United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rejected a new Israeli proposal to control Gaza aid deliveries, saying that she risks “further control and cruelly limiting help to the last calorie and flour.”
“Let me be clear: we will not participate in any agreement that does not fully respect humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” Guterres told reporters.
No help has been delivered to the Palestinian enclave of about 2.1 million people since March 2. Israel said it would not allow all products and supplies to Gaza to enter until the Hamas militants released all the remaining hostages.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates help, met last week with UN agencies and international aid groups and said it proposed “a structured mechanism for monitoring and entry of help” to Gaza.
“The mechanism is designed to support help organizations, improve supervision and responsibility and ensure that assistance reaches the needy civilian population rather than diverted and stolen by Hamas,” Cogat published on Sunday.
Jonathan Whittall, senior UN help official to Gaza and West Bank, said last week that there was no evidence of aid deviation.
Last month, Israel resumed the bombing in Gaza after a two -month truce and sent troops back to the enclave.
“Gaza is a field of extermination-and civilians are in an endless cycle of death,” Guterres said as he again asking for the immediate and unconditional liberation of all hostages, a permanent ceasefire and total humanitarian access in Gaza.
“With the passage points to Gaza closed and the blocked help, security is in fringes and our delivery capacity has been strangled,” he said.
“As an occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
This means that Israel should facilitate help programs and guarantee food, medical care, hygiene and public health standards in Gaza, he said. “None of this is happening today,” he added.
Israel states that it does not exert effective control over Gaza and, therefore, is not an occupying power.
This content was originally published in UN head rejects new Israeli plan to control Gaza help on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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