--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Welcome to Today Explained. I'm Sean Rameswaram.
--:-- Anat Pelled: And I'm Anat Pelled, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal based in Tel Aviv covering the war.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Anat, it seems like this war has reached maybe yet another breaking point in just the past few days. Can you tell us what's going on?
--:-- Anat Pelled: So we're seeing a dire hunger crisis, starvation in the Strip. And this has just caused international condemnation. We're seeing a lot of countries. We saw a group of almost 30 countries speaking out against it. And we saw over 100 humanitarian and charity groups talking about it.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's causing this pressure on Israel in the past few days?
--:-- Anat Pelled: So Israel had to up the aid as a result of this pressure. They're saying a few things will happen. They're saying that they're going to reintroduce airdrops, which are a very expensive form of aid distribution that actually is not the most effective.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's the situation on the ground like in Gaza?
--:-- Anat Pelled: The starvation that we're seeing inside the Gaza Strip is a result of two things. And that is the first, that Israel basically stopped any aid, fuel or medicine from coming into the Strip after a January ceasefire fell apart.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's the current situation with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
--:-- Anat Pelled: Our reporting shows that it was meant to eventually replace a system that has been in place since the start of the war. And that is basically, you know, aid trucks coming in from the UN mostly and aid organizations.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how dire is the situation in Gaza right now?
--:-- Anat Pelled: Yeah, the situation is, I think, the worst we've seen since the start of the war. And you see that I think in the images, the videos that are all over the news and you see a lot more desperation.
--:-- [Audio clip of Nohamsalha speaking]
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Anat, can you tell us more about what you've seen at these aid sites through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
--:-- Anat Pelled: Yeah. So basically what my colleague saw, and you know, he took videos and he's shown me that and we describe it in the article. For about an hour, I watched people walk about two kilometers from their homes in Khan Yunus or in Marwansi tent camp near the seaside and gather outside a distribution site.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what happened when the aid distribution started?
--:-- Anat Pelled: And then suddenly an instant, you know, this rush began and men broke through the security line. All hell broke loose very, very fast. Suddenly everyone began sprinting towards the aid distribution site, running as fast as they could.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what about the Israeli military's role in these aid sites?
--:-- Anat Pelled: Our reporting shows that it's Israeli troops that have been firing what they call warning shots at Palestinians trying to come to these aid sites.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's the situation with Hamas and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
--:-- Anat Pelled: Reuters reported just Friday, I believe, that USAID stated that while Hamas may have stolen food at some point, they weren't stealing anything from the United States. And I think there's been further reporting that there's been no significant theft from the United Nations.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And was the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ever needed in this situation in the first place?
--:-- Anat Pelled: I think it depends who you're asking. The Israelis would argue that it is needed, at least, you know, publicly.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's the current situation with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's leadership?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We wanted to figure out who's in charge of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. We asked Arno Rosenfeld from The Forward, the largest Jewish news outfit here in the United States.
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: Yeah, so Johnny Moore is an evangelical leader with a long history in Republican politics.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's his background like?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: He graduated from Liberty University and then worked in communications for them for a number of years. At Liberty University, we have welcomed God who authored all knowledge into the educational process.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's his role in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: He's been on a big media tour. So he's leaning into his sort of PR expertise in this new role.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's he saying on his big media tour?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: His argument is basically that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the victim of a series or a variety of conspiracy theories.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how's he responding to criticism from the UN and other institutions?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: Despite what you may read in the press and the criticism that you hear from the United Nations and other institutions what we doing has actually been unbelievably effective.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how's he responding to the criticism about the number of Palestinians who have died trying to get aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: His argument is, again, uh, it's very tragic. They never want anyone to lose their lives.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And is he convincing anyone with his message?
--:-- Arno Rosenfeld: I think that one of the things that's important to understand about his role and really about what I think the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is intended to do is that there is a segment of Israel supporters in the United States that live in a little bit of an alternate reality.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And what's the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's response to our show today?
--:-- [Audio clip of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation spokesperson speaking]
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And finally, I want to thank our team, Avishay Artsy, Jolie Myers, Rebeca Ibarra, Amina Al-Sadi, Andrea Kristinsdottir, and Patrick Boyd for their hard work on this episode.
--:-- Avishay Artsy: Thanks for listening to Today Explained.
