A UN official spoke on Friday on behalf of the women and children of Gaza before the UN Security Council, saying, “I am forced to watch my son die of hunger,” describing conditions that “will haunt us all” for generations.
Muhannad Hadi, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Middle East, said via video from Jerusalem, during a UN Security Council session on the situation in the Strip, “Allow me to convey to you some testimonies from Gaza: In my shelter I hear women crying for help all night long,” and “we wake up every day only.” “To have food and drink” and “I spent four months without bathing” and “We have to cut our hair because of lice and the lack of shampoo”…
The UN official added, “This is a sample of what women told me when I met them in Deir al-Balah (central Gaza Strip) on July 9.” He added, “Many women have thoughts of committing suicide. Their greatest suffering, especially as mothers, is their inability to protect their children.” He continued, “Thousands of these children suffered terrible injuries, such as third-degree burns, amputations, and profound psychological trauma.” Those who do not survive “often die slowly and in excruciating pain.”
Muhannad Hadi warned, “The humanitarian consequences of this conflict are not exaggerated. These consequences will haunt us all, not for years but for generations.”
