Press conference by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at UN headquarters on the climate crisis following his recent trip to Chile and Antarctica. The Secretary General answered questions on the upcoming COP28 meeting in Dubai and the continuation of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Lev Radin | Light racket | Getty Images
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for massive aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip to fight famine, saying there was growing international consensus to tell Israel that a ceasefire was obligatory in its war against Hamas.
Speaking during a visit to Jordan, Guterres said he also saw a growing consensus to tell Israel that any ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city on the Egyptian border, could spell a humanitarian disaster.
Rafah has develop into the last refuge for half of Gaza’s displaced population, swollen by displaced Palestinians fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza after greater than five months of war.
Israel should remove all obstacles to aid to Gaza and permit convoys from the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to northern Gaza, where famine threatens, Guterres said.
Palestinians wait for food in the course of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan because the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues in Rafah, southern Gaza, March 13, 2024.
Mohammed Salem | Reuters
“Providing massive supplies of humanitarian aid is absolutely essential now. “It means opening more entry points, it means concentrating the efforts of all actors and without any obstacles or restrictions from the Israeli side,” Guterres said.
During a tour of a facility in Jordan’s Wihdat camp where UNRWA provides health and education services, a top UN official said the agency is a savior of hope and dignity for millions of refugees across the region.
“The decision not to allow UNRWA convoys to enter northern Gaza, where we have a dramatic famine situation, is completely unacceptable, and those who made this decision must accept responsibility in the face of history for the consequences of this decision,” Guterres added.
A girl reacts as she stands in front of a vehicle loaded with items secured with ropes as people flee from Rafah within the southern Gaza Strip, February 13, 2024, north towards the middle of the Palestinian territory amid ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Abed | Af | Getty Images
Israel stopped all imports of food, medicine, energy and fuel to Gaza at first of the war. Although it later allowed aid shipments in, aid groups say security checks and difficulties moving through the war zone have made their activities far more difficult.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who was accompanying Guterres, appealed to UN Security Council members on Monday to vote in favor of a resolution calling for a ceasefire and putting pressure on Israel to allow unimpeded aid, saying it could send a “message that this, “What is occurring is unacceptable and what is occurring must stop.”
Displaced Palestinians collect food donated by a charity before an iftar meal and breaking the fast on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 11, 2024, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
– | Af | Getty Images
“Nothing justifies the continued killing of innocent people… committing so many massacres. “There is no justification for denying men, women and children their right to food and medicine,” Safadi added.
Jordan, at the middle of the Arab-Israeli conflict, hosts 2.4 million Palestinian refugees, the most important variety of such refugees amongst Israel’s neighbors. Many of its residents are of Palestinian origin.
UNRWA has been in crisis since Israel accused greater than a dozen of its employees of involvement within the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The allegations prompted several major UNRWA donors to withhold funding, putting the agency’s future doubtful. However, another countries have since restored funding.
Israel denies blocking aid to Gaza and says the UN and humanitarian agencies are responsible for delivering aid once it enters the territory. Israel has also accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.
