Blocked aid for Gaza a moral outrage

A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt's side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the Rafah crossing yesterday.

It was time for Israel to give an "ironclad commitment" for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, said Guterres, who also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The UN would continue to work with Egypt to "streamline" the flow of aid into Gaza, he said in comments made in front of the gate of the Rafah crossing, an entry point for ai, reports Reuters.

"Here from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other," he said. "That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage."

Meanwhile, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli fire yesterday killed nine people and wounded dozens more as they were waiting at an aid distribution point in the territory's north, according to AFP.

The visit by Guterres comes as Israel faces global pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas and is worried that the Palestinian group will divert aid, has kept all but one of its land crossings into the enclave closed. It opened its Kerem Shalom crossing close to Rafah in late December and denies accusations by Egypt and UN aid agencies that it has delayed deliveries of humanitarian relief, saying the UN has failed to distribute aid within Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticised Guterres in a social media post for blaming Israel "without condemning in any way the Hamas-ISIS terrorists who plunder humanitarian aid".

This week, a global food monitor warned that famine was imminent in northern Gaza and could spread to other parts of the territory if a ceasefire was not agreed.

"It's time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total, unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza," said Guterres, Reuters reports.

More than 32,000 people have been killed by Israel's military campaign in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to local health authorities.

Guterres, who made one previous trip to Egypt's border with Gaza shortly after the war broke out, is visiting Egypt and Jordan as part of an annual "solidarity trip" to Muslim countries during Ramadan.

Gaza health ministry said, "At least nine martyrs and dozens injured by Israeli occupation army tank fire and shells.

They were waiting for aid trucks at the Kuwait roundabout" on the outskirts of Gaza City, a health ministry statement said, reports AFP.

Israel's military said it was looking into the report.

Just over a week ago Gaza's health ministry blamed Israeli fire for the death of 20 people seeking aid at the Kuwait roundabout, but the army later said "armed Palestinians" and not soldiers had opened fire on the crowd.

Half of Gazans are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food assessment warned Monday.

With aid agencies reporting huge difficulties gaining access to Gaza, particularly the north, the UN has warned for weeks that a famine is looming.