UN Secretary-General calls for an end to the war in besieged Gaza
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an end to the war in besieged Gaza. He made this call on Saturday (March 23) during a visit to the Rafah crossing near the Egyptian border in Gaza.
He called the starvation of Palestinians due to lack of food, on the one hand, and the line of aid trucks stuck on the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip, on the other, a "moral outrage".
Addressing a press conference in El Arish, North Sinai, Egypt, the UN chief said, "I have come to Rafah to highlight the pain of the Palestinians in Gaza, where much international aid has been stored for Gaza. Israel is blocking the flow of aid.
Here, from this crossing, we see all its heartbreak and heartlessness, he says. A long line of relief trucks blocked on one side of the gate, the long shadow of starvation on the other.
Referring to the current situation, the UN Secretary General said, it is more than sad. It is a moral outrage. Any further attacks will make the situation worse - worse for Palestinian civilians, worse for the hostages and worse for all the people of the region.
Guterres made the visit as part of a show of solidarity with Muslim countries during Ramadan. Israel has come under global pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than five months of war.
"You can't see so many people killed, you can't see so much suffering without being deeply disappointed," Guterres said in response to questions from reporters. "We do not have the power to stop (the Gaza war), I appeal to those who have the power to stop it.