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United Nations Security Council Envoys on Monday recounted unimaginable suffering and called for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip as they made their way through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to the Rafah crossing, the only entry point for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.
China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun was asked by reporters whether he wanted to respond to the opposition Gaza ceasefirejust said: “Enough is enough.”
most United Nations Member states support an immediate and lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, as living conditions for the Strip’s 2.3 million residents are deteriorating.
The United States, which supports Israel, vetoed last week a Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire following an incursion by Israeli tanks and troops that has displaced much of Gaza’s population and killed more than 18,000 people.
The UAE-organized visit to Rafah, attended by more than a dozen UN Security Council envoys, came days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that thousands of people “are starving” in the besieged Palestinian region.
After flying to the town of El-Arish, they received a briefing on the situation in Gaza from UNRWA, the UN refugee agency, before heading to Rafah, 30 miles (48 km) away.
“The reality is worse than words can express,” Ecuador’s UN ambassador Jose de la Gasca told reporters after a briefing with UNRWA.
“We need to see … what we will witness is happening and what we can do to address it,” he said.
Israel has launched air and ground bombardments, a siege and a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7. Israel says the Hamas attack killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. Gaza health authorities say the Israeli attack has killed about 18,000 people and injured 49,500.
The vast majority of the Palestinian territories’ 2.3 million residents were forced to flee their homes.
In what Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, described as a “collapse of social order,” Gazans who had not eaten for days looted aid distribution centers and stopped trucks on the road to get supplies for their families.
“The aid is not enough,” Lazzarini said. “There is starvation in Gaza… Most people are sleeping on the concrete floor.”
Limited humanitarian aid and fuel have been arriving in Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but aid officials say it falls far short of meeting the most basic needs of Gazans.
The 15-member Security Council is negotiating a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates that would require the warring parties to “allow the use of all land, sea and air routes to” and deliver aid to Gaza.
The resolution would also establish a UN-managed aid monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip. It was not clear when the draft resolution could be put to a vote.
Aid is slow and inadequate
Guterres formally warned the Security Council last week that the conflict posed a threat to global peace and security.
He told the Council that half of the residents of northern Gaza and at least a third of the displaced in the south “are starving,” before criticizing the Council for its “failure” to help achieve a humanitarian ceasefire.
The United Nations General Assembly will meet on Tuesday on Gaza at the request of Arab and Muslim countries. Diplomats said the 193-member body is likely to vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 100 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, the same number as the day before.
The report noted that this figure was “well below” the average of 500 trucks entering the country each weekday (including fuel) before October 7.
An unicef employee who asked not to be named told reporters that the logistics center near al-Arish stores items that Israel prohibits from being shipped to Gaza, including solar panels and ultrasound machines. The employee said these items are prohibited from being shipped to Gaza because they are electrical appliances and contain metals.
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