United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said “scattered measures” for aid flow into Gaza are not enough to address the “absolutely desperate” humanitarian situation in the strip, as Israel offered “increase” in aid following its killing of foreign aid workers in an airstrike that sparked worldwide outrage.
“It’s not enough to have scattered measures — we need a paradigm shift,” Guterres told reporters at the UN’s New York headquarters on Friday.
He had earlier said that in the aftermath of the killing of seven aid workers, the UN “was informed by the Israeli government of its intention to allow a meaningful increase in humanitarian aid distributed in Gaza.”
The UN chief referred to his visit to the Rafah crossing that took place 10 days ago, saying that he saw “long lines of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid continue to face obstacle after obstacle.”
“When the gates to aid are closed, the doors to starvation are opened,” he stressed, as the UN has warned of a looming famine in Gaza.
Guterres noted that over half of Gaza’s population of more than two million “are facing catastrophic hunger,” and that children there are “dying for lack of food and water.”
“This is incomprehensible and entirely avoidable.”
Israel has faced worldwide backlash after an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed seven aid workers working for the NGO World Central Kitchen in central Gaza.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli intensified violence against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
“Over the last six months, the Israeli military campaign has brought relentless death and destruction to Palestinians in Gaza, with more than 32,000 people reportedly killed and more than 75,000 injured. The vast majority women and children,” the UN chief said Friday.
