GENEVA: UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Friday expressed his deep regrets on the resumption of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip hoping that a truce could be re-established.
According to health officials in the Palestinian territory fighting resumed in Gaza on Friday soon after the week-long truce between Hamas and Israel expired, with more fatalities.
I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza.
I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established.
The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 1, 2023
“I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza,” Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter.
He said it will be possible to renew the pause that was established. The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a humanitarian truce.
The ceasefire had paused fighting that began on October 7 when war between Hamas and Israel started.
Israeli relentless bombardment has so far killed more than 15,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF has also condemned the resumption of fighting, saying those in power have decided that the killing of children would recommence.
UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva via video-link from the besieged Palestinian enclave added the humanitarian situation in Gaza is so dangerous that anything other than sustained peace and emergency aid will mean catastrophe for the children of Gaza.
He went on to say the dire state of health, nutrition, water and sanitation could trigger a large-scale disaster for the children of Gaza.
He was of the view that inaction, would be an approval to the killing of children.
The UN official added that it is deeply unsettling to hear how some have been able to overlook the tragic deaths of these children and even today they are comfortable with the resumption of the attacks.
Elder went on to say that he visited children in the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip as hostilities started again on Friday.
Earlier Qatar which brokered the truce between Israel and Hamas expressed its deep regret at the resumption of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip after the humanitarian pause expired, without reaching a consensus to extend it.
During the truce, 80 Israeli captives were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. More than 20 foreigners, most of them Thais residing in Israel, were released outside the scope of the deal.
