Hospitals collapsing, no water, electricity, body bags: UN agency in Gaza

Hospitals are nearly collapsing, food is disappearing from the markets and the UNRWA chief just announced that we only have enough fuel for three days. If Gaza does not get fuel supply, our operations will stop. This means other sectors related to us, like desalination plants, sewage system, hospitals, will  also stop. So we are reaching catastrophe in a few days.

If today or tomorrow, we have no fuel to spare, then our functioning, our operations (will be hit)… We have hundreds of cars, thousands of staff… we are the main address in Gaza now. We have 600,000 displaced people in our shelters in the Gaza Strip. You have the same number outside our shelters, sleeping in the streets or with relatives here and there. So, if we are hit now, by not being able to function and service the entire  population, because we remain the only body that delivers services, then we will have a catastrophe, a tragedy…

When you say that hospitals are collapsing, what do you mean?

There is a shortage of equipment, medicines, essentials… we used to send patients from Gaza to Jordan, West Bank and Egypt because here, they don’t have the ability and skills to treat patients in some specific diseases, or perform some surgery.

But now, you can’t do that… you can see injured people on the floor, you can see things that you could not imagine… What we lack in Gaza are body bags. It’s terrible.

What about the food shortage?

It’s difficult to find what you want, like bread… you will see very long lines of people waiting at the bakeries, or you go through the market of every camp, you can see that you will find nothing after some days… Yesterday, I went to one of the markets, supermarket actually, and I only found some biscuits and shakes. There is no drinkable water… I went to all the markets, and could not find bottled water.

How are you managing without water?

There are some small desalination plants which are still working because we provide fuel to them. So you can buy water. But there is no water to shower, I took a shower only once in 16 days… as I have moved from Gaza City to Rafah. For 600,000 people, you don’t have the ability to finance them, to provide them with proper conditions for normal life, so difficult…

You have moved from Gaza City to Rafah?

Yes, because of the airstrikes, because of the warnings that they will come to the neighbourhood.

Is the UNRWA the only agency left in Gaza?

In terms of services, we are alone. We had UNICEF, WFP, WHO. But we are the biggest organisation, we have nearly 13,000 staff, We have hundreds of cars, over 200 buildings, installations, clinics. So we were the lifeline for the people of Gaza before the escalation… But now we are alone. Before, we did have the authority, we had other NGOs, but now we are alone.

Have you suffered casualties?

We have learnt that about 35 of our colleagues have been killed and 10 have been injured, but we expect the number to be higher. Because you have people in Gaza, it’s so difficult to rescue people from under the rubble… they don’t have the ability to remove the rubble of the buildings that have been destroyed. So we have not been updated… We have over 40 installations that have been hit directly or indirectly… these are shelters, schools, clinics and headquarters.

The UNRWA headquarters was also hit?

Yes, the UNRWA headquarters has been severely damaged. I was there when they hit a building next to the headquarters, and our offices suffered severe damage. It is not functioning anymore.

How many truckloads of aid have come so far?

There have been three truck convoys so far… the total is about 50 trucks or a little more. Earlier, 500-600 trucks used to come daily… These are UNRWA trucks because we are the only body with the ability, from a logistics point of view… we have transportation, and the capacity to store and distribute.

With no electricity, how are you managing to communicate?

We have a generator at our shelter, so people come to charge their phones. Telecommunication companies are in Gaza, so you can get phone network… If you tried to call me on the phone earlier, it may have been difficult… But I am at the UNRWA facility now, they provide us with a kind of communication facility. But the internet signal is very weak. I tried to connect with someone on Skype, but failed.

But outside the UNRWA facility, many people don’t have internet. They don’t have electricity. They just wake up in the morning, asking what to do next. No one knows what will happen after five minutes in Gaza.

The explosion at the hospital, do you have a sense of the casualties now, a week after the attack?

We don’t talk about that… as a humanitarian body… we can only say that there is no safe place in Gaza. You may be hit or attacked any moment. I have no information about that.

Do you have any sense of the presence of Hamas in Gaza, as an authority?

No, no, I don’t. I am sorry.

What is your message to the international community?

They have this blockade, the siege on Gaza, which is really very destructive, even before the last escalation. We believe the civilians in Gaza must be protected. There is a law for every war and it should be implemented here too… don’t abandon Gaza as we are heading towards a real catastrophe in the coming days.