Gaza is city of “fear, flight and funerals,” says UN official
By Nathan Morley
A senior UNICEF official has warned Friday that Gaza City, the last refuge for families in northern Gaza, is rapidly becoming a place where childhood cannot survive.
Tess Ingram, UNICEF’s communications manager for the Middle East and North Africa, described the city as one of “fear, flight and funerals.” She said an intensified military offensive could trigger a catastrophe for the nearly 1 million people still sheltering there.
“It would be an unthinkable tragedy, and we must do everything in our power to prevent it,” Ingram said.
During a nine-day visit, Ingram met families who had fled their homes in fear — many already displaced, now displaced again — arriving with nothing but the clothes they wore. She spoke with children separated from their parents, mothers whose children died of starvation, and others who feared their children would be next. She also visited hospitals where children lay wounded, their bodies torn by shrapnel.
According to Ingram, only 44 of the 92 UNICEF-supported outpatient nutrition centers in Gaza City remain operational, leaving thousands of malnourished children without access to critical care.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces announced the establishment of a new humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, ahead of its planned operation to capture Gaza City. The IDF said the area includes field hospitals, water pipelines, desalination facilities, and infrastructure to support the delivery of food, tents, medicine and medical equipment.
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