Over four months have passed since the war in Gaza broke out. Several thousand people have died and the suffering among civilians is enormous. Right now, just over a million residents have taken refuge in Rafah in southern Gaza. There the situation is described as a total humanitarian disaster.
Now residents are holding their breath as the threat of a military offensive hangs over them. One who has seen the devastation with his own eyes is Rifad Saberg from Doctors Without Borders. He is the first Swede from the organization who has been there since the war started.
– If I’m being completely honest, I’m still processing everything I’ve seen there. The pictures you show are only a small part of the disaster there. It is a great misery. People have completely lost hope. It has been frustrating for me, he says.
Testifies to desperation in Gaza
Rifad Saberg tells us that there is a lack of water, food, accommodation – and hope.
– You can see it in their eyes, there was nothing there. There was the constant worry. At any moment they have to pack up and move again, he says.
He testifies to a chaos and to a desperation he has rarely seen.
– I have seen the panic the last few days I was there. They are stuck in there, they don’t know where to go, he says.
Have lost colleagues
When Rifad Saberg returned to Sweden after four weeks on site in Rafah, many thoughts are still spinning. People he has come to know and colleagues remain in the disaster.
– That’s actually the toughest part. I have been in all conflict zones, but this was the first time I had a lump in my stomach and felt like I was abandoning my colleagues. It might have been the last time I saw them. It’s feelings of guilt and frustration, he says.
And his fears came true. During the night of Wednesday, two of his colleagues died in new air raids.
– I received a message that one of our residences was hit during an offensive in Khan Yunis. Unfortunately, we lost two colleagues and at least six were injured, we don’t know exactly what happened, he says.