On verge of ‘abyss’ in Middle East: UN chief in appeals to Israel, Hamas

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on Hamas to immediately release all hostages without conditions and urged Israel to allow rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, home to about 2.3 million people, is under a total blockade. Israel has cut off all supplies of food, water, and fuel in the wake of ongoing hostilities with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On Monday (October 16), Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said it would impose a “complete siege” on the territory.

“In this dramatic moment, as we are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East, it is my duty as Secretary-General of the United Nations to make two strong humanitarian appeals,” Guterres said in a statement on Sunday.

Guterres’s appeal

The UN Secretary-General appealed to Hamas that it must release all hostages immediately without conditions. “To Israel, rapid and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid must be granted for humanitarian supplies and workers for the sake of the civilians in Gaza,” Guterres said.

“Each one of these two objectives is valid in themselves. They should not become bargaining chips and they must be implemented because it is the right thing to do,” he said.

The UN chief sounded a dire warning, saying: “Gaza is running out of water, electricity and other essential supplies.” He noted that the United Nations has stocks available of food, water, non-food items, medical supplies and fuel, located in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel, and these goods can be dispatched within hours.

“To ensure delivery, our selfless staff on the ground, along with NGO partners, need to be able to bring these supplies into and throughout Gaza safely, and without impediment to deliver to those in need,” Guterres said.

“Unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”

On Sunday, medics in Gaza warned that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people ran desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war sparked by Hamas’s deadly attack.

Hospitals in Gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel within two days, endangering the lives of thousands of patients, according to the UN Gaza’s sole power plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel completely sealed off the 40-km territory following the Hamas attack.

“An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. He said his agency was no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance and that the number of people seeking shelter in schools and other facilities in southern Gaza exceeded capacity.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which has the largest UN footprint in the Gaza Strip, has warned that it is on the “verge of collapse” and was even running out of body bags amidst the raging conflict between Israel and the Hamas militants.

“As I speak with you, Gaza is running out of water and electricity. In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on the situation in the Gaza Strip on Sunday (October 15).

“Gaza is now even running out of body bags. Entire families are being ripped apart," he said.

Addressing a press conference at UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem, Lazzarini said his colleagues in Gaza are no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance.

“The number of people seeking shelter in our schools and other UNRWA facilities in the South is absolutely overwhelming, and we do not have any more the capacity to deal with them,” he said.

Jake Sullivan told CNN that Israeli officials told him they had turned the water back on in southern Gaza. Israel's minister of energy and water, Israel Katz, said in a statement that water had been restored at one “specific point” in Gaza. A spokesman said the location was outside Khan Younis. Aid workers in Gaza said they had not yet seen evidence the water was back.

Uninterrupted bombardment

The UN, along with other humanitarian agencies, has been working round the clock to preposition aid since the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out following the militant group’s October 7 assault on several locations inside Israel and Israel’s subsequent declaration of war.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday that heavy Israeli bombardments on Gaza, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted.

Over the past 24 hours, there have been 455 Palestinian fatalities in Gaza and 856 injuries, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Israel has ordered more than 1 million Palestinians — almost half the territory's population — to move south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in the north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels, bunkers and rocket launchers.

Hamas urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli military released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.

Following Israel’s ultimatum on Friday, OCHA said that by Saturday afternoon, nearly 600,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) were hosted in the central and southern parts of Gaza alone, in increasingly dire conditions.

It added that since then, this figure has risen significantly. About 300,000 people are situated in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) designated emergency shelters, and the rest in public facilities and with host families.

Sderot nearly evacuated

The OCHA said an almost full evacuation of Sderot city, in southern Israel, was completed on Sunday as Hamas rocket attacks on Israel continued through Sunday. The city of about 34,000 people sits about a mile from Gaza and has been a frequent rocket target.

Smaller Israeli communities around Gaza have been fully vacated in previous days, while a large proportion of Ashqelon City’s residents have also reportedly left.

The UN agency added that since the start of hostilities, 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 injured. The fatality toll in Gaza during the eight days of hostilities has already surpassed the total number of fatalities during the 2014 escalation, which lasted for over seven weeks (2,251 Palestinian fatalities).

According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, the number of missing people, presumably trapped beneath the rubble may exceed 1,000. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that as of October 15, 47 families were killed, amounting to about 500 people.

The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency says an estimated 1 million people have been displaced in Gaza in a single week.

(With agency inputs)