United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on Wednesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ease the “epic human suffering” in the Gaza Strip. The call comes a day after hundreds of civilians were reported killed in an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza. The Gaza de facto authorities blamed Israel for the attack, while the Israeli military claimed a rocket misfired by a Palestinian armed group was responsible.
Meanwhile, heavy bombardments by Israeli Forces, from the air, sea and land, continue. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Israeli Air Forces also strike in central and southern areas despite the Israeli Forces’ order for people in Gaza to move south, and leave the northern part of the territory.
On Sunday, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator to the Occupied Palestinian Territory had appealed to all parties to the conflict, and to UN Member States with influence, to urgently agree to a humanitarian ceasefire.
Speaking in Beijing today, Guterres reiterated two urgent humanitarian appeals: “To Hamas, for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. To Israel, to immediately allow unrestricted access of humanitarian aid to respond to the most basic needs of the people of Gaza - the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children.”
He said that a ceasefire would “provide sufficient time and space” to realize those appeals. “Too many lives – and the fate of the entire region – hang in the balance,” Guterres said.
The UN Secretary-General also made clear that the attacks by the militant group Hamas on October 7 on Israel did not justify the "collective punishment" of Palestinians, and that he was horrified by the hundreds of people killed at Al Ahli hospital in Gaza Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Guterres condemned the strike on Al Ahli Anglican Episcopal Hospital and the attack on a UNRWA school in Gaza, in a statement released through his spokesman. The Secretary-General stressed that “hospitals, clinics, medical personnel, and UN premises are explicitly protected under international law.”
UNRWA says the hospital compound in Gaza City hosted patients and internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking safe shelter. Nearly 500 people were reportedly killed last night in the compound. A UNRWA school sheltering 4,000 IDPs was also hit Tuesday, with at least six people killed and dozens injured
“Words fail me. Tonight, hundreds of people were killed – horrifically – in a massive strike at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, including patients, healthcare workers and families that had been seeking refuge in and around the hospital. Once again the most vulnerable. This is totally unacceptable”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said Tuesday.
He urged all states with influence to do everything in their power to bring an end to this horrendous situation.
“Civilians must be protected, and humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need as a matter of urgency”, Türk said.
On Wednesday, dozens of non-governmental organizations have called on the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General and “all world leaders with influence” to take immediate action to ensure a ceasefire comes into effect.
"It remains our only option to avert further loss of civilian life and humanitarian catastrophe. Anything less will forever be a stain on our collective conscience," the NGO statement said.
“Today, we put our voices together and call on all Heads of State, the UN Security Council, and actors on the ground, to prioritize the preservation of human life above all else.”
They also said the events of last week had led to the precipice of a humanitarian catastrophe, and the world can no longer wait to act.
“It is our collective responsibility”, the statement warned.
The NGOs called on parties to the conflict - during a ceasefire - to facilitate the delivery of lifesaving assistance, to free all civilian hostages, especially children and elderly, to allow humanitarian convoys to reach UN facilities, schools, hospitals, and health facilities in northern Gaza, and to allow patients in critical condition to be medically evacuated for urgent care.
They also urged the Israeli government to rescind orders for civilians to depart northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, the head of the UN Palestine refugee agency, Philippe Lazzarini said Wednesday "an unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes."
"Gaza is being strangled and the world seems to have lost its humanity," he added. "Every hour we receive more and more desperate calls for help from people across the Gaza Strip. Thousands of civilians were killed over the last 12 days, including women and children."
Food, water, critical medicines and health supplies are running out fast in the Gaza Strip, where at least one million people - nearly half of the population - has been displaced since the start of the conflict on October 7. Thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza are likely to die in the coming days if they are denied access to urgently needed relief supplies.
“Not one shipment of aid has been allowed into the Gaza Strip since the start of this conflict due to the full siege imposed. People are forced to drink water that is not suitable for consumption, as clean potable water is simply not available. Stocks of food, hygiene material and medicine are rapidly dwindling,” Lazzarini said.
Briefing the UN Security Council Wednesday, the UN humanitarian chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, stressed that what is needed is safe humanitarian access across all of Gaza. The UN and humanitarian partners therefore urgently needed a mechanism to allow for the regular provision of emergency needs throughout Gaza.
In a post on social media earlier, Griffiths said that providing aid to the people of Gaza – wherever they are – is a “matter of life or death”. He said it is a humanitarian imperative to do so in a sustained, unimpeded and predictable manner.
According to the UN, there are an estimated 3,000 tons of humanitarian assistance awaiting entry to Gaza from Egypt, unable to move through Rafah crossing to reach those who desperately need food, water, medicine and other supplies.
In Gaza, the number of people internally displaced is estimated at about one million, including nearly 400,000 people staying in UNRWA schools in central and southern Gaza, in increasingly dire conditions. As of today, Gaza is still under a full electricity blackout.
Despite the Israeli Forces’ evacuation order, an unknown number of internally displaced remain in UN schools in the north. UNRWA says it is no longer able to assist or protect the displaced in those areas and does not have information on their needs and conditions.
In Gaza, water, food, fuel, medical supplies, and even body bags, are running out due to the siege by the Israeli military. The UN has warned that people – particularly young children – will soon start dying of severe dehydration.
While heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. The calamitous deterioration of the situation follows the complete blockade on electricity, fuel, water, and food supplies from Israel into Gaza in violation of international humanitarian law.
Hundreds of thousands have fled in panic to the south, though the Israeli military is carrying out bombardments there as well. Many of those who relocated from northern Gaza to the south after the relocation order by the Israeli army were reportedly bombed as they attempted to flee or once they arrived in southern Gaza.
Within days, thousands of civilians in Gaza have been killed and thousands more have been injured by Israeli military attacks. Hundreds of casualties are still trapped beneath the rubble, with rescue teams are unable to access areas due to safety concerns, equipment shortages and severe damage to streets. Entire residential neighborhoods have been razed to the ground.
Humanitarian workers and medical staff have been killed. Humanitarian organizations are overwhelmed and without adequate means to help people in desperate need. Hospitals, overwhelmed with patients, are running out of medicine. Morgues are overflowing. Meanwhile, homes, schools, shelters, health centers and places of worship are under intense bombardment.
Following a large-scale attack by Palestinian armed groups on October 7, the Israeli cabinet declared as state of war and the military begun launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians and wounding more than 12,500. Among those killed are at least 14 UN staff and 28 health workers, but the numbers are likely to be higher.
The humanitarian and human rights situation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip drastically deteriorated following retaliatory attacks by the Israeli military due to atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups in Israel more than a week ago.
On October 7, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including fighters from the militant Hamas group, launched thousands of rockets toward Israel and breached through a perimeter fence of Gaza at multiple locations. Members of armed groups entered into Israeli towns, communities, and military facilities near the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israeli forces and civilians. More than 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals, most of them civilians, were reportedly killed and more than 4,200 injured.
Further information
Full text: Open Call for an Immediate Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel to Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe and Further Loss of Innocent Lives, NGO statement, published October 18, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/open-call-immediate-ceasefire-gaza-strip-and-israel-prevent-humanitarian-catastrophe-and-further-loss-innocent-lives