July 23, 2025 • 12 mins
A group of world leaders spoke out this week against the Israeli Government’s aid distribution model in Gaza, including IDF soldiers killing Palestinians trying to get food and supplies.
It comes almost two years into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and repeated limitation of aid, following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023.
In today’s episode, we’ll explain what we know about the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinians accessing aid from United Nations staff on the ground in Gaza, and the global response.
Hosts: Billi FitzSimons and Emma Gillespie
Producer: Orla Maher
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this this is the Daily This is the
Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning, and
welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, the twenty fourth
of July. I'm belief in Simon's.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
A group of world leaders spoke out this week against
the Israeli government's aid distribution model in Gaza, including IDF
soldiers killing Palestinians trying to get food and supplies. It
comes almost two years into Israel's bombardment of Gaza and
repeated limitation of aid following Hamas's attack on Israel in
(00:42):
October twenty twenty three. In today's episode, we'll explain what
we know about the Israeli armies, killing of Palestinians accessing
aid from United Nations staff on the ground in Gaza,
and the global response.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We will unpack all of that and more in today's
deep dive right after this short message, Billy, so much
has happened in terms of the humanitarian situation in Gaza,
the delivery of aid to Palestinian people in recent weeks.
But before we get into the most recent happenings, the deaths,
(01:16):
the killing of people accessing aid, can you share what
we know about the humanitarian crisis in the region as
a whole. Can you just paint a bit of a
picture of what's gone on in the last nearly two years.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, So most of what we know about this comes
from the United Nations themselves, because they have volunteers and workers,
they're on the ground, and so you'll see that we
heavily rely on them in our reporting today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think it's also worth mentioning that journalists are not
actually allowed in Gaza. There is no reporting from the ground,
which is why we have to rely on bodies like
the United Nations for resources when it comes to updates.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, exactly. Now in terms of what we know, so
there are about two point one million people who live
in Gaza. The World Food Program, which is a United
Nations agency, they estimate that this entire population is facing
at a minimum crisis levels of food insecurity, so no
one is better off than that everyone is at that
(02:15):
crisis level or worse. They also said that almost one
hundred thousand women and children are suffering from severe acute
malnutrition and many people are dying from this lack of
humanitarian assistance every single day.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And when we talk about humanitarian assistance. Of course, there
is the food in security conversation. A lot of what
we'll talk about today is about food aid, but aid
includes a whole raft of supplies for everyday life, the basics,
the fundamentals, and a lot of that is medicine, healthcare,
those kinds of things exactlybes baby food formula.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, and the latest update from the UN said that
fuel availability is also critically low, threatening the shutdown of
hospitals and ambulances. The other thing the UN has said
is that prices for basic commodities have increased by around
four thousand percent. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I heard this from someone interviewed in Gaza this week
describing how the cost of flower had searched and how
it's so expensive to buy a simple bag of flour
to make bread, and that even something like that is
so unaffordable for the everyday person in Gaza, where people
are not working because they're in a war zone.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, exactly. I think I read the same thing as you,
and it was like a bag of flower is something
like two hundred dollars. And the UN said this week
for Gaza's inhabitants who have lost their homes and been
displaced multiple times, they have no income and find themselves
completely deprived of essentials. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the
UN Secretary Generals said, the population in Gaza remains gravely
(03:53):
undersupplied with the basic necessities of life. Israel has the
obligation to allow and facilitate, by all the means at
its disposal, the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations
and by other humanitarian organizations.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, so, Billy, we know there are organizations, agencies, the
United Nations among them, trying to help, trying to deliver
this critical aid that is needed in Gaza. How does
that happen?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke down
earlier this year, Israel instituted an aid blockade to Gaza.
Then Israeli PM Benjamin Etna who partially lifted the blockade
in May. That was following international criticism. Now aid is
currently largely distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is
(04:44):
a non government organization with US and Israeli support. It
has four sites set up in Gaza, and the model
has been extensively criticized by the UN and also by
other countries, which I'll get to in more dea later
but one of the reasons it has been criticized is
because of Israeli troops repeated killings of Palestinians trying to
(05:08):
access aid.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Part of the reason that this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of
the DHF has been so controversial, among many reasons, is
that the four sites set up in Gaza, for many residents,
that requires them to travel great distances. It further restricts
access to aid. If we're talking about a population of
(05:30):
people who are critically ill or starving, or can't access
medical support or cannot walk those distances, then that's another
layer of kind of food insecurity and complexity in the
rollout of the GHF.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, exactly, Okay, so a.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Very complicated picture that you've painted their billy, particularly over
the last few months. What has happened in the last week.
I know there were some major headlines over the weekend,
in particular what's the latest.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So on Sunday the World Food Program, which like I
said before, is a United Nations run agency, they were
trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in northern Gaza, who
they said were in desperate need of food supplies, which,
as I just laid out, is exactly what we know
to be true now. They said that after crossing a
final border checkpoint, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians,
(06:24):
and their statement then said, as the convoy approached the
surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and
other gunfire, resulting in a large number of casualties. According
to the Associated Press, who was quoting the Hamas run
Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli forces killed at least seventy nine
Palestinians in the incident, and an additional six people were
(06:48):
also reportedly killed trying to access AID near Rafa in
southern Gaza, and that was according also to officials speaking
to the Associated Press. Those figures haven't been independently verified
for reasons that we talked about before. And we know
that the World Food Program has now paused convoy movement
(07:08):
through that crossing where these killings by these Raeli troops occurred,
because it is too dangerous.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Okay. So a total of eighty five reported deaths in
one day, all civilians trying to access aid. How did
Israel respond to those killings?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So, Israel's Foreign Ministry said, these Raeli Defense forces troops
did indeed fire warning shots, which they claimed was to
remove an immediate threat from the crowds. They didn't exactly
share what that immediate threat was, but they said there
was an immediate threat. They also questioned the number of
casualties being reported, so they said the details of the
(07:47):
incident are still being examined, but that an initial review
suggests the number of casualties reported does not align with
the information held by the IDF.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, so we know that access to aid has been
a concern in Gaza since October twenty twenty three, but
it's really become much more of a critical issue in
the last six months. Especially. Do we know how many
Palestinians have died from this violence while trying to access aid?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, so on Tuesday, the United Nations put out a
statement telling us exactly that. So they said that now
more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed by the
Israeli military while trying to get food in Gaza. And
they said that that number comes from multiple reliable sources
on the ground, including medical teams, humanitarian and human rights organizations.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, I want to zoom out a little bit and
talk about the international community. Now, Billy as well, because
there has been mounting pressure, escalating attention on Gaza, pressure
on the Israeli government, and a statement this week from
nearly thirty countries essentially demanding for the war in Gaza
to end. What has happened since we got that statement.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, So, like you said, we got this statement from
foreign ministers from about thirty countries, including Australia's Foreign Minister,
Penny Wog. I'll read out some of what they said.
So they said, the suffering of civilians in Gaza has
reached new depths. The Israeli governments AID delivery model is dangerous,
fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemned
(09:26):
the drip feeding of AID and the inhumane killing of civilians,
including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of
water and food.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That was a statement that was co signed by Australia's
Foreign minister, as well as ministers from countries like the UK, Canada, Japan,
several countries all over Europe, twenty eight in total.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, exactly. And one thing I will mention is that
the Israeli government has said that the model is needed
to divert AID from her mus So there have been
concerns that AID would be getting into the wrong hands,
being Hammas.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So the argument from Israeli authorities being that Hamas, a
terrorist organization exists on the ground in Gaza and it
is trying to deprive the terrorist organization of accessing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
AIDEP And the statement from the Foreign Ministers also acknowledged
the hostages that were taken by Hamas on October seven,
twenty twenty three. So according to the United Nations as
of last week, it is estimated that fifty Israelis and
foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including some of whom
(10:33):
have died. And in this statement, the Foreign Ministers called
for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, which
they've been doing throughout the nearly two years of this war.
So there's no change there. But overall, this statement's main
message was that the war in Gaza must end now,
and that's a direct quote from the statement.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
When we get statements like this, I suppose there's a
bit of reinvigorated conversation in the global community about ceasefire talks.
Where they're up to where they're at. Is there any
update on a ceasefire?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I mean the update is that there really isn't that
much of an update. Negotiations have stalled, and that's as
much as we really know.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Billy, Thank you so much for taking us through that. Obviously,
we want to be able to give our listeners the
latest and a bit more on this situation, but as
you explain, with the ceasefire negotiations, there isn't that information
that we can really share, but we will stay across it.
It certainly seems like the international community humanitarian groups are
(11:38):
not looking away from the dispute over aid distribution the
concerns over humanitarian aid in Gaza. Will continue to keep
a close eye on that and bring you guys updates
as we hear them. Thank you so much for listening
to today's episode. We will be back a little later
on today with the evening headlines, but until then, have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calgudin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadigol people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate
island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Already and this this is the Daily This is the
Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning, and
welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, the twenty fourth
of July. I'm belief in Simon's.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
A group of world leaders spoke out this week against
the Israeli government's aid distribution model in Gaza, including IDF
soldiers killing Palestinians trying to get food and supplies. It
comes almost two years into Israel's bombardment of Gaza and
repeated limitation of aid following Hamas's attack on Israel in
(00:42):
October twenty twenty three. In today's episode, we'll explain what
we know about the Israeli armies, killing of Palestinians accessing
aid from United Nations staff on the ground in Gaza,
and the global response.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
We will unpack all of that and more in today's
deep dive right after this short message, Billy, so much
has happened in terms of the humanitarian situation in Gaza,
the delivery of aid to Palestinian people in recent weeks.
But before we get into the most recent happenings, the deaths,
(01:16):
the killing of people accessing aid, can you share what
we know about the humanitarian crisis in the region as
a whole. Can you just paint a bit of a
picture of what's gone on in the last nearly two years.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, So most of what we know about this comes
from the United Nations themselves, because they have volunteers and workers,
they're on the ground, and so you'll see that we
heavily rely on them in our reporting today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think it's also worth mentioning that journalists are not
actually allowed in Gaza. There is no reporting from the ground,
which is why we have to rely on bodies like
the United Nations for resources when it comes to updates.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, exactly. Now in terms of what we know, so
there are about two point one million people who live
in Gaza. The World Food Program, which is a United
Nations agency, they estimate that this entire population is facing
at a minimum crisis levels of food insecurity, so no
one is better off than that everyone is at that
(02:15):
crisis level or worse. They also said that almost one
hundred thousand women and children are suffering from severe acute
malnutrition and many people are dying from this lack of
humanitarian assistance every single day.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And when we talk about humanitarian assistance. Of course, there
is the food in security conversation. A lot of what
we'll talk about today is about food aid, but aid
includes a whole raft of supplies for everyday life, the basics,
the fundamentals, and a lot of that is medicine, healthcare,
those kinds of things exactlybes baby food formula.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, and the latest update from the UN said that
fuel availability is also critically low, threatening the shutdown of
hospitals and ambulances. The other thing the UN has said
is that prices for basic commodities have increased by around
four thousand percent. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I heard this from someone interviewed in Gaza this week
describing how the cost of flower had searched and how
it's so expensive to buy a simple bag of flour
to make bread, and that even something like that is
so unaffordable for the everyday person in Gaza, where people
are not working because they're in a war zone.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, exactly. I think I read the same thing as you,
and it was like a bag of flower is something
like two hundred dollars. And the UN said this week
for Gaza's inhabitants who have lost their homes and been
displaced multiple times, they have no income and find themselves
completely deprived of essentials. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the
UN Secretary Generals said, the population in Gaza remains gravely
(03:53):
undersupplied with the basic necessities of life. Israel has the
obligation to allow and facilitate, by all the means at
its disposal, the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations
and by other humanitarian organizations.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, so, Billy, we know there are organizations, agencies, the
United Nations among them, trying to help, trying to deliver
this critical aid that is needed in Gaza. How does
that happen?
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke down
earlier this year, Israel instituted an aid blockade to Gaza.
Then Israeli PM Benjamin Etna who partially lifted the blockade
in May. That was following international criticism. Now aid is
currently largely distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is
(04:44):
a non government organization with US and Israeli support. It
has four sites set up in Gaza, and the model
has been extensively criticized by the UN and also by
other countries, which I'll get to in more dea later
but one of the reasons it has been criticized is
because of Israeli troops repeated killings of Palestinians trying to
(05:08):
access aid.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Part of the reason that this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of
the DHF has been so controversial, among many reasons, is
that the four sites set up in Gaza, for many residents,
that requires them to travel great distances. It further restricts
access to aid. If we're talking about a population of
(05:30):
people who are critically ill or starving, or can't access
medical support or cannot walk those distances, then that's another
layer of kind of food insecurity and complexity in the
rollout of the GHF.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, exactly, Okay, so a.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Very complicated picture that you've painted their billy, particularly over
the last few months. What has happened in the last week.
I know there were some major headlines over the weekend,
in particular what's the latest.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
So on Sunday the World Food Program, which like I
said before, is a United Nations run agency, they were
trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in northern Gaza, who
they said were in desperate need of food supplies, which,
as I just laid out, is exactly what we know
to be true now. They said that after crossing a
final border checkpoint, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians,
(06:24):
and their statement then said, as the convoy approached the
surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and
other gunfire, resulting in a large number of casualties. According
to the Associated Press, who was quoting the Hamas run
Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli forces killed at least seventy nine
Palestinians in the incident, and an additional six people were
(06:48):
also reportedly killed trying to access AID near Rafa in
southern Gaza, and that was according also to officials speaking
to the Associated Press. Those figures haven't been independently verified
for reasons that we talked about before. And we know
that the World Food Program has now paused convoy movement
(07:08):
through that crossing where these killings by these Raeli troops occurred,
because it is too dangerous.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Okay. So a total of eighty five reported deaths in
one day, all civilians trying to access aid. How did
Israel respond to those killings?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So, Israel's Foreign Ministry said, these Raeli Defense forces troops
did indeed fire warning shots, which they claimed was to
remove an immediate threat from the crowds. They didn't exactly
share what that immediate threat was, but they said there
was an immediate threat. They also questioned the number of
casualties being reported, so they said the details of the
(07:47):
incident are still being examined, but that an initial review
suggests the number of casualties reported does not align with
the information held by the IDF.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, so we know that access to aid has been
a concern in Gaza since October twenty twenty three, but
it's really become much more of a critical issue in
the last six months. Especially. Do we know how many
Palestinians have died from this violence while trying to access aid?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, so on Tuesday, the United Nations put out a
statement telling us exactly that. So they said that now
more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed by the
Israeli military while trying to get food in Gaza. And
they said that that number comes from multiple reliable sources
on the ground, including medical teams, humanitarian and human rights organizations.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Okay, I want to zoom out a little bit and
talk about the international community. Now, Billy as well, because
there has been mounting pressure, escalating attention on Gaza, pressure
on the Israeli government, and a statement this week from
nearly thirty countries essentially demanding for the war in Gaza
to end. What has happened since we got that statement.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, So, like you said, we got this statement from
foreign ministers from about thirty countries, including Australia's Foreign Minister,
Penny Wog. I'll read out some of what they said.
So they said, the suffering of civilians in Gaza has
reached new depths. The Israeli governments AID delivery model is dangerous,
fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemned
(09:26):
the drip feeding of AID and the inhumane killing of civilians,
including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of
water and food.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
That was a statement that was co signed by Australia's
Foreign minister, as well as ministers from countries like the UK, Canada, Japan,
several countries all over Europe, twenty eight in total.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, exactly. And one thing I will mention is that
the Israeli government has said that the model is needed
to divert AID from her mus So there have been
concerns that AID would be getting into the wrong hands,
being Hammas.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So the argument from Israeli authorities being that Hamas, a
terrorist organization exists on the ground in Gaza and it
is trying to deprive the terrorist organization of accessing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
AIDEP And the statement from the Foreign Ministers also acknowledged
the hostages that were taken by Hamas on October seven,
twenty twenty three. So according to the United Nations as
of last week, it is estimated that fifty Israelis and
foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including some of whom
(10:33):
have died. And in this statement, the Foreign Ministers called
for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, which
they've been doing throughout the nearly two years of this war.
So there's no change there. But overall, this statement's main
message was that the war in Gaza must end now,
and that's a direct quote from the statement.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
When we get statements like this, I suppose there's a
bit of reinvigorated conversation in the global community about ceasefire talks.
Where they're up to where they're at. Is there any
update on a ceasefire?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I mean the update is that there really isn't that
much of an update. Negotiations have stalled, and that's as
much as we really know.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Billy, Thank you so much for taking us through that. Obviously,
we want to be able to give our listeners the
latest and a bit more on this situation, but as
you explain, with the ceasefire negotiations, there isn't that information
that we can really share, but we will stay across it.
It certainly seems like the international community humanitarian groups are
(11:38):
not looking away from the dispute over aid distribution the
concerns over humanitarian aid in Gaza. Will continue to keep
a close eye on that and bring you guys updates
as we hear them. Thank you so much for listening
to today's episode. We will be back a little later
on today with the evening headlines, but until then, have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calgudin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadigol people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate
island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
peoples of these countries, both past and present.
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