“This is really not the time to cut aid to the Palestinians,” warns the head of the Palestine program for Doctors Without Borders

“Now is definitely not the time to cut aid to the Palestinians”, declared Tuesday October 10 on franceinfo Sarah Chateau, head of the Palestine program for Doctors Without Borders, while the European Union announced Monday October 9 that it would not suspend its aid to the Palestinians. A few hours earlier, European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had stated that “all payments” were “immediately suspended, all projects re-examined, all project budgets, including for 2023, postponed until further notice, re-evaluation of the entire program”.

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franceinfo: Are you reassured by the European Union’s declaration?

Sarah Chateau: Now is definitely not the time to cut aid to the Palestinians. We are aware that there are wounded and dead on each side but we have a civilian population which is under siege with its homes destroyed. There will be a real need for reconstruction and support for the civilian population. So, now is really not the time to stop humanitarian aid in an area that was already very disadvantaged, with enormous needs. The question is how we manage to channel this money through NGOs, which have a local presence and are in contact with the population, so that it passes as directly as possible for the benefit of the population.

Can you still intervene on site?

It is very complicated to intervene on site. We were able to open our clinic yesterday and take outpatients for the day but we closed at the beginning of the afternoon because the bombings resumed intensively. We have almost no possibilities to move around the territory currently.

“The level of strikes and violence is unprecedented. We manage to have a few ministry ambulances circulating but we have also had some attacks on ambulances. The problem is that there are almost no secure places left on the Gaza Strip.

Sarah Chateau, head of the Palestine program for Doctors Without Borders

at franceinfo

Is the staff entirely Palestinian?

No, we also have foreign staff. We have 160 Palestinian colleagues and 11 expatriates who are present for MSF France, and in total for MSF we have around twenty expatriates. The situation worries us greatly. We had to send expatriates to secure areas at the United Nations and for national colleagues we offered to come and take refuge in our offices and clinics.

Do you need equipment?

There is no possible access to material supply. On site, we have large quantities of stock which allow us to take care of the injured. We have enough food, we have water and fuel to last two more months. But we are very worried. Yesterday there were bombings on the Rafah checkpoint. This is the only entry point that remained possible for supplies and we have no idea of ​​the state of the roads.

The population is already isolated, they live in a territory that was completely closed, with limited access to water and electricity. Everything was already under control, we have no idea of ​​the capacity of this population to survive in this context and these conditions. Food and water will quickly become problematic.