Transcript: The humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza

This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: ‘The humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza’

Marc Filippino
Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Thursday, December 7th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Moody’s is worried that China will retaliate because of a credit downgrade. Palestinians are running out of places to go in Gaza. And oil investors seem unfazed by Opec’s production cuts. Plus, western countries have been getting cold feet about Ukrainian aid. We’ll tell you what that means for the country. I’m Marc Filippino and here’s the news you need to start your day.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The American credit rating agency Moody’s advised its staff in China not to go into the office this week. Then on Tuesday, it cut its outlook for the country’s sovereign credit ratings to negative. A couple of employees told the FT that it was obvious that the two moves were related. One staff member said Moody’s wanted workers to stay home in the event their offices were raided in retaliation for the rate cut. But the source added that a raid was considered unlikely. Moody’s latest rate cut has already triggered a ton of criticism from Chinese officials, and it wouldn’t be completely out of character for China to react with force. Authorities ordered raids on US groups like Cat Vision and Bain & Company earlier this year.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Israel has been attacking the northern part of Gaza basically since the beginning of this war with Hamas. So because of that, people fled to the south. Now that Israel is turning its focus to that part of the strip, there’s a big question about where Palestinians can go next. The FT’s Heba Saleh is covering the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and she joins me now. Hi Heba.

Heba Saleh
Hi.

Marc Filippino
So where has Israel told the population of southern Gaza to go to avoid the bombs? And how many people are we talking about here?

Heba Saleh
OK. When Israel was focused on the north, it asked the inhabitants of the north to move to the south for their own safety. And now that it has turned its attention to the south, it is directing them to places that are further south, mainly to shelters in Rafah, which is on the southernmost tip of Gaza, on the border with Egypt. Israel has also told people to go to what it describes as a humanitarian zone, which is a strip of coast in south-west Gaza. But the UN says that there are no humanitarian preparations there. There’s simply nothing there. So people are heading towards Rafah.

Marc Filippino
How bad is the food situation in Gaza?

Heba Saleh
It is bad. The World Food Programme warned on Wednesday of a hunger catastrophe hitting Gaza. The war, the bombardment is actually preventing the distribution of aid. The World Food Programme noted that when there was a truce, a week-long truce that ended on December the 1st, it was able to send aid to inaccessible places like in the north. They say they reached something like 240,000 people and managed to distribute aid. But now this is very difficult.

Marc Filippino
Are there any working hospitals in Gaza at the moment?

Heba Saleh
There are very few working hospitals. Most hospitals have gone out of service. During the truce, the World Health Organisation and other humanitarian agencies had been able to restock hospitals with some medicine and some fuel because the hospitals have been in dire need of fuel for their generators to work because there’s no electricity. And everyone there is overwhelmed and exhausted. The people, the doctors, the nurses, the people who work in these hospitals. Every time there is a bombing, there’s a flood of injured people, children with mangled limbs, with burns. And all this is taking a heavy toll on everyone working there. And, of course, they’re going through supplies very, very fast.

Marc Filippino
Wow, that seems really bleak for the people there, Heba.

Heba Saleh
It is very bleak because already there isn’t enough water, there isn’t enough food, there aren’t enough medicines, and there’s no shelter. People are living on the street. They’re exposed to the elements. They’re hungry. The UN is expecting people to die of exposure. There’s no sanitation. So you can imagine that there are people who queue up to go to the bathroom. People are unable to wash. They’re unable to change their clothes. And all this, of course, is fertile ground for disease and infections. And, of course, the weather is getting colder.

Marc Filippino
The FT’s Heba Saleh is covering the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Thanks, Heba.

Heba Saleh
Thank you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Marc Filippino
Oil prices hit a five-month low yesterday. Brent crude fell to $74 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate dipped below $70 a barrel. The drops on Wednesday marked a five-day losing streak for oil. And the weirdest thing about all this? Opec and Russia announced production cuts last week. So you think oil prices would actually go up. But analysts say that investors don’t believe all of Opec had their heart in the cuts or at the very least, some members of the oil cartel like Angola are pushing back against them.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It looks like western aid to Ukraine might be drying up. Earlier this week, the White House warned that US support to Kyiv would run out by the end of the year. And in the European Union, a budget dispute is threatening another crucial piece of funding. To hear how this is affecting the situation on the ground in Ukraine, I’m joined by the FT’s Christopher Miller. Hey, Chris.

Christopher Miller
Hey, thanks for having me.

Marc Filippino
So how is Ukraine responding to the fact that this funding might dry up soon, Chris?

Christopher Miller
Well, it’s not going down particularly well. They’re staying afloat now largely because of financial assistance from western governments. The UK, the United States, the EU and member countries are providing, you know, billions of dollars to help the government stay up and running, to provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of people who need it here, and, of course, to help fund Ukraine’s defensive military operation. The president has come out and said repeatedly this is necessary in order for Ukraine to continue to defend itself. His chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Tuesday this week was in Washington saying that if there is any disruption on the US side in providing this military aid to Ukraine, that we are at risk of seeing a Russian military victory.

Marc Filippino
Now, based on what you’re hearing and seeing, how long can Ukraine maintain its defence along the front lines without more financial support from the US and the EU?

Christopher Miller
Ukraine is using hundreds, if not thousands of artillery shells of various sizes on a daily basis here. And they’re having even more fired at them by the Russians. So they need a huge amount of weaponry, of munitions to continue its defence. Some Ukrainian commanders here predict that if American assistance doesn’t come through by the end of the year, that we could see the Ukrainian military run dry of artillery shells and rockets and really crucial munitions shortly after the first of the year. And what that does is it puts them at great risk because the Russians are not having to ration as much. They’ve really put — or Vladimir Putin, rather — has put his country on a war footing. They’re really ramping up the production of weaponry, of munitions. And so if this American assistance doesn’t come in, we could, within the next several weeks see Ukraine’s military munition coffers empty and then really have this predicament on the battlefield where they can’t properly defend themselves.

Marc Filippino
Now, how is this all playing out politically in Ukraine? I mean, I’ve got to assume the funding issue is putting pressure on the government.

Christopher Miller
Yeah. You know, when we see this type of pressure build up and things on the battlefield not go the way Ukraine would like them to go, we see tensions grow and cracks emerge. And what we’re seeing in recent weeks is what, in the words of an adviser close to President Zelenskyy said was the return of politics. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko launched this broadside against Zelenskyy, saying that he’s taken on this, some authoritarian tendencies while governing under martial law. So there’s a lot of mudslinging and some petty attacks that Ukrainians worry are going to show Ukraine’s western supporters that things are a bit in disarray.

Marc Filippino
Christopher Miller is a Ukraine correspondent for the FT. Thanks, Chris.

Christopher Miller
Thank you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Marc Filippino
You can read more on all of these stories at FT.com for free when you click the links in our shownotes. This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Make sure you check back tomorrow for the latest business news.

[MUSIC PLAYING]