 It's been 14 days of horror for the over 2 million residents of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli offensive, the all out siege against the Gaza Strip continues. And we've been reporting consistently on how things have gotten from bad to worse in terms of the humanitarian situation that all of the residents of the Gaza Strip are facing. Of course, the pressure is now also building up on the West Bank, but at the same time solidarity is picking up protests in support of Palestine in support of humanitarian aid being allowed to reach the Gaza Strip is gaining momentum, particularly in West Asia and other parts of Asia as well. Here in India, we saw protests. There have been protests in parts of Southeast Asia as well. And our branch will join us today to understand what's happening in terms of aid coming in the possibility of humanitarian aid reaching the people and how the protests also sink in with what is going on and the lack of complete action on the part of the international community. We reported yesterday on how Western leaders continue to come to Israel and continue to voice their support of Israel's right to defend itself. Meanwhile, Palestine, the Gaza Strip, sorry, has been turned from the world's largest open air prison into a death trap. That's our lead story, as it has been since the 7th of October on Daily DP, but we're also covering a protest in Italy. We ask Ana why Italians want access to free public health care and why they are against privatization of many of these services. Salams, you're watching Daily DP brought to you by People's Dispatch before we go any further. Please take a second and subscribe to our YouTube channel. United Nations agencies, including those working on the ground in Palestine, including in Gaza, have said that this is in fact collective punishment, which amounts to a war crime. As far as that is concerned, and whoever it might matter to in the context of international law, it's very different how things play out on the ground. And to give us an update on that, we have Ana Racha joining us today. Ana, I want to start with protests that are picking up gaining momentum solidarity for the people of Gaza, as well as of course the people of the West Bank and the occupied West Bank, because they are also facing the fallout or the ramifications of this onslaught. What's the latest on protests around Asia as well as other parts, including Europe? Well, all the day today and essentially has been building up on what we have seen over the last couple of days. And that's essentially people showing up in massive numbers to support the people of Gaza and of Palestine as a whole in order to call for peace, call for stop to the violence. And just in order to support the Palestinian struggle. So today we've seen protests ranging from over the last couple of days, as I said, they've been mounting up from Malaysia to India, but very strongly building up in the region itself, with of course the protests in Jordan, also building up in Egypt, building up in Yemen and building up in nearby countries. So, essentially the region seems and these the people of the region are converging to the point to ask for justice for Palestine and for a stop to the mounting number of deaths that we've seen since the attacks began on October 7. To the large extent to which the United States and its allies are standing in the way of some of these conversations, proceeding and aid actually getting to people and an end to this endless horror that we're watching. Those of us who are fortunate enough to not be there at present, but you must also be getting reports from hospitals from aid workers on the ground, talking about the kind of impact this has had. And still nothing moving in on that front either. We heard about the 20 trucks or so of aid. I mean, what do you do more than joke about things like that? So, I'm not sure what to do except for finding a very bad sense of humor, but it's essentially something that has been brought up in the protests today as well. A large part of the protesters in Egypt have had it to the border with Palestine in order to demand to 48 to actually get going. What we've seen today is that UN officials have said, well, the aid might or should get going in the next day or so. At the same time, officials from UN agencies have called those 20 trucks like a drop in the ocean of the knees that the people of Gaza are seeing. And let's just go back to what we've been saying essentially all alone is that there is a dire need in Gaza right now for everything from food to clean water to sanitation and also when it comes to medicines and when it comes to fuel. So hospitals in Gaza have slowly stopped operating because they have run out of fuel, which means that they cannot operate their generators, which means that a large part of people are now left without essential medical need. And that's something that the West seems, it doesn't seem, but it does downplay the need of the essential supplies to go into Gaza as soon as possible. What's also been reported is that the roads of course that would lead into Gaza have been bombed and now need to be repaired in order for the aid to get in. And then finally, of course, you know, you have the UN officials again saying that and recognizing in that way that Israel has announced certain limitations to the distribution of such aid in order for it allegedly not to get to Hamas. But essentially what it will lead to that the very limited aid that they're planning to get in and then they say build up over the next time over the next days. It's that it's going to get very slowly to the people who really needed and who have experienced attacks on civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, including churches over the last days. A quick reminder, of course, that even before this series of events began on the 7th of October, Gaza was already facing several crises, mass unemployment, food insecurity for as many as over half the population, more or less. Shortages of course of fuel, medicine, staff, workers, an issue that we've talked about so often on the show with Ana and we will also proceed to talk about in our next bit. But before we get there, Ana, you're in Europe at the moment. What is the kind of response because we've seen on social media people quite angry with how large sections of Western media are covering these events, not just from the perspective of course of fake news that is being disseminated because now fake news even comes from governments itself. So you really have no boundaries when it comes to that. But just in terms of the narrative that is being built and the kind of rhetoric and processes of otherizing, treating as subhumans and how that has kind of allowed the world to sit back and watch as some of these insane situations unfold. I think that's a very important question right now for Europe, because we're seeing different things. So, you know, while there is this whole public projection of the Western leaders of the European so called leaders and representatives flying to Israel and then supporting the attacks by the Israeli occupying forces. At the same time we're seeing also mobilizations by the people in all parts of Europe, who are essentially standing up for Palestine. So it's not, I think that what's being represented as a European perspective is not the perspective of the people of Europe. And of course it is true that for many people it's been difficult over the past two weeks to counter the mainstream narrative that has come from governments and is being pushed really aggressively through all channels. That is that Israel is defending itself and that it has every right to do so. But we are also seeing that people are speaking up and that they are using the public spaces that are given to them in order to try and at least push for what is really happening in Gaza, for what is really happening in Palestine. And again, this is not always easy because we know that already France and Germany have imposed bans on pro-Palestinian demonstrations. This is not something that they have done when it comes to pro-Israeli demonstrations. And it's essentially very, there is a climate of people sometimes being intimidated by what they're seeing around themselves and what the governments are pushing as again the European perspective. But on the other hand it's not so there have been massive turnouts in when it comes to protests everywhere in Europe from Spain to Ireland to Slovenia to Italy to the UK. So there are massive amounts of people who know what is going on in Gaza and who are supportive of the people of Palestine. Alright, we leave it there for now on Ghazana but we will continue talking to you because as you were pointing out to us since the 12th of October health rallies have been held in various parts of Lombardi in Italy. And tomorrow there is a big central event that is on October 21st of course being tomorrow. A big central event happening in Milan. The focus is as we mentioned earlier against the growing privatisation of healthcare and to demand the people's right to access healthcare as and when they need it and for what they need it and for free. Most importantly and strengthening health systems to get to that stage and instead of sort of continuing the process of cutting their legs off as we've seen over the past couple of decades. And yes, so we're talking about a series of protests that essentially were announced at the beginning of the month, even a bit before if we look at it, but from the beginning of the month there has been a push in Lombardi to fight against the changes that they have already seen implemented in their health system. And that if it were up to the government of Giorgio Meloni, who is also the government that criminalises people saving migrants in the Mediterranean. Those are the policies that the Meloni government would like to see implemented in the in the rest of Italy as well. And so there has been quite a strong mobilisation since the beginning of October in Italy. If we look back also at the national demonstration that was taken that took place in Rome, where the trade unions together with civil society organisations turned out in, you know, in what was really a huge amount of people who demanded, yes, the respect of the constitution. Yes, to improved labour rights, but very importantly, they have recognised the public health system as something as a key rallying point for the future. And this, you know, it's very related to what they have seen happening over the past years in the public health system. Of course, in Lombardi, it went up to, well, quite a bit of an extent because they have faced an increased introduction of the private sector in healthcare since the mid-1990s. So it's been a very strong push to equalise the public and the private sector. And so now the health activists together with the trade unions again are demanding that this trend is reversed and that there is a return to what was imagined to be a tax-based public health system which cares for everyone for free at the point of receiving care. So what are the sort of likely events, what is the central event about, as in how many people do we expect to gather there and is it also a sort of push against, like you were mentioning, not focusing so much on sort of super-specialised or only, you know, for example, cancer care, but also to look at primary healthcare and the basic needs of building a healthy society first. And then, like you were pointing out, maybe it connects back to why public health has become a central sort of pillar in this entire political struggle. Absolutely. So it has very much to do with how the health system in Italy was imagined to be and how it's looking right now. And this is something that, you know, if you look at the left parties at Poterello Popolo, what they have been warning for, well, for essentially years is that there is a focus, like in many other European countries, on talking about healthcare, about this very high-tech concept of healthcare, when what is essentially missing is the very basics of it. So there's a very weakened system of primary healthcare. There's an extreme shortage of health workers all over the place. As the private sector was allowed in public hospitals and public health centres closed down. So this is something that's supposed to be the first line of healthcare for people. And this is increasingly becoming inaccessible to people in Italy. But right now, because of the policies that were implemented, because of the cuts that were imposed on the health budget for years, there are now millions of people on waiting lists. So it really goes to extremes. Some health activists in Lombardy actually said that, you know, there's for some quite elementary health procedures in that region, there's a waiting list for four years. And that means that millions of people look at the waiting list and they just decide, okay, if I have money, I'll go to the private sector. If I don't have money, I won't get the procedure. So that's, you know, that should be a sign enough of how wrong things are going on right now. Now, what's worrying is that there is no recognition that this has been the wrong trend to take. And what we're hearing about is essentially about pursuing the same policies just went up a bit. So, you know, there has been a decentralization of healthcare already. And this also relates to what I was saying about the closure of the public hospitals and the community health centers. That went hand in hand. And now as the government pursues an even more extreme version of this decentralization and administrative devolution, it means that it would make matters in health worse. But more generally, it would increase the inequalities that already exist between different Italian regions of Italy. So what people have been warning about that, you know, they're already looking at a crumbling health system in the south of Italy. If the policies that the government is pushing for would come true. It would mean that it's, we're talking about two Italy's right now, we are talking about North that either has money or has money to be able to go to private health healthcare providers. And then we have the south with a completely devastated health system. While the idea enshrined in the constitution is that healthcare is the right and that it should be provided to everyone through as a responsibility of the state. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much for your time today. I think we'll bring this episode of Daily Debrief to a close. We're not done for the week yet. So we'll be back tomorrow with another update. We will, of course, be leading with the big story of the times, I think, Gaza, of course. But in the meantime, we have written reports on all of these subjects on our website. It was dispatched.org. Also, give us a follow on social media platforms for updates until tomorrow. Thank you very much for watching.