UN chief urgently appeals for heightened humanitarian aid into Gaza

ANKARA: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urgently called for increased humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip because of severe hunger, mass displacement and a crumbling humanitarian system.

“I call for rapid, safe, unhindered, expanded & sustained humanitarian access throughout Gaza,“ Anadolu Agency reported Guterres wrote on X.

“Everyone in Gaza is hungry. 1.7 million people have been displaced. The humanitarian system in collapsing,“ he said Thursday, highlighting the critical situation.

Israel has mounted a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 27,000 Palestinians and injured over 66,000 since Oct 7 last year.

The attacks also left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. - Bernama-Anadolu