CAIRO (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the long line of humanitarian trucks stuck on the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip a “moral scandal” as he visited the point on Saturday passing through Rafah.
It is time for Israel to make a “firm commitment” to unhindered access to humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip, he said, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in the Palestinian enclave by Hamas.
The United Nations will continue to work with Egypt to “streamline” the delivery of aid to Gaza, he told reporters outside the gate of the Rafah crossing.
“Here, from this crossing point, we see the heartbreak and cruelty of the situation. A long line of aid trucks blocked on one side of the gates, the long shadow of famine on the other,” he said. he said.
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“It’s more than tragic. It’s a moral scandal.”
The trip by the UN Secretary General comes as Israel threatens to launch a major military operation in the direction of Rafah.
Humanitarian agencies estimate that the majority of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave have taken refuge near this town, which backs onto the Egyptian border.
Before visiting Rafah, Antonio Guterres visited Al Arish, the Egyptian town closest to the border, where much of the international aid intended for Gaza is delivered and stored.
The regional governor who welcomed him, Mohamed Choucha, indicated that 7,000 trucks were waiting in North Sinai to transport aid to the Gaza Strip but that the inspection procedures required by Israel had delayed their arrival. ‘forwarding.
Antonio Guterres also visited a hospital in Al Arish receiving treatment for Palestinians evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
As hopes for a truce during the holy month of Ramadan have faded and the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become more desperate, aid agencies say the only way to meet the enclave’s needs is to quickly accelerate road deliveries.
Israel, which has promised to eradicate Hamas and says it fears the Palestinian group will divert humanitarian aid, inspects all convoys and has sealed the northern border of the enclave.
An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment released on Monday indicated that famine would occur in the northern Gaza Strip no later than May.
Antonio Guterres, who already visited the Egyptian border with Gaza shortly after the outbreak of the war, is traveling to Egypt and Jordan as part of an annual “solidarity trip” to Muslim countries during Ramadan.
(Written by Aidan Lewis; French version Camille Raynaud and Blandine Hénault, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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