Source The United Nations
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Remarks by Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, during his visit to the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
UN humanitarians said on Friday that an agreement to unlock aid deliveries across the Gaza border was near, as UN chief António Guterres delivered a powerful call in front of the gates at the Rafah crossing to get lifesaving aid moving.
In a passionate speech standing just a few metres from the Egyptian side of the crossing, he pointed behind him and spoke of the two million trapped without sufficient supplies now for nearly two weeks.
In a passionate speech standing just a few metres from the Egyptian side of the crossing, he pointed behind him and spoke of the two million trapped without sufficient supplies now for nearly two weeks.
“We are witnessing a paradox: behind these walls we have two million people that are suffering enormously, have no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive”.
“On this side,” he continued, indicating the convoy carrying lifesaving supplies, “we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with food, with medicines – exactly the same thing that is needed on this side of the wall. These are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.”
To see the convoy stuck at the border makes what needs to happen very clear, he said.
‘Make them move’
“What we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall, to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible,” he said, adding that the UN was “now actively engaging with all the parties” related to conditions set for cross-border aid deliveries in the Israel-United States announcement and the related Egypt-Israel agreement.
“We absolutely need to have these trucks moving as quickly as possible and as many as necessary,” he said. “We are not looking for a win. We are looking for convoys to be authorized in meaningful numbers [and for] trucks to go every day into Gaza to provide enough support to the Gazan people.”
It was “absolutely essential to solve these problems quickly”, he said, reiterating his appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire. He also thanked the Government of Egypt and humanitarian partners for their efforts.
“It is impossible to be here and not to feel a broken heart,” he said, adding that he hoped the food aid and medicines he had seen on planes arriving would serve the people that needed it most and that “one day there will be peace with the two-State solution, with Palestinians and Israelis living in peace.”
The UN chief arrived on a cargo plane carrying 65 tonnes of humanitarian supplies including food donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) tarpaulins from the UN migration agency IOM and trauma kits from the World Health Organization (WHO).