UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that Gaza had become “a killing field,” blaming Israel for blocking aid and failing in its “unequivocal obligations” to meet the needs of the Palestinian territory’s residents.
“More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies. As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened,” Guterres said in remarks to journalists.
Pointing to the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of people in war, he emphasized the obligation of the “occupying power” to ensure the provision of food and medical supplies to the population.
“None of that is happening today. No humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza,” he said.
“The Israeli authorities newly proposed ‘authorisation mechanisms’ for aid delivery risk further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour,” Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
He was referencing recent Israeli proposals over controlling aid into Gaza.
“Let me be clear — we will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles — humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” he said, demanding guarantees for the unhindered entry of aid to the coastal territory.
Guterres also raised the alarm about the situation in the West Bank.
“The current path is a dead end — totally intolerable in the eyes of international law and history,” he said.
“And the risk of the occupied West Bank transforming into another Gaza makes it even worse.
“It is time to end the dehumanization, protect civilians, release the hostages, ensure lifesaving aid, and renew the ceasefire.”
Israeli strikes kill 19 in Gaza
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported on Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 19 people across the Palestinian territory.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told media that “19 civilians, including several children, were martyred” and dozens more wounded in the latest Israeli raids.
Five children and four adults were killed in an airstrike that targeted a home in the central city of Deir el-Balah. Meanwhile, two separate pre-dawn attacks on Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north resulted in the deaths of 10 people, according to Bassal.
In a separate incident, a media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement, an ally of Hamas, reported the death of an employee, Ahmed Mansur, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent used by journalists in the Khan Yunis area on Monday.
Gaza death toll mounts to 50,752
According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 1,391 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli operations, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,752.
The United Nations says Israel’s war on Gaza has displaced 90% of the residents of the Palestinian territory, many of whom have been forced to move repeatedly.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
“Nobody has enough food. People are scavenging around for the basics every single day and are facing sustained periods without enough food,” Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, Sam Rose said in a statement on X.
“Nobody has enough food. People are scavenging around for the basics every single day and are facing sustained periods without enough food,” UNRWA Sam Rose said.
He said in Gaza, the situation remains critical, with widespread hunger and deprivation affecting large segments of the population.
“A ceasefire and an unhindered flow of aid are essential to reach those in need,’ he said. – Agencies
