LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It's gotten so bad in northern Gaza that the secretary-general of the United Nations now says the world must intervene to stop Israel from carrying out, quote, "ethnic cleansing," unquote, of the Palestinian territory. Here's the United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk in a video posted online.
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VOLKER TURK: The Israeli military is subjecting an entire population to bombing, siege and starvation, as well as being forced to choose between mass displacement and being trapped in an active conflict zone.
FADEL: Israel denies ethnic cleansing and says its operations are aimed at Hamas fighters who have regrouped. Mosab Abu Toha, a poet from Gaza now living in the U.S., is trying to get the world's attention and help for his family and all Palestinian civilians in north Gaza.
MOSAB ABU TOHA: The house of two of my wife's uncles was bombed along with three other houses. Twenty-two members of my wife's uncles' families were killed, and some people were wounded. And I reached out to so many people who have connections here in this administration. I asked them if they could allow the ambulances to just go to that area and get people to the hospital. The ambulances and fire trucks were stationed in Gaza City just 10 minutes away, and no one in this country could even ask the Israelis to just let the ambulances and fire trucks to go to that area.
FADEL: Did you get an answer from the administration?
ABU TOHA: No, no, not from the administration. I have a friend who has some connections with people in the White House and National Security Council, big names. I even sent them a screenshot of the area where the bombardment happened. I sent them the names of two children. One of them, he was in the Kamal Adwan Hospital because he was the sole survivor of his family. I asked him if they could take him in an ambulance from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, which has more doctor there, and they haven't been able to do anything about this.
FADEL: How old?
ABU TOHA: He's 7 years old. We're not even asking them to stop the bloodshed. We're asking them to just rescue a child. Why is it very difficult while at the same time it's easy to send weapons and just to stand and say Israel has the right to defend itself? Why is it so difficult to rescue a child's life?
FADEL: Israel says its bombardments are targeted and that Hamas fighters are using civilians as human shields.
ABU TOHA: What does it mean, human shield? Let's say I'm running away from the police, and I go to the market - to Walmart, let's say, or CVS. I run and I hide between the shelves, and then you bomb the place or open fire and then kill a hundred people and say, oh, he used the people there, the shoppers, as human shields. Why do you not, as a journalist, as anyone in the world, why do you not question these things?
FADEL: Have you felt that it's been getting the attention that it needs to get?
ABU TOHA: I mean, I think it's the job of everyone in this administration, and even everywhere in the world, to see what we are posting. I'm not telling fairy tales. I'm showing videos and photos and names and numbers and the stories of people who are dying right now.
FADEL: When was the last time you were able to talk to your family?
ABU TOHA: So I have a younger sister. She has three children. The youngest is 2 years old. The last time I could talk to her was two weeks ago, and I don't know how she is surviving, whether she is even breathing this moment. And I have three other siblings in Gaza City. And one of them is pregnant and is about to give birth, and there's no way that she could go to the hospital or even call an ambulance if there is something with a pregnancy. So this is devastating. I'm living here and people are, you know, living their normal life. But for me, there's nothing normal.
FADEL: Mosab Abu Toha is from Gaza, a poet and much of his family is in north Gaza right now. Thank you for speaking with us.
ABU TOHA: Thank you, Leila.
FADEL: We reached out to the White House for comment about Abu Toha's request for help and haven't heard back.
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