AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

We begin today’s show in Gaza. Israeli strikes killed 28 Palestinians on New Year’s Day, including women and children. Today, Israeli attacks killed at least 52 Palestinians since dawn, striking northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, the central Bureij refugee camp, Gaza City and a tent camp sheltering displaced families in al-Mawasi, in southern Khan Younis, in an area designated as a so-called humanitarian zone.

AIYDA ZANOUN: [translated] When the morning came, we came to inspect the site. And as you can see, it is devastation, complete destruction. What have the children done to be hit at 1:00 in the morning? … There is no safe area at all. No safe area, wherever you go. Those by the sea have been hit. Here has been hit. There were strikes further away. The strikes are everywhere.

AMY GOODMAN: This comes as a seventh infant in Gaza has died from hypothermia as displaced people in tents struggle to keep warm in the winter amidst days of heavy rain that have flooded the camps.

This comes as a U.N. Human Rights Office report released Tuesday documented how Israeli attacks on hospitals between October 2023 and June 2024 have pushed Gaza’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse.

This is Ayman Abou Hattab, a Palestinian father seeking medical attention for his son at a flooded field hospital in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

AYMAN ABOU HATTAB: [translated] I came to treat my son, but I found the hospital is in such a state as you can see. This is a situation unfit for any hospital in the entire world. This is but the least of the problems for our children. We want the Arab countries to see what’s happening to us for the sake of the hospitals, because everything is flooded.

AMY GOODMAN: New data shows the Gaza population has fallen 6% since start the Israel’s assault on Gaza more than a year ago.

For more, we go to Deir al-Balah in Gaza to speak with Shrouq Aila, independent journalist and producer in Gaza. She was recently honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists — that’s CPJ — in their 2024 International Press Freedom Awards. Her husband, the journalist Roshdi Sarraj, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. He ran Ain Media, which Shrouq now heads.

CPJ described Shrouq’s story as emblematic of the plight of journalists in Gaza, quote, “who have endured the unthinkable and continue to report the news for the world to see.” Just last Thursday, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. One of those five journalists, in their car that was clearly marked “press,” was waiting for his first child to be born inside the hospital.

Shrouq, welcome back to Democracy Now! Thank you so much for being with us. If you can describe the scene on the ground as we hear about another baby dying of hypothermia, the winter weather so dangerous for the people of Gaza because of the tents that they are living in, because of their completely devastated condition and the closing of so many hospitals because of airstrikes and raids?

SHROUQ AILA: Hey, Amy. And it’s so weird to say “Happy New Year” from genocide, but hopefully it will be ended very soon.

So, on Tuesday, the rainstorms flooded and uprooted the displacement tents, the makeshift tents of displaced people, like, worsening the already deteriorating living conditions of them. Over 2 million displaced people are facing life-threatening conditions because of the extreme cold and the heavy rain. In addition to that, it’s important to mention that these tents cannot withstand the heat in summer, nor can they stand the cold and rain in winter.

Even though — it’s really important to mention that nowadays, like, it’s been almost three months that Gaza Strip has been suffering a sophisticated siege by the Israeli army and making war, you know, starting the siege to prevent the entry of basic needs. Like, for example, there is a shortage of blankets, mess trays, warm clothing and very little wood for fires. And the current situation actually signals an immediate need for intervention; otherwise, there will be a real humanitarian crisis that’s just ahead in the beginning of this winter.

In addition to that, there are — like, many kids are suffering of lots of diseases because of the cold. And also, you have to know, when it comes to rain, the sewage got mixed with the rainfall, which involves those kids in more harsh conditions to cope with inside those tents. It’s really heartbreaking to walk in the street and seeing those people putting their blankets, mess trays and even the clothes just in the street. All wait, and just waiting to sun to show up, you know, to dry it all. I’ve seen kids, you know, trying to help their fathers, their parents, in terms of getting the water out of their tents, because they woke up finding themselves swimming, literally swimming, in the rainwater and the sewage, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Shrouq, first, it’s horrifying to say — just as you said, it’s hard to say “Happy New Year,” as you describe the situation on the ground. But congratulations on winning the CPJ award, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has to be also extremely painful for you, as your husband, the journalist Roshdi Sarraj, was killed in an Israeli airstrike more than a year ago. And you have so many journalists, well over — what are the numbers? Around 170, 180, perhaps more than 200, journalists and media workers killed in Gaza. Most recently, among those killed were the five together outside Al-Awda, and I was wondering if you knew any of them. But talk about the meaning of being recognized for your work.

SHROUQ AILA: Like, it’s really — you know, I can say it has double faces in this. The first one, it really attacks me deeply to receive awards over those of my husband, and, you know, not coping, but I can say just being more resilient and standing in front of the camera or behind the camera and document the horrible situation here.

And the good part is in this that people are hearing us. I thought for somehow that I lost hope in humanity, but this award actually brought me to the surface to remind me that what we are doing here under genocide is remarkable. People are hearing us, and, you know, they feel us.

And from here, I wanted to send my respect and appreciation for all of those who are supporting us and believing in the — in how exhausted we are. And I can say also — I want to say I know it’s a new year, and I just want to express how exhausted I am. It’s not only me. I’m just — you know, I’m representing all of my fellow journalists here. It’s been over 15 — 14, almost, months of being under genocide, doing the coverage day after day, having inside that anxious, anger, fear, hunger and, you know, the sense of insecurity above all of this, and also coping with the losing of dear ones, homes, works and whatever. So, I just want to say that we are exhausted, but knowing that people outside are awarding us, it’s such a relief for us.

AMY GOODMAN: Shrouq, can you describe to us what your day looks like, when you get up in the morning, how you do your work amidst the devastation?

SHROUQ AILA: All right, I can say it’s such a long day, first of all, since you are living — you are not living alone. You are living with lots of family members and relatives because of that limited spaces that, you know, afforded for people, for displaced people. You know, there’s plus 2 million Gazans are displaced now. So, like, being in housing in a place with plus 18 persons inside, it means that you wake up in the very early morning because of the chaos and noise around you, because of the kids, and also because of that — you know, the so-called safe areas are super crowded with people, so there is always noise to wake you up. And so, I woke up, like, in the very morning, sometimes at 5 or 6 a.m.

And then, I want to say that I try as much as I can to have my pure time and moments with my little daughter, who lost her father in the beginning of this genocide, and also because that feel that if I left home, I’m not sure if I’m coming back. So I try as much as I can to catch some moments with her before I leave.

And once I leave, you know, there is a transportation crisis here because of the shortage of fuel, so we are using the traditional means of transportations, like, you know, that cart that’s dragged by donkeys, for example, that you feel you will never arrive to your destination because it’s very slow and because of the crowdedness of the streets outside. But, otherwise, the other alternatives are somehow quite expensive and not affordable. And I can say sometimes it takes me two to three hours to arrive to my destination to do the filming.

And I have to mention that lots — or, especially in Khan Younis city, like, the entire city is already flattened in the ground. Like, according to the municipality of Khan Younis, like 90% of the city destroyed, whether partially or completely destroyed, which means there’s no streets. It’s all about random strips, random tents around the — everywhere. So, like, when it comes to filming in Khan Younis, it means you have to waste your entire day in arriving to the area and leaving the area, as well, and also because of the signal there is very weak because of, you know, nonstopping attacking of the networks.

And then, once I’ve done my filming, there is another problem. And I can say that another hardship that we, as journalists, we are facing is the issue of the internet access. There is no internet access, a proper one, as we used to have before this genocide. So I try to move to the area of the press tent, because this press tent provides you with electricity and a suitable internet to do your uploading.

And I want to tell you, like, it’s been plus one year of not lighting the light in the room, because there is no electricity. I know that people outside cannot comprehend how does it mean to not have electricity, but it really happens this way. It’s just the solar panel alternatives and batteries which just function — you know, it function for very few hours. And when it comes to winter, you can hardly use it.

AMY GOODMAN: Shrouq, is it possible for you to —

SHROUQ AILA: And above all of it — yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Is it possible for you to leave? And would you leave? Why do you stay there?

SHROUQ AILA: Amy, you have to know, when this genocide started, I’ve been uprooted, along with my daughter and husband. We were in a work trip outside Gaza. And when it started, we immediately canceled everything and returned to Gaza, because my husband and I, we are both journalists, and we believe in that if you are a journalist, you’re a journalist for life, and it is just a duty. You have to do it for your company, for your country, for your people, just to be on duty during such timing.

Yeah, I believe that we did not — nobody ever, like, imagined it would be as harsh as it is now. But I never regret this, because I believe that being here in Gaza means that I’m doing a change. Even this change is not pushing for a ceasefire, but at least people are getting more aware about our suffering and our cause here in the Gaza Strip.

And there is also the other point of this, that it’s been like almost seven months of the closure of the Rafah crossing border, which is the only gate out of Gaza, that is just connected by the Egyptian authorities. This gate is just closed — this border just closed once in May, once the Israeli army launched their military ground operation to Rafah crossing border and area, as well, and causing the damage of this border. So, I can say, like, we are all trapped here, no way out, just the sky. You die, and you fly the sky. This is the only way out of Gaza nowadays.

AMY GOODMAN: Shrouq Aila, I want to thank you so much for being with us, and I wish you all safety, for you, for your family, for the people of Gaza. Shrouq is an independent journalist in Gaza.

SHROUQ AILA: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Her husband, Roshdi Sarraj, was a journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike in October of 2023. He ran Ain Media, which Aila now heads. She was just honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Coming up, in Greece, prosecutors have opened a murder investigation of “unknown perpetrators” following a damning BBC exposé on the Greek coast guard’s deadly crackdown on asylum seekers, with evidence showing they abducted and abandoned asylum seekers in the Mediterranean Sea, where thousands have died. We will speak with the BBC producer behind Dead Calm as we begin this new year looking at the plight of migrants around the world. Stay with us.