UN chief urges ceasefire and aid access in Gaza during Ramadan solidarity visit"

Shafaq News/ UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a ceasefire in Gaza urging Israel to provide unhindered access for aid deliveries into the Strip during his annual Ramadan solidarity trip.

“It is time for a ceasefire and for an "ironclad commitment by Israel." Guterres told journalists at the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.

Early Saturday, the UN chief met with Palestinian civilians and their families at the General Hospital in El Arish, Egypt, saying he “was extremely moved by their stories, experiences and hardships they have endured”.

“It is monstrous that after so much suffering over so many months, Palestinians in Gaza are marking Ramadan with Israeli bombs still falling, bullets still flying, artillery still pounding and humanitarian assistance still facing obstacle upon obstacle,” he said.

“Fasting with you on Ramadan, I am deeply troubled to know so many people in Gaza will not be able to have a proper iftar.”

“Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all,” he said, pointing to a long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates and the “long shadow of starvation on the other”.

“That is more than tragic; moral outrage,” he said, adding that “any further onslaught will make everything worse” for Palestinian civilians, hostages, and all people of the region.

Gueterres also urged all UN Member States to support the “lifesaving work led by the backbone of all Gaza relief operations, UNRWA”, the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees.

Pledging to continue working with Egypt to streamline the flow of aid, he had a message for Palestinians in Gaza: “you are not alone.”

“People around the world are outraged by the horrors we are all witnessing in real time,” he said. “I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough, who have had enough and who still believe that human dignity and decency must define us as a global community.”

“It’s time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid; the choice is clear: either surge or starvation,” he said. “Let’s choose the side of help – the side of hope – and the right side of history.”

“I will not give up,” he stated, “and all of us must not give up in doing all we can for our common humanity to prevail.”

In response to Guterres’s visit, Israel's foreign minister said the United Nations had become an "anti-Israeli body" under Antonio Guterres.

"Under his leadership, the UN has become an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli body that shelters and emboldens terror," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.

The Israel-Hamas war has driven 80% оf Gaza’s population оf 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes, and U.N. officials say a quarter оf the population іs starving.

More than 1.3 million people are believed tо be іn Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts оf Gaza, according tо the United Nations, a city which housed about 275,000 before October 7. With a major lack оf housing, many are forced tо shelter under tarps, blankets, оr other scraps they can find tо build shacks.

With over a million Palestinians trapped іn Rafah and Israeli troops approaching, іt іs still not clear how Israel іs planning оn evacuating everyone currently іn Rafah. However, they still insist оn going through with the invasion.

So far, about 32,000 Palestinians are killed іn Gaza after Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas іn the Gaza Strip tо retaliate against a Hamas surprise attack оn Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.