>> i have seven homeless families in my house. i have been here since 7:00 a.m. >> my house has had no water for

five days. yesterday, all we got was saltwater. >> israel has told 1.1 one million people in the north of gaza to leave ahead of intense military action. families are gathering everything they can carry and heading south. but all that awaits them is a closed border. israeli bombing has forced the closure of the crossing with egypt, and there are concerns about a potential influx of refugees. aid trucks are lined up on the egyptian side of the border, unable to enter. the united nations is trying to convince all parties to allow the aid through. >> we need to get aid to those people for two reasons. number one, to make their movements safe to where they want to go voluntarily, and two, to sustain them while they are there because they won't get out of gaza. aid access is our overwhelming priority and we are in deep discussions hourly with the

israelis, with the egyptians, with the gazans for how to do that. >> the humanitarian crisis is growing worse by the day. in addition to the rising number of palestinians killed, the israeli bombardment has injured thousands. >> would have no resources, no equipment to help those trapped under the rubble, no medical facilities to treat the injured. we are digging with our bare hands. this is a disaster. >> as food and water run short, more and more people will fall ill, and when the last of the fuel runs out, hospitals will struggle to keep them alive. >> let's bring in our guests now. and oxfam spokesperson and gaza resident. her family is among the hundreds of thousands displaced. in oxford in the u.k. is a

consulting surgeon who visits gaza regularly to train medical students and doctors, and also a member of the u.k.-based charity medical aid for palestine. in cairo, egypt, the founder and director of the european north african center for research. a warm welcome to you all. thank you for joining us. let me start with you in gaza. it has been more than 10 days since the israeli bombardment of gaza began, and it is feared the humanitarian situation could get much worse. can you tell us about what the current situation is inside gaza and how much longer can people hold on for without any aid coming into the besieged territory? >> the situation is devastating. the severity of the attacks on homes and infrastructure, that has been continuous.

the past days have not given any opportunity for anything that can be restored to connect or even move their own belongings. prior to this move to the south that we all did it all together, we were already 22 hour more in our house coming altogether to this place. the situation is extremely dire because there is no access to fuel. there is damaged and destroyed infrastructure, and the wastewater treatment plant has no access to water, and there is no capacity to physically move even within the cities and within the towns.

>> let me touch on something quickly. you talked about water. the israelis said they have restored water to some parts of gaza, which hamas has denied. can you tell us about some of the basic necessities that you have right now, you and your family? is there any water at all? is there any food? it is not running up -- are you able to get bread where you are or is that running out completely? >> in the south, there is more numbers of people displaced. but mind you that airstrikes have not stopped in essential areas or on the road that they claim to be safe package during the evacuation.

also regarding the claim of the water, i don't have official information on if it is back or not, but because the problem is much more complicated, you have water networks that have been destroyed, travel infrastructure that has been destroyed that is mainly affecting the distribution of water. it gets to a certain area, and then it has to be redistributed, and this capacity is no longer there with no fuel generators and no proper network. it is still something for the media, that is my opinion. when it comes to other issues, the problem is that we are not connected. we rely on water wells.

because we rely on them, water wells have been so depleted and so bad in terms of poverty, we cannot use them for drinking. every day we are trying to solve the problem for the people here. we are still managing, but we only have drinking water until tomorrow and we are about 60 people here. we don't know if tomorrow we will be able to find the water vendor in the area available to bring us water. this is all very uncertain. in addition, we need water for cleaning and washing. this is very complicated. >> you described a very dire situation. i will bring in dr. maynard to talk to the situation about the houses -- they hospitals in gaza. >> there was the food situation and the statement issued today

from the world food program, which is quite alarming because the situation is already very difficult before october 7. the program has been suffering from a lack of funding. now it is saying that the food supply will run out within four days, so the stocks available within the strip will be depleted and not be available in the coming four days. this is very critical. the problem, there is no window, no hope for any humanitarian corridors, for any cease-fire or anything like that, and now it is impossible, but to see suffering more and more evident, what else is the world waiting for for more crisis? >> we will discuss it in the question of humanitarian corridors in a moment, but i

want to bring in dr. maynard in oxford. the situation was bleak even before this latest conflict began, and there were already shortages of medical supplies in hospitals, medical equipment. what are you hearing about the current situation in hospitals across gaza, if it's in the north or the south where some hospitals have been asked to relocate, to move patients to the south, which has been extremely difficult. what are you hearing about the conditions in these hospitals? >> that the situation is absolutely desperate, and there's a very clear view that i share that the health care system in gaza is on the verge of total collapse if aid is not allowed in. i hear that up to four hospitals in gaza are unable to function at all at current levels because the infrastructure has been so badly damaged. i have had most reports from the hospital where i have spent most of my time over the years, and

they are essentially hanging on, but with extremely limited resources. they are very worried about the amount of water they have, and they are rationing that now. they are very frightened that the fuel serving their generators is about to run out, and if that runs out, they will no longer be able to keep people alive on ventilators. the minute that fuel runs out, all ventilated patients will likely die. it will be extremely difficult to run an operating theater without electricity from the generators, so they are in a state of appalling desperation and near collapse of the whole health care system. >> when you are talking about access to clean water, the lack of access to clean water, you are talking about also the possibility of an even wider and larger health crisis, are not you? >> most certainly. the washing facilities are very

few and far between. dirty water is a big concern, and the situations are actually ripe for outbreaks of communicable, infectious diseases, and that's a very real risk sweeping through the population. >> let me bring you into the conversation. immediate, unconditional access to life-saving aid in gaza is what the united nations is calling for today, and a number of agencies, including who, unicef, wf p say they are all ready to bring aid in two gaza. why is that not happening? why is aid not going in two gaza? is it being politicized? >> thank you for having me. it is very important to explain the history behind that. everything the doctor in the u.k. mentioned and the guest in

gaza mentioned, this has been the situation in gaza for the past 18 years. it is very important to point out that this is not the state that gaza has been living under for just the past week or the past 10 days. it is the situation that the gaza people, the gaza population , the gaza strip that is the most populated place in the world, ok? this is the dire situation that everyone has been facing in gaza for the past 18 years because gaza has been under siege and blockaded for the past 18 years. it is very important to point out that israel has the control over six crossing gates or crossing borders, but the rafa

one is shared between the egyptian authority and israel, ok? so they have the authority over six crossing borders out of seven, and they are still not letting the aid in. it is very important to point out that the gazan people are under collective punishment, ok? collective punishment and this is not an easy situation to live under. like the doctor mentioned, the status of the hospitals, according to humanitarian reports, only one person, one individual has a bed in a hospital, for everyone to understand what we are talking about, out of 1000 people. this is the situation that gaza has been living under. >> indeed. let me just pick up on something you have said, and that is that israel controls six border

crossings into gaza and are refusing to let aid in. egypt, as you said, controls the rafah crossing in southern gaza. there's been talk in the last few days of opening that crossing to let aid in through asia to also allow dual nationals to get out of the gaza strip, right? why has that not happened? what conditions is egypt putting on to allow that rafah crossing to open or is it the israelis? who is putting the pressure on right now, egypt over the israelis? >> i will explain to you. this is the only crossing border that is shared authority between israel and egypt. from our part, from egyptian border it is open. we have hundreds and tons of resources to let in to our brothers and sisters inside of gaza, but the problem comes from

the israel part. the crossing border from our part is open, and with all the convoys, with tons of things waiting on the border, and israel does not let it in, we need something to guarantee that israel would let the humanitarian into gaza, so we said we are not letting any other nationalities rather than the palestinians get outside of that border, and we have foreigners, other nationality holders, americans, french, everyone waiting on the border to be evacuated from the rafah crossing border with israel bombing the border from fireside. they don't even respect the other nationalities who are not palestinians who are waiting to be evacuating, and that is an egyptian condition. it is important to point out that is an egyptian condition. just to pressure and force

israel to let humanitarian aid in, and they did not abide to that deal. we needed a fast deal to let the humanitarian convoys get into gaza, and they did not let that. first, they put a condition to inspect the convoys, and there are tons of convoys, so egypt said, we are responsible for that and we are responsible for leading the humanitarian aid inside gaza, and it is under our supervision with u.s., of course, supervision as well. >> what is your understanding as to what is happening at the rafah crossing with egypt? of course, the aid could come in through the border with israel as well. six crossings there, but there's been a lot of focus right now on rafah. there are lots of crossings

outside waiting to cross it in with much-needed aid. what is happening in that crossing and the conditions in which aid would be allowed in? >> honestly, it is not very clear. i do not have more information except for how we read it in gaza is that there is a concern also by the egyptians that this would be an evacuation that would lead to a transfer of palestinians to a refugee kind of state. of course, palestinians don't want that, and egyptians don't want that. israel is pushing toward that or whatever, some other world leaders are involved in such discussions or such plans, this

is how it is kind of brought up in the back of our minds as palestinians living here. the minute i left my home from gaza city to central gaza, i had this fear immediately, are we going to come back? that's one thing. on the other, israel would not really care much. for them, it is their operation and their business that matters. it is just the amount of pressure they are put under to allow aid, and it seems it is not enough. it will have to be seen in the coming days if they have more of that pressure, is it only to evacuate their citizens or other

nationalities? a friend went to the border yesterday because the minute they were saying that they have a window that they could actually cross, nobody crossed. nothing. there was another attack on the border. it is a total mess. a friend on the other site tells me, yeah. >> as people congregate towards the southern border with gaza, there are, of course, some cascading effects being created. i wanted to ask you one more question about the aid before i bring back dr. maynard to talk about what the most immediate needs are right now. i wanted to ask you about something israel has said, and more specifically, the former prime minister, who said that hamas is trying to prevent aid from coming in to gaza, accusing hamas of taking some of the

goods that were left in the shelters that the united nations had to evacuate from. did you see any evidence that hamas is preventing aid from coming in, as the israelis say? >> i have not seen anything for sure. i cannot comment on anything like that. i think it does not make any sense, honestly, because the amount of aid that has been, for example, stockpiled at some united nations agencies is hardly enough for a short duration, so i really don't think -- i would not imagine from where would this be coming from. under all this having bombardment and as we see happens, nothing that goes into gaza. i would doubt it very much, but again, i do not have solid

information. >> let me bring in dr. maynard now. there are children still being born in gaza today. there's no water, no food, and the situation is becoming worse. what are the most urgent needs right now? would you like to see those -- what would you like to see those aid convoys carrying in to gaza once they are allowed in? >> i think it rather fanciful to think opening one border is going to get enough aid in to service the whole of gaza. most of the roads and hospitals have been destroyed. the notion that large numbers of patients and civilians can be evacuated through one opening i think is frankly, fanciful. i think there needs to be a lift of the siege completely and many

more border crossings that can be open from israel need to be open to allow aid to come in that way. speaking from a u.k. perspective, no medical aid from palestine has got many health care workers who were poised to come and go in and help, and i'm sure other countries would do the same. the minute aid is allowed it in, and it needs to be allowed in from all the borders -- that really needs to happen in the next day or two. >> even if the aide is allowed in, there is not going to be a light switch, is it? even if aid gets in, it does not mean a humanitarian crisis is averted. >> most certainly not. i think it has gone too far down that road now to effort it -- two avert -- to avert it. the grave risk of widespread disease will remain. there are many people who are injured and may not be saved anyway, so there will not be an immediate turnaround, but i think once there is no fuel for

the generators, once there is no water, once there are no blood products which are running out, then there will be a total collapse of the health care system. >> what about creating safe corridors? what is the potential for that happening in the near future? >> i want to just comment today, and united nations security council resolution has been blocked as an initiative to result in a resolution to stop the fire in gaza. organizations are doing a great job, but it is scary contradicting how the politics behind this conflict is blocking those united nations agencies from carrying out their own missions. his it's very important to find out that israel has to respect

human rights and let the humanitarian corridors work out for all palestinians, and stopping fire is a must first. hopefully in the future, another united nations security council resolution in that matter. >> the politics are really important in all of this. the u.s. we know has appointed what they are saying is a special envoy for middle eastern humanitarian issues. president biden is heading to the region in the next few days. do you think you can push things over the line when he visits wednesday on the humanitarian question? >> this is why egypt wanted the u.s. supervision over that past deal to let the humanitarian aid in, and that's why presidencies he called for an international summit next saturday, october 21, and the timing is very important.

president biden wants to impress in the u.s. inside and out, he would help in this conflict. >> i know you are talking to us under very difficult circumstances, very difficult conditions. what would you like to see happen in the immediate? what is your message to the international community today? >> my message to the international community is actually a question that until when -- i mean what should happen to make this stop? once we are focused on the humanitarian crisis, we are also forgetting that israel is killing every day tends of thousands of palestinians and destroying the infrastructure of more and more of our neighborhoods in gaza, and nobody is able to stop that. i think the world should stop

its double standard and remember that we are equally human. the other thing is that there must be an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, at least to try and minimize the hardship where there are thousands of people suffering every minute. i'm only experiencing a sample of that, and it is very, very difficult. >> thank you so much for talking to us. thank you to all three of you for joining us on "inside story" today, and thank you, too, for watching. you can watch any time by visiting our website. for further discussion, go to our facebook page. of course, you can join the

conversation on x. thanks for watching. goodbye for now.

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