The latest on Israel's war on Hamas
Suffering is everywhere in Gaza and no place is safe for displaced civilians, a United Nations aid worker said Thursday, as she detailed the harrowing conditions in the enclave.
Gemma Connell, Gaza team leader for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said she had witnessed high levels of devastation across the enclave over the past month.
Many people arriving in southern Gaza “have been displaced not once, not twice, but six or seven times,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Connell also described the desperation in the north.
"I have never in my humanitarian career seen the level of suffering, desperation and deprivation that the people who are across that checkpoint are suffering," she said.
Connell also pushed back on Israeli accusations that the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency is “stalling,” as aid trickles into Gaza from two southern border crossings.
“The fact that all of us here wake up every day, trying to get assistance out, is proof positive of the fact that we are not stalling. There are many challenges," she said, citing the multiple screenings aid trucks have to go through.
Connell also said more attention should be given to the fate of the 2.2 million people in Gaza who are in desperate need of help.
“My biggest fear is that the world doesn't see the people of Gaza as the humans that they are,” she said. “And yet every day that’s exactly what I see — is the humans of Gaza and the devastating and catastrophic toll of this war on humans.”
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