UN: Israel refusal of aid entering Gaza is 'unjustified'

“The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, adding that “Everyone in Gaza is hungry.”

Guterres said “no effective humanitarian aid operation can function under the conditions that have been forced on Palestinians in Gaza and those doing everything possible to help them,” noting that the UN and other bodies still “face a cumbersome process of verifications and multiple unjustified  rejections of desperately needed items.”

He stressed that “dozens of humanitarians have been waiting for months to receive their visas from the Government of Israel.”

Guterres also noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments; they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.”

Guterres again renewed his “appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

Since 7 October, the Israeli occupation army has bombed hospitals, residential buildings, schools and warehouses, destroying them and killing more than 26,000 Palestinians. It has also prevented the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel into the besieged enclave.

READ: Israel allows 8 trucks of aid into Gaza City ‘then shoots at them‘