UN chief: Gaza situation ‘appalling’ sign of deadlock in global relations
Hamas leader insists on complete cease-fire
The UN chief said the situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations, warning about the expansion of war in the Palestinian territory into the region.
“The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations. The level of death and destruction is shocking in itself, and the war is also spilling over borders across the region and affecting global trades,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his address to the 60th Munich Security Conference on Friday.
Guterres said the humanitarian aid operation is no longer on life support in Gaza but is barely functioning.
“Humanitarians are working under unimaginable conditions, including live fire, multiple physical obstacles — and these are all restrictions — as well as the breakdown of public order.”
Military action in Rafah
Guterres also referred to Israel’s planned military offensive on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, saying that the military action on the densely populated city should never take place.
“Rafah is at the core of the entire humanitarian aid operation. An all-out offensive on the city will be devastating for the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians there, who are already on the edge of survival.”
The UN chief reiterated his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all captives held by the Hamas resistance group and a humanitarian cease-fire in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Efforts are underway by regional mediators to establish a new cease-fire in Gaza to end the terrible carnage in the besieged territory.
No temporary truce
US President Joe Biden has called for a temporary truce, but Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday reiterated the group’s demand of a complete cease-fire in Gaza.
High-level negotiations to pause Israel’s war on Gaza were held this week in Cairo but their outcome is still unclear.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Qatar-based Haniyeh reiterated the group’s several demands, including an end to fighting in Gaza.
“The resistance will not agree to anything less than cease-fire, withdrawing of the occupying army from the strip, lifting the oppressive blockade, and providing safe shelter for the displaced people,” he said.
Haniyeh insisted that those displaced from the north be returned to their areas in the territory. He also called for the release of Hamas prisoners sentenced to long jail terms in Israel.
On Friday, Biden called for a temporary truce in Gaza to get captives held by Hamas out of the Palestinian territory under a potential deal swapping them for prisoners held in Israel.
More Palestinians killed
The regime continued its brutal strikes on Palestinians on Saturday, killing more Palestinians trapped in the coastal territory.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that more than 100 people were killed in 24 hours alone.
At least 28,858 people have been killed, most of them women and children, since Israel began its attacks on Gaza in October.
Israel also said it had taken into custody 100 people at one of Gaza’s main hospitals after troops raided the facility, with fears mounting Saturday for patients and staff trapped inside.
At least 120 patients and five medical teams are stuck without water, food and electricity in Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel has for weeks concentrated its military operations in Khan Younis.
This week, intense fighting has raged around Nasser Hospital – one of the Palestinian territory’s last remaining major medical facilities that remains even partly operational.
The power was cut and the generators had stopped after the raid, leading to the deaths of six patients due to a lack of oxygen, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The raid has been criticized by medics and the United Nations.
A witness, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told AFP the Israeli forces had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”.