Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for Gaza for the United Nations Coordination Office Ochhawarned that history will not judge the international community “on the basis of the speeches we have given” but rather on actions.
Speaking of Deir al-Balah, she delivered a blunt message: “When Gaza burned and the children hurt and the hospitals collapsed-did you work?”
Gaza City “Death restraint”
She said that last Tuesday, Gaza City “had been sentenced to death”, with hundreds of thousands of beaten civilians ordered to flee in an already overcrowded area where “even small animals have to look for spaces to move between moving. »»
Through the strip, the situation is disastrous. A friend sent him a text saying that he had tried to find space in the south, but there was none.
“Her 8-year-old cousin was instantly killed in an Israeli strike with several other children last week while waiting for bread,” she told journalists at the UN headquarters.
The friend’s daughter, who recently had two years, only knew war, she added.
Death, despair and destruction
“” The unmistakable smell of death is everywhere – a macabre reminder that the ruins bordering the streets hide the remains of mothers, fathers, children“Continued Ms. Cherevko.
“The humans who laughed, cried, dreamed. Their lives rushed through war on war machines, many never to be found. ”
While the humanitarian workers returned to Gaza on Thursday, the distraught people crowded around their convoy “pleading for this horror to stop,” she said.
“Dignity and hope have been removed, with each murder of a loved one, with each strike on a civil life buoy, with each denial of access.”
She said that “The race against time, against death, against the propagation of famine, has the impression that we, as humanitarians, cross the moving sands. Even more than humanitarian convoys are too often refused, delayed or obstructed by the Israeli authorities. »»
Humanity crosses
She noted that even in the midst of the difficulties “humanity shines”, pointing out “Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedical paramedics working on the counter, often without salary, medication or electricity”.
This also includes humanitarian workers in the United Nations agencies, the Red Crescent and other organizations “offering food, drugs and clean waters under fire”, as well as ordinary people who share the little they have with foreigners.
“In all acts of care – a refusal to let cruelty define the future. Proof that even in the darkest moments, the human mind continues, “she said.
Hope and action
Ms. Cherevko shared that he was often asked if she had hope.
“Hope is perhaps everything we have left, so we have to feed it,” she said. “But hope alone will not keep people alive. Urgent decisions are necessary which must open the way to lasting peace before it is too late. “”
She stressed that “the inhabitants of Gaza do not ask for charity. They ask for their right to live in security, in dignity, in peace “, adding that” our humanity – yours, mine, ours – demands that we are acting now “.
She concluded her remarks by insisting that “today, and every day, is a new chance for the international community to match the words with action. Do not miss it as it could be the last. ”
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
