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SvennoJ on 23 March 2024
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Guterres holds news conference at Rafah crossing

UN chief UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a ceasefire in Gaza as he addresses reporters in El Arish, in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where much of the international relief for Gaza is stockpiled.

“Now more than ever it is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.


United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visits the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Saturday

UN chief calls blocked aid for Gaza a moral outrage

A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, Guterres said, speaking at the Rafah crossing. It was time for Israel to give an “ironclad commitment” for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, said Guterres, who also called for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

The UN would continue to work with Egypt to “streamline” the flow of aid into Gaza, he added.

Guterres’s comments at Rafah crossing

  • “I have come to Rafah to shine a spotlight on the pain of Palestinians in Gaza,” Guterres said.
  • Here, from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other,” he said. “That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage.”
  • The UN chief also said the choice was between increasing aid or starvation.
  • Israel should give “total, unfettered” access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.
  • “We will continue to work with Egypt to streamline the flow of aid,” he said.

“Every year going back to since I served as High Commissioner for Refugees, I have undertaken a solidarity mission during the holy month of Ramadan to shine a light on Muslim communities in distress.

“This Ramadan, I have come to the Rafah crossing to spotlight the hardship and pain of Palestinians in Gaza – and the obstacles to easing their plight.

“This morning, I met with injured Palestinian civilians and their families at the General Hospital in El Arish, and was extremely moved by their stories, experiences and all the hardships they have endured, and by the generosity and solidarity of Egypt and the Egyptian people.

“I say again: Nothing justifies the horrific attacks by Hamas on October 7. And nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

“Now more than ever, it is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It is time to silence the guns. Palestinians in Gaza – children, women, men – remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare. Communities obliterated. Homes demolished. Entire families and generations wiped out. With hunger and starvation stalking the population.


“Ramadan is a time for spreading the values of compassion, community, and peace.

“It is monstrous that after so much suffering over so many months, Palestinians in Gaza are marking Ramadan with Israeli bombs still falling, bullets still flying, artillery still pounding, and humanitarian assistance still facing obstacle upon obstacle.

“Fasting with you on Ramadan, I am deeply troubled to know so many people in Gaza will not be able to have a proper Iftar.

“Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates. The long shadow of starvation on the other.

“That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage. Any further onslaught will make everything worse.

“Worse for Palestinian civilians. Worse for the hostages. And worse for all people of the region. All this demonstrates that it’s more than time for an immediate ceasefire, I say it again. It’s time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total, unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.

“And in the Ramadan spirit of compassion, it’s time for the immediate release of all hostages. I also urge every member of the United Nations to support our life-saving work led by the backbone of all Gaza relief operations, UNRWA. We look forward to continuing to work with Egypt to streamline the flow of aid, and deeply appreciate the full Egyptian engagement in support of the Gaza people.

“And I want Palestinians in Gaza to know: You are not alone. People around the world are outraged by the horrors we are all witnessing in real-time. I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough. Who have had enough. And who still believe that human dignity and decency must define us as a global community.

“It’s our only hope. It’s time to truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation. Let’s choose the side of help – the side of hope – and the right side of history. I will not give up. And all of us must not give up in doing all we can for our common humanity to prevail in Gaza and around the world.”

Guterres ‘frustrated’ about Gaza war, asks Israel to stop

“You cannot see so many people being killed, you cannot see so much suffering without feeling hugely frustrated,” Guterres said while taking questions from reporters.

“We don’t have the power to stop [the war in Gaza], I appeal to those who have the power to stop it to do it,” he said.

Palestinians ‘hearing empty slogans’ about humanitarian crisis

Palestinians followed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s visit to the closest point with Gaza, at the Egyptian border, as he did not get into the territory.

They have been hearing empty slogans from international actors in terms of the efforts being made to mitigate the aggravating humanitarian crisis.

Yesterday, only 35 humanitarian aid trucks were allowed into Gaza. This number is just a drop in the ocean in comparison with the needs of the desperate people in the south and those right now who are being killed waiting for humanitarian supplies in the north.

What people in Gaza have been waiting from the UN secretary-general is to exert more pressure on the Israeli government to allow for more humanitarian supplies and to increase the capacity of humanitarian aid, according to the resolutions being made by the International Court of Justice and the different appeals by international humanitarian organisations about the severity of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli foreign minister calls UN ‘antisemitic’, ‘anti-Israeli body’

Israel Katz has alleged that, under Guterres, the world body has become an “antisemitic and anti-Israeli body” that “shelters and emboldens terror”.

In a post on X, the Israeli foreign minister said the UN chief “stood today on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing and blamed Israel for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, without condemning in any way the Hamas-ISIS [ISIL] terrorists who plunder humanitarian aid, without condemning UNRWA that cooperates with terrorists — and without calling for the immediate, unconditional release of all Israeli hostages.”

In his remarks, Guterres said it was time for the unconditional release of all captives, as it was also time for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the creation of a Palestinian state. He said the UN was investigating Israel’s allegations that some UNRWA members had taken part in Hamas’s attack on October 7, saying the UN condemned in the strongest terms any possible involvement in the violence.

UN boss ‘heartbroken’ by patients’ accounts at El Arish Hospital

Guterres says it is “impossible not to feel heartbroken” by the stories of Gaza residents at a hospital in El Arish, Egypt, where survivors of Israel’s war are being treated.

“It’s time to silence the guns,” he said.



‘Too late once famine is declared’: UN aid chief

As the UN’s Guterres tries to direct attention toward the humanitarian plight in Gaza, the organisation’s aid chief is also reminding that famine is “imminent” in the besieged enclave.

“We know that once famine is declared, it is way too late. We also know that, with action and goodwill, it can be averted,” he said.

“We must flood Gaza with food and other life-saving aid. There is no time to lose. I renew my call to the Israeli authorities to allow complete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods.”