UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrives at Rafah crossing
World
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrives at Rafah crossing
NEW YORK (AP) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the situation in Israel after an attack by Hamas during a news briefing at United Nations headquarters Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip Friday and called on all international parties to work together to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in besieged Gaza
Speaking to the media in front of the border crossing, he said the lorries packed with vital aid were a “lifeline” for Palestinians in Gaza, “the difference between life and death,” and needed to be moved into the enclave as quickly as possible.
Guterres pointed out that the deal reached between Egypt and Israel to allow aid to flow into the Gaza Strip has some conditions and restrictions.
“We are actively engaging with Egypt, Israel and the United States in order to make sure that we can clarify those conditions and limit those restrictions in order to have these trucks headed to where they are needed,” he said. He did not provide a timeframe as to when the trucks of aid would enter Gaza.
The U.N. chief also reiterated his call for a cease-fire between the warring parties.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office says there are new signs that some Palestinians who initially moved south in response to the Israeli order to evacuate are returning to their homes because Israeli strikes are taking place in the south, too.
“We remain very concerned that Israeli Forces’ heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the south,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters. “The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there.”
Shamdasani said the rights office had heard accounts about people wanting to migrate back north, including from one unidentified Palestinian who said, “I might as well die in my own house.”
