UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned Israel's ultimatum for people in Gaza calling it 'extremely dangerous' while highlighting that 'even wars have rules.'
More than one million people in the Gaza Strip have been forced to flee as the deadline given by Israel’s military ended to evacuate and relocate within 24 hours. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced since the Benjamin Netanyahu government began its offensive to combat Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack, the United Nations said on Sunday.
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the ultimatum for people in Gaza calling it "extremely dangerous" and said that "even wars have rules.” Israel's ground forces have amassed their armoured vehicles for localised raids into Gaza as the Jewish nation gave evacuation orders.
“Moving more than one million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water, or accommodation, when the entire territory is under siege, is extremely dangerous – and in some cases, simply not possible,” Guterres told reporters on Friday, signalling an immediate need for humanitarian access throughout Gaza for the UN to "get fuel, food and water to everyone in need." The region was "on the verge of the abyss," he said.
Gaza's 2.3 million civilians have been facing a deepening struggle for food, water and safety as they braced for a looming invasion. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued an emergency appeal to support Palestinian refugees in Gaza. "Please save Gaza, I beg you, save Gaza. It's dying. It's dying. It's dying,” Rawya Halas, head of the UNRWA shelter in Khan Younis, Gaza, said in a video post on X.
More than 15,000 Palestinian refugees have fled their homes and moved into shelters so far without food or water to drink, Halas noted. She said that in the shelter, there are people who have diabetes, disabled babies and some children who have now contracted smallpox.
Israeli authorities have said that the potential ground offensive on Gaza will depend on a "political decision". With the support of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli Air Force (IAF), the country has already deployed over 400,000 reservists.
The continuous bombardment of Gaza by Israel has killed at least 2,670 people, of which more than 700 are children. Last week, Israel cut off water, electricity and food to the coastal exclave making it impossible for the people living there to survive. The government however decided to restore water to the southern region on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Israel has said that it’s air strikes are a retaliation at Hamas for the October 6 attacks that claimed more than 1,400 Israeli lives, besides hundreds kidnapped.