UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Tuesday called on both Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement on a cease-fire plan backed by US President Joe Biden.
“I welcome the peace initiative recently outlined by President Biden and urge all parties to seize this opportunity and come to an agreement,” said Guterres in a statement to an emergency aid conference in Jordan.
The UN chief further described the situation in the Gaza enclave as “deplorable.”
Guterres also called for the world “to stand united to safeguard the UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) in the face of outrageous and relentless attacks.”
“UNRWA is the backbone of this humanitarian response, and it has suffered intolerably alongside the people it supports.”
He added that “the speed and scale of the carnage and killing in Gaza is beyond anything in my years as secretary-general.”
Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
