2023-11-08 17:31:40
The House Foreign Relations Committee received Palestinian refugees this Wednesday to collect their testimonies about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
It was with strong words that Izzeldin Abuelaish denounced the fate of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip since theHamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7. Invited to speak before the House External Affairs Committee with other Palestinian refugees this Wednesday afternoon, doctorborn almost seven decades ago in Gaza in the recently bombed Jabaliya camp, reported a dramatic situation.
A permanent climate of fear
Describing the Gaza Strip as a ghost region, the man, part of whose family died in Israeli strikes, expressed his anguish for his loved ones remaining in the Palestinian enclave.
Relayed by his peers who warned of the precarious situation of still functional hospitals as well as the shortages of water, medicine and food, he spoke of a real “crisis of humanity” and even a “genocide” against the Gazan population.
The UN agency in Gaza lacks resources
Natalie Boucly, the director of legal affairs at UNRWA, the UN agency operating in the Gaza Strip, was also invited to give her testimony to parliamentarians.
She recalled that 13,000 employees of the organization continued to work in the besieged Palestinian enclave in extremely difficult conditions. The 183 UNRWA schools in Gaza had to be transformed into accommodation centers, interrupting the education of the 300,000 Gazan students who attended them.
The UN representative also expressed her fears regarding the disintegration of civil order already at work in the Palestinian enclave, calling for a immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as a strengthening of humanitarian resources on site.
MPs express their emotion
After hearing the various testimonies, committee president Els Van Hoof invited the MEPs present to speak. All welcomed the testimonies of the Palestinian refugees interviewed as well as the action of the UN.
Malik Ben Achour (PS) also expressed his pride in sitting in a parliament capable of holding a balanced position regarding this crisis. The commission had in fact heard victims of the October 7 attack ten days earlier, which was also welcomed by Michel De Maegd (MR). Simon Moutquin (Ecolo) insisted on the need to clearly distinguish the Gazan population from Hamas.
It was former minister André Flahaut (PS) who was the most trenchant, describing the policy of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as “madness” and calling for him to be tried by the International Criminal Court.
“We must dare to criticize the crazy policies of the Israeli government.”
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