A famine looms in Gaza
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
As Israel continues to wage its military campaign against Hamas, we break down why it has blocked humanitarian aid — including food — into Gaza. Hunger and disease now threaten hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza.
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More than 100 days into the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian crisis there continues to worsen. As Israel continues to block food and basic supplies from entering Gaza, the World Food Program estimates that 93 percent of people in Gaza are facing crisis levels of hunger. The World Health Organization warns that more Palestinian civilians could die from disease and starvation in the coming months than from Israeli military attacks.
Washington Post Cairo bureau chief Claire Parker, who has reported extensively on the Israel-Gaza war, joins “Post Reports” to talk about why it has been so difficult to get supplies into Gaza, whether more aid is forthcoming and how a lack of aid has left Gazans on the brink of famine.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Peter Bresnan. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Jesse Mesner-Hage.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As Israel's war in Gaza continues, daily life for people there is becoming more dire. |
| 0:08.0 | Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are starving, and access to food is getting harder, as A just trickles in. |
| 0:15.0 | We know that it's really, really difficult. |
| 0:17.5 | We've been told or heard from the World Food Program that more than 90% of people in Gaza are facing crisis levels of hunger. |
| 0:26.8 | Aid agencies are sounding the alarm that famine is looming and it's very difficult to get supplies and food into Gaza first of all |
| 0:36.6 | and then once in Gaza to the people who need it. |
| 0:41.3 | The UN issued a new warning saying Gaza is now suffering from a humanitarian crisis |
| 0:48.4 | unprecedented in modern times. One of the biggest problems, a lack of food and water leading to widespread |
| 0:54.9 | famine. |
| 0:55.9 | The WHO... |
| 0:56.9 | According to the United Nations, 90% of Brazil are displaced. More than one, four are starving. |
| 1:03.0 | International agencies accuse Israel of using food as a weapon of war. |
| 1:08.0 | And so it's just become a really catastrophic situation. |
| 1:12.0 | Claire Parker is the Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post and has been covering the Israel-Gaza War. |
| 1:18.0 | She's reported how difficult it is to deliver aid, including food to people in Gaza. |
| 1:23.6 | And the World Health Organization |
| 1:25.4 | has warned that the death toll from sickness |
| 1:28.4 | and starvation in the coming months |
| 1:30.3 | could surpass the number of people killed by bombs and bullets and tank shells so far in the war. |
| 1:37.2 | And that figure already stands at more than 24,000 according to Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. |
| 1:49.0 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, |
| 1:52.0 | this is Post Reports. |
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