaught, this carnage
01:34 against an entire civilian population that, let me remind you, is trapped? They have nowhere to go.
01:41 And they have no access to water. They have no access to electricity. They have no access to
01:46 shelter. There's not enough humanitarian workers. It would take years, years to remove the rubble
01:52 alone out of Gaza because of the level of devastation from the Israeli bombardment in
01:57 the last six months. And to continue arming Israel after an ICJ decision that finds that there's a
02:04 plausible risk of genocide and a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for an
02:09 immediate and sustained ceasefire, and yet to continue arming Israel, from our opinion, risks
02:17 complicity. These governments that continue to materially or diplomatically support Israel
02:22 when it's basically—I mean, there are atrocity crimes happening in Gaza,
02:29 risk complicity and risk implicating themselves in the atrocity crimes that Israel's committing.
02:34 There are clear legal obligations of these states that they should be taking in accordance with the
02:39 ICJ. And we're not seeing these have a direct—I mean, we're seeing some improvement, where we saw
02:46 some shipments of food come into the north, which is very welcomed. But I mean, the situation is
02:51 at such an unprecedented level of a catastrophe that we would expect much more from states to
03:00 support the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. And you said that more aid has been getting
03:05 in through the north. There was a lot of pressure put on Israel in the wake of the deaths of those
03:09 aid workers from the World Central Kitchen. Has Israel been making good on all of its promises,
03:14 and has the situation improved even slightly? Well, there are hundreds of bakeries in Gaza,
03:19 and only three have reopened. So no, that's not enough. A couple of trucks are not going to meet
03:25 the needs of an entire civilian population. And if, you know, this is the narrative that is trying
03:30 to be, you know, kind of painted, that is absolutely incorrect. Wastewater treatments
03:35 have stopped working. There's sewage in the streets. We're not just talking about giving
03:39 flour to people of Gaza. They deserve more than this. They deserve for their dignity to be restored.
03:46 They deserve for their safety to be restored. They deserve to have access to clean water.
03:50 They deserve to have a clean shower and access to a toilet. A few trucks coming into the north
03:55 is not responding to those needs. Furthermore, people that have been at the brink of starvation,
04:01 children that are starving, it's not an extra meal that they need. At this point,
04:04 they need medical treatment. They need consistent care. They need consistent access
04:09 to medical services, which are unavailable and do not exist. They only exist and are available for
04:15 people that are suffering from traumatic injuries because of the relentless bombs that have been,
04:20 you know, sold by allies of Israel, including the U.S. So, you know, no. And opening, the
04:27 opening of crossing, there are seven crossings inside into Gaza. You know, only three remained
04:33 partially open. Operational hours, they committed to open the crossings for longer. We haven't seen
04:39 that materialize, either. There's, you know, this entire narrative that there's so many trucks
04:43 coming in. But the problem is that the trucks are only half full because Israel won't allow full
04:48 trucks to come into Gaza because they need to be half full to be able to go through the verification
04:53 process. I mean, you know, the list continues. And it's farcical, really, that we're arming Israel
05:01 while still, you know, giving very limited access to humanitarian workers and humanitarian aid into
05:06 Gaza. And there are so many groups like yours that are advocating for more aid to be brought
05:11 to Gaza for a ceasefire to be put into place. What do you think it's going to take? Do you
05:16 feel like you're being listened to? Well, we've been working around the clock for the last six
05:20 months trying to do this advocacy, like you said. We've been trying around the clock for the last
05:25 six months to beg for a couple more trucks in. And so we're supposed to applaud when, you know,
05:30 a couple of trucks are inside and we're unable to really deliver in safety. You know, six World
05:35 Central Kitchen workers have died, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. But actually, 243 Palestinian
05:41 humanitarian relief workers have been killed in the last six months. That's an,
05:45 I mean, that is a huge capacity, human capital that we've lost, that we don't have that kind
05:51 of human capacity to deliver and respond. These people are on the ground responding to people,
05:55 you know, that are severely in need. And we've lost those people due to the Israeli bombardments.
06:02 And we actually, there's over 250 international organizations that have called for an arms
06:07 embargo against Israel. And yet that call remains unheeded. So, you know, what more should we be
06:15 doing? We have not, we have continuously spoken out and put in joint statements, done joint media
06:21 briefings to really ring the alarm bells. But again, nobody listens to the constituents. Nobody
06:28 listens to civil society. That's what it feels like. It feels like our calls are really falling
06:32 on deaf ears and we have to fight for the smallest compromise. All right, Bushra Khalidi, thank you
06:37 again so much for giving us your time today. Again, that's Bushra Khalidi, the West Bank Policy Lead
06:43 for Oxfam.
