It search and “it’s difficult.” It is difficult for him to find the most appropriate words to describe what he felt at that first moment, when the convoy in which he was traveling made his entrance through the only border step then enabled and his gaze, although he had already contemplated images in the media, he ran into an “absolutely devastated” area. Crossing Kerem Shalom remembers silence, an absence of speech that he thinks shared with the rest of the companions and colleagues who They cross into the Gaza Stripbecause perhaps “dystopia” is the definition that finds the most successful To explain the feeling that invaded her. All rubble and without a standing building, in its first impression it did not stop repeating: “This is not real. It cannot be allowed“, to give way to the” absolute indignation “when thinking that those were the consequences and the result of a conflict generated by men, that that completely devastated landscape was not due to a natural catastrophe, but” it is not a casual, it is known and allowed. ” The classmates who live there. “
Virginia Myelgo at a point of filling of water trucks, in the Al Mawasi area. / MSF
With more than eight years of experience and experience in the humanitarian sector, these were The sensations that Virginia Honey Virginia experienced when last January crossed the strip From Gaza, just two days before the high on the fire was agreed, to remain more than a month on the ground providing the Palestinian people by the hand of doctors without borders (MSF), discouraging impressions that have been aggravated in the second incursion that has carried out last June, already “in full massacre.”
If on his first visit it was the devastation that contemplated his eyes one of the aspects that most impacted him, “with an estimate of more than 50 million tons of rubble, with all the infrastructure that support a population destroyed: schools, universities, hospitals … and with improvised markets”, also ensuring that “it is something that is not going to be solved in years, but we talk about years, but we talk about years. barely A week after his return to Vigo after his second stay in the StripMielgo recounts that, after having crossed this time the so -called Gate 97, “I have found a gaza that is worse than ever, with my colleagues much thinner, much more broken … For me now it has been found how the Israel genocidal plan It is very evident and is being executed and filmedbecause it is very clear how they keep a certain part of the living population, instrumentalizing the little humanitarian aid that enters, that little food that comes, so that people do not die, but suffer. This is real, because every day that passed it was worse than the previous one. “
They instrumentalize the little humanitarian aid that enters, that little food that comes, so that people do not die, but suffer
After 21 months of siege to the Palestinian town, this Viguesa cooperative explains that “all this massacre time now has the aggravating Israel strategy of cutting the entry of food, fuel, of practically everything, because since the stop to the fire broke in March, Trucks that have been able to enter with any type of humanitarian aid are counted. The Palestinians themselves say they are worse than ever, because it cannot be eaten, the food is much more expensive and continues to rise: a kilo of sugar costs 100 euros, a watermelon is worth 40 euros … all this in a context in which people’s livelihoods have been destroyed and the vast majority of the population does not have any income. The thing is Even my doctors without borders are having difficulty feeding their families. I really found a situation much worse than the first time. “
Samah Hamdan, a displaced Palestinian woman, collecting some food for her family. / MSF
Hunger, a mortal trap
Within this framework of suffering and despair for the Palestinian people, for Virginia Mielgo it is inevitable to refer to a “lethal” maneuver orchestrated by Israel with the support of USA and that doctors without borders have found that “it is a massacre disguised as humanitarian aid.” Operating under the name of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), “four food distribution centers were built that are basically closed enclosures with fences and thorn wire above, without any safety, because stamps can occur and that people lose their lives in these risk situations … Well, they have mounted them in any way and have a safety service that has order to shoot. If anyone arrives before or stays a little later. Saying directly the order to control the distribution of food shooting the population, “says this vigues.
There are cases of 15 or 16 -year -old boys who go for food to these enclosures and it is not known what happened to them
Between starving or risking life for some “leftovers”, this MSF cooperator describes the deadly trap that these points are pointing out that “we have evidence that more than 400 people have died in these centers and more than 4,000 have been injured. In fact, in our health centers we have received more than 500 wounded more than 20 dead, than They are dead who arrive with chest shots and vital areas; They are mouthpieces! On the other hand, these distributions are mounted in evacuated areas, that is, in areas to which civilians cannot have access and there is no control, because they are so much at two in the morning as they say they are going to do and do not do, etc. Really, access is for people who dare to go to such places and, to top it off, these aids are not reaching the people who need it most, because there are no women, children, people with disabilities, older people … although it is true that, right now, almost the entire population is going hungry. ” It is known what happened to them, because it is not allowed to recover the bodies either. It is horrible, it is a level of dystopia that is hard to believe. “
Palestinians seek their belongings in the ruins of the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza. / MSF
Control water
“When there are bombs, obviously there is talk of bombs,” says Virginia Honey, however, There is a good whose control has been playing a key role in the “genocidal plan” that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian population: water resources. And as a water and sanitation specialist on the land, this Viguesa cooperating knows it well, since the power over them has fatal consequences for citizenship.
Responding to water and sanitation needs was his main committed in the strip during his stay, and that is that Mielgo states that “in Gaza there is no sweet surface water, so it is highly dependent on the produced, something that can be unthinkable for us, there it is fundamental because All water is produced Through desalination plantsand these plants need energy to work. What happens is that most have been destroyed and any supply of replacement parts or maintenance parts to try to start them is systematically blocked. “
Displaced Palestinian children transport drinking water in the Al-Shaboura neighborhood, Rafah. / MSF
The bulk of the problem not only lies in the uselessness of the desalination facilities, but the supply lines to the cities are not operational due to the catastrophic state of the large population enclaves, hence the humanitarian aid like the one that provides MSF is essential at this point, since Cooperators such as Virginia Honey assume the distribution of water in truckswhich on the other hand implies displacement from children to adults with drums to collect it.
A liter of diesel has not entered since March and water is directly affected by this, because no matter how much we installed plants, if there are no diesel, we cannot operate
Water scarcity in the Gaza Strip It entails a significant decrease in the quality of life of citizenshipand it is synonymous with infections and proliferation of pathogens that can cause serious diseases. In this sense, myelgo specifies that “there are many children with dermatological diseases because they do not shower for weeks. People move with it and are in a overcrowding situation in the fields. In the absence of sanitation, deficiency is outdoors and that favors vectors such as mosquitoes, rats, … the situation is very serious.”
After another month and a half witnessing the tragedy in the strip, Virginia Honey left Gaza behind and with her to the Palestinian people. He took the penalty, but especially he brought to Vigo “the guilt that survives”because there was a home waiting for her. And in him, there is life.
Israel’s block: the “new game” of diesel as a weapon
Days before resuming the massacre in Gaza last March, Israel announced an electricity supply cut, which meant a serious threat to the only desalination plant that was operational. And, according to Virginia Mielgo, at that time, “The only one that was active and produced 15 million liters a day, went on to produce 2.5 due to that cut. Gaza is very dependent on water and electricity, so it is very easy to besiege the country. “
Four months later, this situation has been greatly aggravated with Israel’s ‘new game’ to use diesel as a weapon, since as analyzes the vigues cooperative, “what happens is that by not having any energy since March, Gaza depends in its entirety of the diesel because everything works with generators. As it has not entered a liter of diesel since March and the water is directly affected by this Desalination, if there is no diesel, we cannot operate. ” Mielgo emphasizes that “the plant that was standing and that it was producing some water, although it was not 100%, now that it only depends on generators and diesel, on the production that could give 15 million liters a day, It is generating only 500,000 liters and runs the risk of producing zero. ”
Given this strategy, in the opinion of this vigues, the reality for the Palestinian people “is not only to live with such death and so much destruction, but the uncertainty before a state that maintains the minimum supplies, ensuring that people cannot sleep quietly. The international community has the ability to take measures and will regret observingbecause what is being is observing how a population is being devastated. “
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