As UNRWA’s Warehousing and Distribution Officer, Maha Hijazi was accountable for securing meals for a whole lot of hundreds of displaced individuals who have sought refuge in its shelters.
Mission inconceivable
“UNRWA groups in Gaza are working exhausting to supply all the fundamental wants for these folks, and primary is safety and security,” she mentioned.
“We’re doing our greatest regardless of all of the challenges, regardless of the restricted assets, regardless of that there isn’t any gasoline. However we’re on the bottom doing an inconceivable mission to safe what we will safe for our folks.”
Ms. Hijazi can be a mom and this week her household fled to Egypt as a result of her kids can be secure there.
She spoke to UN Information concerning the painful determination to depart Gaza, her house and her job.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Maha Hijazi: Neither my youngsters nor any of our Palestinian youngsters really feel secure, really feel safe, and really feel protected. The entire night time and day they hear bombing all over the place they usually have just one query: What did we do improper to deserve this life, and are we going to die as we speak or tonight?
Day by day they’d ask me earlier than we went to mattress, ‘Mama, will we die tonight, just like our neighbours, just like our relations?’ So I needed to hug them and promise them that if we die, we’ll die collectively, so we gained’t really feel something. And in case you hear the bombing, then you’re secure. The rocket that can kill you, you’ll not hear its sound.
UN Information: You fled Gaza on Monday for Egypt. Inform us concerning the journey, particularly as humanitarians have mentioned that nowhere is secure in Gaza.
Maha Hijazi: I really feel indignant that I’ve to depart my homeland – to depart my house, my condo, and likewise to depart my every day work supporting the refugees – however what else might I do for my kids as a result of they’ve twin nationality. I must get this opportunity for them to sleep and to really feel that they’re just like different youngsters. So, I don’t wish to miss this chance regardless of all of the ache inside.
I can inform you that the entire journey I used to be crying with my youngsters as a result of we don’t wish to depart our land, we don’t wish to depart Gaza. However we have been pressured to try this searching for security and safety.
I really lived in the midst of Gaza, in Deir al Balah, and the crossing is at Rafah within the south. Many individuals who have been simply evacuated have been strolling on Salahadin Avenue and they might haven’t any place to go. We noticed them and we witnessed the bombing throughout our journey till we reached the Rafah crossing which, by the best way, not all Palestinian individuals are allowed to undergo. It’s important to have one other nationality or one other passport. So, it was powerful, and I can’t overlook at the present time.
UN Information: What was your most important process at UNRWA?
Maha Hijazi: My most important process through the emergency, or throughout this warfare, was meals point of interest on the central operation room. So, I used to be accountable for securing the meals gadgets wanted for the displaced folks (IDPs) inside UNRWA shelters. Our plan was to have 150,000 Palestinians IDPs inside UNRWA shelters which are actually reaching about a million. Their wants are very excessive and there’s a lack of assets, in order that’s why we’re working exhausting simply to safe a minimum of the minimal for them to outlive.
UN Information: How is UNRWA functioning, and the place is it in a position to assist Gazans?
Maha Hijazi: Persons are searching for UNRWA colleges. They’re searching for safety underneath the UN flag, after which we’re accountable to supply them meals and likewise non-food gadgets, blankets, mattresses, along with ingesting water and working water.
UNRWA groups in Gaza are working exhausting to supply all the fundamental wants for these folks, and primary is safety and security. Regardless of that, there isn’t any secure place in Gaza, which could be very true and really appropriate. However we’re doing our greatest, regardless of all of the challenges, regardless of the restricted assets, regardless of that there isn’t any gasoline. However we’re on the bottom doing an inconceivable mission to safe what we will safe for our folks.
UN Information: Was UNRWA getting gasoline once you have been there? How about meals and water? Are you getting the provides you want?
Maha Hijazi: For the primary days of escalation, we stopped receiving gasoline. And after that we acquired like drops of gasoline simply to function our automobiles. Not too long ago, perhaps 4 or 5 days in the past, we have been allowed to obtain gasoline, but it surely was a really minor amount. I recall the final days that I used to be in Gaza we had the help vehicles on the Rafah crossing, however no gasoline on the vehicles, so the vehicles have been caught for 2 days ready to be refueled. The mills to supply electrical energy, additionally pumping water, sewage crops, every thing wants gasoline, along with the bakeries.
With regard to meals and water, it’s very, very minor portions and never enough for our wants because the variety of IDPs is dramatically growing. But it surely’s not simply folks inside UNRWA shelters. There are a whole lot of hundreds of individuals exterior UNRWA shelters. They’re hungry they usually don’t get meals, even in native markets. My household was not in an UNRWA shelter, however I do not forget that my dad and mom didn’t get enough portions of meals from the market. We witnessed that. We went to the markets, however they’re empty. We discovered nothing to buy. We’ve got cash, however we’ve nothing to buy.