United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls blocked humanitarian aid for Gaza a ‘moral outrage’

ABC / Reuters | 24 March 2024

The blocking of aid is as much a criminal act as the merciless killing of the innocents in both Israel and Palestine – but it is only one sided. Not only do Israeli’s have enough food and water outside of this war they have consistently used both as a weapon to brutalise Palestinians – Mark

In short:
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the organisation will work with Egypt to “streamline” the flow of aid into Gaza.
• The governor of Egypt’s North Sinai region says some 7,000 trucks are waiting at the border to deliver aid to Gaza.
• Israel opened its Kerem Shalom crossing in December, and denies accusations by Egypt and the UN that it has delayed aid.
A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip, where people are facing starvation, is a moral outrage, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday.
During a visit to the Rafah crossing, Mr Guterres said it was time for Israel to provide an “ironclad commitment” to unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.
He also called for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The UN would continue to work with Egypt to “streamline” the flow of aid into Gaza, Mr Guterres said.
“Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all,” he said.
“A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage.”
Mr Guterres’s comments come as Israel faces global pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel is threatening to launch a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, just over the border from Egypt, despite international appeals against such an attack.
A majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are sheltering around Rafah.
Mr Guterres said on Saturday there was a clear international consensus that any ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe.
Though conditions are worse in the north of the strip, the plight of civilians across the territory has deteriorated sharply as the conflict has ground on.
Before his stop at the border, where he met UN humanitarian workers, Mr Guterres landed in Al Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai, where much of the international relief for Gaza is delivered and stockpiled.