UN Secretary General António Guterres called the situation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip “apocalyptic” on Monday. According to him, the conditions in which the local residents live reach the level “the most serious international crimes”writes TASR based on a report by the AFP agency.
Guterres’ statement, which was read for him at a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Cairo, Egypt, continued states the call for the creation of conditions for sustainable peace in the Palestinian territory and the entire Middle East. The war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas movement attacked southern Israel and claimed 1,208 lives, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. According to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is considered reliable by the UN, you are there Israel’s counterattack has claimed 44,429 victims so far.
Guterres drew attention to the threat of hunger or malnutrition and the collapsing health system in the Gaza Strip. He added that the Palestinian enclave records the highest number of child amputations per capita worldwide, while many children have to undergo surgery without anesthesia. At the same time, the Secretary General criticized the restrictions on the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip. According to him, the current aid is “severely insufficient”.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in November an average of only 65 humanitarian aid vehicles entered the Gaza Strip per day, while before the war the daily average was 500 vehicles. International humanitarian organizations repeatedly point to the deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip and the impending famine.
Israel, which surrounded the Gaza Strip for some time at the beginning of the conflict, blames the problems with aid supplies on humanitarian organizations, which it says they are unable to distribute sufficient amounts of aid. Guterres declared on Monday that the blockade of aid to Gaza is not a question of insufficient logistics, but a question of “political will and respect for the basic principles of international humanitarian law”. According to UNRWA, all attempts to deliver aid to the area between 6 October and 25 November 2024 have been unsuccessful due to the ongoing fighting.
