‘I have never seen anything close to what I have seen in Gaza’, says UN official
“I have never seen anything close to what I have seen in Gaza,” the veteran humanitarian told Al Jazeera.
“This past year for me has been more painful than the 34 years that I have worked in the humanitarian field. I’ve never been to a place where everything is needed, I’ve never been to a place where bathrooms were the topic [of discussion] of everyone,” he told me.
“Women told me many times if they have access to safe drinking water, they don’t drink it – even pregnant women – because going to the bathroom is an agony, is a journey of them that could end up in a catastrophe,” said Hadi, describing Gaza as “two million sad stories”.
“I remember meeting an elderly gentleman at the beginning of my assignment there who basically told me, ‘Listen, you’re getting this wrong; you need to look at us as zombies. We are two million zombies, the family ties are broken, community ties are broken, society is broken,'” recalled Hadi.
“At the beginning, really, I didn’t understand it. I thought I had enough experience to address the situation in Gaza, and then I realised really I had a lot to learn in Gaza.”
Blockade ’11 days too long’: UN official decries Israeli aid stoppage in Gaza
“Eleven days is already 11 days too long,” says UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher, referring to the number of days Israel has cut off aid from Gaza so far.
Fletcher said since the ceasefire began in late January, the UN had managed to make “progress in feeding many of those millions who needed the food [and] getting medicine in”.
He warned that “a humanitarian crisis” could emerge once again.
Fletcher added that the United Nations is also aiding communities who have been displaced in the occupied West Bank due to ongoing Israeli military operations.
