UN and humanitarian agencies call for immediate ceasefire

The heads of 11 UN agencies and six humanitarian organisations issued a joint plea for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the protection of civilians, and the swift entry to Gaza of food, water, medicine, and fuel.

In a statement issued on Sunday night (November 5), they called Hamas' surprise October 7 attacks in Israel “horrific.”

“However, the horrific killings of even more civilians in Gaza is an outrage, as is cutting off 2.2 million Palestinians from food, water, medicine, electricity, and fuel,” the heads of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory said.

The UN and humanitarian organisations said more than 23,000 injured people need immediate treatment and hospitals are overstretched.

“An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals, and places of worship,” the joint statement said.

The UN and aid organisation leaders said over a hundred attacks against health care operations have been reported and 88 staff members from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been reported killed – “the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict.”