“The nightmare in Gaza is much more than a humanitarian crisis. This is a crisis of humanity,” he said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres stepped up calls for a ceasefire as Palestinian authorities announced that more than 10,000 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
The secretary-general told reporters Monday that Gaza was becoming a “children’s cemetery,” with more than 4,100 dead since fighting began, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
“Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly killed and injured every day,” he said.
“There would have been more journalists killed in a four-week period than in any other 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 unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with each passing hour,” Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
“The parties to the conflict – and, indeed, the international community – face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to end this inhumane collective suffering and significantly increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza. »
The remarks were among the harshest ever made by Guterres, who has previously called for a ceasefire and said Monday that Israeli strikes had targeted “hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and facilities.” of the UN, including shelters.
“No one is safe,” he said. Guterres also criticized the Palestinian armed group Hamas for using civilians as “shields” and continuing to “indiscriminately launch rockets towards Israel,” while calling for the release of captives still held in Gaza.
Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7 that Israeli authorities said killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including women and children.
The attack was widely condemned, but Israel’s campaign of relentless airstrikes on the besieged strip of more than 2.3 million people also drew criticism.
Israel has also besieged Gaza, cutting off access to basic necessities such as fuel, food and electricity, while its bombings have displaced more than 1.5 million people with few options for seeking refuge.
Guterres said blatant violations of international law were being committed during the fighting.
With fuel supplies strained by the Israeli siege, more than half of Gaza’s 35 hospitals have been forced to suspend operations while the number of people injured in the strikes exceeds 25,000.
“The nightmare in Gaza is much more than a humanitarian crisis,” Guterres said. “This is a crisis of humanity.”
Guterres also spoke of the need to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying that current levels of assistance represent a “trickle” in the face of an “ocean of needs” and that the Rafah crossing with Egypt does not have the capacity to fill the void “on its own”. .
Although Guterres did not mention details, Al Jazeera diplomatic editor James Bays said he was perhaps suggesting that other crossing points into Gaza currently sealed by Israel, such as Kerem Shalom, also known as Karam Abu Salem, are expected to be open for aid deliveries.
“It’s an allusion, but it’s not an allusion that I’ve heard him make publicly before, that Israel should open Kerem Shalom,” Bays said.
“I’m sure privately they’ve been telling the Israelis that throughout this whole thing. Kerem Shalom is a much bigger (passage). This is where most trucks entered directly from Israel into Gaza, and it has been completely closed since October 7,” he added.