The blasted Gaza Strip is turning into a “graveyard for children,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday while pressing for an urgent truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“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.”
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including through targeting homes and revelers at a music festival.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed 10,222 people, including more than 4,000 children, in the densely populated and besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
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.
In order to assist 2.7 million Palestinians across the whole Gaza Strip as well as some areas of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Guterres was formally launching a newly announced $1.2 billion UN humanitarian appeal.
Aid trucks have resumed entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, although the volume is still far less than it was prior to October 7, since Israel claims that more time is needed for vehicle security checks. The fact that they are not bringing fuel is one limitation.
“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.
On Monday, Guterres did not mention Israel. In a furious speech to the Security Council on October 24, he said that the Hamas attacks “did not occur in a vacuum,” which infuriated the nation’s authorities. As a result, Israeli officials accused the UN chief of encouraging violence.
Reiterating his denunciation of “the abhorrent acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas,” Guterres urged the Islamist terrorists to release the hostages on Monday.
