As the war in Gaza enters its fifth month, a quarter of the population there is starving, according to the United Nations. President Joe Biden in his March 7 State of the Union address said that he will be sending U.S. troops to create a temporary sea bridge to deliver food into the besieged Gaza Strip, while calling on Israel to do more to ease the suffering of civilians there.
But, humanitarian aid is still facing “every possible obstacle,” according to Ciaran Donnelly, Senior Vice President for Crisis, Response, Recovery and Development at the International Rescue Committee. He spoke with PBS NewsHour digital video producer Casey Kuhn on how aid is getting into the country, especially as malnutrition is creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where citizens are “more susceptible to disease.”
“And so in the unsanitary, overcrowded conditions that characterized many of the displacement sites, we’re seeing high rates of skin infections, high rates of diarrheal disease,” Donnelly said. “They’re going to become increasingly lethal as people’s bodies are not able to fight off the infections, due to a lack of nourishment.”
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