Last refuge for Gaza families now a ‘city of fear, flight and funerals’ where childhood cannot survive

NEW YORK CITY: Once a refuge for families, Gaza City is now a place where “childhood cannot survive,” a leading UNICEF official said on Thursday.

“It is a city of fear, flight and funerals,” said Tess Ingram, the organization’s communications manager for the Middle East and North Africa, speaking from Gaza.

“The world is sounding the alarm about what an intensified military offensive in Gaza City could bring: a catastrophe for nearly 1 million people. But we cannot wait for the unthinkable to happen to act.”

After spending nine days in the territory, Ingram recounted stories of repeated displacement, children separated from parents, mothers grieving children lost to starvation, and others who fear their children will be next.

She also spoke of youngsters maimed by shrapnel she met in hospitals and warned: “The unthinkable is not looming — it is already here.”