The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Gazans “holding on by a thread”, UN aid worker’s harrowing testimony shows
A UN humanitarian freshly back from Gaza described on Tuesday seeing families dig makeshift septic tanks with spoons and shell-shocked toddlers who lost limbs under Israeli bombing, amid continuing obstacles to aid delivery.
After three months spent in the enclave over the course of two deployments, Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer with the UN’s aid coordination office OCHA came back with “stories that will haunt [her] for the rest of [her] very privileged life”.
“We really, really should not speak about living conditions” in the Strip because no Gazans have “living” conditions, she told reporters in Geneva. “What they have, if you look closely, is survival conditions. And barely. They’re holding on by a thread.”
Ms. Guerda gave reporters a glimpse of the daily reality of a population which has “lost nearly everything” in the grips of mass forced displacement with “no centimetre” that is safe in Gaza. “You have 10 to 15 minutes to leave your building because it’s going to be bombed. Your kids are sleeping in the room next door. You wake them up, they whine... And you have to make split-second decisions to decide what to pack, what’s essential,” from birth certificates to baby formula, she recounted, stressing that this has been the experience of scores of “people who lived in Gaza city, in Jabalia, in Khan Yunis, in Deir el Beleh, and now Rafah”.
She also spoke of the horrific aftermath of the bombing of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza earlier this month as part of an Israeli military operation to release hostages held by Hamas, in which some 270 people were killed and 700 injured according to Gaza’s health authorities. “We were working a couple of kilometers away, and the walls, doors and windows of our building were shaking,” she said. Among the hundreds of people “maimed for life” as a result of the two-hour bombing, she spoke of the children who lost limbs and whom she met the next day at the nearby hospital, “many of whom reminded me of my own two little toddlers,” she added
“They were staring into the void – too shell-shocked to produce a sound or a tear,” she said.
Compounding the horror is the dramatically insufficient aid access in the enclave, where humanitarian delivery remains “a puzzle” amid “ongoing fighting, the public order and safety vacuum” as well as “regular attacks” on aid storage facilities, administrative challenges and hours spent waiting at checkpoints.
Describing the water and sanitation crisis in the Strip, Ms. Guerda spoke of the harrowing experiences of families whom she’s seen “dig makeshift septic tanks with spoons, using toilets and pipes from destroyed buildings so they could have a little bit of privacy and hygiene near their tents”.
The lack of fuel is hampering not only aid delivery, but also protection efforts including humanitarians’ ability to reach unaccompanied children on the move, Ms. Guerda warned. Moreover, mass displacement from Rafah since the beginning of Israel’s offensive there on 7 May meant that people lost access to the malnutrition screening centres which humanitarians had set up there. As a result, there are “thousands of children who were being followed or who were being screened that all of a sudden we lost track of,” she said.
Hunger is prevalent in Gaza and according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published on Tuesday, the situation in the enclave “remains catastrophic” with a “high and sustained risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip".
The report found that 96 per cent of the population is facing “acute food insecurity at crisis level or higher (IPC Category 3+), with almost half a million people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Category 5)”.
Ms. Guerda insisted that desperate Gazans urgently “need decision-makers to finally make a decisive gesture to put an end to the relentless way in which they are being knocked down after every attempt to get back up”.
“And they need the support of the rest of the world to do that,” she concluded.
-ends-
STORY: Gaza aid worker testimony - OCHA
TRT: 2:21”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 25 JUNE 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Medium lateral shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from behind; speaker on screen in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “We really, really should not speak about living conditions there because none of them have living conditions. What they have, if you look closely, is survival conditions. And barely. They’re holding on by a thread.”
4. Wide shot: Journalists, cameraperson and technicians in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “You have 10 to 15 minutes to leave your building because it’s going to be bombed. Your kids are sleeping in the room next door. You wake them up, they whine, probably. And you have to make split-second decisions to decide what to pack, what’s essential. And how do you define “essential”? Birth certificates, IDs, baby formula?”
6. Wide lateral shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screen.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The children who lost limbs that I met the next day at the nearby hospital, many of whom reminded me of my own two little toddlers: they were staring into the void – too shell-shocked to produce a sound or a tear.”
8. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Delivering aid in Gaza is a daily puzzle, across the board. You know it all: the ongoing fighting, the public order and safety vacuum, the insufficiency of absolutely everything we need, the regular attacks on our storage facilities, the pile of administrative impediments.”
10. Wide shot: Technicians’ booth; journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “I’ve seen families dig makeshift septic tanks with spoons, using toilets and pipes from destroyed buildings so they could have a little bit of privacy and hygiene near their tents. You know, put some distance between themselves and their own waste.”
12. Wide shot: Cameraperson and technicians in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):“When your population shifts and all of a sudden, people lose their access to their services, and the situation worsens, I believe for several weeks there were thousands of children who were being followed or who were being screened that all of a sudden we sort of lost track of because they moved.”
14. Wide lateral shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screen.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a wholesale assault on human rights amid global inaction, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, as the conflict is about to enter its third year.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said Israel’s increasing issuance of so-called “evacuation orders” for Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in their forcible transfer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years of war in Sudan have created epic suffering, aid agencies say
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
In Gaza, ongoing Israeli military operations and the aid blockade have continued to add to daily fears and hardships confronting those in the devastated enclave, the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS, said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP
Dangers grow for Myanmar earthquake survivors, health system 'overwhelmed' - UNDP
In earthquake-shattered central Myanmar people are sleeping in the streets in fear of buildings collapsing, facing early monsoon rains and the risk of waterborne diseases, the UN Development Programme warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ICRC , OHCHR , UNHCR
Myanmar’s military has continued to launch airstrikes and other attacks against opposition forces in the devastated country, one week since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck and despite announcing a ceasefire, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif on Tuesday presented a report on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, detailing the continued violations of human rights as a result of the offensive launched by the Rwandan-backed M23 in eastern DRC.