Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are forced to make life-and-death decisions in "a Russian roulette with a bullet in almost every chamber," said Majed Bamya, Palestine's Deputy Permanent Observer to UN, on Wednesday.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the envoy said Palestinians are being pushed to the edge of survival, struggling to access necessities in the war-torn region.
"For an entire generation of Palestinians, death is now much more familiar than life. Two million people have to snatch everything out of the claws of death -- food, water, shelter, time. They are being killed in the places where they are supposed to find life -- killed in tents, killed while seeking food or water, killed in hospitals," he said.
Bamya noted that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are forced to make life-and-death decisions all the time.
"Do you evacuate one more time, forcibly displaced again and again, and get killed on the way? Or stay put and get killed where you are? Every decision they are making while we speak is a life-and-death decision, every single day, every single hour, every single minute. But it is a Russian roulette with a bullet in almost every chamber. Whatever decision you make, most probably, somebody is going to die. Every single family in Gaza is moving between one death and another, as the whole world watches on," he said.
At the meeting, Bamya also showed the photo of the Arafat family who were attacked by the Israeli army.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army attacked Gaza City and the family was buried under the rubble. At that time, there was a camera recording the scene of 35-year-old Hala Arafat calling for help under the rubble.
According to witnesses and rescuers, as the rescuers were only able to start their work nearly eight hours later due to the deliberate obstruction of the Israeli army, Hala and her 12 family members, including seven children, died unfortunately.
"The Arafat family, the entire family found itself under the rubble. Thirteen members of the family were killed, including seven children, and the Israeli forces prevented rescuers from saving them. The images of Hala, 35 years old, as she was calling to be saved from under the rubble, will remain as part of the memory, collective memory of our people," said Bamya.
Life in Gaza is "Russian roulette with a bullet in almost every chamber": Palestinian envoy
Life in Gaza is "Russian roulette with a bullet in almost every chamber": Palestinian envoy
Life in Gaza is "Russian roulette with a bullet in almost every chamber": Palestinian envoy
