UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Monday for "silencing the guns" in Gaza in honor of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.
Guterres told reporters that Ramadhan celebrates "peace, reconciliation and solidarity. Yet even though Ramadhan has begun - the killing, bombing and bloodshed continue in Gaza."
He urged the release of captives and removal of all obstacles to "ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required."
The United Nations says that lack of humanitarian aid means famine is a growing risk in Gaza, where 2.4 million people are under near-total siege by the Israeli military, as it battles Palestinians.
The war, started by the October 7 attack on Israel, has resulted in the deaths of 31,112 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden called for a temporary ceasefire ahead of Ramadhan but his call went unanswered as Muslims in Gaza marked the start of the one-month holiday Monday.
Guterres said, "The eyes of history are watching."
"We cannot look away. We must act to avoid more preventable deaths," Guterres said.
"We have witnessed month after month of civilian killing and destruction at a level that is unprecedented in all my years as Secretary-General," he said.
But aid "is coming in trickles - if it comes at all. International humanitarian law lies in tatters."
The war between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has cast a long shadow over festivities in the region, with hopes dashed that a ceasefire agreement could be reached before Ramadhan began. At a market in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where nearly 1.5 million people have sought refuge, Palestinians on Sunday bemoaned food shortages and wartime uncertainty hanging over the holy month.
"Of course, this Ramadhan is completely different from all the Ramadans that have gone before it," said Bassel Yassin, an agricultural engineer.
Hassuna Tabib Hassnan, a dentist displaced from Gaza City in the north, said he didn't know how the month would end -- "in our homes, in a tent, by the sea in the north or in the south".
The United Nations has warned that famine in the Palestinian territory is "almost inevitable" unless something changes in the war, with aid trickling in at levels far below the pre-war norm. — AFP
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