The logistics manager of the NGO's emergency relief unit talks about the endless hell in which the people of the Gaza Strip live: “They would rather die quickly than die under the rubble.”
“We have never seen what is happening in Gaza before. We are witnessing the living slaughter of thousands of people who have no escape. We push them to the limits of what is imaginable.” Ricardo MartínezEmployees Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has just returned to Spain after spending almost a month in Spain the hell of the Gaza Strip. As logistics manager for a 14-member MSF emergency response team, he managed to enter the Palestinian territory on November 15th and left on Saturday, December 9th.
In an interview with EL MUNDO, he talks about the “catastrophic” situation of hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents who cannot escape either the bombs or the lack of the most basic things. Due to a lack of medical resources and supplies, they can no longer even receive adequate medical care.
“Our original intention was to go to the north because if the situation in the south is terrible, the North “It’s a black hole where no one knows what’s happening,” he says. Eventually they failed to cross Wadi Gaza, the river that divides the Gaza Strip. “It is impossible to cross this line, the tanks dominate the terrain” and the attacks are continuous open war zone. As Ricardo discovered on site, the little humanitarian aid that goes through the north no longer reaches the north. Rafah Pass (border with Egypt), nor the food trucks that enter via this route.
As Commissioner of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa), Philippe LazzariniTrucks carrying food are intercepted shortly after entering Gaza by dozens of hungry people who “stop the trucks, take the food and eat it immediately, showing how hungry and desperate they are,” Efe reports.
The development worker Ricardo Martínez, this Thursday at the headquarters of Doctors Without Borders in Barcelona. VALERIA S. CHAMORRO
Ricardo Martínez visited the hospitals in the south and center of the strip: Al Aqsa, Jan Yunis, the Kuwaiti hospital, the Emirati… And the situation is Dantesque: “They are no longer health centers, they are cities where thousands live.” from people”. Of the 36 hospitals that were operating in Gaza, only 11 are still providing services. And there is not a single maternity hospital, although it is estimated that there are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza.
For this reason, MSF is preparing an 18-bed maternity hospital in Rafah with a pediatric department, at least for the most complicated cases.
The Hospitals They are considered safer than the rest of the buildings, which is why they are becoming increasingly popular Refugee camp: Hundreds of families crowd the hallways, waiting rooms or stairs looking for a safe place to survive. Sometimes there is only one service for every 300 people.
Ricardo Martínez was in the conflicts of Sudan, Chad, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Angola…But he remains impressed by what he just experienced in Gaza. He witnessed the deaths of elderly people, women and children, and often had to undergo surgery with virtually no anesthesia because the medication was rationed to reach as many patients as possible.
That's what this 52-year-old development worker says More than 60% of the strip's population can no longer eat for one or two days a week. At first they suffered BombingsThe Death and that destruction. Now to all that's going on, they added this hunger and that Diseases.
“Official figures say there are 18,700 dead in the Israeli attacks, but there are many more,” he points out. In hospitals, the lack of follow-up care for the sick and those undergoing surgery “leads to hundreds of deaths due to secondary wound infections or gangrene.”
It also does not take into account the number of people dying from diseases caused by overcrowding or poor hygiene and sanitation conditions in Gaza.
“The streets are filled with tons of uncollected garbage where children roam, from rats, from flies that spread disease,” he continues, “and the lack of drinking water forces thousands of people to drink from unsanitary wells that exponentially increase diarrhea, gastrointestinal illnesses and other diseases .”
After almost two and a half months of siege, the people of Gaza are losing hope. And so they pass it on to foreign helpers. “The Palestinians are a proud, sociable and generous people; now They ask us what they have done, why the West wants to exterminate themThey think the world has forgotten them.
HUMANITARIAN BREAK
Ricardo witnessed firsthand the seven days of ceasefire that Israel and Hamas have granted each other since November 24th. “The night before was terrible, a hell of cannon shots and bombs like never before. At 7:00 a.m. everything went out and a new day full of hope dawned after hell.” The children ran outside to play, scream and sing among the rubble. “It was exciting to see everyone take to the streets to welcome the ceasefire,” he remembers.
The residents of the Gaza Strip used these seven days to bury their dead, as many had been dead for days due to the bombing and could not be picked up. “They took the opportunity to visit their relatives, to try to enter their destroyed homes and save their personal belongings… But everyone knew that it was a mirage that the war would fall on their heads again.” On December 1st this happened again. “On the 1st at 7 a.m. the bombs returned punctually and criminally again.”
Ricardo plans to travel to Chad in January and return to Gaza a few weeks later. He left behind many friends there, with whom he continues to stay in touch via WhatsApp. “Omar [hermano de una de sus cirujanas] He has just asked me from MSF to geolocate his house in the north to see if it is still standing; and I’m afraid to look at it,” he laments. He cannot forget the children and friends he left behind there: “The residents of Gaza say they would rather die quickly than die under the rubble.”
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