TRANSCRIPT
In Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, a breakthrough has been made in the delivery of aid to desperate civilians.
United Nations humanitarian officials say they have finally been granted access to the tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians there after being blocked by Israeli forces for weeks.
Gloria Lazic, from the U-N's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA [[oh-chah]], says they're now trying to make up for lost time.
“So we have finally managed to reach Gaza City after five attempts. We are here to assess the needs of the population, newly displaced after the beginning of military operations in northern Gaza, especially in Jabalia camp. So, we estimate that there are more than 60,000 people who have been displaced recently in the last two weeks following these operations.”
One of the displaced Palestinians in Gaza City says the level of desperation has reached a critical point.
"The situation is very bad. In every area we stay, we don't have bedding sets, covers or anything. We don't have treatment at all. We're even deprived of food. There's no food. We have children who suffer from rickets. There's no treatment or medicine for it. We're oppressed. The area they force us out from and say it's safe is not safe."
This comes amid two weeks of a major Israeli ground offensive against Hamas forces around the Jabalia refugee camp, which lies just north of Gaza City.
An earlier Israeli strike on the nearby city of Beit Lahiya shocked the international community, after a residential block was levelled, with at least 87 people killed or left missing under rubble as a result.
Israel claims the strike was targeting Hamas militants.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Gaza's first responders body, says the recent escalation of attacks has devastated the north of Gaza.
"There is a clear focus on the northern Gaza Strip, specifically the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. These areas are now subject to widespread military operations. The occupation has not stopped targeting homes, striking citizens where they live. From dawn until now, this afternoon, there have been 33 martyrs in Gaza City and the northern area: 27 martyrs in the northern area, and several more in Gaza City, most of whom were killed as a result of homes being targeted without warning."
Many of those in Gaza City fled from Jabalia, where a number of their family members remain amid standoffs between soldiers and militants and the relentless bombing campaign.
Ms Lazic from OCHA says her and her fellow humanitarian workers are doing their best to assist the starving and wounded in the city, but there are still barriers to helping the wounded.
“People are asking us for food, they are asking us for access to water. But above all, we received many, many requests asking us to go save and evacuate people who have remained in Jabalia camp and also, go support the collection of bodies. This is a very sad situation, especially as access to this area is limited. We have been trying to bring goods to Jabalia camp for now, two weeks, and this has been regularly denied.”
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel has continued pounding the capital Beirut in new attempts to target the financial network of Hezbollah.
Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, claims these caches of money and gold have been deliberately located under civilian infrastructure.
"The Israeli Air Force carried out a series of precise strikes on this Hezbollah financial stronghold. One of our main targets last night was an underground vault with millions of dollars in cash and gold under a residential building. Tonight I am going to declassify intelligence on a site that we did not strike where Hezbollah has millions of dollars in gold and cash in Hassan Nasrallah's bunker. Where is the bunker located? Directly under Al-Sahel hospital in the heart of Beirut in the Dahiya."
Israel has not provided evidence of this claim.
