The Colorado Supreme Court justices threatened after the Gaza deaths top 20,000
The Gaza War and Refugees in the Near East: An Inside account of Delivering Aid to Gaza: ‘Every time it’s getting more desperate’
But an offensive has been expanded now in the south of Gaza Strip, pushing additional hundreds of thousands of people to the south in Rafah. And we have today more than 1.2 million people across the Gaza Strip sheltered in our premises. These are not even shelters. These are places of learning. These are located in warehouses. These are health centers. You have hundreds of thousand people living in the open.
With signs of a potential truce for a hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas, human rights groups are expressing how dire the circumstances have become for people still in Gaza.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East ( UNRWA), which aids Palestinians, has a commissioner general named Philippe Lazzarini who spoke with Mary Louise Kelly about the situation in Gaza.
Mary Louise Kelly: So I know that you’re just back from Gaza. You were there last week. Since war began, this was your third visit. I was able to observe where you said that, every time you go back, it will not get worse. I gather it gets worse. Philippe Lazzarini: Each time it’s getting worse. It is getting more desperate each time. I went on the eve of the truce last time.
At that time, I have seen how desperate people were in the United Nations shelter. They were overcrowded. They were sleeping without blankets or mattresses, and in a state of unsanitary condition. Winter is coming. And when I went last week, I thought that what I saw before was already heartbreaking enough.
Kelly: So the shelter is already overflowing and thousands and thousands of people living outside the shelter. Is there one story, one person who you spoke to that’ll stay with you?
Source: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: ‘Each time it’s getting more desperate’
The Israeli War: “Every time it’s getting more desperate” — Lazzarini: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza
Lazzarini: The story is of a man who is a father who can no longer take care of his kids because they are begging for water every day, he started to tears when he said that he felt stripped of his dignity. They are queuing hours to go to toilets, and basically they feel treated like a human animals.
Lazzarini: I warned that people will die soon, even if the bombardment continues, because of weakened immunity, a disease outbreak and hunger.
Most of the people I met during my visit didn’t eat for the last day or two. We have to skip for a few days. “So in an environment like this, indeed, people are so desperate that they try to jump on our truck and take the food from the truck and just eat it from the street.
Source: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: ‘Each time it’s getting more desperate’
The reopening of the crossing and the U.N. humanitarian crisis: an inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: “Every time it’s getting more desperate”
Our goal is very clear. It’s important that the Kerem Shalom crossing opens to the full. Two days ago, it reopened. Few trucks came in. But unfortunately, it’s not yet at scale to respond to such a massive humanitarian crisis.
The president of Israel was interviewed yesterday and I asked him about aid. He was very critical of the U.N. He essentially blamed the U.N. for the bottleneck in getting aid into Gaza. He says the U.N. could be getting more aid in if you wanted. How do you respond to that?
There were only 46 trucks coming from Kerem Shalom and a hundred trucks from the other side of the country. The reopening of the crossing did not mean there were more trucks coming into the Gaza Strip. What we need is something much more meaningful because what we are getting today is far from enough to respond to such a crisis.
If we would let trucks go into the final destination, you can let trucks come in in the hundreds, and this would not be a problem. So the bottleneck is a series of issues related to the conflict but also to administrative procedure.
Source: An inside account of delivering aid to Gaza: ‘Each time it’s getting more desperate’
How Many Staff are There? A Question for UNWRA and How Many are You Still Have? An Insight from Kelly Lazzarini
135 UNWRA staff have been killed in Gaza since the war started, and Kelly wants to know if your team is doing well. How many do you still have there and how are they doing?
Lazzarini: So indeed, we have 135 people who have been killed since the beginning of the war. This has been devastating for the agency. Today, we still have between 3000 to 5000 staff working on a daily basis. We should never forget that they are living in the same situation as everyone else. They are also struggling to find a shelter, they are struggling to find water, electricity and food. And many of the staff are, in fact, coming to work with their children, because basically what they say is, “I want to be sure that either I see my child at the end of the day, or if we have to die, we will die together.”
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. You can subscribe to get it delivered to your inbox and also listen to Up First, which is all the news you need to start your day.
Gaza deaths top 20,000; Colorado Supreme Court Justices threatened: Up First briefing: Gaza deaths in 20000-column-force-justices-threat 2024
The health ministry in Gaza says that more than 20,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military offensive. Most of those killed are women and children. The U.N. Security Council is stuck on a resolution calling for a cease- fire and speeding up the arrival of food and fuel for Gaza. The proposal has been weakened so it won’t get a U.S. veto.
Violent rhetoric has surged online since the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 primary ballot this week. Personal information of some of the Colorado Supreme Court justices is circulating in far-right spaces online, as well as calls to arm up to hurt or kill perceived political foes.
This essay was written by Michel Martin. She hosts Morning Edition. She was previously host of Weekend All Things Considered. This Saturday podcast and Tell Me More.
I’ve been asking everybody I’ve talked to about The (new) Color Purple film, set to hit theaters Christmas Day. I want to know when they first encountered any version of the work: the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel by Alice Walker, the hit 1985 film directed by Stephen Spielberg, the hit 2005 Broadway Musical or the (possibly even bigger) hit Broadway revival in 2015.
I know why people remember their first time so well. Danielle was in the Broadway show that was the first one people have ever seen. The 1985 movie and Broadway shows were star-making vehicles for others: Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Cynthia Erivo.
Source: Up First briefing: Gaza deaths top 20,000; Colorado Supreme Court Justices threatened
Celie, The Color Purple, and All Things Considered (with an interview with Imelda Staunton): The Queen’s Final Final Season of The Crown
And some people will tell you that the story of Celie and her triumph over vicious abuse was the first piece of art they experienced that helped them feel less alone.
I don’t remember how I first became aware of The Color Purple. I grew up in New York going to shows (the cheap seats) and what can I say? I read a lot. Always have.
In The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer depicts the Hss family as they are going about their daily routines while a massive machinery of death is close by.
TV: The final season of The Crown was a goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II. Imelda Staunton speaks with NPR’s All Things Considered about the show’s attempt to portray the royal family in all of its truth.
