For a moment, he holds back the tears, coughing and blinking hard, trying to maintain his professional composure.
Then it is all to much for Chris Gunness, a United Nations spokesman, who broke down in a television interview with al-Jazeera as he described the devastating human impact of fighting in Gaza.
The clip offers a painful insight into the emotional toll among aid workers - and in particular that of a UN agency trying to protect Palestinians in schools, designated as shelters, which are still being hit by missiles.
Mr Gunness, a former BBC reporter now working for the UN's Relief and Works Agency, had spent the day examining evidence and describing yet another attack on one of its sites.
Israeli tank shells had slammed into a school sheltering some 3,300 homeless Gazans, killing 16 refugees and staff, provoking world wide horror.
Mr Gunness condemned the attack, ending: "The rights of Palestinians - even their children - are wholesale denied. And it's appalling."
For a moment, he keeps his cool. He blinks hard and looks relieved the interview has ended.
He squeezes out a brief thank you to his interviewer, saying "My pleasure" in a shaky voice.
Then it is all too much. He presses his hand to his eyes and breaks into sobs.
A colleague rushes to comfort him as the camera is pushed away, while the sound of wailing anguish grows.
Even for a veteran of Gaza's troubles it is all too much.
Comment: It is too much for every thinking feeling human being to witness the senseless horrific actions of those without heart, but with weapons at their disposal.