NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME, NOVEMBER 5 – Leaders of United Nations agencies and NGOs have released a joint statement calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Below is the text of their appeal.
“For nearly a month, the world has watched the unfolding situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories with shock and horror at the dizzying numbers of lives lost and torn apart.
According to Israeli authorities, around 1,400 people were killed and thousands were injured in Israel. More than 200 people, including children, were taken hostage. Rockets continue to traumatize families. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced. This is horrible.
However, the horrific killing of even more civilians in Gaza is an outrage, as is the exclusion of 2.2 million Palestinians from food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel.
In Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health, nearly 9,500 people have been killed, including 3,900 children and over 2,400 women. More than 23,000 injured people need immediate treatment in overloaded hospitals.
An entire population is besieged and under attack, deprived of access to essential goods for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable.
More than 100 attacks on healthcare have been reported.
Dozens of aid workers have been killed since 7 October, including 88 UNRWA colleagues – the highest number of UN casualties ever recorded in a single conflict.
We renew our call for the parties to respect all their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.
We renew our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held hostage.
Civilians and the infrastructure they rely on – including hospitals, shelters and schools – must be protected.
More aid – food, water, medicine and of course fuel – must enter Gaza safely, quickly and to the extent necessary, and must reach people in need, especially women and children, wherever they are.
We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. 30 days have passed.
When enough is enough. This must stop now.
The appeal was signed by Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); Sig.ra Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro, General Secretary, CARE International; Mrs. Jane Backhurst, President del ICVA Council (Christian Aid); Mr Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA); Ms Anne Goddard, CEO and President ai, InterAction; Mrs. Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM); Ms Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer, Mercy Corps; Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); Mrs. Janti Soeripto, President and CEO of Save the Children; Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (SR on the human rights of internally displaced persons); Mr Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Ms Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat); Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Ms. Sima Bahous, Undersecretary General and Executive Director, UN Women; Mrs. Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP); Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (OMS). (@OnuItalia)