Quotes
We have to do everything to help the deceased come home to a respectful burial, and the ones who are alive to... reunite with their families."
Iris Weinstein-Haggai, whose parents both died in captivity in Gaza, said We escape from one trap into another, searching for places Israel calls safe before they bomb us there. It is like the rat and trap game,
he told Reuters via a chat app We are afraid of what will happen in Rafah. The level of alert is very high,
Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, told Reuters on Thursday What I've seen here was traumatising. Patients that previously arrived in Egypt primarily with explosive and other war injury related symptoms are now joined by increasing numbers of patients, often children, with chronic diseases and severe malnutrition,
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories, told reporters in Cairo We want to live in freedom and safety like other children around the world.”
A person’s psyche wears out with fear. It’s a slow death
Husam says as he reflects on what lies ahead We’re afraid people will resort to killing each other for food,
11-year-old Husam says as he recounts his daily battle to secure basic necessities like food, water and sanitation in Rafah during the Israel-Hamas war The soldiers allow the passage of humanitarian aid on an ongoing basis,
Israel calls Hamas’s demands delusional and they are not – it makes perfect sense from the point of view of anyone in Gaza,
said Gershon Baskin, the Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation and a former Israeli negotiator for the prisoner exchange deal that freed the IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas for five years I don’t think anyone seriously believes that they will save the hostages alive by taking Rafah – they will do to Rafah what they did to the rest of the Gaza Strip,
Netanyahu has an interest in prolonging the war,
Despite preparations to enter Rafah, until now we saw lots of military pressure, and my brothers-in-law are still not back home,
said Dalia Cusnir, whose husband’s brothers are being held in Gaza It feels from outside that they’re not making every effort,
she said of the Israeli government As usual [Netanyahu’s] vital assist came from the US,
he added, pointing to Joe Biden’s continued arming of Israel as well as US officials’ willingness to endorse Israel’s blaming of Hamas for the talks stalling The Israeli negotiating team is prohibited from dealing with anything political,
Whilst implementation of some measures is ongoing, further definitive, and urgent steps are needed to set the course for a sustained flow of humanitarian and commercial goods into Gaza, in terms of volume, need and reach,
said the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag We could not support a Rafah ground operation without an appropriate, credible, executable humanitarian plan precisely because of the complications for delivery of assistance."
David Satterfield, U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian told Reuters I have to decide whether to leave Rafah because my mother and I are afraid an invasion could happen suddenly and we won't get time to escape,
Reuters quoted a 30-year-old Aya, who has been living temporarily in Rafah with her family in a school We don't know why this is all happening. Is it because we returned home and we finally got some aid through after months of starvation, and the Israelis didn't like that
said Mohammad Jamal, 29, a resident of Gaza City, near Zeitoun, one of Gaza's oldest suburbs It is as if the war started again. As if it is just happening, they burnt up the place,
he told Reuters via a chat app