UN chief calls for providing Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid

By Muhammad Ragawi

CAIRO (AA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip.

“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,” Guterres told a news conference held on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing adjacent to the Gaza Strip.

“That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage,” he added.

He stressed: "It's time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total, unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.”

"It's time to truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation," he said.

The UN chief arrived earlier Saturday in the Egyptian city of El-Arish adjacent to the Gaza Strip where he visited Palestinian patients in the city's hospital.

This was Guterres’ second visit to Egypt since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on Oct. 7.

On Friday, the UN deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, announced the UN chief's annual "solidarity trip" to Egypt and Jordan, marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Haq noted that the UN chief would meet with humanitarian aid workers.

Guterres will have a Ramadan iftar dinner in Cairo with refugees from Sudan and also meet with Egyptian officials, he added.

Haq further mentioned that Guterres will visit the facilities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) during his visit to Jordan.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 74,400 others injured besides causing mass destruction, displacement, and shortage of necessities.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi