RAFAH CROSSING, Egypt (AP) – U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres stood near a long line of waiting trucks Saturday and declared it was time to “really get life-saving aid into Gaza,” adding He called starvation a “moral outrage.” He called for an immediate ceasefire between the two countries. Israel and Hamas.
Guterres spoke on the Egyptian side of the border, not far from the southern Gaza city of Rafah. In Rafah, Israel plans a ground attack despite widespread warnings of a potential catastrophe. More than half of Gaza's population I took refuge there.
“A further onslaught would make the situation even worse. It would be worse for Palestinian civilians, for the hostages and for everyone in the region,” Guterres said.
He spoke the day after the United Nations Security Council. an agreement could not be reached Regarding the language of the U.S.-sponsored resolution supporting an “immediate and lasting ceasefire.”
Guterres repeatedly pointed to the difficulties in getting aid to Gaza, which international aid agencies mainly blame on Israel.
“From this intersection, we see heartbreak and heartlessness. On one side of the gate is a long line of stranded relief trucks, and on the other is the long shadow of hunger,” he said.
Some 7,000 aid trucks are waiting to enter Gaza in Egypt's North Sinai province, Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadeil Shousha said in a statement.
Secretary-General Guterres added: “Now is the time for Israel to firmly commit to humanitarian access to Gaza and full access to the Gaza Strip.” spirit of ramadan It is also a time for the immediate release of all hostages out of compassion. ” Later, he told reporters that a humanitarian ceasefire and hostage release should occur at the same time.
Hamas is believed to be holding about 100 hostages and the bodies of 30 others from the October 7 attack that sparked the war and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Asked about Guterres' comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office responded to a social media post by Foreign Minister Israel Katz accusing the UN Secretary-General of allowing the world body to become “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.” Mentioned.
An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians currently take refuge in Rafah, fleeing attacks from elsewhere in Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that there would be an Israeli ground attack on Rafah. It's probably a “mistake” It is not necessary to defeat Hamas. This signals a change in the US position, with US officials concluding there is no reliable way to get civilians out of harm's way.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is vowed to move forward It contained a military-approved attack plan, which he said was critical to achieving the stated objective of annihilating Hamas. The military said Rafah was Hamas' last major stronghold and ground forces needed to target the four remaining battalions there.
On Saturday night, Israelis faced off against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem amid concerns that the situation for the surviving hostages held in Gaza has worsened in the months since the start of the war. The protest was held again.
The Israeli invasion has killed more than 32,000 people, left much of the enclave in ruins and displaced about 80% of the enclave's 2.3 million people, according to Gaza health officials. Gaza's Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that the bodies of 72 people killed in the past 24 hours had been taken to hospitals.
The Ministry of Health does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children account for the majority of deaths. Israel blames Hamas for the civilian deaths and accuses it of operating in residential areas.
Fighting intensified around Gaza's largest hospital on Saturday. The Israeli military said it had killed more than 170 militants at Shifa hospital since the attack began on Monday, and Southern Command Commander Yaron Finkelman said Friday: “We are confident that the last terrorist will fall into our hands.” We will only end this operation once the situation is reached.” ”
Residents of nearby Gaza City told The Associated Press that Israeli forces had bombed several residential buildings.
“They are emptying the whole area,” said Abdel Hay Saad, who lives in the western edge of Gaza City's Rimal district. Another resident, Mohammed al-Sheikh, said heavy Israeli shelling was “hitting everything that moves.”
Footage from the Associated Press showed a column of smoke rising over the hospital area.
The Ministry of Health announced that five injured Palestinians trapped in Shifa died without food, water or medical services. The newspaper previously said Israeli forces had detained medical workers, patients and relatives inside the facility. The military insisted it was not harming civilians, patients or workers.
“These conditions are completely inhumane,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media late Friday.
Elsewhere, Israeli airstrikes on the area between Rafah and Khan Yunis killed an elderly woman and five children overnight, health officials said.
starvation became deadly, too. The United Nations and the Israeli government are at loggerheads again over aid shortages in northern Gaza, Israel's first target in the war and where distressed parents report seeing children scavenging for bread in the rubble. We exchanged
of United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees “This is the backbone of our support for Gaza,” Guterres said, claiming that Israel had again refused permission to transport aid to northern Gaza. The agency known as UNRWA said two months had passed before the convoy could arrive there.
The Israeli government responded by reasserting that hundreds of aid trucks were awaiting distribution by the United Nations and partners.
“There is no time for misinformation. Enough is enough,” UNRWA spokeswoman Juliet Touma told The Associated Press.
___
Samy Magdy reported from Cairo and Sam Metz from Rabat, Morocco. Jack Jeffrey contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
___
For more of AP's war coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
