Emphasising that three months have passed since the horrific October 7 attacks, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that Gaza has become “uninhabitable” and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured during the attacks.
Moreover, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, Griffiths stressed.
“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence while the world watches on,” he said.
Additionally, public health disasters are unfolding as infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over.
Moreover, the areas where civilians were told to relocate for their safety have come under bombardment.
Adding that medical facilities are under relentless attack, he said, “The few hospitals that are partially functional are overwhelmed with trauma cases, critically short of all supplies, and inundated by desperate people seeking safety.”
Furthermore, some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amidst this chaos and people are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded.
“Famine is around the corner,” Griffiths added.
Emphasising the ongoing situation of war-torn children, he said that the past 12 weeks have been traumatic for them.
“No food. No water. No school. Nothing but the terrifying sounds of war, day in and day out,” he said.
“We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbours, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity,” he emphasised.
The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting over 2 million people, even as its own staff are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent.
He further noted that the rocket attacks on Israel continue, and over 120 people are still being held hostage in Gaza.
Adding to this, he said that tensions in the West Bank are boiling, and the spectre of further regional spillover of the war is looming dangerously close.
“Hope has never been more elusive. Gaza has shown us the worst of humanity, as well as moments of great heroism,” he pointed out.
We have seen how violence cannot resolve differences but only inflame passions and build new generations of danger and insecurity, Griffiths said.
It is time for the parties to meet all their obligations under international law, including protecting civilians and meeting their essential needs, and to release all hostages immediately.
“It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen,” he emphasised.
Griffiths said, “This war should never have started. But it’s long past time for it to end.”
