Jordan's King Abdullah II and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid growing concern about civilians trapped in Rafah as Israel prepares for a ground assault on the city.
The leaders met in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba, a day after Germany joined an international air fleet that has been dropping emergency supplies into Gaza from Jordan for the last several weeks.
Mr Scholz told reporters that the international focus is “about ensuring we come to a long-lasting ceasefire” that could avert an Israeli assault on Rafah, a refuge for more than one million Palestinians displaced by Israel's five-month-old military offensive in Gaza.
During the meeting attended by HRH Crown Prince Hussein, His Majesty warned of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, which demands action to prevent further deterioration.
In addition, the King highlighted the importance of maintaining support for UNRWA, adding that suspending funds will have dangerous consequences in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan, the statement said.
His Majesty reaffirmed Jordan’s complete rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, which must both be part of the Palestinian state.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Sunday that his country cannot sit by and watch Palestinian men and women starve amid the war in Gaza.
"We cannot stand by and risk Palestinian women and men starving. Much more humanitarian aid must reach Gaza, a way must be found to improve the means of distribution," Scholz said, as Western nations increase their criticism of ally Israel.
MARGARET BRENNAN: According to UNICEF, 81% of households in Gaza don't have enough access to clean water, and nine in 10 people do not have enough food to survive. The organization's executive director is Catherine Russell, and she's here with us. Welcome to Face the Nation.
CATHERINE RUSSELL: Thank you very much, thanks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You focus in particular on the children. We heard this week from the leaders of the US intelligence community that there will be a generational impact from what is happening in Gaza. The implications of that they were looking through the national security lens. From your perspective, what does that mean? What does the generational impact mean?
CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, it means- it means that what's happening now is more than 13,000 children already have been killed, which is an astronomical horrifying number. Thousands more have been injured, or we can't even determine where they are, they may be stuck under rubble. Thousands more have lost one or both parents, some of these children, you've seen them on the news. They're just by themselves managing their younger siblings. I mean, it's a horrifying situation. So when you think about the impact of that on those children as they grow up, even on their- their children, right, it is an impact that is so profound, because of the stress that they're living under and the grief and the loss and the fear that they're living under. It's bound to have impacts on them the rest of their lives.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Since October 7, 33 Israeli children have been killed in those horrific attacks of that day. As you just said, 13,000 in Gaza that you know of--
CATHERINE RUSSELL: --That we know of.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That's just horrific–
CROSSTALK
CATHERINE RUSSELL: You know, honestly, the- the children who were killed in Israel, the- the children who were taken hostage, yeah, there are still children who have not been returned to their families in Israel, all horrific, right. Every one of those cases is so heartbreaking for that child and that family. I- I think these numbers that we're seeing out of Gaza are just staggering. I mean, we haven't seen that rate of death among children in- in almost any other conflict in the world. It's really shocking.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So your organization says 31% of children, one in three under the age of two, in northern Gaza suffer from acute malnutrition. This isn't just trauma, this is- this is stunting them for life.
CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, if they survive. And I have to say I've seen a lot of children, unfortunately, in my job around the world who suffer from malnutrition, and it is a shocking thing to see. I mean, essentially, the body starts to consume itself because it has nothing else and it's a painful, painful death for children. I've been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children the babies have don't even have the energy to cry. I mean, it is a devastating thing to see. And you're right, if they survive it, if we can manage to get what we do is provide therapeutic feeding for them. If we can get that to them, they can survive, but often they're stunted for life. And stunting means that your- your- your ability, your cognitive ability is impacted as well. So it is a lifelong challenge for these children, if they survive, but we know now that children are dying from malnutrition in- in Gaza.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The CIA director testified about children starving in Gaza. What are you able to actually get in at this point? And we know there are airdrops happening. You can't airdrop vaccines, you can't airdrop things that need to be refrigerated. So- so what's getting in and what do you need to get?
CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, first of all, the one thing we know for sure is not enough is getting in and the airdrops are, as you say, some things are coming in that way, some things came in through this maritime corridor, but it's a drop in the bucket in both cases. And what we need to get in for children is what I said, this therapeutic feeding which is something called Plumpy'nut, I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it's fantastic and it can save their lives. But we need to get it to them and we have so little access right now. And it's very challenging. We also are facing very great bureaucratic challenges, moving trucks in. Trucks and moving things by land is by far the most efficient, effective way to get aid in. But there are a lot of challenges to that where we can't, you know, I think, excuse me, Senator Van Hollen mentioned if things are dual use, sometimes they get rejected, so we can't get plastic pipes in, we can't get some medical kits if they have a little scissors in them. I mean, it's- it's completely, almost Kafkaesque sometimes trying to figure out how we get things into this bureaucratic mess. And I think at the end of the day, those are choices that are made, right. If the choice is--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Those are political choices.
CATHERINE RUSSELL: They are choices. And I think if the choice is to say we need to get as much humanitarian aid flooded into this area as possible, everyone can do better in that regard. And I think that the population there is suffering in such a terrible way. And I think one of the big challenges is, because there's such limited access--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Yeah.
CATHERINE RUSSELL: For the press, in addition, it's hard to see that, right. And I think it would be great if there were more transparency, if everyone could see what the challenges are, what the legitimate bottlenecks--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Yes.
CATHERINE RUSSELL: Are, and how we could all do better.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We rely on our producer who lives in Gaza, Marwar al-Ghoul, but we cannot get in--
CATHERINE RUSSELL: --Which is not right. You should be- you should be able to get it and you should be able to see what's happening. The world should be able to see what's happening and make their own judgments about what's going on.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 163 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "The death toll rose to 31,645 on Sunday afternoon, after 92 Palestinians were killed in the previous 24 hours." NBC adds, "Another 73,500 have been reported injured." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:
It said that around 30,000 displaced and wounded people and medical teams are still besieged inside the building.
It added that a fire has erupted at the gate of the hospital and there were cases of suffocation among displaced women and children at the facility and communications were cut off.
The government media office in Gaza has condemned the operation.
"The Israeli army's storming of Al Shifa Hospital with tanks, drones and weapons and shooting inside it is a war crime," it said.
A Palestinian journalist trapped inside al-Shifa Hospital has described the situation in the facility as “catastrophic” amid “intense clashes” and gunfire.
Wadea Abu Alsoud made the comments in a video posted to Instagram.
“This might be my last video,” he said. “We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There are shrapnels falling over the hospital’s yard.”
He added: “We’re currently besieged. Pray for us to get out safely. These are clashes as you can hear… we don’t know what’s going on outside al-Shifa hospital, but the situation here is catastrophic.”
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