UN CHIEF SAYS GAZA TRANSFORMED INTO ‘KILLING FIELD’

NEW YORK, April 9 (Bernama-WAFA) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that Gaza had become "a killing field" due to the ongoing Israeli genocidal war, which has resulted in the killing of 50,810 Palestinians and injuring 115,688 others, the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported.

He added that the Gaza Strip has been abandoned without “a drop of aid” for more than a month, and the situation is proving dire for Palestinian residents in the enclave.

“More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies,” he told reporters in New York.

He added: "As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop."

The UN chief reiterated that, under international law, Israel is obliged to allow aid into the Strip for Palestinians in the occupied territory.

"No humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza. Meanwhile, at the crossing points, food, medicine and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck," Guterres said.

Although the UN is "ready and determined to deliver" aid, Guterres said Israel’s newly proposed "authorisation mechanisms" for aid deliveries "risk further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour".

"Let me be clear: we will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect humanitarian principles – humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be guaranteed," he said.

In response to Trump's proposal to take "the Palestinians and [move] them around to different countries", he added: “Palestinians have the right to live in Palestine, in a Palestinian state, side by side with the Israeli state. To be forced to be moved away is against international law.”

-- BERNAMA-WAFA