What the UN chief said after visiting the Gaza border
Last Updated on March 24, 2024 6:43 am
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, visiting the doorstep of war-torn Gaza, said the world had seen enough of the horrors and was calling for a ceasefire to allow more aid.
On Saturday (March 23), Guterres spoke at the Egyptian border crossing of Rafah, where most of the Gaza population has sought refuge. But despite fears from Guterres and other world leaders, Israel has vowed to send ground troops to eliminate Hamas fighters.
“Palestinians in Gaza are stuck in an endless nightmare,” the UN chief said.
I carry the voice of the vast majority of the world, who have seen enough.’
After nearly six months of fighting between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would go ahead with the offensive despite warnings that the operation in Rafah would cause massive civilian casualties and worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. At the same time, his government is under increasing international pressure to end bombing and ground attacks. The Ministry of Health in Hamas-ruled Gaza says that at least 32,142 people have been killed in the Palestinian territories by Israeli attacks.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza. According to Israeli government figures, about 1,160 people, most of them civilians, were killed in that attack. After the attack, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas. The group took about 250 hostages.
Israel believes about 130 of the hostages remain in Gaza, with 33 presumed dead.
Large swaths of Gaza have been reduced to rubble and the World Food Program said on Monday that Gazans were already “starving to death”. Without urgent intervention, northern Gaza is at risk of famine by May.
“The aid that the Israeli authorities are allowing is still not enough,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, on social media on Friday.
He also noted that an average of 150 trucks now enter Gaza compared to at least 500 before the war.