‘Children Shot By Quadcopters' - James Elder : Shared by Tom McDermott

Mehdi Hasan, Zeteo interview with James Elder

James Elder speaks to Mehdi about Israel’s northern Gaza siege, the Global Sumud Flotilla, and ‘man-made’ famine.

Read on Substack

‘Children Shot By Quadcopters’: UNICEF Spokesperson in Gaza
James Elder — Team Zeteo — Oct 01, 2025
Click here for the article: https://zeteo.com/p/unicef-gaza-sumud-flotilla-israel-siege

Summary
In an interview with Mehdi, UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder described Israel’s tightened siege of northern Gaza, the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, and the worsening humanitarian collapse. Elder said so-called safe zones in Gaza had been repeatedly bombed, while aid supplies such as incubators, oxygen, and hygiene kits were deliberately blocked. He called the famine “entirely man-made,” stressing that basic supplies were just miles away yet deliberately withheld. Elder recounted seeing children dying in hospitals, including several who had been shot by drone quadcopters. He described the crisis as showing “the worst of humanity.”

Quotes

• “People in the North – I was with them yesterday. There’s not a choice here… the idea that your grandfather is in a wheelchair. You don’t have the money to get to the South. You also know very clearly that so-called safe zones have been struck dozens of times by air attacks.”

• “Getting aid directly is a game changer… incubators, oxygen, hygiene kits – the idea that these have been restricted… again, speaks time and time again to the deliberate efforts here that have been made against the people of Gaza.”

• “I was outside at al-Aqsa Hospital in the middle area, Deir al-Balah. It was a room full of children, four or five children, all who’d been shot by quadcopters.”

• “The lack of food in Gaza is not to do with logistics, this is politics… So yeah, this famine was entirely, entirely man-made.”