A new, unprecedented call for a temporary ceasefire. “For almost a month, the world has observed the situation unfolding in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory with shock and horror at the growing number of lives lost and ravaged,” the heads of the several UN agencies and NGOs.
The leaders of 18 organizations including Unicef, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) and the NGO CARE, describe the toll of victims of the war between Israel and Hamas triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil.
“Many aid workers have been killed since October 7”
In Gaza, “an entire population is besieged and attacked, denied access to the basic elements for survival, bombed in their homes, in shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable,” write UN and humanitarian officials in this press release.
“Numerous aid workers have been killed since October 7, including 88 colleagues from UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees), the highest number of deaths among UN staff in any the same conflict,” they added. “We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must end now,” they wrote in this statement which also calls for the release of hostages held by the Hamas.
The EU calls for facilitation of the work of the Red Cross
“I think that a humanitarian pause balanced by access to the hostages by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a first step towards their release is an initiative that we could work on,” Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy in front of EU diplomats.
The US, EU and other countries have called for “humanitarian pauses” in the war between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas to allow international aid to flow into the small territory. besieged and deprived of everything.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes any pause in the war until the more than 240 hostages kidnapped and held by Hamas since October 7 have been released. “Call it a truce, a (humanitarian) window, whatever you want, but we need the violence to decrease and international law to be respected,” stressed Josep Borrell. “There is no military solution to the conflict,” he insisted.
Israel once again calls on civilians to leave Gaza
Israel carried out intense bombardments on Monday on the besieged Gaza Strip, where the war has left nearly 10,000 dead, according to the Hamas government, in power in the Gaza Strip, in almost a month, while violent fighting in ground are raging despite pressing calls for a humanitarian truce. These bombings hit civilians hard, in this small territory of 362 square kilometers populated by 2.4 million inhabitants, placed since October 9 under a state of “complete siege” by Israel, which has cut off water deliveries, electricity and food.
The Israeli army launched a new call on Monday morning for civilians to leave the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been shelled relentlessly in retaliation for the attack, of a violence and scale unprecedented since the creation of Israel in 1948, launched on October 7 against Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement. In parallel with its campaign of strikes, Israel has been waging fierce ground battles against Hamas since October 27, which it promised to “annihilate”.
This article is originally published on challenges.fr
