Hyderabad: UN Secretary-General António Guterres Thursday appealed for humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip which remain besieged by the Israeli forces since the start of the recent escalation in the conflict following the October 7 bloody incursion by Hamas. The retaliation by Israel has strangled the essential supplies to Palestinians stranded in Gaza.
Guterres is in Cairo, Egypt where he will oversee the UN preparations to deliver massive aid to the Palestinian enclave under siege, and will also participate in an international summit on Gaza situation.
Tensions in the Middle East are on the rise after a blast in Gaza's Al-Ahli hospital killed over 500 people on October 17, while Hamas and Israel traded blames.
“For nearly two weeks the people of Gaza have gone without any shipments of fuel, food, water, medicine, and other essentials. Disease is spreading. Supplies are dwindling. People are dying,” Guterres said addressing a media interaction flanked by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Profound crisis-Guterres described the turmoil as a “a moment of profound crisis…unlike any the region has seen in decades”, which he said is due to Israel’s siege and relentless bombing of Gaza in response to the October 7 “atrocious” Hamas attacks.
He remarked that the civilian toll in the conflict keeps mounting and a “vast majority of whom are women and children, but also journalists, health workers and many others, including UN staff.”
He renewed his appeal to Hamas to release hostages and asked Israel to offer immediate unrestricted access of humanitarian aid to respond to the most basic needs of the people of Gaza, besides a ceasefire.
"Let me be clear. The Palestinian people have legitimate and deep grievances after 56 years of occupation. But, as serious as those grievances are, they cannot justify terror attacks," Guterres said.
"And as appalling as those attacks have been, they cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
Safe aid delivery, a key issue-Highlighting the need for rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, Guterres said, “We need food, water, medicine and fuel now. We need it at scale, and we need it to be sustained.”
“It is not one small operation that is required. It is a sustained effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. In plain terms, that means humanitarians need to be able to get the aid in and they need to be able to distribute it safely.”
He said Egypt’s El Arish airport and the Rafah crossing “are not only critical, they are our only hope” and "the lifelines" to the people there. The Rafah crossing is the only gate which offers access by land to Gaza, and Guterres warned of the risk of the violence spilling over, in case the conflict persists.
He lauded Egypt for being “a pillar of multilateral cooperation and the linchpin in helping to defuse tensions and to ease colossal human pain and suffering.”
He will be participating in an international summit on Gaza convened by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, later today in local time.
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