Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel to immediately allow humanitarian aid access to residents of the besieged Gaza Strip after an Israeli aerial strike struck a hospital, killing at least 500 Palestinians.
Guterres claimed that Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7 did not justify the hospital bombardment, the “collective punishment” of Palestinians.
He urged Hamas for an “immediate and unconditional release of hostages” and called on Israel to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip, where the overwhelming majority were women and children.
“I call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to provide sufficient time and space to help realise my two appeals and to ease the epic human suffering we are witnessing. My heart is with the families of the victims. Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law”
The UN chief also harshly condemned the attack on a school in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip that resulted in the deaths of six people.
