UN chief calls for ‘sustained’ humanitarian access to besieged Gaza

Cairo/Khan Younis: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access” to the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, as Israel kept up its retaliation for Hamas’s deadly attacks.

“We need food, water, medicine and fuel now. We need it at scale and we need it to be sustained, it is not one small operation that is required,” Guterres said in Cairo, as calls mounted for aid to reach the territory’s 2.4 million people.

“In plain terms, that means humanitarians need to be able to get aid in and they need to be able to distribute it safely.”

Guterres called on Hamas “for the immediate and unconditional release” of hostages taken in the, which Israel says number 203.

He also urged Israel to allow “immediate, unrestricted access of humanitarian aid” after its siege and bombardment campaign led to an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.

Guterres said, “The Palestinian people have legitimate and deep grievances” that nonetheless “cannot justify terror attacks”.

In turn, those “appalling” attacks “cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”, he continued.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister told ground troops to be ready to enter the Gaza Strip, though he didn’t say when the invasion will start.

In a meeting with Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border on Thursday, Yoav Gallant urged the forces to “get organised, be ready” for an order to move in.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “I promise you.” Israel has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border following a bloody October 7 cross-border massacre by Hamas militants.