UN Official Breaks Down Talking about Gaza Child Deaths + Video
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – UN official began to sob as he was talking about deaths of Palestinian children taking refuge at a UN-run school that was targeted by Israeli shells.
For a moment, he holds back the tears, coughing and blinking hard, trying to maintain his professional composure.
Then it is all too much for Chris Gunness, a United Nations spokesman, who broke down in a television interview with Al Jazeera as he described the devastating human impact of fighting in Gaza.
The clip offers a painful insight into the emotional toll among aid workers - and in particular that of a UN agency trying to protect Palestinians in schools, designated as shelters, which are still being hit by missiles.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed and scores more injured in Wednesday’s shelling of the Jabaliya refugee camp.
It was the second time in a week that a UN school sheltering hundreds of homeless Palestinians had been hit.
Christopher Gunness, the UNRWA's spokesman, said the attack was a "source of universal shame" and blamed Israeli forces.
"We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces. I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage."
Gunness said that UN representatives have informed Israeli forces about the exact location of the school 17 times.
Many of those in the school had fled their homes in northern Gaza after Israel dropped leaflets warning them of an "upcoming phase" of action.
On July 24, Israeli tank shells slammed into a school sheltering some 3,300 homeless Gazans, killing 16 refugees and staff, provoking worldwide horror.
This comes as Gaza's Health Ministry has announced that the death toll from 24 days of Israeli onslaught on Palestinians has exceeded 1,360, with more than 7,000 injured.
The Israeli offensive, which began on July 8, has killed mostly civilians, according to the UN. The fighting has forced over 215,000 Gazans to flee their homes in the overcrowded coastal strip, the WHO said.
