The United Nations Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wensland, described the scenes of destruction and suffering of people in the Gaza Strip as heartbreaking.
He added, in a series of tweets on the X website, “We visited Gaza yesterday and witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of the hostilities, and it is clear that urgent action is needed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis facing the Strip.”
He said that he visited Al-Amal Hospital and met with local officials to discuss ways to meet the urgent needs of the population, noting that what he saw in Gaza is a stark reminder of the humanitarian cost of the conflict.
Wensland called on all parties to reach an immediate ceasefire agreement and return the Israeli detainees.
He stressed that there is a serious proposal put on the table by US President Joe Biden, and that any delay in reaching an agreement will cost more lives every day.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 119,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
The Israeli occupation army continues the war despite orders from the International Court of Justice to immediately stop the ground attack on the city of Rafah (south), and to take temporary measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israel also ignores the International Criminal Court’s intention to issue international arrest warrants against its Prime Minister and Defense Minister. For their responsibility for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” in Gaza.
For the 18th year, Israel has besieged the Gaza Strip, and its war forced about two million of its residents, numbering about 2.2 million Palestinians, to flee in catastrophic conditions, with severe scarcity of food, water, and medicine.