The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Monday that civilians in the Gaza Strip are suffering collective punishment and forced displacement as Israels continues its bombing from air, land and sea, killing hundreds of civilians every day. Today, UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza and expressed his dismay by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children.
“An immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation. “The present and future of Palestinians and Israelis depend on it.”
Lazzarini told the Council in a video briefing from the Jordanian capital, Amman, that he was shocked both by the horrific October 7 attack Hamas carried out on Israel and the relentless bombing by Israeli forces on Gaza that have followed.
“The level of destruction is unprecedented; the human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable,” he said.
For almost three weeks now, Palestinian civilians in Gaza have endured relentless bombing by Israel. Thousands have been killed, many lying dead or injured amongst destroyed residential or public buildings. Entire families have been wiped out by air strikes on their homes.
Following a large-scale attack by Palestinian armed groups on October 7, the Israeli cabinet declared war and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) begun launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 8,500 Palestinians and wounding more than 20,000. While two thirds of the fatalities are reportedly children and women, the dead include more than 3,500 children.
More than 1,600 people - including 900 children - have been reported missing and may be still trapped under the rubble. Rescue teams are unable to reach affected residential areas due to security risks, lack of equipment, and severe road damage. An estimated 1.4 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, with more than 670,000 sheltering in 150 UNRWA-designated emergency shelters.
One million people, half the population of Gaza, have been pushed from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south in three weeks. The south, however, has not been spared from bombardment, with significant numbers of civilians killed there.
“I have said many times, and I will say it again ‘no place is safe in Gaza’,” Lazzarini said.
Civilians remaining in the north continue to receive evacuation notices from the IDF, urging them south to receive scarce humanitarian assistance. But Lazzarini noted that many, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the sick and the wounded, are unable to move.
“What happened and continues to happen is forced displacement,” the UNRWA chief said.
While noting that too many people have been killed and injured whilst seeking safety in places protected by international humanitarian law, Lazzarini also said: “The current siege imposed on Gaza is collective punishment.”
Israel put the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip under a complete blockade following the attack by Palestinian armed groups that killed 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals.
Under international criminal law, collective punishment is a war crime while forced displacement is a crime against humanity. The UN Human Rights Office has also warned that Israel’s siege of Gaza is collective punishment, and therefore a war crime.
Lazzarini called for “strict adherence” to international humanitarian law, and the safe, unimpeded and continuous flow of aid and fuel into Gaza.
“Two weeks of full siege followed by the trickle of aid last week mean that: Basic services are crumbling. Medicine is running out. Food and water are running out. Fuel is running out,” he said.
After two weeks of international negotiations, limited relief supplies of food, water and medicines started entering Gaza on October 21, but it has been slow, sporadic and largely insufficient to meet the rising needs.
The UN says that 26 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Monday, following 33 trucks on Sunday - the largest number to cross in a single day so far. Since October 21, 143 trucks with humanitarian aid have entered Gaza, as of Monday evening.
“Let me be clear – the handful of convoys being allowed through Rafah is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza,” the UNRWA chief stressed Monday.
About 500 trucks per day were crossing into Gaza before the hostilities began. UN Secretary General António Guterres noted today:
“The level of humanitarian assistance that has been allowed into Gaza up to this point is completely inadequate and not commensurate with the needs of people in Gaza, compounding the humanitarian tragedy.”
The growing desperation was evident on Sunday, when panicked Gazans looted several UNRWA warehouses. The agency has about 13,000 staff in Gaza. According to UNRWA, 67 UN staff have been killed since October 7. This is the highest number of UN aid workers killed in any conflict in such a short period.
Children are also falling victim to the violence in shocking numbers.
The head of the UN children’s agency, quoting figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, said Monday more than 3,400 children have been killed in Gaza and more than 6,300 injured.
“This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told Security Council members.
She also condemned the killing of at least 37 children in the West Bank and more than 30 Israeli children killed in the October 7 attack, while at least 20 others remain hostages of Hamas with their fates unknown.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday said in a statement he was deeply alarmed by the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.
“This includes the expansion of ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces accompanied by intense air strikes, and the continued rocket fire towards Israel from Gaza,” he said.
Guterres said that civilians have borne the brunt of the current fighting from the outset, and “protection of civilians on both sides is paramount and must be respected at all times.“
"I condemn the killing of civilians in Gaza and I am dismayed by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children. International humanitarian law establishes clear rules that cannot be ignored. It is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively," he emphasized.
The UN chief urged all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution.
“With too many Israeli and Palestinian lives already lost, this escalation only increases the immense suffering of civilians. I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for unimpeded humanitarian access to be granted consistently, safely and to scale in order to meet the urgent needs created by the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza,” he said.
The UN Security Council has been unable to overcome its own divisions to adopt a resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire or pause. On Friday, the UN General Assembly took up the issue and voted overwhelmingly for a humanitarian truce. But its resolutions are not legally binding, and Israel has said it will not pause its attacks against Gaza.
The United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, while increasingly isolated internationally, are amongst the few influential countries worldwide that continue to oppose a humanitarian cease-fire and continue to fuel the conflict by largely ignoring the heavy loss of life and catastrophic conditions in Gaza, as well as the violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Israeli government.
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. At least 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals, most of them civilians, were reportedly killed. Some 240 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, are held hostage in Gaza.
Within days, Israel’s retaliatory actions have led to a humanitarian catastrophe in the densely populated Palestinian territory.
Further information
Full text: Remarks by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to the UN Security Council Emergency Briefing on "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question" in NY on 30 October 2023, UNRWA, published October 30, 2023
https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/un-security-council-emergency-briefing-situation-middle-east
Full text: Secretary-General’s statement - on the situation in Gaza, UN Secretary-General, published October 31, 2023
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2023-10-31/secretary-general%E2%80%99s-statement-the-situation-gaza