UN chiefs call for Gaza ceasefire as a ‘path out of this horror’

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes lie on the floor as they are assisted at the Indonesian hospital after Al-Shifa Hospital has gone out of service amid Israeli ground offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip on November 16, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 18 November 2023
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UN chiefs call for Gaza ceasefire as a ‘path out of this horror’

  • Gazans are enduring a bombardment ‘rarely experienced in this century,’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk tells General Assembly
  • ‘We are not asking for the moon, we are asking for the basic measures required to meet the essential needs of the civilian population’ says UN humanitarian boss Martin Griffiths

NEW YORK CITY: Palestinians in Gaza, whose rights for years have been “comprehensively restricted,” are now enduring a bombardment of an intensity “rarely experienced in this century,” as well as ongoing urban warfare, a leading UN official said on Friday.
Volker Turk, the high commissioner for human rights, added that one in every 57 people living in the Gaza Strip has been killed or wounded in the past five weeks.
Speaking during a meeting of the General Assembly requested by the UN’s Arab Group and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza, he said: “The levels of distress are unimaginable; the situation is a living nightmare.”
More than 11,100 people have been killed in the territory, more than 4,600 of them children, according to figures from the Gazan health ministry. More than 26,000 people have been injured, many of them severely, and at least 2,000 are presumed trapped under the rubble of damaged or destroyed buildings, with no means available to reach or rescue them. Israeli airstrikes have struck many civilian locations, including hospitals, schools, markets, bakeries and homes.
“An entire population is being deeply traumatized, and the impact on children in particular will have far-reaching consequences,” Turk told the large gathering of ambassadors and heads of UN agencies.
He lamented the fact that many Palestinians have been unable to comply with instructions from Israeli forces to move from northern Gaza, scene of the most intense military action, to the south of the territory. Hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, disabled people, and the sick and wounded, remain stuck in the north, where the shelling is intense and humanitarian access has been impossible.
Turk dismissed the current Israeli proposal for the establishment of a so-called “safe zone” as “untenable,” warning: “The zone is neither safe nor feasible for the number of people in need.”
He joined the heads of other UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in warning that fuel supplies in Gaza are on the verge of completely running out.
“Already, this is leading to the collapse of water, sewage and crucial healthcare services, and could end the trickle of humanitarian assistance that Israel has to date permitted to enter Gaza,” Turk said.
He also repeated a warning from the WFP that Gazans “are facing the immediate possibility of starvation.”
He then sounded “the loudest possible alarm bell about the West Bank” and East Jerusalem, expressing great concern about the intensification of violence there and “severe discrimination against Palestinians.”
He said: “I am alarmed by the rise in killings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces and by settlers, displacement of Palestinian communities due to settler violence, a sharp increase in seemingly arbitrary arrests and detention, and the ill-treatment of Palestinians in detention.
“These heighten a potentially explosive situation that is well past the early-warning level.”
Turk called for a humanitarian ceasefire and an end to the fighting, “not only to deliver urgently needed food and provide meaningful humanitarian assistance but also to create space for a path out of this horror.”
“All forms of collective punishment must come to an end. Israelis’ freedom is inextricably bound up with Palestinians’ freedom. Palestinians and Israelis are each other’s only hope for peace.”
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian chief, told the General Assembly that “international humanitarian law appears to have been turned on its head.”
He said that more than 41,000 housing units have been destroyed or severely damaged, amounting to about 45 per cent of the total housing stock in Gaza, and it is estimated that more than 1.5 million people are internally displaced.
“Many of them have fled southward in search of relative safety, only to be now told to relocate — many of them for the second time — westward,” he added. “Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands remain in the north, where the fiercest fighting and bombardment is taking place.
“There is little-to-no medical care available in northern Gaza. Out of 24 hospitals with in-patient capacity in the north, only one, Al-Ahli in Gaza city, is presently operational and admitting patients. Eighteen hospitals have shut down and evacuated since the start of hostilities.”
Across the Strip, food and water supplies are running “perilously low,” Griffiths said, and the chronic lack of fuel means communications networks and other essential services, such as water desalination plants, “are progressively dropping offline.”
He urged Hamas to release all the hostages that are still being held, and stressed the need for the humanitarian effort to shift from “ad hoc delivery of assistance to a continuous flow of aid.” To help facilitate this he called for the opening of additional border-crossing points and permission for fuel deliveries to begin.
Griffiths also pleaded for “a humanitarian ceasefire — call it what you will but the requirement, from a humanitarian point of view, is simple: stop the fighting to allow civilians to move safely. Do it for as long as possible, to facilitate an unimpeded humanitarian response. Give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put on them these last few weeks. And, without condition, release all the hostages.
“We are not asking for the moon, we are asking for the basic measures required to meet the essential needs of the civilian population and stem the course of this crisis.”


Qatari minister arrives in Damascus on first Qatar Airways flight since Assad’s Fall

Updated 19 sec ago
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Qatari minister arrives in Damascus on first Qatar Airways flight since Assad’s Fall


Iran foreign ministry affirms support for Syria’s sovereignty

Updated 18 min 52 sec ago
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Iran foreign ministry affirms support for Syria’s sovereignty

  • Assad fled Syria earlier this month as rebel forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) entered the capital Damascus

Tehran: Iran affirmed its support for Syria’s sovereignty on Monday, and said the country should not become “a haven for terrorism” after the fall of president Bashar Assad, a longtime Tehran ally.
“Our principled position on Syria is very clear: preserving the sovereignty and integrity of Syria and for the people of Syria to decide on its future without destructive foreign interference,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing.
He added that the country should not “become a haven for terrorism,” saying such an outcome would have “repercussions” for countries in the region.
Assad fled Syria earlier this month as rebel forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) entered the capital Damascus after a lightning offensive.
The takeover by HTS — proscribed as a terrorist organization by many governments including the United States — has sparked concern, though the group has in recent years sought to moderate its image.
Headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Syria’s new leader and an ardent opponent of Iran, the group has spoken out against the Islamic republic’s influence in Syria under Assad.
Tehran helped prop up Assad during Syria’s long civil war, providing him with military advisers.
During Monday’s press briefing, Baqaei said Iran had “no direct contact” with Syria’s new rulers.
Sharaa has received a host of foreign delegations since coming to power.
He met on Sunday with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, and on Monday with Jordan’s top diplomat Ayman Safadi.
On Friday, the United States’ top diplomat for the Middle East Barbara Leaf held a meeting with Sharaa, later saying she expected Syria would completely end any role for Iran in its affairs.
A handful of European delegations have also visited in recent days.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which has long supported Syria’s opposition, is expected to send a delegation soon, according to Syria’s ambassador in Riyadh.


Iran says ‘no direct contact’ with Syria rulers

Updated 19 min 37 sec ago
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Iran says ‘no direct contact’ with Syria rulers

  • Foreign ministry spokesman: ‘We have no direct contact with the ruling authority in Syria’

TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no direct contact” with Syria’s new rulers after the fall of president Bashar Assad, a longtime Tehran ally.
“We have no direct contact with the ruling authority in Syria,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a weekly press briefing.


Jordan foreign minister holds talks with Syria’s new leader

Updated 36 min 46 sec ago
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Jordan foreign minister holds talks with Syria’s new leader

  • It was the first visit by a senior Jordanian official since Bashar Assad’s fall

AMMAN: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on Monday, Amman said, the latest high-profile visit since Bashar Assad’s ouster.

Images distributed by the Jordanian foreign ministry showed Safadi and Sharaa shaking hands, without offering further details about their meeting.

A foreign ministry statement earlier said that Safadi would meet with the new Syrian leader as well as with “several Syrian officials.”

It was the first visit by a senior Jordanian official since Assad’s fall.

Jordan, which borders Syria to the south, hosted a summit earlier this month where top Arab, Turkish, EU and US diplomats called for an inclusive and peaceful transition after years of civil war.

Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, has welcomed senior officials from a host of countries in the Middle East and beyond in recent days.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohamed Momani told reporters on Sunday that Amman “sides with the will of the brotherly Syrian people,” stressing the close ties between the two nations.

Momani said the kingdom would like to see security and stability restored in Syria, and supported “the unity of its territories.”

Stability in war-torn Syria was in Jordan’s interests, Momani said, and would “ensure security on its borders.”

Some Syrians who had fled the war since 2011 and sought refuge in Jordan have begun returning home, according to Jordanian authorities.

The interior ministry said Thursday that more than 7,000 Syrians had left, out of some 1.3 million refugees Amman says it has hosted.

According to the United Nations, 680,000 Syrian refugees were registered with it in Jordan.

Jordan in recent years has tightened border controls in a crackdown on drug and weapon smuggling along its 375-kilometer border with Syria.

One of the main drugs smuggled is the amphetamine-like stimulant captagon, for which there is huge demand in the oil-rich Gulf.


Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill at least 20 people, Palestinian medics say

Updated 49 min 34 sec ago
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Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill at least 20 people, Palestinian medics say

  • Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry till date

Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people.
One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children. That’s according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Hospital records show another six killed in a strike on people securing an aid convoy and another two killed in a strike on a car in Muwasi. One person was killed in a separate strike in the area.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir Al-Balah said three bodies arrived after an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas militant in the humanitarian zone.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.