BAMRO

Mr. Guterres is extremely alarmed by the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas this past Friday, including rocket fire towards Israel from Gaza and Israel’s renewed ground operations and intensified airstrikes, increasingly in the south of the enclave.

“The UN continues to appeal to Israeli Forces to avoid further action that would exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to spare civilians from more suffering,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

Protect civilians, sustain aid flows
The Secretary-General also underlined the need to protect civilians – including health workers, journalists and UN personnel - and civilian infrastructure at all times.

He also emphasized the need for unimpeded and sustained humanitarian aid flow to Gaza, noting that people ordered to evacuate have nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on. 

The statement said the UN chief also remains gravely concerned about the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank, including intensified Israeli security operations, high numbers of fatalities and arrests, spiking settler violence and attacks on Israelis by Palestinians.

Humanitarian efforts impeded
The World Health Organization (WHO) also called on Israel to take measures to protect civilians.

The UN agency was on Monday notified by Israel to remove supplies from its medical warehouse in the south "as ground operations will put it beyond use," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on social media calling for the order to be withdrawn.

Humanitarians have warned that the current situation in Gaza does not allow them to address the immense needs there.

More than two million people live in the enclave and over 80 per cent, nearly 1.9 million, are now displaced, according to the latest update from the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is sheltering 1.2 million residents in its facilities.

UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said limited aid distributions took place in Rafah governorate in southern Gaza on Sunday and largely stopped in the adjacent Khan Younis governorate due to the intensity of hostilities.

Additionally, central Gaza was largely disconnected from the south, following Israeli forces’ prevention of movement, including of humanitarian supplies. 

Disease and famine threat
“Meanwhile, grave concerns persist about waterborne diseases due to water consumption from unsafe sources, particularly in the north, where the water desalination plant and the pipeline from Israel was shut down,” OCHA reported.