Thyssen and UNRWA exhibit ten portraits about the urgency of the Gazan population: “Everything remains inhuman and atrocious”

The Thyssen Museum and UNRWA Spain (United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees) presented the exhibition this Tuesday ‘Gaza, where life endures’an exhibition that captures through ten portraits the “urgent” situation experienced by the Gazan population in the Strip.

“There are approximately 20,000 people who urgently need to be evacuated from Gaza or their lives will be at risk, however they are leaving slowly.. The situation continues to be inhuman, it continues to be atrocious and Israel is increasing every day the area it maintains militarily occupied,” said the executive director of UNRWA Spain, Raquel Martí, at the press conference held at the Thyssen Museum.

The organization’s spokesperson has warned that Israel already occupies more than 62 percent of Gaza’s territory, while the local population is forced into “overcrowding without sanitary conditions.” “We have 1.7 million displaced people living in precarious tents, built mostly with pieces of plastic or food sacks.. Many of them also live in semi-ruined buildings, which during the rains or other Israeli bombings, collapse and continue to take the lives of the people who are taking refuge there,” he warned.

In this sense, Martí has ​​highlighted that Palestine is in a “nominal, not real, ceasefire” and has highlighted the need for food because “malnutrition is increasing” among the population, especially among minors, pregnant and lactating women. ““All of this is causing more premature births of low-weight children and babies who do not survive the first day of life every day.”he lamented.

Likewise, it has revealed that waste and garbage are spreading the appearance of rodents and insects. “Every night there are at least five or six rats inside the stores that are biting the babies“he revealed.

“We are in a tremendous social and health situation because, on the one hand, the health system is collapsed and On the other hand, infectious diseases are spreading, often transmitted by these insects or rodents.but we are also seeing that the majority of the population has lice, has scabies and many respiratory diseases,” he noted.

The exhibition brings together ten contemporary portraits of the Palestinian population, accompanied by a personal object of the protagonists to show how everyday elements acquire a different meaning in a context of war. Among these objects is the Mu’ayyad ball, symbol of the game; Malak’s shoes, marked by forced displacement; or the tarp in which Mahmoud takes refuge.

For security reasons, the author of these photographs has decided to remain anonymous, as evidenced by Raquel Martí.

For his part, the artistic director of the Thyssen Museum, Guillermo Solana, recalled that this is the second time that the art gallery hosts an exhibition in collaboration with UNRWA. “The other time the extreme situation of the inhabitants under the indiscriminate killing was described. At that time the emphasis was on survival despite everything. After the alleged ceasefire, the attention of the public and the media has shifted elsewhere, but the occupation in the form of a siege continues,” he explained.

ACTION OF EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS

Asked about the involvement of European governments in the conflict, Raquel Martí assured that UNRWA is in constant dialogue “with the parliaments of most countries” to seek support and denounce “all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights that are committed in Palestine.”

“Unfortunately Palestine is seen as a political issue and not a humanitarian issue. “It seems that Palestinian children have that political connotation for many and we do not get financing from private companies,” stated the executive director of UNRWA Spain.

This exhibition is part of the ‘Living Culture X Palestine and UNRWA’ program, which until May 23 will bring together an agenda of events in Madrid that includes music, film and art. ‘Gaza, where life resists’ can be visited at the Thyssen Museum until June 14.