Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
27-10-2023
UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA CITY: The United Nations issued a stark warning Thursday that “nowhere is safe” in Gaza amid stepped up Israeli air raids in preparation for a widely expected ground offensive.
“People are left with nothing but impossible choices. Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” Lynne Hastings, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement.
The statement comes a day after U.N. Secretary-General also condemned Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and spoke of “clear violations of international humanitarian law” and “collective punishment.”
He also condemned the Oct. 7 surprise incursion by Hamas, but said it had not taken place “in a vacuum.”
“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence, their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” Guterres added.
Tensions escalated across the region amid relentless Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 surprise incursion by Palestinian resistance group Hamas into Israeli territory.
More than 7,100 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 6,500 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.
Earlier, Israel needs to agree to a full ceasefire in Gaza in order to enable urgently needed humanitarian aid to be brought in, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Thursday in The Hague.
EU leaders are poised to call on Thursday for pauses in bombardments into and out of Gaza to enable access for aid, but al-Maliki said this proposal was unacceptable, as it would not ensure aid could come in and water and electricity supplies be reinstated.
Meanwhile, The Kremlin said on Thursday that efforts to agree on what it called a balanced UN resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict should continue, but said it was wrong for any such resolution to only condemn one side.
It was commenting a day after Russia and China vetoed a US push for the UN Security Council to call for pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid access, the protection of civilians and a halt to arming Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip.
A rival Russian-drafted text that called for a humanitarian ceasefire and withdrawal of Israel’s order for civilians in Gaza to relocate south ahead of a ground assault failed to attract the minimum number of votes for support too.
“We need to continue our efforts, we need to strive to reach a balanced option. We are convinced that our option was much more balanced,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We need to call for a ceasefire and we cannot condemn the actions of only one side. The resolution should be balanced and diplomatic efforts should be continued here,” he said. (Int’l News Desk)
