Source United Nations
“Security Council briefing by Muhannad Hadi, Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), on Gaza.”
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – “Allow me to begin by sharing some voices from Gaza. “In my shelter, I hear women cry all night for help.” “We wake up every day just to search for food and water.” “As a mother I am forced to witness my child starve and cry all night long.” “We want the war to stop and dream of the day that we can go back to our homes in the North.” “I went for 4 months without taking a shower.” “We have to cut our hair due to lice and lack of shampoo and hygiene material.” These are just some of the things that women told me when I met them in Deir al Balah in Gaza on 9 July. All of them spoke about the lack of safety, dignity and privacy, in overcrowded camps. Many women said that they had suicidal thoughts”.
“The children who die, often do so slowly and painfully. The ones who survive, will have lifelong disabilities and sad futures. Six hundred and twenty-five thousand children have been deprived of an entire schoolyear of education. Needless to say that a child without education is a child without future. Children wander around IDP sites 24/7, often unaccompanied, exposed to huge risks and further injuries from playing in rubble filled with unexploded ordnance. They are also at risk of contracting dangerous diseases such as polio from the mountains of garbage and rivers of sewage that flow through IDP settlements.
Mr. President, Everyone in Gaza is exposed to risks of injury and disease. Those who survive the bombs and bullets, still face the threats of hunger, unsanitary conditions and lack of healthcare. People with pre-existing medical conditions, such as cancer, kidney failure or diabetes, are not getting the treatment they need”.
“Today the UN is not in a position to provide the necessary assistance to the people in Gaza, let alone to scale up, unless specific factors are in place. The enabling factors required for humanitarian operations are not new. First and foremost, we need protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure including protection of all humanitarian staff and assets.” “The United Nations, and our partners in Gaza, will never give up. We will continue to provide desperately needed assistance. But we need a safe enabling environment to do so.”