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miércoles, 17 de julio de 2024

Gaza Devastation is Incomprehensible, Inexcusable’ – UN Secretary-General

July 16, 2024

By Palestine Chronicle Staff 

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-devastation-is-incomprehensible-inexcusable-un-secretary-general/

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said “nowhere is safe” in the besieged Gaza Strip as the death toll rises to more than 38,580.

“The extreme level of fighting and devastation in Gaza is incomprehensible and inexcusable,” Guterres said on X on Tuesday.

“Nowhere is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone,” he added, emphasizing that it was “high time for the parties to show the political courage and political will to finally reach a deal.”

Separately, Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that “with each new evacuation directive, families in Gaza are forced to make impossible choices: stay, amid active hostilities, or flee to areas with little space and services – and of course, no guarantee of safety as we saw this weekend.”

‘So-called Humanitarian Zones’

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Dujarric said the “horrors witnessed in recent days only underscore what we have said repeatedly over the past nine months: There is no safe place in Gaza. Not shelters, not hospitals – and not the so-called humanitarian zones.”

According to UNRWA, Israeli warplanes struck five UN schools that were sheltering the displaced, in the last ten days.

“We call yet again for all parties to this conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Dujarric said.

He added: “They must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects. This includes ensuring safe passage for those who flee. And wherever they are in Gaza, civilians must receive the essentials they need to survive: food, shelter and health care.”

At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 70 injured on Sunday when an Israeli raid targeted the Abu Oreiban school in the Nuseirat camp.

The attack followed two horrific incidents in Khan Yunis and Al-Shati refugee camps west of Gaza City the previous day, which caused hundreds of casualties.

The death toll from the Al-Shati Camp prayer hall massacre west of Gaza City rose to 22, with dozens injured.

Women and Children

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 38,584 Palestinians have been killed, and 88,881 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

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