Guterres calls for immediate entry of aid to Gaza, says famine is near

By Al Mayadeen English
18 Mar 2024 20:41
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Antonio Guterres has called for the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the establishment of a ceasefire as famine and hunger looms over the Strip.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Monday, March 18, 2024, at U.N. headquarters. (AP)

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has urgently called for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In a convened session for the UN Security Council at the New York headquarters, Guterres called on "Israel" to "guarantee the complete and unconditioned arrival of humanitarian goods in all areas of the Gaza Strip."

Regarding the latest report on the absence of food security in Gaza, Guterres said it signifies an "indictment of the horrific conditions the people of Gaza are experiencing on the ground". He also noted that food insecurity experts confirmed that famine will soon hit north Gaza.

This report, Guterres said, is primary evidence that an immediate ceasefire is needed, for humanitarian reasons.

He further noted that more than half of the Palestinians in the Strip, almost 1.1 million people, have run out of their humanitarian aid rations, and are currently facing severe hunger.

"It is a purely manmade catastrophe, and the report indicates that we could stop it if we move now, to prevent the unimaginable from occurring," Guterres concluded.

Earlier today, at a summit of foreign ministers in Brussels, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and called on "Israel" to allow land deliveries of food as soon as possible.

“Before the war, Gaza was the greatest open-air prison. Today it is the greatest open-air graveyard," he chillingly said.

Borrell echoes Guterres

Borrell previously echoed Guterres' words, describing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as "manmade", and accused "Israel" of using starvation and hunger as a "war arm".

Last week, Borrell said, "This humanitarian crisis... is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade."

This comes as "Israel" shuts aid corridors and imposes impossible living conditions on Palestinians in the Strip. Relief organizations have been warning of famine, while the international community airdropped aid on Gaza's shore.

In this context, Borrell recalled that airdropping is the utilized method because there is no other way of sending aid to Gaza, as "Israel" obstructed them.

"Starvation is being used as a war arm," he said, adding that "when we condemn this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words of what's happening in Gaza."