UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated his call for a humanitarian ceasefire amid urgent efforts to avoid famine in the Gaza enclave, especially in the north, after more than five months of the lethal war.
During a visit to Egypt’s border with Gaza, Guterres avouched that “Palestinians in Gaza – children, women, men – remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare.”
Guterres expressed his sympathy during a visit on Saturday to al Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where “A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other.”
“Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all…That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage,” he said.
The World Food Programme has also said Gazans are “starving to death”, with famine projected by May in northern Gaza without urgent world intervention.
7,000 relief trucks were waiting in Egypt to deliver aid to Gaza, but inspection procedures demanded by ‘Israel’ had held up the flow of relief, according to Sinai’s regional governor, Mohamed Shusha.
Aid agencies also added that the severity of destruction, the breakdown of civil order, and the Israeli military operations in many of Gaza territories make the delivery of humanitarian assistance extremely difficult.
‘Israel’ has been facing sharp and international criticism for obstructing aid with cumbersome bureaucracy and issuing arbitrary denials of permission to open major access points to Gaza that would allow rapid flows of assistance.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron warned of blocking arms sales to ‘Israel’ if it continues to prevent aid access into the enclave, saying “It is of enormous frustration that UK aid into Gaza has been routinely held up waiting for Israeli permissions.”
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=52777
