A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt's side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the Rafah crossing on Saturday.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media, after visiting the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, as Egyptian Red Crescent members coordinate aid for Gaza, at Al Arish Airport, March 23, 2024. Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt's side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the Rafah crossing on Saturday.
It was time for Israel to give an "ironclad commitment" for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, said Guterres, who also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The U.N. would continue to work with Egypt to "streamline" the flow of aid into Gaza, he said in comments made in front of the gate of the Rafah crossing, an entry point for aid.
"Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other," he said. "That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticised Guterres in a social media post for blaming Israel "without condemning in any way the Hamas-ISIS terrorists who plunder humanitarian aid".
In remarks made later to reporters, Guterres also reinforced international appeals against an Israeli ground operation in Rafah city on the Gazan side of the border, where a majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are sheltering. He questioned Israeli plans to relocate civilians ahead of an incursion.
"It is extremely doubtful any successful programme to provide security and safety for the population of Rafah when that security and safety doesn't exist in the whole of the Gaza territory," he said.
The concerns of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are highly selective. Not a word on the Hamas, which is the origin of the conflict.
The terrorist group is willing to sacrifice the population of Gaza to maintain its power.
Not a word either on the Israeli hostages. Guterres seems to ignore these realities.
He would do better to demand the surrender of the Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
This option would end the conflict and address the issue of humanitarian aid.
Writing by Aidan Lewis
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A meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Middle East was briefly interrupted on Wednesday when two protesters stood with signs and yelled for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that its mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza was complete, formally ending an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
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