Gaza civilians trapped in ‘human chessboard’ – UN official warns
Gemma Connell, the leader of a UN humanitarian team deployed in Gaza for several weeks, described on Monday the situation of civilians using the metaphor of a “human chessboard.”
Connell said that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip adhered to the Israeli army’s evacuation orders as they sought refuge in designated areas, only to discover that they were left with minimal space in the heavily populated region.
“People were heading up south with mattresses and all of their belongings in vans, trucks, and cars in order to try and find somewhere safe,” said Connell after visiting Deir al-Balah neighbourhood in central Gaza on Monday.
She further added, “I’ve spoken to many people. There’s so little space left here in Rafah that people just don’t know where they will go, and it really feels like people are being moved around a human chessboard because there’s an evacuation order somewhere,” clarifying that individuals escape from one area to another, but they don’t find safety there either.
Connell recounted the tragic death of a 9-year-old boy, Ahmed, at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, saying that the hospital received many victims of the overnight Israeli airstrikes, and Connell spent around 1-1/2 hours there.
“He was not in an area under an evacuation order; he was in an area that was supposed to be safe. There is no safe place in Gaza,” she continued.
U.S. officials have frequently expressed their expectation for Israel to reduce its operations to a lower-intensity phase with more focused and precise actions. Despite this, the intensity of Israeli operations has escalated.
