Hundreds of Palestinians are fleeing
parts of Gaza City after Israel began
the first stages of a planned ground
offensive. The UN's calling for an
immediate ceasefire to avoid what it
says will be inevitable death and
destruction. Israel's military says it
has a hold on the outskirts of Gaza City
as it begins the first stages of its
plan to capture and occupy the area.
Explosions were seen in northern Gaza
overnight as the military bombardment of
the area continued. Israel's described
Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold, but the
United Nations has characterized the
plan as systematic destruction of Gaza's
largest city. The French president,
Emanuel Mccron, warned this week that
the offensive can only lead to disaster
for both people and risks plunging the
entire region into a cycle of permanent
war. The Israeli military said on
Wednesday that around 60,000 reserveists
are being called up for the beginning of
September to free up active duty troops
for the ground offensive. Brigadier
General Alfie Dein said the Israel
Defense Forces are already making
advances under phase two of what he has
described as operations Gideon chariots.
>> We will deepen the damage to Hamas in
Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental
and military terror of the terrorist
organization. We will deepen the damage
to the terror infrastructure above and
below the ground and sever the
population's dependence on Hamas.
>> Let's get the latest on all of that by
going live to Jerusalem and joining our
Middle East correspondent Yoland Nell.
So Yoland, we know that this offensive
has now begun. First of all, let's talk
about Palestinians on the move because
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
potentially in the line of that
conflict.
>> That's right. Ultimately, the Israeli
military says it's going to tell the
entire population of Gaza City to move
to new tent camps in the south, but
we're not expecting um the offensive to
get to that stage for several weeks.
What we're seeing at the moment is that
Israeli forces have advanced in recent
days on the edges of Gaza City um in the
east of the city. people are really
fleeing um towards the west from those
eastern neighborhoods, particularly
places like Zetun, which again we're
told by locals saw heavy shelling by
Israel overnight. And I think what we're
seeing from Israel at the moment is that
it's it's signaling that it wants to
press ahead with this big military
offensive to conquer all of Gaza City
despite uh the intense uh international
condemnation that there has been of its
plans. So, we've seen a lot of rhetoric
um in the past day. The Israeli military
saying after it ordered that big
mobilization of reser that it had
started the first stage of its attacks.
You had the Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu coming out saying
that he'd shortened the timeline um for
this operation to take Gaza City, but
without specifying what that timeline
would now be. And this, of course, is
all increasing pressure on Hamas as
well. Hamas put out its own statement
saying um accusing the Israeli leader of
waging a brutal war on the civilians in
Gaza city but also criticizing him for
blatant disregard of the new ceasefire
efforts. Um the mediators have put
forward Qatar and Egypt after Hamas
signed up to this. Um Israel has yet to
give a formal response to this new
ceasefire and hostage release deal um
that is on the table. We have got
Israeli media reports saying that um the
Israeli minister who's in charge of the
negotiations file did meet with Katari
officials in Paris and reiterated this
position that Israel is no longer ready
to accept what it calls a phased deal um
with only some of the hostages being
returned. It wants all of the hostages
to be returned at once. It wants a
comprehensive deal and for Hamas to
surrender on its terms. Um Yolan, does
this now mean then given that this
offensive is continuing at pace that the
ceasefire talks are really in doubt now
or any possible ceasefire is unlikely to
be imminent?
Well, I mean, Israeli media are saying
that it's unlikely at this stage that a
new um round of indirect talks will take
place, that Israel will send a
negotiations team. Um but you know this
is all part of the pressure as well and
mediators have assessed that because it
will take some weeks for this military
offensive to begin in full um those
reserveists are not being told to turn
up for active duty until September. They
see there is still a window of
opportunity to push here for a deal. And
the catalies have been saying that
although it is a 60-day ceasefire that's
again being talked about with the return
of only some of the uh 20 Israeli
hostages believed to be held alive in
Gaza that there is a pathway here uh to
a comprehensive deal.
>> Okay, Yolan now monitoring developments
in Gaza from Jerusalem. Thank you very
much for that update.
Well, let's speak now to Rosalia Bolan,
the UNICEF spokesperson for Gaza, who's
responsible for coordinating UNICEF
UNICEF's humanitarian efforts in the
occupied Palestinian territories,
including of course Gaza. Welcome to BBC
News. Rosalia, um, first of all, what
are your teams on the ground in Gaza
City saying to you right now? Because we
heard from Yolan just then, there are
thousands and thousands of people who
are potentially at risk at the moment.
Now they are being told to move but of
course the question is where would they
go to as well? Yeah, and and that is
really the crux of the question. Where
would these 1 million people who are
left uh in in the northern part of Gaza
and Gaza City and surroundings go to? Um
the the guest house of UNICEF where I
typically stay is in southern Gaza and
Alawasi. And when I get out of the guest
house and you drive through that area,
as far as the eye stretches, what you
see is makeshift tents. Um the
overcrowding is immense already right
now. It's a beachy dune-like area
without urban infrastructure um that is
very heavily overcrowded. What we are
seeing right now on the ground is an
unprecedented
humanitarian catastrophe. We are really
at the worst point in this war because
of unprecedented levels of hunger of
diseases spreading. uh one in three
persons in Gaza has gone days without
eating. Malnutrition among children
below five has increased by 500%
between February and July this year. Um
and in in parallel we see these diseases
spreading. There's an outbreak of
menagitis. There's um a reported
outbreak of Gilamare syndrome. We have
uh lots of children who suffer from
diarrhea, other waterborn diseases, skin
diseases. Um, so we're looking at a very
vulnerable population who has lived
through 22 months of relentless
bombardments with the exception of of
February when we had a ceasefire and
also staggering levels of deprivation
and and uh suffering
>> and and Rosalia uh one thing that it
would be good to understand given that
your teams do work on the ground. So,
Israel will off issue an evacuation
order, but of course, as we've just
discussed, the challenge is where can
people go and of course it means them
leaving their homes and many of the
people have been displaced a number of
times. What support, if any, can you
provide for people who are constantly on
the move and of course uh the challenge
is trying to get aid in in the first
place?
>> Absolutely. Um, Gaza is such a
frustrating environment to work in as a
humanitarian because we see how deep the
needs are. Families don't have the
basics to survive and there's a shortage
of everything. Food, clean water,
medicine, tent, shelter material,
clothes. Uh, most of the children that
we come across, they wear dirty, torn
clothes. They they look hungry. All of
them. They ask for Maya for for water.
Um and and so we know what the needs
are. We know what needs to happen. And
for instance, UNICEF has the equivalent
of 2,000 trucks worth with life saving
supplies that we could mobilize and
bring in. But restrictions on on aid
persists. We have been allowed to to
bring in some select items, some
nutrition supplies, some products that
we use to treat water, to make water
drinkable. Um but we're unable to bring
in the full range of our supplies. And
we're also unable to bring in supplies
at scale because what Gaza needs today,
the entire population is hungry. We need
a mass influx of humanitarian aid and
and commercial goods. Um we see a
catastrophe unfolding right underneath
our noses. You've seen the the deaths
that have been reported in relation to
malnutrition and starvation. Um we have
been warning about this for months. Um
and we now see really the worst case
scenario materializing unfortunately.
Rosalia Bolan, thank you so much for
sharing your insights as that offensive
continues on and of course uh
highlighting the plight particularly of