UN chief renews call for Gaza ceasefire, release of hostages

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has again appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages.

He made the call in his message to the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at Kampala, Uganda, on Saturday.

Leaders from the 120-member bloc met amid deep division globally, including rising geopolitical tensions, climate catastrophe, widespread poverty, and raging conflict in Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza.

He said: “Following the abhorrent Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, the wholesale destruction of Gaza and the number of civilian casualties in such a short period are unprecedented during my mandate.”

According to him, the UN has also been affected with 152 staff killed in the conflict.

“Although humanitarians are doing their best to deliver aid, they face constant bombardments and daily dangers, amid enormous constraints posed by damaged roads, communication blackouts, and access denials.

READ ALSO: WHO mourns killing of employee, family in Gaza

“Meanwhile, disease and hunger are deepening. People are dying not only from bombs and bullets, but from lack of food and clean water, hospitals without power and medicine, and grueling journeys to ever-smaller slivers of land to escape the fighting.

“This must stop. I will not relent in my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

“And we must do all we can to prevent spillover of this conflict across the region — in the West Bank, across the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, and in Syria, Iraq and the Red Sea,” Guterres added.

At least 24,927 people have been killed and 62,388 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 last year.

The death toll in Israel from the Hamas attack stood at 1,139.

The two warring parties released prisoners and hostages as part of a deal brokered by Qatar and three other countries late last year.

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