(NewsNation) — The U.S. began airdropping emergency humanitarian aid into Gaza as Palestinians in Rafah face inhumane living conditions and continued devastation.
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram joined NewsNation’s “Morning in America” to discuss what Gazans are facing every day as Israel prepares for an invasion into Rafah.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In Rafah at the moment, it’s really a patchwork of plastic, there’s makeshift tents and shelters everywhere. People living wherever they can find a little bit of space. It’s really cold in the region at the moment, and it’s been raining,” Ingram said. “Families, mums in particular, spoke to me about how hard it was to get their kids food and there’s just no clean water. So families are increasingly getting sick.”
International mediators have been working for weeks to broker a deal to pause the fighting before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins around March 10.
A deal likely would allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza who aid officials worry are under threat of famine.
Ingram says while countries are sending aid to Gaza, it is only trickling down to the people who need it.
“It’s far, far less than the needs on the ground. And that’s because of really complex and slow screening processes at those borders, which really restrict the number of trucks that we can get in,” Ingram said. “We need more aid to get into Gaza. And then we need the conditions within Gaza, for us to safely distribute that across the strip to the vulnerable children and families that need it.”