Tragedy in Gaza cannot be allowed to continue: UN official

WASHINGTON

Director of coordination at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday voiced concern over the ongoing "tragedy" in the Gaza Strip, saying it cannot be allowed to continue.

"Six months of unfathomable death, destruction, deprivation, trauma and suffering for the people of Gaza.

"Six months that calls our collective humanity, and priorities, into question," Ramesh Rajasingham virtually told a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

He said 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated from their parents or families, and 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced.

"It is clear there is no protection of civilians in Gaza," he added, stressing intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations have continued across much of the Gaza Strip, causing hundreds more deaths and injuries.

"The prospect of a military operation on Rafah continues. The consequences would be incomprehensible," he added.

Turning to the seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) who were killed by an Israeli attack in Gaza earlier this week, Rajasingham extended his condolences to the families and friends of those "courageous, selfless people, who were there to help their fellow human beings in their time of need."

"Sadly, we cannot say that this tragic attack was an isolated incident in this conflict. They join more than 220 of our humanitarian colleagues who have been killed, 179 of them UN personnel," he added, saying the incident on April 1 was also a "tragedy" for the people of Gaza.

Rajasingham added human suffering continues despite "clear obligations" under international humanitarian law, the provisional order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requiring Israel to take all necessary and effective measures, and the council’s resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan.

"This tragedy cannot be allowed to continue," he stressed.

Flouting the ICJ’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 33,091 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 75,750 injured since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.