During statements read at a conference in Cairo, Egypt, Antonio Guterres called on the international community to ‘build a foundation for sustainable peace in Gaza and across the Middle East’
A classified the situation in Gaza as “terrible and apocalyptic” and warned that the conditions faced by Palestinians in the territory could constitute “international crimes of the greatest gravity”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to “build a foundation for sustainable peace in Gaza and across the Middle East”, he said, in statements read on his behalf at a conference in Cairo that aims to increase humanitarian aid.
The war in Gaza began when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, leaving 1,208 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. The military campaign of reprisal initiated by Israel left 44,466 people dead in Gaza, according to data from the territory’s Ministry of Health, which the UN considers reliable.
“The catastrophe of It is nothing other than the complete collapse of our humanity. The nightmare has to stop. We cannot continue to look away,” said Guterres in a speech read by Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the UN. Guterres highlighted that “malnutrition is endemic (…) Hunger is imminent. Meanwhile, the healthcare system has collapsed.”
The UN chief added that Gaza now has “the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world”, with “many losing limbs and undergoing surgery without anesthesia”. The UN Secretary-General also criticized severe restrictions on aid delivery and called current levels “grossly insufficient”.
According to the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), only 65 trucks per day were allowed into the besieged Palestinian territory last month, compared to the pre-war average of 500. International aid organizations have warned countless times about the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza, where the population of almost 2.4 million people is on the brink of famine. Guterres said on Monday that blocking aid to Gaza “will not it is a crisis of logistics”, but rather “a crisis of political will and respect for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Victor Oliveira
