Mr. John Whyte:

The national staff in Gaza are from Gaza. There was only every a small number of us internationals - maybe 20, 25 or maybe 30 back in the day. That is a staff of 13,000 and we were just the senior managers. Since it is a UN agency, it has to have an international staff component, but we are unique as an agency, where the majority of staff are also the beneficiaries of that UN agency. For me, it is the thing that drew me to the agency because it is an operational agency. Agencies, such as the WHO and UNICEF, do great work - do not get me wrong - but they work through implementing partners. They manage grants and they manage relationships with implementing partners whereas, for me, as an operational manager, I go on convoys. When there, I go on distributions. I roll up my sleeves. I can help manage fuels. I can help manage whatever we deliver. We have doctors. We have engineers. We have teachers. We have social workers. They do direct work and I really respect that. That is what I am interested in. I am a practical person, so I like an agency that focuses on practical implementation and delivery of services to the people that need them. They have the trust of the community built up over 70 years.

On the demographics of Gaza, you have the people from Gaza who are always there and then you have refugees from 1967 and 1948 - you have maybe 1.4 million of those who are people who came in at different times in different waves because of the conflict in the region.