ShareNEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that the bombarded Gaza Strip was becoming a “graveyard for children”, as he urged an immediate ceasefire. “The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour,” he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
“The parties to the conflict — and, indeed, the international community — face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: To stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said. “The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.”
Guterres also deplored the killings of media workers. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 36 journalists and media workers have been killed. “More journalists have reportedly been killed over a four-week period than in any conflict in at least three decades,” Guterres said, adding that 89 UN aid workers have also been killed. Guterres was formally launching a recently announced $1.2 billion UN humanitarian appeal to help 2.7 million Palestinians over the entire Gaza Strip and parts of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Aid trucks have been coming into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, but the level remains well below that of before Oct 7, with the Zionist entity saying it needs time for security checks of vehicles. One restriction is that they are not bringing fuel. “Without fuel, newborn babies in incubators and patients on life support will die,” Guterres said. “The way forward is clear.
A humanitarian ceasefire — now. All parties respecting all their obligations under international humanitarian law,” he said. Guterres again voiced alarm about the “clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing”. “Let me be clear: No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN rights chief is visiting the Middle East amid rising concerns over the Zionist entity’s escalation in Gaza, his office said Tuesday. Volker Turk was on Tuesday in Egypt at the start of a five-day visit to the region, and was planning to visit the Rafah crossing to Gaza on Wednesday, his office said in a statement. Turk will visit Amman Thursday, and has also sought access to the Zionist entity, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, it added.
“It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair,” Turk said in the statement. “Human rights violations are at the root of this escalation and human rights play a central role in finding a way out of this vortex of pain.” Turk’s visit to the region “takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing, extremely serious human rights and humanitarian crisis”, his office said.
