U.N. Spokesman Breaks Down Sobbing On Live TV Over Palestinian Children Killed In Shelling

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"Working in strife-torn Gaza has exposed United Nations official Christopher Gunness to the terror of a life lived in the constant shadow of war.

But on Wednesday, when artillery shells rained down on a UN school in a refugee camp sheltering evacuees, killing children as they slept next to their parents on the floor, the insurmountable horror of the situation suddenly overwhelmed him.
Christopher Gunness.

Mr Gunness, a senior director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, broke down sobbing during a live television interview with Al-Jazeera, as he described how shells had struck the Jabalia Elementary Girls School in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, killing about 20 people and wounding at least 100.

The shelling came despite 17 warnings about the position of the shelter to the Israel Defence Force (IDF) to ensure it would be spared, Mr Gunness, from Britain, claimed.

"The rights of Palestinians, even their children, are wholesale denied, and it's appalling," Mr Gunness said during the interview, barely keeping his composure.

As the interviewer thanked him for his time, Mr Gunness coughed, rapidly blinked, and his chin quivered. He managed to say "My pleasure", before putting his hands over his face and completely breaking down in tears at his desk.

Another person then emerged from behind the camera to comfort Mr Gunness, before the camera panned away.

"It's OK," the person could be heard saying, trying to console him.

Mr Gunness, a former BBC reporter who has also worked as a spokesman for the UN in the former Yugoslavia, has given many interviews during the latest conflict, and has managed to keep his composure until now.

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