UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday said that Palestinians in Gaza are now facing \u201cthe cruelest phase\u201d of the war, with Israel allowing only \u201ca teaspoon of aid\u201d when a flood is needed.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s warned of famine risk and \u201catrocious levels of death and destruction,\u201d as 80% of Gaza is either militarized or under evacuation orders.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s full blockade since March 2 has only just eased, but Guterres says the resumed aid remains far too little to meet the desperate need.<\/p>\n
In this regard, the UN chief outlined a five-stage plan to provide lifesaving aid to the stricken population of Gaza, making clear the organization will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law or basic humanitarian principles.<\/p>\n
Addressing reporters outside the Security Council, Guterres called once again for a permanent ceasefire to end the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and full humanitarian access so aid can flow in following nearly 80 days of Israeli blockade.<\/p>\n
He said Palestinians in the enclave are now being \u201cstarved and denied the very basics,\u201d as Israel intensifies its offensive and promotes a new privatised aid distribution network reportedly due to begin on Sunday which would bypass the UN and partner organizations\u2019 aid operation.<\/p>\n
Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law to treat civilians in Gaza humanely, Guterres added, and \u201cmust not forcibly transport, deport or displace the civilian population of an occupied territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that despite authorizing a \u201ctrickle of aid\u201d to enter in recent days, supplies from only 115 out of 400 trucks have been cleared for collection and distribution \u2013 while nothing has reached the besieged north.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn any case,\u201d the UN chief pointed out, \u201call the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working around the clock to get whatever aid we can to people in need,\u201d the UN chief said, but \u201cneeds are massive \u2013 and the obstacles are staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel is causing unnecessary delays, imposing quotas on distribution and barring essentials such as fuel, shelter, cooking gas, and water purification supplies \u2013 are prohibited, it was pointed out.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the lives of UN and other humanitarian staffers are being placed at risk if they continue to be prevented from distributing food parcels and flour to those in desperate need, the UN chief continued.<\/p>\n
He said absent rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more Gazans will die \u2013 with profound long-term consequences.<\/p>\n
Without making direct reference to the US-backed Israeli plan to create new distribution sites overseen by private contractors in coordination with the military, Guterres said the UN had been clear: \u201cWe will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, he said the UN and partners had \u201ca detailed, principled, operationally-sound 5-stage plan\u201d \u2013 supported by UN Member States:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ensure the delivery of aid to Gaza
\n\u2014 Inspect and scan aid at crossing points
\n\u2014 Transport aid from crossing points to humanitarian facilities
\n\u2014 Prepare aid for onward distribution
\n\u2014 And transport aid to people in need<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the personnel, the distribution networks, the systems and community relationships in place to act,\u201d said the UN chief. \u201cThe supplies \u2013 160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks \u2013 are waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my appeal for life-saving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza: Let\u2019s do it right. And let\u2019s do it right away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday said that Palestinians in Gaza are now facing \u201cthe cruelest phase\u201d of the war, with Israel allowing only \u201ca teaspoon of aid\u201d when a flood is needed. He\u2019s warned of famine risk and \u201catrocious levels of death and destruction,\u201d as 80% of Gaza is either militarized or under evacuation orders. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":80627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81485,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81475\/revisions\/81485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}