UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged an immediate halt to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the return of hostages and a “surge” in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“I repeat my call, the world’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid,” Mr Guterres said in a video address to an international donors’ conference in Kuwait.
“But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war,” he added.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
“The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatised,” Mr Guterres said.
Israel ordered Palestinians in Rafah to evacuate and head to what it called an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military was pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah.
The Israeli military also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza to clear out, saying it was returning to operate there after it noticed Hamas trying to re-establish its control of the area.
The evacuation order by Israel has been described as “unacceptable” by European Council President Charles Michel.
In a post on X, he said: “We call on the Israeli government to respect international humanitarian law and urge not to undertake a ground operation in Rafah.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency has said that two doctors were killed in an Israeli air strike on the city of Deir al-Balah.
“The bodies of Doctor Muhammad Nimr Qazaat and his son, Doctor Youssef, were recovered (as they were killed) because of an Israeli raid on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, and they were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah,” the agency said in a statement.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yesterday, the Palestinian health ministry said at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed in overnight airstrikes across the enclave, including in Rafah.
It does not distinguish how many were civilians or militants.
“They threw fliers on Rafah and said, from Rafah to al-Zawayda is safe, people should evacuate there, and they did, and what has become of them? Dismembered bodies? There is no safe place in Gaza,” Khitam Al-Khatib, who said she had lost at least ten of her relatives in an airstrike on a family house earlier, told Reuters.
