Five United Nations (UN) agencies called this Saturday for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, to allow aid to reach the civilians most in need and save lives and prevent further human suffering.
“Gaza was in a desperate humanitarian situation before the latest hostilities. Now it is catastrophic. The world must do more,” the organizations say in a joint statement, in which they also affirm that humanitarian aid flows must be on a large scale. and sustained. allow all Gazans to preserve their dignity.
The statement was published on the day a first, “but limited” shipment of humanitarian material from the United Nations and the Egyptian Red Crescent entered Gaza, in 20 trucks, through the Rafah border.
This is urgent aid for “some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, who have been deprived of water, food, medicine and other essential goods,” says the United Nations Relief Fund. Children, the Food Program Fund and the World Health Organization. , United Nations Population Fund and United Nations Development Programme.
The organizations point out that this aid is far from enough, because more than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian aid.
“With so much civilian infrastructure in Gaza damaged or destroyed in nearly two weeks of constant shelling, including shelters, health facilities, water, sanitation and electricity systems, time is running out” and soon death rates could skyrocket” due to the disease outbreaks and lack of health capacity,” they warn.
Describing a worrying situation in all sectors of the Gaza Strip, the UN calls for safe and sustained access to water, food, health and fuel, necessary to enable the provision of essential services.
“We call for the protection of all civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including health facilities”, the protection of humanitarian workers and “utmost respect for international humanitarian law by all parties,” the agencies say. UN in the joint statement.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group’s infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege. to the territory with water, fuel and electricity supply cuts.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries, between soldiers and civilians, in both territories.
Source: TSF
