Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 17th Oct. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths on Monday said that the UN and partners making every effort to get aid supplies into Gaza after the Israeli order civilian population to evacuate Gaza city to the South.
Mr. Griffiths said “History is watching,” highlighted the desperate situation facing one million Gazans displaced last week, after the Israeli military warned of an imminent retaliation in the aftermath of the deadly 7 October attacks on Israel by militant group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza strip since 2006.
“Aid access is our overwhelming priority. And we are in deep discussions hourly with the Israelis, with the Egyptians, with the Gazans about how to do that,” Mr. Griffiths said.
He added that he was optimistic about hearing “some good news” soon that a solution could be found to the political impasse which has prevented aid convoys crossing from Egypt’s Rafah into southern Gaza.
Griffiths said he is “trying to help, working with diplomats from all countries” to secure aid access and de-escalate the tinderbox situation, which UN Secretary-General described on Sunday as being on the “verge of the abyss”.
“It’s all Member States who have obligations not just those in the region” to defuse the worst Israeli-Palestinian conflagration in decades, Mr. Griffiths stated.
“The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Arab world all have obligations” to ensure that the lives of civilians are protected and the rules of war observed.
“Don’t attack civilian infrastructure, protect civilians when they move,” he insisted.
“Make sure they get the aid they need and make sure that there are corridors which allow them some respite from the relentless attacks that are happening upon them.”
UN Security Council is to meet in emergency session later on Monday in New York to discuss different resolutions from Council members related to the fast-moving crisis in and around Gaza.
He said that the key issues facing diplomats is securing the release of a reported 199 Israeli hostages, seized during the Hamas raid.
Mr. Griffiths said “This war was started by taking those hostages. Of course, there’s a history between Palestinian people and the Israeli people, and I’m not denying any of that. But that act alone lit a fire, which can only be put out with the release of those hostages.”
He reiterated the need for humanity to prevail after the airstrikes in Gaza and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict on the northern border with Lebanon with Hezbollah.
“History is watching to see if the consequences of this war are going to be generationally bad or if there are going to be ways in which swiftly that can be rebuilt, some kind of comity or neighbourliness between those two tragic peoples. Those are) the messages I’ll be taking to the region about biased in favour of one or the other, that biased in favour of humanity.”
Some 1,300 Israeli citizens killed and injured 3,200 more, a reported 2,750 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 7,500 wounded.
Griffiths noted that 14 staff from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees have been killed.
UN Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini told journalists on Sunday “They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynecologist”.
WHO has rushed critical medical supplies to Lebanon in order to be ready to respond to any potential health crisis there.
WHO said that 2 shipments arrived in Beirut from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, and include enough surgical and trauma medicines and supplies to meet the needs of 800 to 1000 injured patients.
Lebanese Ministry of Health is in the process of identifying the referral hospitals that will receive these vital supplies.
Lebanon’s health system has been crippled as a result of an economic crisis, the Beirut port blast that occurred in August 2020, and the additional burden of the Syrian refugee crisis.
There are severe shortages of specialized medical doctors and health workers, and medicines and medical equipment.
UN rights body investigating potential war crimes reported that all parties to the Israel-Palestine conflict have failed to take effective precautionary measures to avoid civilian casualties, exacerbating the long-running crisis, deepening divisions and hate on all sides.
International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, completed its latest study prior to Hamas’s acts of terror” and retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, which have prompted allegations of war crimes leveled against both sides.
The report to the General Assembly cited the upsurge in violence between May 2021 and August, “examining the use of force by Israel and the de facto authorities in Gaza, and Israeli military and police operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.”
“Our report is painful and timely,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission.
“It emphasizes that the only path towards ending violence and achieving sustainable peace is through strict observance of international law throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
“This requires addressing the root causes of the conflict, including the occupation of Palestinian territory, and allowing the Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination.”
“The atrocities we have witnessed since 7 October add an unprecedented urgency to our conclusions and recommendations,” Pillay said.
“Civilians and civilian objects should always be protected. They are never a legitimate target. All parties must uphold their duty to protect them under international humanitarian law.”
The Commission has begun collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and by Israeli security forces prior to October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the inquiry said.
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