António Guterres (left) during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (French)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged Israel to remove the remaining obstacles to the entry of relief materials to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, noting the need to increase crossings and access points for aid.
Guterres explained during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that the land route is the most effective and efficient in transporting heavy goods, stressing that the entry of aid requires an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons.
Guterres warned of the global repercussions of the war in Gaza, and said that there is a humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip, and the daily assault on the dignity of the Palestinians creates a credibility crisis for the international community.
He added that terror and hunger are haunting the residents of Gaza, and any further attacks will make matters worse for the Palestinians, the detainees, and the peoples of the region.
At the same time, Guterres called for the immediate and unconditional release of detainees in Gaza, and an end to the suffering in the Strip.
In another context, Guterres said that many workers at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip were killed. Despite this, he stressed the continuation of work to ensure continued support for the agency, indicating that the Israeli accusations will not affect the agency’s work.
Yesterday, Saturday, Guterres visited the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, noting that there were long queues of trucks waiting in Rafah, while on the other side there were people suffering from famine, stressing that he looked forward to continuing to work with Egypt to facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza.
Egyptian efforts
On the other hand, Egypt announced intensive efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and the exchange of detainees between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.
This came during the reception of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Ittihadiya Palace with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The meeting discussed many international and regional issues, with a focus on developments in the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian President appreciated Guterres' positions on the ongoing crisis, and his keenness to adhere to the principles of international law and international humanitarian law. He also appreciated Guterres' continued activity to urge the international community to take action to end the war in Gaza and protect civilians, stressing the need for the Security Council to carry out its responsibilities in that regard.
For his part, Guterres praised the Egyptian efforts to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt's keenness to keep the Rafah land crossing open continuously over the past months.
Guterres arrived in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, in his second visit to the Strip since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, and inspected the wounded Palestinians in the city’s hospital.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies