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SvennoJ on 09 October 2025
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‘Toxic rhetoric of war and hatred’ must end: UN rights chief

Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, has called on countries around the world to “work collectively to ensure that the ceasefire plan is implemented in good faith”.

“All action going forward must be guided by the immediate goals of ending the killing, starvation and destruction, and ensuring the safe and dignified return of hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians,” Turk said in a statement.

He also stressed that access to Gaza – for humanitarian assistance as well as for aid workers, journalists and human rights monitors – is “crucial”.

“This momentum can and should, with continuing negotiations and a sustained focus on peace, lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities. The situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must also be clearly kept in mind,” Turk said.

“As part of the recovery, there must also be a comprehensive process of transitional justice, with accountability for the gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law we have witnessed.”


‘Famine must be reverted’ in Gaza, UN humanitarian chief says

Tom Fletcher says the United Nations is ready to deliver desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza, stressing that the agreement “cannot be a false dawn”.

“There will be some that will seek to prevent President Trump’s plan from being implemented, and that must not be allowed to happen,” Fletcher told reporters via video link during a briefing at UN headquarters in New York.

Outlining his plan for the first 60 days after the ceasefire takes hold, Fletcher said the UN “will aim to increase the pipeline of supplies to hundreds of trucks every day”.

“We will scale up the provision of food across Gaza to reach 2.2 million people who need food aid and around 500,000 people who need nutrition. Famine must be reverted in areas where it has taken hold and prevented in others.”


Gaza still facing dire humanitarian crisis

It’s not just a question of going back home – but [people are asking] about whether humanitarian aid is going to be allowed into the Gaza Strip in a much more sufficient flow, in order to be able to survive these difficult conditions.

A ceasefire does not translate right away into proper conditions for Palestinians in Gaza. Until there is sustained access to humanitarian aid, infrastructure rebuilding … the ceasefire won’t mean much to people living in crisis.

Whatever is available in the market is not enough and does not address the deepening humanitarian crisis created by months of devastation and destruction.