Gaza a 'human chessboard', UN humanitarian team leader says
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Gemma Connell, a UN humanitarian team leader, says that "there is no safe place in Gaza."
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Palestinians mourn their relatives, killed in an overnight Israeli strike on the al-Maghazi refugee camp, during a mass funeral at the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on December 25, 2023. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Gemma Connell, a UN humanitarian team leader deployed in Gaza for several weeks, pointed out on Monday that Palestinians in Gaza who fled to areas claimed to be "safe" by the Israeli military found that only a small space remains for them in the densely populated Strip, Reuters reported.
Connell described the current situation as a "human chessboard" where thousands of people who have already been displaced are now finding that there is no guarantee that their next destination will be safe.
"People were heading up south with mattresses and all of their belongings in vans and in trucks and in cars in order to try and find somewhere safe," she said.
"I've spoken to many people. There's so little space left here in Rafah that people just don't know where they will go and it really feels like people being moved around a human chessboard because there's an evacuation order somewhere.
People flee that area into another area. But they're not safe there," the UN humanitarian team leader expressed.
Connell talked about the martyrdom of a nine-year-old boy named Ahmad at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah - a location presumed to be secure from Israeli strikes.
"He [Ahmad] was not in an area under an evacuation order," she said, adding, "He was in an area that was supposed to be safe. There is no safe place in Gaza."
“What I saw it again today, which I see everyday that I’m here in Gaza is the absolute carnage & unprecedented suffering that’s been caused by this war.”
— Sadia Khan سعدية خان (@sadiaran) December 26, 2023
Gemma Connell from OCHA tells BBC what she saw when she visited the hospital where the injured from Al Maghazi were taken pic.twitter.com/hvjHvVXc6x
She noted that while at the hospital, she observed new airstrikes occurring and witnessed the arrival of new casualties.
It is noteworthy that the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed in early December that almost 1.9 million people, approximately 80% of Gaza's population, have been internally displaced since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip on October 7.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, reported on Monday an increase in the toll of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza to 20,674 martyrs and 54,536 injuries since October 7.
Al-Qudra indicated that the Israeli occupation forces intensified their aggression in various forms, including through committing executions, massacres, and genocide, as well as wiping out residential neighborhoods, and depriving people of health services and humanitarian resources, especially for refugees.
In a poignant reference to the tragic situation, al-Qudra pointed out that the medical teams are forced to prioritize critical cases to save what can be saved, adding, "We lose dozens of lives every day due to the weakness of medical capabilities."
Read more: WHO mission in Gaza reports 'rising desperation due to acute hunger'
