By Saidu Idris
365Daily – The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has called for immediate ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine.
Israel had launched attacks on Palestine last week in retaliation for Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack began in the morning with a barrage of rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip against Israel and the massacre of Israeli citizens resident along the border communities of Gaza strip.
Following the loss of lives in the ensuing war, Guterres has called for Hamas to release all hostages taken during the attack and for Israel to allow humanitarian agencies gain access to Palestine to give aid to needy people.
He stated in a statementposted on the UN X (Twitter) page: “Immediately before departing for Beijing, I made two urgent humanitarian appeals: To Hamas, the immedito respond to the need of the people of Gaza ate and unconditional release of the hostages. To Israel, to Immediately allow unrestricted access for humanitarian aid to Gaza, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children.
“Each of my two humanitarian appeals have a value in themselves. They are not bargaining chips. They are simply the right things to do. And I am horrified by the hundreds of people killed at Al Ahli Hospital, this same day, in Gaza, by a strike that I strongly condemned earlier today.
“I call for a humanitarian ceasefire to provide sufficient time and space to realise my two appeals and to ease the epic human suffering we are witnessing. Too many lives and the fate of the entire region hangs in the balance.”