Amande Bazerolle: It’s very difficult. We’re looking at… we need some space and that’s the thing that is missing in Gaza City at the moment, like especially with the number of people that are moving there now. So we’re looking at expanding what is left of some of the hospital with some prefabs… But that’s going to be difficult. And so it’s the needs of primary health care as well that is very important.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: And are you getting medical supplies into Gaza now?
Amande Bazerolle: So it has improved, but we are still not validating for some items that the Israelis have been preventing from entering from the beginning. We’re talking about operating tables, we are talking about the material to be able to sterilise the instruments. We’re talking about crutches, though all of that has still not been validated. So in quantities, in terms of drugs and the consumables, we have been able to scale up finally. But there are still a lot of items that are not allowed to enter and we are really pushing to try to get them in.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Now that the bombing has stopped for now, do the psychological impacts of war become more pronounced?
Amande Bazerolle: Definitely. There’s the expectation of the people, I’ve told you, some of them are going to be able to visit what used to be their house, and that’s going to be a huge shock when they go to the visit and see what’s left of some locations. We’ve been able to visit Rafah already. And it’s impossible to know where the streets were – like there’s no landmarks. You don’t even know where you are. So there’s a lot of people from the south who have been visiting Rafah and they came back to the centre of Gaza because there’s no place to stay there and there’s no amenities. There’s nothing. There’s no water. So it needs time for the humanitarians to be able to set up everything there. There’s a lot to process and it’s going to take a very long time.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Do you think a lot of those people moving north today will end up coming back because there’s nothing for them there?
Amande Bazerolle: It’s a possibility. Right now, it’s very difficult to know what the people want and where they’re going to locate…resettle. We know how much they are attached to where they were from. So we need to see what they’re going to do. So we are in the expectation. So we are planning for any kind of possibilities for them to come back where we have all the facilities. But then for us to be able to set up facilities wherever they are going. Our primary intent is to follow the people where they are going.