In a rare joint statement on the situation in Gaza, the heads of 18 UN organizations and agencies called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire," expressing outrage at the number of civilian casualties in the enclave that has reached about 10,<>, about half of them children.
The heads of UN agencies wrote in a statement on the website of the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee: "For almost a month, the world has been watching the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories with shock and horror at the (increasing) number of lives lost."
In Gaza, "an entire people is under siege and attack, denied access to elements essential to survival, and bombarded in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable."
The horrific killings of more civilians in Gaza are outrageous, as are the 2.2 million Palestinians being deprived of food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel.
They added that more food, water, medicine and fuel must be allowed into the Gaza Strip to help the population. "We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It's been 30 days. That's enough. This has to end now."
On the other hand, the UN agencies called on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to release its Israeli detainees, urging each side to "respect its obligations under international law."
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Health in Gaza counted 9770,70 martyrs since the beginning of the Israeli aggression, and confirmed that 24% of the victims of the aggression are women and children, noting that the occupation committed on Sunday 243 major massacres that killed <> martyrs.
The statement was signed by Martin Griffiths, Coordinator of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, as well as heads of 14 other UN organizations and agencies.