A spokesman of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main UN body in Gaza, burst into tears on camera when asked by an Arab news station to explain the scale of civilian suffering.
“There are times when tears speak more eloquently than words. Mine pale into insignificance compared with Gaza’s,” Chris Gunness said.
“UNRWA is overwhelmed in Gaza. We have reached breaking point; our staff are being killed, our shelters overflowing. Where will it end ... UNRWA now has 2,25,178 displaced in 86 shelters. But Gaza is being destroyed. So when the war is over, where will these people go?” he added.
At dawn on Wednesday, Israeli forces shelled a girls' school doubling as a refuge for more than 3,000 people, killing at least 15, including four children, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The UN is struggling in Gaza to withstand a flood of almost a quarter of a million refugees into shelters that have repeatedly come under Israeli fire. Out of cash, the UNRWA says it can barely handle the humanitarian crisis unleashed by more than three weeks of fighting between militants and Israel.