Enlarge image
Palestinian children fill up water canisters in Rafah
Photo: Mohammed Abed / AFP
According to UN Secretary General António Guterres, without additional aid deliveries there is a risk of a catastrophic hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip. "Children in Gaza are dying today from lack of food and water," said Guterres in New York. This is completely avoidable. "If the door to help is closed, the door to starvation opens." More than a million people, around half of the population of the sealed-off coastal strip, are at risk of catastrophic hunger. “Nothing can justify collective punishment for the Palestinians,” Guterres continued.
According to international experts, there is a risk of famine, the worst form of the hunger crisis, especially in northern Gaza. Guterres hopes that Israel's announcements for more aid deliveries will be implemented "effectively and quickly" because the situation in the Gaza Strip is "absolutely desperate." "Because of the dramatic humanitarian conditions, a quantum leap in the delivery of life-saving aid is needed, a real paradigm shift," said Guterres.
EU Commission demands immediate action from Israel
The EU Commission also called on Israel to quickly implement the measures announced for more aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. It was noted that Israel wanted to open additional access points for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip - in particular the port of Ashdod and the Erez border crossing - so that aid supplies could flow directly into the northern Gaza Strip and they also wanted to significantly increase deliveries from Jordan. said the Brussels authorities. These steps should be implemented quickly and fully.
The EU Commission also appealed to all actors in the region to urgently and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The Commission will continue its intensive work with regional and global partners, the United Nations and partner non-governmental organizations to increase aid deliveries to Gaza through all possible channels.
However, according to EU Council President Charles Michel, Israel's planned measures do not go far enough. "Israel's announcement that it will temporarily reopen the Erez border crossing and allow the import of aid through the port of Ashdod is not enough," he said on the X platform, formerly Twitter. »Children and young children in the Gaza Strip are dying of malnutrition. Urgent and significant efforts are needed to end hunger as an instrument of war in the Gaza Strip.”
After a clear warning from the USA, Israel decided to take “immediate steps” to increase humanitarian aid for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. The War Cabinet decided this morning to temporarily open the port of Ashdod and the Erez border crossing for aid deliveries, as the Israeli newspapers Haaretz and Times of Israel reported, citing a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. This makes it easier for help to reach the north of the coastal area, which is particularly affected by food shortages.
The Gaza war began almost six months ago with the devastating massacre carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas and other extremist groups in the Israeli border area on October 7th. Israel responded first with massive air strikes, then with a ground offensive across most of the Gaza Strip.
czl/dpa