Guterres: “In Gaza we are heading for a catastrophe”
“We are at serious risk of the collapse of the humanitarian system” in Gaza, where “the situation is rapidly turning into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible consequences for the Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” the Secretary-General of the Gaza Strip said today United Nations, Antonio Guterres, speaks at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
Guterres also deplored the United Nations' “paralysis” in the face of the war between Israel and Hamas and said he regretted that the Security Council did not vote for a ceasefire.
Guterres said the Security Council was “paralyzed by geostrategic divisions” and was affecting its ability to find solutions to the war. “The authority and credibility of the Security Council have been seriously undermined by its delayed response to the conflict,” a blow to its reputation that was compounded by the United States' veto on Friday of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The draft resolution was drafted following the UN Secretary-General's unprecedented invocation of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, which states that the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which in his opinion may endanger the maintenance of international peace and security” .
“I reiterated my call to declare a humanitarian ceasefire… unfortunately the Security Council did not do so,” Guterres lamented. “I can promise I won’t give up,” he added.
Qatar, let's broker a new ceasefire in Gaza and free the hostages
Mediation efforts to secure a new ceasefire in Gaza and release more hostages held by Hamas are continuing despite ongoing Israeli bombing, “narrowing the window of opportunity for a positive outcome,” Qatar's prime minister said. “Our efforts as the State of Qatar continue together with our partners. We will not give up,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the Doha Forum.
Sources Israel: “The war in Gaza will last another two months”
Israeli sources quoted by Kan TV estimated that the war in Gaza could last “two months.” The same sources added that after this period there will be no ceasefire, but local operations carried out by forces that remain close to the Gaza Strip. During this period, they said, efforts would be made to conclude further agreements to release more hostages. At some point during these two months, the army will allow some Gazans to return to their homes: a request – according to the sources – “from the US and also an operational necessity”. Another television station, Channel 13, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, reported a weekend phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the latter said the operations could be carried out in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza continue “for 3-4 weeks”.
Israel: Fighting continues in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
Fighting continued overnight in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. The military spokesman said that the Air Force had attacked “infrastructures in which terrorists operated and also tunnel entrances”.
Also that night, airstrikes by ground troops hit “a Hamas communications post near a mosque in the south of the Gaza Strip.” In Shujaia, in the center of the Gaza Strip, “Israeli troops carried out a targeted raid on a Hamas military command center and located numerous weapons.” The media also reported fighting in Jabalya, northern Gaza. According to the military spokesman, 250 Hamas targets were attacked by the Israeli army yesterday.
UN: “Half of Gaza’s population is dying of hunger”
Half of Gaza's population is starving as fighting continues between Hamas and Israel, said the deputy director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau, as reported by the BBC. Only a fraction of needed supplies have made it to Gaza and in some areas nine out of 10 families are unable to eat every day, the official added, stressing that conditions in Gaza have made humanitarian aid deliveries “almost impossible.” would have.
Skau commented that nothing prepared him for the “fear, chaos and desperation” he and his WFP team faced during their trip to Gaza this week. They witnessed “mayhem in warehouses, at distribution points with thousands of hungry and desperate people, in supermarkets with empty shelves and in crowded shelters with overflowing toilets,” he said. International pressure and a temporary seven-day ceasefire last month have allowed some urgently needed aid to enter the Gaza Strip, but the WFP says a second border crossing is now needed to meet demand. In some areas, nine out of 10 families “spend an entire day and night without food,” the official pointed out.
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