As fighting continues in Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that he was “heartbroken” by images of people killed and injured in airstrikes on Sunday that hit tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Rafah.
UN agencies on Tuesday reiterated their call for an urgent ceasefire and humanitarian access in Gaza following Israeli air strikes on Sunday that hit a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, killing 45 people, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Senior UN officials have condemned Israeli air strikes on Sunday that hit a camp for displaced people in Rafah, southern Gaza, reportedly claiming over 35 Palestinian lives, including women and children.
Global uproar calling for an end to the Israeli incursion in Rafah “has grown too loud to ignore”, UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Friday, in a fresh appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
Living conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate, with reports of an increase in diarrhoea and suspected cases of Hepatitis A, UN humanitarians warned on Thursday.
Hostilities across Gaza reportedly continued on Wednesday, fuelling already alarming aid access problems and dire food insecurity as the main entrance routes for relief convoys remained closed or too dangerous to access, UN aid workers warned.
The plight of civilians affected by war in 2023 was “resoundingly dire”, as the world witnessed horrors not only in Gaza and southern Israel but also the intense suffering of populations in other crisis hotspots around the globe, senior UN officials said on Tuesday.
Gaza stands at “yet another precipice of further catastrophe” as the latest round of hostage negotiations in Cairo failed to reach an agreement, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday.
At least 810,000 people have fled Rafah in just two weeks, UN humanitarians said on Monday amid reports of ongoing Israeli military operations in the southern city and in the north of Gaza.
Roughly 800,000 people have been forced to flee Rafah since Israel launched a military operation in the area on 6 May, the head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA said on Saturday in a renewed appeal for greater protection of civilians in Gaza, safe humanitarian access and, ultimately, a ceasefire.
