United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has strengthened calls for a ceasefire as Palestinian authorities reported that about 10,000 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
The secretary-general said that Gaza was becoming a “graveyard for children,” with more than 4,100 killed since the fighting began, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the enclave.
“More journalists have reportedly been killed over a four-week period than in any conflict in at least three decades,” he said. “More United Nations aid workers have been killed than in any comparable period in the history of our organization.”
“The parties to the conflict – and, indeed, the international community – face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Guterres, who had previously called for a ceasefire, said that Israeli strikes have targeted “hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches, and UN facilities, including shelters.”
“No one is safe,” he said. Guterres also criticized the Palestinian armed group Hamas for using civilians as shields and continuing to launch rockets indiscriminately towards Israel, as he called for the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
Hamas launched an assault on southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking 240 hostages, including women and children. In response, Israel declared war, which included relentless air strikes on the strip of land that had more than 2.3 million people crammed into it. Israel also placed Gaza under siege, cutting off access to fuel, food, and electricity.
Israeli officials have insisted their military campaign must destroy Hamas, which rules Gaza and is estimated to have tens of thousands of fighters inside the territory.
Guterres said clear violations of international law are being committed in the fighting. “The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis,” he said. “It is a crisis of humanity.”
Aside from Guterres, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt have also implored the USA to get Israel to halt the assault.
Despite the massive and indiscriminate death and destruction it has unleashed upon the people of Gaza as it seeks to eradicate Hamas, Israel continues to ignore urgent pleas for a ceasefire and aside from pleading loudly, the international community can’t seem to be able to do anything more. If it will take more world leaders chiming in and applying pressure on Israel and Hamas to do the trick, then perhaps it is high time for Philippine officials to do the right thing, and chime in for calls for a ceasefire.*
