Jonathan Whittall Profile picture
Mar 30 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1/6 First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances.
2/6 Seven days ago, as Israeli forces advanced on #Rafah, 10 PRCS and 6 Civil Defense first responders were dispatched to collect injured. All five ambulances and one fire-truck were struck, along with a UN vehicle that arrived later. Contact was lost with all Image
3/6 One survivor said Israeli forces had killed both of the crew in his ambulance. For days, OCHA coordinated to reach the site but our access was only granted 5days later.
4/6 While traveling to the area on the fifth day we encountered hundreds of civilians fleeing under gunfire. We witnessed a woman shot in the back of the head. When a young man tried to retrieve her, he too was shot. We were able to recover her body using our UN vehicle.
5/6 Returning the next day, we were finally able to reach the site and discovered a devastating scene: ambulances, the UN vehicle, and fire truck had been crushed and partially buried. After hours of digging, we recovered one body - a Civil Defense worker beneath his fire truck. Image
6/6 Today, on the first day of Eid, we returned and recovered the buried bodies of 8 PRCS, 6 Civil Defense and 1 UN staff. They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives. This should never have happened Image

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More from @_jwhittall

Jan 22
1/12 We are in day 4 of the ceasefire in #Gaza. A surge of supplies has already entered and on the ground we are scaling up the humanitarian response. Lives are at stake and there is no time to lose. Image
2/12 The ceasefire deal negotiated by #Qatar, #Egypt and the #US stipulates a number of humanitarian deliverables for the 2.1million people in Gaza. Aid supplies, medical evacuations, the return of the displaced and repairs of critical infrastructure. Image
3/12 The @UN is contributing to deliver what has been agreed alongside member states, the guarantors of the deal and the parties. This is a collective responsibility and joint effort. We have no choice but to succeed. Image
Read 12 tweets
Nov 23, 2024
1/10 There seems to be no limit to the cruelty inflicted on Palestinians in #Gaza. For over 40 days, people in North Gaza have been under siege: surrounded, bombed, denied the basic means of survival and ordered to flee under threat. A🧵 Image
2/10 We’ve tried to get into #Jabalya #BeitHanoun #BeitLahiya daily for over a month. Israeli forces have denied almost all requests. The result? People are under rubble without rescue. The sick and wounded can’t reach hospitals. Safe water and food have run out. Lives are lost. Image
3/10 In one of the handful of instances that teams reached the area, aid trucks were stopped at a military holding point and most of the food was looted. Israeli soldiers then forced us to offload the remaining trucks at their checkpoint. The food was left on the ground to rot. Image
Read 10 tweets
Nov 7, 2024
1/11 Everyone in Gaza feels as if they have been put on death row. If not killed by bombs or bullets, they are slowly suffocating from a lack of the basic means of survival. The only difference is the speed at which you die. The world has failed #Gaza. A🧵… Image
2/11 Palestinians in Gaza have experienced more than a year of deprivation, destruction, death and displacement. Survivors have told us @UNOCHA that they were the unlucky ones because they did not die with the rest of their family. Image
3/11 Gaza now has the highest cohort of child amputees in the world. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have life-altering injuries. Yet relentless bombardments continue, including in areas to which Israeli forces have ordered Palestinians to go – which makes up only 19% of Gaza Image
Image
Read 11 tweets

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