'It's absolutely desperate': Voice notes from Palestinians
One person told Sky News in a voice note: "There are still people missing... and the number of injured, it's a lot. It's really hard, it's really miserable". His daughter in Cairo said she cannot stop watching the news for information.
Monday 16 October 2023 19:54, UK
More than a week since the Hamas attack in Israel, thousands of Palestinians caught up in the conflict remain stuck in Gaza at its southern border with Egypt - as the threat of an Israeli ground invasion into northern Gaza looms.
On the Sky News Daily podcast, Sally Lockwood speaks to former Gaza correspondent Nicole Johnston about who controls the Rafah crossing and the people inside Gaza she's in contact with, as we hear voice notes from two of them.
Speaking to Sky News, Samy Zyara, who is now in the south of Gaza, said: "There are still people missing... and the number of injured, it's a lot. It's really hard, it's really miserable".
His daughter, Asil Zyara, who is in Cairo, said: "I text most of my friends but most of them - they don't have internet."
Nicole, who is now based in Sydney, told the Sky News Daily Podcast: "In the first few days they said they had enough food, and they had enough water, and people were stockpiling what they had - now though they're saying it's getting much more difficult.
"Huge lines of people queueing up to try and get water, but without electricity you can't always operate the pumps you need to pump the water... it's absolutely desperate."
Samy told her: "This war is totally different than the other. The other actually, nobody called it a war, they called it a confrontation.
"But this time, it is a war. I can assure you it's a war."
Asil said: "It's 4am now and I couldn't sleep. I'm just focussing on the news. I just lost my family through my mother's side - we actually lost four.
"I'm just focusing on the news, and I'm not sleeping - focusing on it."
Elsewhere in the Sky News Daily Podcast, security and defence editor Deborah Haynes talks about ongoing diplomatic efforts as Britons are among the 199 people taken hostage by Hamas.
Podcast producer: Emma-Rae Woodhouse
Interviews producer: Melissa Tutesigensi
Promotion producer: David Chipakupaku
Editor: Wendy Parker