New York [USA], May 13: The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed his call for "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the besieged territory since the attacks began in October, say officials.
In a video address to international donors gathered in Kuwait on Sunday, Guterres also called for "the unconditional release of all captives held by Hamas as well as an immediate surge in humanitarian aid" into Gaza. "A ceasefire will only be the start," he said in the video, cautioning that "it will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war".
As Guterres repeated his plea, Israeli forces hit multiple points in Gaza, displacing anew hundreds of thousands of refugees already fleeing the war. Israeli tanks rolled into Jabalia, while multiple strikes killed dozens of people in Beit Lahiya in the north and Rafah in the south. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least 12 bodies arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya following what it described as the Israeli "carpet bombing".
Emad Oudeh, resident of Beit Lahiya, told Al Jazeera they did not know where to go as Israeli attacks intensified. "We are shocked. We do not know what to do. We are physically and mentally worn out. We are on the verge of going insane." Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli tanks have started "to go deeper" into the Jabalia refugee camp.
Jabalia is the biggest of Gaza's eight refugee camps and is home to more than 100,000 people, most of them descendants of Palestinians who were driven from towns and villages in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of the state of Israel.
Mahmoud Basal of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said there were no more medical services or humanitarian aid being provided to displaced people in the northern part of the Strip.
"We have lost 80 percent of our capabilities and no one is responding to the appeals we make to international institutions," the civil defence spokesman said in a statement.
Source: Qatar Tribune
