TRANSCRIPT
It's become an all too familiar sound: explosions along the skyline in Gaza, as rockets strike their targets.
The nearly five months of fighting has left much of Gaza in ruins.
There's also no rest on the border with Lebanon, where Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have traded fire nearly every day since the start of the war in October.
These shopkeepers near the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona have gotten used to constant air raid sirens, warning them of impending danger.
“Here, there's a siren, Izachar (his worker) to the reinforced room, quickly, come, come. There's a reinforced room here, we only spoke (about that).”
The Red Cross' Fabrizio Carzoni says he's checking reports that like Gaza, Lebanon's health system is under increasingly severe pressure, with workers fleeing, or being killed or injured in clashes.
He says seven rescue workers and paramedics have reportedly died in Israeli shelling over the past five months.
“In this specific case, obviously I don’t have all the elements in hand. What I see, it’s very concerning, it’s very worrying.”
Tensions in the Red Sea have also continued to flare.
In the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults, two people have been killed by Yemen's Houthi rebels on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi spokesman Brigadier Yahya Saree says they have no intention of stopping their campaign.
“The Yemeni military forces operations will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”
Within Gaza itself, there is growing tension and despair as goods and services become increasingly scarce, and hunger and disease becomes more common.
In Rafah, viligante groups have been formed by the Palestinian interior ministry to monitor the sale of the few goods that remain on offer.
This member says their aim is to stop merchants from price gouging, after the civil police force went underground saying it was targeted by Israeli strikes.
“The ministry of economy sets the price of every good which everyone should follow, including big traders, even before smaller ones. Those who violate (these price tags) are given warnings for the first time and the second time - and on the third time, we confiscate the goods and sell the goods to citizens with the agreed price tags.”
For much of the population, aid remains their lifeline.
But the U.N's humanitarian coordinator, James McGoldrick, says the agency continues to experience problems with aid delivery, because of challenges coordinating with the Israeli military, and the breakdown of public order.
“We need to significantly scale up the humanitarian assistance in there. And that would be that, you know, we have to use this military road, this fence road at the side, on the eastern side, to allow material to come from the crossing point in Kerem Shalom and Rafah, all the way up to the north and into the north at a crossing point there... And we have to get up at least 300 trucks a day. Right now, we're lucky if we're getting about 150.”
The World Food Programme's Emergency Director, Samer Abdel Jaber, says they have enough food to feed the entire Gaza population - but they cannot get it all over the border.
“That food at the moment is outside the Gaza Strip. We need land crossings, we need access to get it into Gaza, whether in the southern parts of Gaza or the northern part of Gaza because the situation is catastrophic. So having access is really our number one priority. We have everything to make sure that we are reaching the people.”
Cyprus has proposed a maritime corridor for the delivery of aid, while the US has continued to air drop parcels.
EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič says it's not ideal, but it's all they have to work with.
“There are some challenges with regard to the maritime corridor that need to be addressed, namely the drop-off point or the unloading point in Gaza, where there is at the moment no port facility. There is also the need to ensure receiving structure... The scenes that you were able to see with regard to crowds of hungry people running after parachutes falling on the ground. This is not the proper way of handling, receiving, and distributing humanitarian aid.”
There's broad agreement that a ceasefire will help in the delivery of aid to the Gazan population.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia's perspective on that score remains unchanged.
“Our call for a humanitarian ceasefire, our call for hostages to be released, our call for a political solution that must include a two-state solution, where Palestinians and Israelis can live with security and stability side-by-side, that is in the interests of everyone in the region. That is Australia's position.”
But ceasefire talks in Cairo appear to have stalled.
Israel has reportedly proposed a 40 day ceasefire, while Hamas wants a permanent end to the fighting.
US president Joe Biden says it's up to Hamas to accept the offer that's on the table.
“It's in the hands of Hamas right now. The Israelis have been cooperating. There's a offer out there that's rational... There's got to be a ceasefire, because Ramadan - if we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan in Israel and Jerusalem, it could be very, very dangerous.”
