The United Nations Emphasizes the Need for a Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza

The United Nations emphasized today, Friday, the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, confirming that life-saving shelter aid does not reach Palestinians in the sector on a wide scale, due to the lack of urgent access and the restrictions imposed on it.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a press conference that it is necessary to move to the second phase of the agreement and fully implement the terms of the agreement, which contributes to stabilizing the calm and improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

He confirmed that 1.6 million people in Gaza are expected to face extreme levels of acute food insecurity, amid Israel's prevention of the entry of sufficient aid as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10 last year.

Guterres renewed his support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) amid the Israeli campaign it has faced for more than two years, emphasizing Israel's need to respect the safety of United Nations staff in Gaza.

He added that we must move towards a two-state solution. He also highlighted the dire conditions in the occupied West Bank, saying that tens of thousands have been displaced due to operations carried out by Israeli forces in the north of the West Bank.

In a related context, the spokesperson for the United Nations International Organization for Migration, Afand Aziz Agha, said that Gaza residents need improved conditions to ensure access to clean water, sanitation services, and toilets, in addition to protection from living in cold conditions.

This came in statements made by Agha alongside the spokesperson for the World Health Organization, Tarik Jasarevic, during the weekly press conference of the United Nations office in Geneva.

He noted that winter conditions, including heavy rains and storms that cause floods in destroyed neighborhoods and flood tents, currently lead to people being exposed to diseases more and facing increased risks.

He called for urgent and unrestricted access of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, at a time when Israel does not allow the entry of tents and shelter materials into the Gaza Strip, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to live in dilapidated and rudimentary tents.

For its part, the World Health Organization said that 1,092 patients died in the Gaza Strip while waiting for medical evacuation between July 2024 and November last year.

The ceasefire agreement was supposed to end the genocide, but Israel continues its violations, killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians between martyrs and wounded, in addition to violating the humanitarian protocol related to aid and shelter supplies.