Save the Children in Gaza: 'The situation here is absolutely dire'

SBS Australia

2 days ago

"You know, this is another mass casualty incident that is being reported in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for Food Distribution. The situation here is absolutely dire. And my team said to me today, the situation in Gaza has never been this bad. They are desperately hungry." That was Rachael Cummings, Save The Children's Humanitarian Director in Gaza. "Children are crying all the time for food. And my teams who are employed, they have money in their bank accounts, they're unable to find food in Gaza to buy. So the situation is absolutely terrible and people are making impossible choices to risk their lives to try and find food." On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence organisation says the Israeli army killed 93 people and wounded dozens more as they were lining up for humanitarian aid. According to witnesses and officials, 80 people were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north. Ehab Al-Zein was a witness to the attack and says those killed were starving and trying to feed their families. "We were waiting for flour because of hunger. We wanted to eat and drink. Suddenly the tanks came out, surrounding us. They started shooting at us and we were unable to move. We could not get the flour and we remained surrounded for about an hour and a half to two hours. Some escaped, some were killed and others were injured. As you can see, this is our situation." The Civil Defence Agency says Israeli troops shot and killed nine others near an aid point close to Rafah, where dozens of people were killed just 24 hours earlier. The Israeli military says it contests the death toll and claims IDF soldiers do not target civilians. Health authorities in Gaza say on Sunday, 18 people died of starvation. In a post on social media, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees condemned ongoing aid restrictions and said: 'This is a manmade and politically motivated starvation of a people'. Um Mahmoud Abu Tarboosh says all she wants is to feed her son. "Certainly, it feels like weakness and sadness because I can't even provide my son with just bread. We don't want meat, chicken, or poultry, just flour and bread to eat and hopefully stave off hunger. Of course, I will remain very upset. I tell you, I prioritise my son over myself, giving him my portion and saying that I will endure." As the Gaza Health Ministry's recorded death toll nears 60,000, Israeli forces are launching a new ground offensive in the central Gaza area of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military issued displacement orders for the area, which Save The Children estimates is sheltering between 50,000 and 80,000 displaced Palestinians. Most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced multiple times since 2023, and the United Nations says over 86 per cent of Gaza is now controlled by the IDF. Rachael Cummings says the people in Gaza have nowhere to "We're in Deir al-Balah, and today there was evacuation notices across Deir al-Balah affecting between 50 and 80,000 people who are now being forcibly displaced from Deir al-Balah into Al-Muwasi in Khan Younis, and some of my team are living in these areas, and they literally have nowhere to go. There is nowhere for people to go, there is nowhere safe in Gaza for people to move to. So the situation for my team and other humanitarian workers here is absolutely desperate." The expanding ground invasion of Deir al-Balah has prompted outcry from hostage families in Israel. While the Israeli military statement says the IDF has not operated in Deir al-Balah before, Israel has conducted air strikes there, and ground forces have previously operated on the outskirts of the city. However, with 20 of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages believed to be alive in Gaza, some Israelis fear they are being held in Deir al-Balah and are at imminent risk if IDF forces invade. Ruhama Bohbot is the mother of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. She says she is very worried about the new orders. "I am indeed worried because I didn't understand why they arrived there today just as the negotiations are starting to progress and the deal is likely to go through. I am very optimistic, which is why I speak cautiously. It didn't sit well with me because people forget that what's happening is that the hostages are forty metres underground, which endangers them and also endangers our IDF soldiers, as well as our security forces." Israel's army chief, Eyal Zamir, says he believes a ceasefire and hostage release deal is increasingly possible. During indirect negotiations in Qatar, Israel and Hamas have been struggling for months to reach a deal enabling a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. If a temporary ceasefire deal is reached, the parties will then negotiate an end to Israel's war on Gaza and the release of the last Israeli hostages. Ruby Chen, the father of US-Israeli IDF soldier Itay Chen, says a deal must be done. "We know the outlines of the deal exists. What's missing is the final push. The kind of resolve that only President Trump can bring. The voice that says, enough waiting, enough bullshitting - now is the time to end the suffering and bring a deal that all the hostages, all the 50 hostages are able to come back. And there will be consequences for those responsible for the collapse of the deal." Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says he has ordered the withdrawal of a senior UN humanitarian official's residency permit, accusing him of spreading lies about Israel. Jonathan Whittall, who lives in Jerusalem and frequently visits the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly condemned the conditions imposed by Israel on the more than two million people living in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israel has made it harder to get visas for those working for OCHA, the UN human rights office, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Save The Children's Rachael Cummings says aid workers in Gaza must be allowed to do their job. "There's two million people in Gaza on the brink of famine. We need safe and dignified distributions. We need the humanitarian community to be allowed to do our jobs. We know how to deliver food and services to children and their families across Gaza. We just need to be able to do that."