With the humanitarian system in Gaza on the verge of “total collapse”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday again appealed for greater aid access to the besieged enclave, where “misery is growing by the minute.”
António Guterres call came just hours before UN agencies reported that phone lines, internet and mobile service in Gaza went down.
“Gaza has lost contact with the outside world amid reports of intensified bombardment,” Lynn Hastings, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has “lost touch with our staff in Gaza, with health facilities, health workers and the rest of our humanitarian partners on the ground,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also wrote on the social media platorm.
“This siege makes me gravely concerned for their safety and the immediate health risks of vulnerable patients,” he said. “We urge immediate protection of all civilians and full humanitarian access.”
Catherine Russell, head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), voiced concern over the safety of colleagues and the one million children in Gaza, saying that “All humanitarians and the children and families they serve MUST be protected.”
Fuel supply critical
In his statement, the Secretary-General said that life-saving humanitarian aid – food, water, medicine, fuel – must be allowed to reach all civilians in Gaza “swiftly, safely and at scale.”
He noted that about 500 trucks per day were crossing into Gaza before the hostilities began, compared to the recent average of 12 trucks per day “despite needs being far greater than at any time before.”
However, the supplies that have trickled in do not include fuel for UN operations – essential to power hospitals, water desalination plants, food production and aid distribution.
“Given the desperate and dramatic situation, the United Nations will not be able to continue to deliver inside Gaza without an immediate and fundamental shift in how aid is going in,” he warned.
Mr. Guterres called for the verification system for the movement of goods through the Rafah crossing from Egypt to be adjusted to allow many more trucks in without delay.
“We must meet the expectations and core needs of civilians in Gaza,” he said.