The international community must use “all its influence” to end the war in the Gaza Strip, said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.
He added that three-month-old hostilities have made the Palestinian enclave “uninhabitable,” with the people of Gaza facing daily threats to their very existence.
The top representative of the United Nations said that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured, while the areas they were told to move to for safety “have been bombed”, stressing that all this is happening “while the world watches”. .
“Gaza has shown us the worst of humanity,” Griffiths said, noting that “violence cannot resolve differences.”
“A public health disaster is unfolding,” he added, citing the spread of infectious diseases in the enclave’s overcrowded shelters, while sewage networks fail to cope and end up overflowing.
“It is time for parties to fulfill all their obligations under international law” to protect civilians and free hostages, Griffiths argued, calling on world leaders to use all their influence to “make this happen”.
“This war should never have started. But it’s long past time for it to end,” he said.
In late November, Israel and the Hamas movement agreed to a week-long ceasefire, during which 108 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Israel releasing some Palestinian prisoners.
