The foundations of life in Gaza shattered, volunteer surgeon tells UN
"The foundations of life in Gaza – family, health, and community – have been shattered," a surgeon specializing in trauma and critical care in California, who has volunteered in Gaza, tells the UN Security Council. "I wonder if any member of this Council has ever met a five-year-old child who no longer wants to live," Dr. Feroze Sidhwa goes on, citing the War Child Alliance on the suicidal rate among Gazan children. During her briefing at the start of the meeting in New York, UN envoy for the Middle East, Sigrid Kaag, warns members of the deterioration of the "already horrific existence of civilians" in Gaza. It "has only sunk further into the abyss," Kaag says.
UNTV / AFP VIDEO
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00:00Children are dying of starvation. The images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies caressing their hair, talking to them, apologizing to them.
00:30Excuse me, Mr. President. I have grandchildren.
00:44Mr. President, the foundations of life in Gaza, family, health, and community, have been shattered.
00:52The medical system has not failed.
00:54It has been systematically dismantled through a sustained military campaign that has willfully violated international humanitarian law.
01:02According to the War Child Alliance, nearly half of Gaza's children are suicidal.
01:07They ask, why didn't I die with my sister, my mother, my father?
01:12Not out of extremism, but out of unbearable grief.
01:16I wonder if any member of this council has ever met a five-year-old child who no longer wants to live.
01:22Hospitals are meant to be sanctuaries.
01:25Healthcare workers and first responders are supposed to be protected.
01:29Children are supposed to be protected.
01:31In Gaza, these protections are simply gone.
01:35Every day, the distinction between combatant and civilian is erased.
01:40Most of my patients were pre-teen children, their bodies shattered by explosives and torn by flying metal.
01:47Many died.
01:49Those who lived often awoke to find their entire families gone.
01:52Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, the already horrific existence of civilians has only sunk further into the abyss.
02:01This is man-made.
02:03When speaking of our fellow human beings in Gaza, words such as empathy, solidarity and support have lost their meaning.
02:13We should not become accustomed to the number of people killed or injured.
02:19These are daughters, mothers, young children whose lives have been shattered.
02:25All have a name, all had a future, all had dreams and aspirations.
02:32But the UN is now actively joining Hamas in trying to block that aid.
02:41The UN is using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism.
02:52The UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats, the UN is using threats
