ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
A statement from 115 international aid organizations begins, as the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. These aid groups say they are watching their own colleagues waste away due to what they call mass starvation. The letter calls for a ceasefire and the full flow of aid through a U.N.-led mechanism, not the distribution system currently in place. Mercy Corps is one of the groups that signed this letter and one of the aid organizations operating in Gaza. Here in the studio we have Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps. Thank you for joining us.
KATE PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Thank you for having me.
SHAPIRO: What are you hearing from your aid workers on the ground there?
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Well, I think, you know, the first point that I'd make that they have conveyed is we really are at a precipice here where we are turning into - we're tipping into a point of no return. And by that, I mean things have gotten so far afield towards famine and really significant food insecurity that we may not even be able to turn this situation around if there were more aid going into Gaza because it's causing so much damage.
So just to paint a picture for you, the types of things that we hear from our staff - who, like you noted, are spending a lot of their time every day just trying to find the next meal for themselves and their families - are seeing people fainting in the streets due to dehydration and lack of access to food. They're also hearing, you know, stories from people in the communities that they live in and from our program participants, you know, that their children are saying things like, you know, I just want to die because at least in heaven, there might be food.
SHAPIRO: I know that food has been scarce since the beginning of this war. In the past, those with money could find food, though it may have been prohibitively expensive. Is it no longer available even for people who have the cash to pay for it?
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: It's almost not available. It is exorbitantly expensive. Prices have risen something like 7,000% since October 2023. One example given to us by our staff is that just a simple sack of flour these days costs $480. And for a family that's been, you know, suffering the conflict for 21 months, the coping mechanisms and the money they have, it's just simply out of reach, if they can even find it in the market.
SHAPIRO: Let's talk about the aid distribution scheme. It relies on a private group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation supported by Israel and the U.S. This joint statement says massacres are occurring near daily at these aid sites. The U.N. documents more than 800 Palestinians killed seeking food there. Can you explain why this scheme is so much more dangerous than the previous U.N. model that you would like to see come back?
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Yes. This scheme, you know, provides assistance in very limited locations throughout the Gaza Strip. There were scores and scores and scores more locations where people could pick up food or other critical items under the U.N.-led mechanism. So it really kind of shunts people into very few spaces where they can get this food. And in order to get there, they're often going through places that are quite dangerous either because they're littered with unexploded ordnance or because they have to sort of cross near Israeli forces, and as a result, we've seen these massacres that have occurred.
But in addition to that, it's very hard for people, particularly the most vulnerable - elderly people, women-headed households - to get there. And there's also, just because of the situation I described, how little there is, often panic and chaos and lack of communication around this. And we see crushing incidents, like happened last week at one of these sites. So as a result, you know, they're very dangerous, to go to these places.
SHAPIRO: You used the word massacres. Israel continues to deny targeting citizens at the distribution sites. And the government says the previous aid system led by the U.N. allowed Hamas to siphon off that aid. How do you respond to that?
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Well, we've, you know, repeatedly asked for information. We have a lot of controls in these types of programs, as does the U.N., as do other NGOs. And that was simply not our experience. And one point we are continually trying to make is that if anybody is profiting on this, Hamas or otherwise, the absolute best thing that you could do is let in as much food as possible because it would drive down prices. When everybody has it, it doesn't have that high of a value. And so, right now, I fear it's at a premium. And so it's not addressing that concern at all while people are starving.
SHAPIRO: Today, Israel's foreign ministry rejected the claims in this letter and said your organizations are echoing Hamas talking points. So do you believe this is going to have any impact?
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Well, we have to bear testimony to the fact that we think we are about to tip into a mass starvation event. This isn't the same situation as last fall or last spring. We are talking about four months here where no commercial supplies, very little humanitarian aid is making it in. We're going to start seeing likely children dying in great numbers, so we have to make that clear. And so, you know, we don't have a role to play in this conflict. We're only there to serve people and humanity. And what we are seeing is one of the single worst situations we've seen ever, with people dying literally miles from available food.
SHAPIRO: Kate Phillips-Barrasso is vice president of global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps. And in another part of the program, we'll hear from Israel's permanent representative to the U.N., Danny Danon. Thank you.
PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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