SOUNDBITE FROM MAKESHIFT CAMP IN GAZA: “Civilians lack food, electricity, water”
William Schomburg, the head of sub-delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza, speaks from a makeshift camp set up for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, about the humanitarian conditions on the ground.
“After several days of heavy bombardment, thousands of families from the northern part of the Gaza strip, with little warning, were instructed to move from the north southwards,” Schomburg said. “Today, civilians across Gaza lack food, electricity, and water in order for families to be able to meet their basic needs.”
The ICRC has more than 100 staff in Gaza, but supplies are urgently needed. ICRC is pre-positioning life-saving supplies in Egypt from Amman so that aid shipments are ready when access to Gaza is granted. This initial convoy includes medicine and 6,000 household kits for families which include hygiene items and chlorine tablets for drinking water. Additional staff, including a mobile surgical team and other health staff, a weapons contamination expert, and relief coordinators specialised in water, food, shelter, and infrastructure, are also being deployed to Gaza whenever access is granted.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, stands ready to meet the needs of Gazan communities,” said Schomburg. “However, in order for us to be able to do this, we need safety, security, and supplies.”
Note to producers: Mr. Schomburg is currently not available for interviews.
SHOTLIST
Length: 00:01
Location: Rafah/Gaza
Date Of Filming: 15 October 2023
Copyright: ICRC access all
On Screen Credit: ICRC written or logo attached to story
00:00-00:01
I'm speaking to you this afternoon from a makeshift camp that has been set up for displaced Palestinians that have arrived here in Rafah on the Egyptian border. After several days of heavy bombardment, thousands of families from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, with little warning, were instructed to move from the north southwards. Today, civilians across Gaza lack food, electricity, and water in order for families to be able to meet their basic needs. Hospitals are rapidly running out of supplies and are facing increasingly difficult conditions under which they need to function. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, stands ready to meet the needs of Gazan communities. However, in order for us to be able to do this, we need safety, security, and supplies
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For further information, please contact:
Crystal Wells, ICRC Geneva, cwells@icrc.org, +41 79 642 80 56
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
