UN Security Council envoys spoke of unimaginable suffering and called for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip during their visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, the only entry point into the Gaza Strip. help in the besieged territory.
China’s representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, asked by reporters Monday if he had a message for nations opposed to a ceasefire in Gaza, said simply: “Enough is enough.” . »
The majority of UN member states support an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as dire conditions for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents worsen.
The United States, which supports Israel, vetoed a draft Security Council resolution last week calling for an immediate ceasefire as Israeli tanks and troops launch an attack that has displaced major part of the population of Gaza and killed and injured thousands of people.
A dozen Security Council envoys took part in the UAE-organized trip to visit Rafah, just days after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that thousands of people in the besieged Palestinian enclave were “simply dying of hunger “.
After flying to the town of Al-Arish, Egypt, they were briefed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on conditions in Gaza before heading towards Rafah, 48 km away.
“The reality is even worse than words can say,” Ecuador’s UN ambassador, José De La Gasca, told reporters after the UNRWA press briefing.
The American and French representatives did not participate in the trip.
UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh said envoys learned that Gaza residents were dying from malnutrition, a crumbling medical system and lack of water and food, in addition to the conflict itself. even.
Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air, sea and land; imposed a siege; and launched a ground offensive since October 7, killing more than 18,000 people and injuring more than 49,500, according to Palestinian officials. Israeli forces launched the assault after Hamas carried out attacks in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 240 prisoners, according to Israeli authorities.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Monday that the bodies of at least 208 Palestinians had arrived at several hospitals in Gaza over the previous hours.
At least 416 people have been injured in the same period, he said, while “a large number” of victims remain under the rubble as Israeli forces prevent ambulances from reaching those areas.
“Hunger prevails”
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini described an “implosion of civil order” in which Gazans who had not eaten in days looted aid distribution centers and stopped trucks on the roads as they tried to provide food for their families.
“There’s not enough help,” Lazzarini said. “Hunger reigns in Gaza. …Most people just sleep on the concrete.
Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzia called conditions in Gaza “catastrophic” and said countries opposed to a ceasefire should “face reality and grant dignity to the Palestinians.”
Nebenzia rejected accusations that it would be hypocritical to condemn Israel while Moscow continues to pursue its war against Ukraine.
Limited humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries have arrived in Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but humanitarian officials have said this falls far short of meeting residents’ most basic needs.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the situation in Gaza is “catastrophic, apocalyptic”, with destruction proportionately “even greater” than that experienced by Germany during the Second World War. World War.
“Human suffering poses an unprecedented challenge to the international community,” Borrell said. “Civilian casualties represent between 60 and 70 percent of total deaths” and “85 percent of the population is internally displaced.”
With almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents regrouped in the south following the Israeli offensive and evacuation orders in the north, Palestinians are increasingly concerned that they could be forced out of the territory altogether in a repeat of the 1948 mass expulsion known as the Nakba. , or “catastrophe,” surrounding the creation of the State of Israel.
The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said Monday that residents of southern Gaza were falling ill as they cram into overcrowded shelters or sleep in tents in open areas.
Nicholas Papachrysostomou, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, said “all the other patients” at a clinic in Rafah were suffering from a respiratory infection after prolonged exposure to cold and rain.
“In some shelters, 600 people share a single toilet. We are already seeing many cases of diarrhea. Children are often the most affected,” he said.
Aid delivery is at a standstill
As UN envoys headed toward the Rafah border, hundreds of trucks were parked along the road leading to the crossing, waiting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Nusseibeh said Abu Dhabi was coordinating with relevant authorities so that drinking water could be pumped to Gaza from an Emirati-funded desalination plant in Egypt.
While Israel has severely restricted water supplies to Gaza, it is also unclear whether Gaza’s infrastructure is capable of receiving the desalinated water after damage caused by weeks of intense Israeli bombardment.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 100 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, the same number as the day before.
He noted that this figure was “well below” the daily average of 500 truck loads, including fuel, which arrived each working day before October 7.
A UNICEF worker, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said a logistics center near Al-Arish was storing items Israel had banned from sending to Gaza, including solar panels and an ultrasound device. The employee said they were banned because they were electrical and contained metal.
The 15-member Security Council is currently negotiating a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates that demands that the warring parties “authorize the use of all land, sea and air routes to and through” Gaza for the delivery of ugly.
It would also establish a UN-run aid monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip. It is unclear when the draft resolution can be put to a vote.
Guterres last week formally warned the Security Council of the global threat the conflict poses to peace and security.
He said half of the Palestinians in northern Gaza and at least a third of those displaced in the south were “simply starving” and later criticized the Council for “failing” to contribute to a humanitarian ceasefire. .
The UN General Assembly will meet on Tuesday in Gaza at the request of Arab and Muslim states. The 193-member body will likely vote on a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, diplomats said.