UNICEF spokesperson James Elder warns situation in Gaza worsening as water crisis looms

The screams of injured children who can no longer access painkillers fill the air in Gaza, where UNICEF spokesperson James Elder says "daily atrocities" are not only being committed but have escalated in the past fortnight.

Mr Elder told 7.30 Gaza is facing multiple crises, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his nation will continue its war there until the nation's objectives are completed.

Mr Elder says water is now scarce, may run out in just a fortnight and could result in children dying of thirst.

Children in Gaza though are already dying, with a May UNICEF report stating 50,000 children had been injured or killed since Israel's response to Hamas's October 7, 2023 terror attack.

The UNICEF spokesperson recounted the story of one child who had died after sustaining injuries near an aid site. 

"I went to a hospital and I met a little 13-year-old boy, he'd been given money just to go and buy bread for his family," Mr Elder recounted.

"He saw a flood of people going to one of these [aid] sites and thought 'my goodness, my family, I can end my mum's starvation pain'. 

"When I met this little boy, he was telling his story and his dad's in tears.

"Finally, after my two weeks in Gaza on my final day, this little guy, Abed Al Rahman, died of those injuries, died trying to get food for his family. 

"This is not a one off. This is happening consistently and will continue to because it's a combat site."

'Ludicrous and lethal Catch 22'

The latest such incident allegedly occurred earlier on Wednesday when 19 people were reported to have been killed while trying to access aid in the central Gaza city of Nuseirat.

Mr Elder says these incidents are emblematic of a rapidly worsening situation in Gaza, where aid stations are placed in combat sites, causing those living there to face even more danger as they attempt to procure essentials.

"There is a handful of sites and they're militarised," he said.

"The United Nations has made very clear there is reason why you cannot have one party to a conflict handing out aid to those it chooses in a combat site — because it's a combat site.

"We have now seen reports of 400-500 hundred people killed around these distribution points. People go there because they are being starved [and] they're forced to go to these sites. 

"They were described to me like The Hunger Games [people] corralled into like cattle pens and then there's firing, there's tank shells.

"And then when there is a mass killing, it is explained away by the IDF as, 'It was a combat site.'

Could children die of thirst?

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel last week denied that there was any starvation occurring in Gaza during an appearance on 7.30.

"Every report that came out was mentioning that this is a possibility for a future scenario — like an imminent threat, or anything like that," Ms Haskel said.

"It means that it could happen in the future but we're monitoring it up closely."

Mr Elder says things are much worse than that and that the water situation is dire.

"Two things strike me beyond beyond the grave situation of civilians there," Mr Elder said.

"One is water, there's been a complete denial of any fuel to come in for the desalinating plants for 100 days. 

"And the other ... I think of all the things being deprived from going into Gaza ... it's painkillers.

"I never get used to seeing those little girls and boys with the burns or the shrapnel [wounds] but this time around I heard them. 

"This is utterly avoidable. This is not logistical, this is political. We could change this within 24 hours by allowing medicines and fuel and so on.

"Children's bodies are not waiting for some technical declaration in Gaza."

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