Men carry away an injured girl following an Israeli strike on the town of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on 18 October. Photo: AFP / MOHAMMED FAIQ
Vital supplies such as food, water and shelter were needed "yesterday" in Gaza and UNICEF is among those ready to help, an expert says.
UNICEF's Middle East and North African spokesperson Saleem Oweis said the delivery of aid was much needed inside Gaza with no water, food and services. He said it was already shaping as a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel has been carrying out attacks on Gaza in response to deadly raids that killed hundreds of people earlier this month.
A deadly blast at a Gaza hospital earlier this week has killed up to 500 people but no death toll has been confirmed.
Both the Israel government and Palestinian officials have blamed each other.
US President Joe Biden, who has been visiting Israel, said his country's Defence data has backed up Israeli claims it was caused by a Palestinian rocket.
The attack on the hospital has heightened tensions in the region, already at boiling point since the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on 7 October that left 1400 people dead.
Photo: AFP / Abed Zagout
At least 3000 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
On aid, Biden said he had asked the Israeli cabinet to agree to the delivery of "live-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza" based on the understanding it would go to civilians not Hamas - and that Israel had agreed aid could "begin to move from Egypt to Gaza".
Oweis told Morning Report today: "The soonest this can happen the better and we needed it really yesterday. The situation in Gaza is really dire and to be honest it is a humanitarian catastrophe there."
With no clean drinking water, people were drawing it from the sea for both drinking and washing which led to a high risk of dehydration and sea-borne diseases, he said.
He wanted to see an immediate end to warfare and the opening of humanitarian corridors so that aid could get through.
Oweis said UNICEF and other aid organisations have 70 trucks containing aid supplies near the borders of Gaza and were ready to move.
Water, food, water purification tablets, shelter and medicine were among the supplies that have been assembled.
An injured girl is treated for wounds suffered in the current conflict. Photo: AFP / Abed Zagout
"We are waiting for that moment when the gates are open and we are allowed in."
Some UNICEF workers remained on the ground in Gaza and they were "heroes" facing the same challenges that residents were living with during such "a traumatic time", Oweis said.
" ... but unfortunately now we've run out of supplies inside Gaza, we've used everything. That's why it's paramount to get all the supplies inside and -serve all the children and families in need."
Call for New Zealand to be more balanced in its conflict response
FIANZ chairperson Abdur Razzaq said the New Zealand government needed to take a more balanced approach to what was unfolding in the Middle East.
He contrasted its current response to what had happened during Russia's war with Ukraine which has been running for the last 20 months.
The government had given $2.65 million to the International Criminal Court for investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine; for incidents such as this week's attack on a hospital, it had only used words, Razzaq said.
"Other countries have talked about a proportionate response; the UN has talked about collective punishment which is against war crimes.
"We are silent on this..."
He said in the past New Zealand has been a beacon around the world in its humanitarian response.
It had given close to $15m for humanitarian assistance in Ukraine compared with $5m for those suffering from the present conflict in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
The initial contribution, announced on Tuesday, would include $2.5m to the International Committee of the Red Cross and a further $2.5m to the World Food Programme under the umbrella of the United Nations appeal.
The Defence Force also remains on standby to help with evacuations of New Zealanders from the area, if required.
He acknowledged the government was in transition due to the general election.
Current Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has been contacted for comment.
Razzaq said there was not a single Palestinian family in New Zealand that was not affected by the current conflict and the community was traumatised.
While the SIS, police and other agencies had been supportive, he was unhappy with media coverage of the situation, claiming it was one-sided.
The Muslim Healthcare Workers Aotearoa group said it condemned the recent bombing of the hospital in Gaza and wanted an end to all violence in the region.
A Palestinian-Kiwi doctor based in Whanganui, Nafiz Gamri, has whānau in Gaza he has not heard from then since the fighting began.
It was very difficult to have any contact with his relatives because there was no electricity or internet connections, he told Morning Report.
His plea was that Israel would stop bombing Gaza, a narrow strip 40 kilometres by 5km containing 2.2 million people.
"So whenever a rocket falls down it kills 10 people."
He believed there was a humanitarian disaster already unfolding in Gaza.
Asked to comment on the recent Hamas attack that has led to the current conflict, he said he was not a politician but there were a lot of atrocities happening on the West Bank that had no Hamas members.
"So this is an unacceptable excuse."
