JOEL ROSE, HOST:
It's been more than a year since famine was declared in parts of Gaza, and while some progress has been made to address food shortages there, humanitarian organizations are warning that progress is extremely fragile. Despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire brokered by the U.S., more than two-thirds of Gaza's population - nearly 1.4 million people - are experiencing crisis levels of acute food insecurity. The U.N.'s World Food Programme says the approaching winter months will only increase the need for more humanitarian aid and more money to pay for it. Carl Skau is the acting executive director of the World Food Programme. He joins us now from Jerusalem. Welcome to the program.
CARL SKAU: Thank you. Thank you for having me on.
ROSE: You have just returned from a trip to Gaza. What did you see there?
SKAU: Well, this is my eighth trip to Gaza since the war, and it's a year into the ceasefire. You know, my takeaway is that not much have changed, frankly. There is - life is absolutely brutal in Gaza. There is no basic services. You know, there is massive destruction. There is no proper shelter. And frankly, the insecurity continues. We were at one of the distribution points - they told me there that someone had been killed the day before. As we were leaving, there had been shooting at the exit point. And so, you know, I think we record some average 50 security incidents per day. So, you know, we have been able to push back on famine, but that's much thanks to our efforts. We've been reaching almost every person in Gaza for the past few months, but that progress is fragile, and it can easily be reversed.
ROSE: Can you tell us a little bit about who you met with there? And is there any, perhaps, a story that illustrates the food shortages that persist?
SKAU: When I was at one of these distribution points where we serve hot meals - it's a big pot, and you share a meal for everyone who shows up with a pot to walk away. And these are the most vulnerable. These are the people that live close to the front line. They told me that many had been displaced or - you know, in the last few weeks. Already, they don't have cooking gas to cook for themselves. And, you know, they told me they eat once a day. They have no fresh vegetables. So these are people who, you know, are not eating enough already.
And as we are now facing the winter, we are being forced to cut. You know, we are cutting almost half a million people off assistance in these next few weeks. It's not because the needs are down. It's also not because we are not able to bring in food. It's because the funding is no longer there.
ROSE: What happened? Why is the funding falling short of the need?
SKAU: Well, it's because it's a massive operation. You know, we've been reaching 2 million people every month in an environment that is also relatively expensive. So it's a massive undertaking. But of course, this is not the time to turn away. If anything, this is the time to step up. We need to sustain this effort, sustain this emergency support so we can protect the gains that we made.
But also, we need to move beyond that, frankly. I mean, we need to now really make a push on early recovery, help people get some proper housing and shelter before the winter. Then on the food side, you know, we want commercial to come in. We want the markets to start working so that we can instead distribute cash. It's much cheaper, and it helps people - you know, they can choose for themselves. There is some dignity in that, and it would be the way to start some kind of domestic food system as well.
ROSE: I want to ask you about the flow of goods and supplies into Gaza. There has been some reporting about the suspension of commercial shipments into the Gaza Strip in recent days. What is going on there?
SKAU: Well, that's deeply concerning. There is some disagreement around taxation for commercial goods. And, you know, this is at a time when, if anything, we need to scale up. When we were there, there hadn't been any entry of commercial goods for five days. We now saw some commercial trucks moving. I hope that means that this has been resolved because what we really need is to expand the commercial and bring more fresh foods and vegetables.
There's a lot of, you know, chocolates and chips coming in and Cokes. That's not really what's needed. And that's because there is bigger margin, I guess, on that and that you don't need a cold chain. But what we need is proper commercial goods coming in, food goods that - you know, the fresh foods, the fresh vegetables and fruits. That's what we need to diversify, but also to bring down the prices on the market so that people with the cash they have can get more.
ROSE: Beyond funding, what else needs to happen to ensure that the necessary aid gets to the people who need it the most?
SKAU: Well, I guess, I mean, clearly, there needs to be progress on the peace plan. But, you know, we don't need to wait with early recovery. The big issue there is the dual-use problems. We need UNICEF and other partners to be able to bring in what they need to restore water and sanitation facilities. We need to be able to get the learning material in so we can expand on those temporary learning centers that are there. And there is lots of garbage everywhere. So you can just imagine when the rains start hitting, it's going to be an absolute mess there.
But on the food side, again, I mean, you know, us now moving into a period where we have to cut 500,000 - half a million people - off our assistance, this is going to cause additional pressure just as the winter hit. And so we need to avoid that. We need donors to step up with funding. But we, of course, also need international community to step up and push forward on the political tracks so there is a solution here. Three years into this, you know, life is at a standstill. They need some hope, and they need to be given the basics to start rebuilding their lives.
ROSE: I've been speaking to Carl Skau. He is the acting executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Programme. Thank you very much for joining us.
SKAU: Thank you for having me on. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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