0:03

Welcome to Re Pros, fight Back a

0:05

podcast on all things related to sexual and

0:08

reproductive health rights and justice. Hi,

0:11

re pros. How's everybody doing? So

0:13

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous

0:16

about today's episode. The

0:18

format is a little different and that

0:20

is definitely making me nervous. So

0:23

I hope y'all like it. I guess before

0:25

I get to the episode, we're just do like really short

0:27

chitchat at the top. So Sunday

0:29

was Mother's Day and that feels especially

0:32

fitting, considering today's topic. But

0:35

I didn't get to see my mom because she's in

0:37

Wisconsin, but I did get

0:39

to talk to her and wish her Happy Mother's Day and

0:42

apologize for her gifts not being there until

0:44

later this week. My bad,

0:47

you know, you know how you're like,

0:49

I know this is coming up. I have plenty

0:51

of time. Not my problem yet. I

0:53

have plenty of time. Don't need to worry about it. It's

0:55

still plenty of time, plenty

0:58

of time. Don't need to worry about it yet. Then,

1:00

oh my God, I need to order something now. That's

1:03

absolutely what happened. I don't know what happened,

1:06

it was just I

1:08

was on top of it, I was on top of it and then all of a sudden it was

1:10

like, oh my God, it is like now I need

1:12

to send something now. It's

1:15

just one of those things. Anyway, oops,

1:18

sorry it's late, mom. And then

1:20

I think just like one other tiny bit of

1:22

housekeeping before we get started. I

1:24

think I mentioned this on our last

1:27

episode, that we were in the process of uploading

1:29

all of our old episodes to YouTube.

1:32

And so just a flag,

1:35

like all the new episodes are , or

1:37

all the episodes are now officially there. Woo

1:39

. But just

1:42

FYI , it's not video like of

1:44

me and the guest. It's just gonna

1:46

be regular video and if you hit close captioning,

1:48

it'll have the updated and correct transcripts

1:51

on it. So if you would prefer

1:53

to read the episode, follow along that

1:55

way. I mean, transcripts are also

1:57

available on our website and I think I've

1:59

not mentioned this here, so some of you may or may

2:02

not know. Did you know that Apple

2:04

Podcasts now has transcripts? So

2:07

if you're like listening to an episode on your phone,

2:10

you can like get like live transcription.

2:13

Um, so you can like read along as you're

2:15

listening. It's super cool. They only

2:17

have last I checked that could have

2:19

changed, but they only have like all

2:22

the, the ones since

2:24

they made that decision. They're gonna do the back

2:26

catalog at some point, but they haven't done it yet. But

2:29

FYI if you wanna check it out , um,

2:32

it's pretty cool. Okay, so

2:34

I think we'll leave it there today because I said

2:37

I do have a bit of a heavy episode and

2:39

you'll be hearing so much of me, y'all,

2:42

you're gonna be so sick of my voice, so we'll

2:44

just skip the usual chit chat and

2:47

go to this week's episode. But

2:49

I guess one more thing, sorry, sorry y'all.

2:52

Before we begin, I do wanna give

2:54

a really big trigger warning. We

2:56

are gonna be talking about Gaza, especially

2:59

as it relates to maternal healthcare right now.

3:01

So it is a really heavy episode and

3:03

we're not gonna get into like any graphic

3:06

descriptions of what's happening. It's

3:09

still, it's gonna be pretty high level, but

3:11

it still could be pretty triggering and hard

3:14

to listen to. So just

3:16

please step away if you need

3:18

to and come back at a better time or

3:21

if you're never okay, that's fine and

3:24

we'll just see you next week. I'm also

3:26

gonna note, like I said, the format for this episode

3:28

is a little different. I

3:30

worked with the wonderful people at the United

3:32

Nations Population Fund or U-N-F-P-A

3:35

for short to get connected

3:37

with one of their staff on the ground in Gaza.

3:39

And as you might expect, we were unable

3:42

to connect to do an interview.

3:44

Like it just, it wasn't gonna happen. And, and

3:46

we knew that pretty early going in, so

3:48

we decided to just do voice

3:51

memos. Um, so I do have a

3:53

voice memo from Judith Starla

3:55

who is U NFPAs field coordinator in

3:57

Gaza. Um, and we'll play that later in the episode,

4:00

but that leaves a lot of room for some

4:03

context that is gonna need to happen. So

4:05

you'll be hearing, like I said, a lot from me, but

4:08

I just, I really do wanna give a ginormous

4:10

thank you to everyone at U-N-F-P-A.

4:14

There were so many people that had to do

4:16

things to work to make this happen, to

4:18

get us connected, to get that voice memo

4:20

and to get it to me like it . So

4:22

much effort went into that. And so

4:25

I just, I really wanna thank that everyone at U-N-F-P-A

4:27

for that. But in particular Rachel Moynihan

4:30

who was my point of contact, who

4:32

is just one of my favorite people. So thank you so

4:34

much Rachel for everything you did to make this

4:37

happen. Um, I really appreciate

4:39

it. Okay, so

4:41

all of that again is just to say you're

4:44

gonna hear a lot from me today. I'm

4:46

gonna talk about why we need to be talking about sexual

4:48

and reproductive health in humanitarian

4:51

settings and what

4:53

the current humanitarian situation looks like

4:55

in Gaza. So with

4:57

that, let's turn to focus on SRHR

5:00

in humanitarian settings. So

5:03

repro has recently released a brief on sexual

5:05

and reproductive health in emergencies,

5:08

promising practices to address the

5:10

crisis within a crisis by our fantastic

5:13

senior fellow guy Patel.

5:15

It looks into what we can do to

5:18

ensure sexual and reproductive health are

5:20

prioritized in humanitarian settings.

5:22

And I'm not gonna spend too much time talking

5:25

about that now because we are

5:27

planning to have dietary on the podcast later

5:29

this summer to talk about it. So we'll

5:32

get much more in depth in into it

5:34

there. But I do wanna highlight some really

5:36

important parts about it that

5:38

I think are really important to remember as we talk

5:40

later about what is happening at Gaza. So

5:44

when people think of a humanitarian

5:46

disaster, whether that's an armed conflict

5:49

or natural disasters or

5:51

other emergencies, most people think

5:53

of immediate needs such as food,

5:55

shelter, water, sanitation.

5:58

And when you talk about the importance of having

6:01

sexual and reproductive healthcare be part

6:03

of that initial package, a

6:06

lot of people are just like, what do you like? That's

6:08

no why? Like that doesn't know , like

6:10

that's so unimportant and trivial, but

6:13

it is so important. Sexual and

6:15

reproductive, he , healthcare is just as

6:18

important when there is a

6:20

humanitarian disaster, people do not

6:22

stop being pregnant. They do not

6:24

stop getting pregnant so they don't

6:26

stop needing reproductive healthcare because

6:28

there is an emergency. They don't stop having obstetric

6:32

emergencies in a humanitarian

6:34

setting where you need to see somebody right away.

6:37

You don't stop needing birth control

6:39

during a a humanitarian crisis,

6:42

right? So sexual

6:44

and reproductive health, it's a part of your life. And

6:46

so it needs to be part of disaster planning.

6:49

And if that all of those reasons were

6:51

not important enough, just thinking

6:54

about them on face value, it's

6:56

really important to just like there are stark

6:59

numbers behind that. 65%

7:01

of all maternal deaths, 50%

7:04

of all newborn deaths and 51%

7:08

of all stillbirths occur

7:10

in humanitarian settings. So

7:13

this clearly shows why

7:16

we now need to prioritize obstetric

7:18

care and sexual reproductive healthcare . During

7:21

a humanitarian crisis. Access

7:24

to sexual and reproductive health services is

7:27

disrupted, right? So you're not gonna

7:29

have easy access to your doctor. It

7:32

may mean you have a hard time accessing birth

7:34

control or other sexual and reproductive healthcare

7:36

that you rely on. You can't just run

7:38

to the local pharmacy. And

7:41

especially if there's a crisis where you have so

7:43

much uncertainty in your future, that may

7:45

be even more important to you to ensure

7:48

that you are not getting pregnant if you do not

7:50

want to be. So it is really

7:52

important to have that stability and

7:55

to know that you have access to

7:57

sexual and reproductive healthcare from

7:59

the very start. Another

8:01

really important note that people may not

8:03

necessarily think of when I say sexual and reproductive

8:06

health needs to be included from the beginning,

8:09

but is gender-based violence that is part

8:11

of that umbrella. It's all part of it. So

8:14

gender-based violence occurs in nearly

8:16

every emergency and certain

8:18

forms of gender-based violence like child

8:20

marriage, intimate partner violence and

8:23

sexual violence can distinctly

8:25

rise during a crisis. That

8:28

means that for survivors, they

8:31

need a place, they need a safe place to

8:33

go and it needs to be in

8:35

place from the start, right? Because

8:37

they need time sensitive clinical

8:40

interventions such as things for

8:42

treating injury, for preventing sexually

8:44

transmitted infections or preventing unintended

8:47

pregnancy. That means you need access

8:49

to emergency contraception, you

8:51

need psychosocial support to address

8:53

the trauma that you have undergone, including

8:56

depression or any suicidal behavior.

8:58

It can all save lives. And

9:01

so it's really important that this is all

9:03

built in as part of

9:06

the care that is being offered immediately

9:08

when a crisis starts among

9:11

that sexual reproductive healthcare , it is

9:13

also really important to ensure that survivors

9:16

or anyone honestly have access

9:18

to safe abortion care. And it's really

9:20

important at this moment to put a flag here

9:23

and say, this is a place where

9:25

us anti-abortion policy is doing

9:27

actual harm. And you know, this is

9:30

something we have talked about before, but the Helms

9:32

amendment, it prohibits the use of

9:35

foreign assistance to pay for the performance

9:37

of abortion as a method of family planning.

9:40

And it has always been implemented as

9:42

this blanket ban saying no

9:44

funding of abortion even

9:47

in cases of life rape and

9:49

incest, where there have been those exceptions

9:51

throughout US policy generally. So

9:54

this harmful policy, the Helms Amendment,

9:57

it needs to be repealed like now, and

9:59

it , we mean we need to pass the Abortionist

10:01

Healthcare Everywhere act that has been introduced

10:04

in both at the House and the Senate. Full stop.

10:06

Ultimate goal Helms needs to go

10:09

, but in the meantime, the

10:11

Biden administration can do real harm

10:14

reduction by changing the way

10:16

that this policy is implemented by

10:19

allowing funding for abortion in cases of

10:21

life rape and incest. This

10:23

means that survivors of sexual violence

10:26

won't have to turn to unsafe abortion

10:29

and put their lives at risk to prevent an

10:31

unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Like

10:34

I said earlier, I'm gonna talk to Guy Tree all

10:36

about this later this summer and we'll

10:38

dig further into the sexual and reproductive

10:40

health in humanitarian settings. But

10:42

it really just seemed important to have that

10:45

as context as we talk about what

10:47

is happening in Gaza. But

10:49

we know this context doesn't just apply in

10:51

Gaza, it applies to , uh,

10:54

humanitarian crisis and emergency

10:56

situations all around the world, like

10:59

what is happening in SUD right now. So

11:02

as I turn to the conversation

11:04

to Gaza, it's important to

11:06

note that I'm recording this on

11:09

Friday , May 10th, and some

11:11

things may change between when I record

11:14

and when this comes out on Tuesday because

11:16

everything is moving so fast and

11:19

and Gaza right now . So just

11:23

FYI things could change. Okay, so

11:25

with that now seems like a really good time to

11:27

play the voice memo I got from Judith

11:30

Starla u NFPAs field coordinator

11:33

in Gaza.

11:34

Hi, my name is Judith. I'm the

11:36

head of office for U-N-F-P-A in Gaza.

11:39

I'm currently in Cairo in Egypt,

11:41

waiting to be able to cross back into

11:43

Gaza. I have been a humanitarian aid

11:45

worker for the last 17 years and

11:48

worked pretty much in every major crisis

11:50

and emergency around the world, either

11:53

as a clinician or in a management

11:55

role. I have seen

11:58

and felt the horrors of war many

12:00

times before, but

12:02

what is happening in Gaza?

12:05

The level of destruction and the utter

12:08

disregard for human life is

12:11

unprecedented. And

12:13

I'm deeply concerned that the worst

12:16

is yet to come. U-N-F-B-A works

12:18

around the world to ensure that women and girls could

12:20

up in emergencies, can access lifesaving

12:23

reproductive health and protection services. We

12:26

distribute supplies and equipment to health

12:28

facilities and hospitals in crisis

12:30

settings. We bring medicines

12:32

that prevent women from bleeding heavily during

12:34

childbirth and to manage obstetric

12:37

complications, including c-sections. We

12:40

also deploy mobile teams and set up mobile

12:42

health clinics to reach displaced women and girls

12:44

with maternal health services and

12:47

to establish safe spaces and

12:49

services to prevent and respond to gender-based

12:51

violence. The

12:54

situation for women and girls, including pregnant

12:56

women and new mothers in Gaza today

12:58

is desperate. People are

13:01

exhausted, hungry, and

13:03

living in constant fear. They

13:05

have nowhere safe to

13:07

flee to the

13:10

estimated 180 women

13:12

who give birth every day face

13:15

unimaginable challenges in accessing

13:18

adequate maternity care as the health

13:20

system has been ruined, leaving

13:22

only three maternity hospitals

13:25

functioning across Gaza and

13:27

those three are overcrowded.

13:31

Malnourishment, stress and fear

13:33

have led to a rise in complications during

13:35

pregnancy and childbirth. Newborns

13:38

are also dying because their mothers are unable

13:41

to attend prenatal or postnatal

13:44

checkups or because their birth

13:46

weight is simply too low to survive,

13:49

we simply cannot deliver eight at

13:51

the scale needed while Gaza is under bombardment.

13:54

Despite a recent increase in truck numbers,

13:56

there are still denials of access delays

13:59

and impediments and multiple S

14:03

two mobile maternity units which

14:05

are equipped and stuck to provide reproductive

14:07

health services, including surgical capacity

14:10

to provide emergency obstetric care are

14:12

currently sitting in re in Egypt, waiting

14:15

for transportation into Gaza. But

14:19

women however cannot and

14:21

will not wait to give birth. The

14:23

operating environment is also incredibly

14:26

dangerous. Gaza is littered

14:29

with unexploded bombs and eight

14:31

workers have come under life fire and

14:34

even lost their lives. Life

14:36

saving medicines, equipment and supplies

14:38

that U-N-F-B-A delivered to hospitals

14:41

earlier in the war have been destroyed

14:43

in the fighting. For example, at

14:46

AAL Hospital, medicines and supplies

14:48

for pregnant women are lying under

14:50

the rubble of a destroyed medical store.

14:54

At NASA Medical Complex, the same supplies

14:56

had been destroyed by fire. These

14:59

acts of destruction are not happening

15:01

by accident. This is a manmade

15:04

disaster. There are also restrictions on the

15:06

kind of aid that can be brought in. For

15:08

example, flashlights for midwives

15:10

to work in the dark were removed from

15:13

U-N-F-P-A midwifery kids . Safe, rapid

15:16

and sustained access of aid supplies, a

15:19

working deconfliction mechanism to move

15:21

aid across Gaza. The opening of

15:23

all border crossings and

15:26

an immediate humanitarian ceasefire

15:28

are urgently needed. We are now

15:31

in the eighth months of this conflict.

15:34

Gaza's women and girls need peace

15:37

now. Help us keep

15:39

all eyes on Gaza and join calls

15:41

for an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional

15:44

release of all hostages support

15:47

part petitions and campaigns to

15:49

increase awareness of what is happening to

15:51

women and girls in Gaza. And the

15:53

urgent need to end their suffering

15:57

stand up for international humanitarian

15:59

law, which is being violated in Gaza

16:01

every day. The

16:04

relentless targeted attacks on and

16:06

around healthcare facilities, services,

16:09

healthcare workers and patients is

16:11

abhorrent and violates. International

16:13

humanitarian law hospitals

16:16

are not a battleground. They

16:18

must be respected and protected. The

16:22

global community can also donate to

16:25

U-N-F-P-A to US support more women and

16:27

girls with lifesaving reproductive

16:30

health and protection services.

16:32

I just have to say thank you again to Judith

16:34

and everybody at U-N-F-P-A who made

16:36

that possible. I'm , I just think

16:38

it's so important to ground this conversation

16:41

with somebody who was on the ground and working

16:44

to ensure that maternal healthcare

16:46

is provided in um, Gaza.

16:49

So thank you Judith. Thank you everybody

16:51

at U-N-F-B-A who worked to make this happen,

16:54

especially Rachel. Thank you. Thank

16:56

you, thank you. Okay, so

16:58

it's also worth sharing a statement by

17:01

Natalia Kenam , the executive director of

17:03

U-N-F-P-A that she put out on May 5th because

17:05

it really just sums up everything that is going on

17:07

right now. Close to seven

17:10

months of war has inflicted unimaginable

17:12

suffering on the people of Gaza, including

17:15

hundreds of thousands of pregnant and breastfeeding

17:17

women and newborns. Many have

17:19

been displaced multiple times, living

17:22

in inhumane conditions with

17:24

too little to eat hardly any access

17:26

to medical care and nowhere to go. People

17:29

are hungry, exhausted and scared,

17:31

and they cannot keep running. More

17:33

than 1 million people are crammed into

17:36

Rafa , sleeping in the streets and makeshift

17:38

shelters in a city that is hosting five

17:41

times its natural capacity. A

17:44

ground invasion in Rafa would be a catastrophe

17:46

for traumatized pregnant women and new

17:49

mothers and gravely impact humanitarian

17:51

aid operations that are already struggling

17:54

to reach people in desperate need throughout

17:56

Gaza. Today, major hospitals

17:59

lie in ruins across Gaza and not

18:01

a single health facility is fully operational

18:04

following more than 440 attacks

18:06

on healthcare since the war began in

18:08

October. Rafa is

18:11

the main hub for the humanitarian response

18:13

in Gaza and has some of its

18:15

last functioning health facilities. This

18:18

includes the Halal TI

18:21

Maternity Hospital, which is now the

18:23

health main facility for pregnant

18:25

women in Rafa , managing

18:27

around 60 deliveries per day. An

18:30

attack in Rafa could turn this in

18:32

other health facilities from places

18:34

of hope into rub and

18:36

dust putting at risk. The lives of

18:38

tens of thousands of pregnant women. U-N-F-P-A

18:41

delivered reproductive health kits have enabled

18:44

safe births for more than 20,000 women

18:46

in Gaza. The kids include

18:48

life-saving medicines and equipment for maternal

18:51

health, including emergency obstetric

18:53

care. We have set up a mobile maternity

18:55

clinic in Rafa with two more on

18:57

the way hundreds of U-N-F-P-A

19:00

trained midwives. Our supporting pregnant women and

19:02

new mothers unable to access health

19:05

a health clinic or hospital. U-N-F-P-A

19:07

has also distributed essential supplies to

19:10

thousands of new mothers and we are providing

19:12

psychosocial support for thousands of

19:14

women, adolescents and children. We

19:17

call for all hospitals, healthcare

19:19

workers and patients to be

19:21

protected. Civilians must never

19:23

be a target and their needs must

19:26

be met. We call for an immediate ceasefire

19:29

and for the unconditional release of all hostages

19:31

and Gaza, the women and

19:33

girls of Gaza need peace now.

19:36

So with that, I mean things have even changed since

19:39

Natalia's statement, but we'll get to that.

19:41

So let's start with the big picture.

19:45

More than 34,000 Palestinians

19:47

have been killed since the start of the conflict,

19:50

and this includes more than 14,500

19:53

children and more than 78,000 have

19:55

been injured . 75% of

19:57

the population in Gaza has been

19:59

displaced and that means

20:01

nearly 1.5 million Palestinians

20:04

have been displaced and more than half

20:06

of those are children. The

20:09

situation in Gaza is dire in every

20:11

way as of this recording.

20:13

No aid has entered Gaza in

20:16

three days from the southern crossings

20:18

and according to the World Food Program, only

20:20

one bakery in Rafa is functioning

20:23

with no one being able to cross the border. That

20:26

means no food, no fuel,

20:28

water, medical supplies have

20:30

gotten in and supplies were already

20:33

dangerously short. People

20:36

are moving to sites that do not have latrines

20:39

or water access points , proper

20:42

drainage or even shelter. The

20:45

UN has said that there is already a full

20:47

blown famine in Northern Gaza and

20:49

the famine is progressing south. We

20:53

know that there are around

20:55

155,000 pregnant women

20:57

and new mothers who are currently struggling

20:59

to survive. They're suffering

21:01

from hunger and related diseases that

21:04

show up when there is hunger. They're

21:07

dealing with life-threatening shortages of

21:09

food, water, and medical care. And

21:12

only 33% of gaza's,

21:15

36 hospitals and

21:17

30% of its primary healthcare centers

21:19

are functional in some capacity, some

21:23

capacity, right? Not even full

21:26

capacity. Some amid

21:29

repeated attacks and shortages of vital

21:31

medical supplies, fuel and staff,

21:34

the main maternity hospital in Rafa

21:36

, the one that Natalia was talking about, has

21:39

stopped seeing patients before

21:42

that it had been seeing about 85

21:44

out of the average of 180 births

21:46

a day in Gaza before

21:48

this current escalation and fighting outside

21:51

of Rafa . Other hospitals

21:53

had been focusing on treating the war wounded

21:55

and directing women in labor to the El

21:58

Mirati hospital. And there

22:01

are about 5,500

22:03

women who will give birth in the coming month.

22:06

And it is not clear where these women will

22:08

go. This is an unimaginable

22:11

challenge. Doctors

22:13

and midwives are desperate for medicines and

22:15

supplies and they're struggling to provide adequate

22:18

care. Beds are in

22:20

such short supply that women who

22:22

manage to deliver in a hospital often

22:25

have to be discharged mere hours after

22:27

undergoing a C-section. And

22:29

there are an estimated 30,000 pregnant women

22:32

living in Rafa in desperate conditions.

22:35

It's also imperative to remember that if

22:37

the women and children do survive pregnancy

22:39

and childbirth, they must return to overcrowded

22:42

shelters and informal sediments that

22:44

lack clean water or hygiene facilities.

22:48

I mean, and food too, right? So

22:50

according to the International Rescue Committee,

22:52

as of December 155,000

22:56

pregnant and breastfeeding women were at high

22:58

risk of malnutrition. And

23:00

unfortunately that number has likely just

23:02

continued to rapidly grow since then. It's

23:06

just the scale of this is just beyond

23:08

imagining. UN women

23:11

recently released a survey they conducted and

23:13

it had some shocking statistics.

23:17

More than six out of 10 women that

23:19

they interviewed who are currently pregnant

23:21

or have been pregnant since October

23:24

5th, reported complications including

23:27

95% reporting urinary

23:29

tract infections, 80%

23:31

reporting anemia, 30%

23:34

reporting preterm labor, 50%

23:38

reporting, hypertensive disorders, and

23:41

households with nursing mothers. 72%,

23:45

72%

23:48

reported there are challenges in breastfeeding

23:51

and meeting the nutritional needs of their babies.

23:54

Y'all , this is beyond devastating

23:57

and heartbreaking and it is

23:59

way past time to act. So

24:03

what can you do if

24:05

you can donate to groups that are

24:08

working on the ground to get aid and to Gaza?

24:11

Some possibilities are Doctors Without

24:13

Borders. The International Rescue Committee

24:17

Care Save the Children, the

24:20

Palestine Children's Relief Fund, world

24:22

Central Kitchen and there are so many more.

24:25

Call your members of Congress and

24:28

tell them that you support a ceasefire. Ask

24:31

them to fund U-N-F-P-A And

24:33

it's important work to fund

24:36

groups that are doing the work to ensure

24:38

sexual and reproductive health are

24:40

prioritized in humanitarian settings.

24:43

And U-N-F-P-A is one of those groups. U-N-F-P-A

24:46

is on the ground before, during, and after

24:48

a crisis. They work closely

24:51

with governments and local NGOs and

24:53

other UN agencies to ensure that

24:55

sexual reproductive health and rights and

24:58

responses to gender-based violence are integrated

25:00

into emergency responses from day one.

25:03

They ship hygiene supplies and

25:05

reproductive health crits to crisis settings

25:08

providing core life-saving services. U-N-F-P-A

25:11

also deploys trained personnel

25:14

and provides other crucial support to

25:16

affected populations working to

25:19

ensure the needs of women and girls are served

25:21

through preparedness, emergency

25:23

and reconstruction phases. So

25:26

it is just, it's so important to make our

25:29

voices heard in this moment. Make

25:31

sure that people know about this humanitarian

25:33

crisis. Um, you

25:35

know, some of that is getting lost in

25:37

the fight over protests on college

25:40

campuses, right? They're losing sight

25:42

of what is happening on the ground and this

25:45

unimaginable tragedy. So

25:47

make sure to talk to people, make sure to

25:49

tell your members of Congress what you think it

25:51

is. So important. And

25:54

I think the way to end this episode is

25:56

to just share this quote from Martin Griffiths,

25:59

the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian

26:01

Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

26:04

This is from May 7th. The

26:06

conflict in Gaza is at another critical juncture.

26:09

Israel's latest evacuation orders and

26:12

their ground operations will bring more

26:14

death and displacement. In

26:16

just a matter of days, tens of thousands

26:19

of people have been forcibly

26:21

displaced. Yet again, the

26:24

closing of the Rafa Crossing severs

26:26

access to fuel and shuts off the movement

26:28

of aid and staff to and

26:30

from Gaza. Civilians must

26:33

be protected and have their basic needs

26:35

met. Whether they move or

26:37

stay, those who evacuate

26:39

must have enough time to do so, as

26:42

well as a safe route and a safe

26:44

place to go. Our

26:46

teams are still in Rafa , where over 1

26:48

million people, including 600,000

26:51

children remain. We are also

26:53

extending our presence northwards to assist

26:55

the families who have moved there. We made

26:58

remain committed to providing aid to

27:00

people regardless of where they are. The

27:03

decisions that are made today and their

27:05

consequences in human suffering

27:07

will be remembered by the generation that

27:09

follows us. Let us be ready

27:11

for their reproach. If you have

27:14

any questions, comments, or topics you

27:16

would like us to cover, always feel free to

27:18

shoot me an email. You can reach me at jenny

27:21

jn n [email protected]

27:24

, or you can find us on social media. We're

27:27

at Repro Fight back on Facebook and Twitter

27:30

or re Pros FB on Instagram. If

27:32

you love our podcast and wanna make sure more people find

27:34

it, take the time to rate

27:37

and review us on your favorite podcast platform.

27:40

Or if you wanna make sure to support the podcast, you

27:42

can also donate on our [email protected].

27:46

Thanks all .