UN chief appeals for end to Gaza’s ‘nightmare’

RAFAH: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of devastated Gaza, on Saturday said the world has seen enough of its horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid.

He spoke at the crossing on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge but Israel vows to send in ground troops against Hamas fighters, despite the fears of Guterres and other global leaders.

“Palestinians in Gaza — children, women, men — remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare,” Guterres said. “I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough

“Any further onslaught will make things even worse.”

Despite warnings that a Rafah operation would cause mass civilian casualties and worsen the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nearly six months of Israeli bombing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will press ahead with the attack.

But his government is under growing international pressure to ease its bombardment and ground offensive, which the health ministry in Gaza says has killed 32,142 people.

Large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble and the World Food Programme has said Gazans are already “starving to death”, with famine projected by May in northern Gaza without urgent intervention.

The Gaza health ministry, in its latest toll on Saturday, reported at least 72 people killed overnight.

‘Precise operation’

Israeli forces continued operations in and around Gaza’s biggest hospital complex, Al-Shifa, for a sixth day on Saturday. The army claimed it had questioned more than 800 suspects and found “a large haul of weapons”.

The “precise” operation is being conducted without harm to civilians or medical personnel, the Israelis said.

The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said “health workers have been among those reported arrested and detained”. Mohammed, 59, who lives a short walk from the Al-Shifa complex in Gaza City, told AFP he had seen “many bodies” in the streets, buildings on fire and tanks blocking the roads.

“I feel that Gaza has become worse than the fires of hell,” he said, giving only his first name.

Netanyahu on Friday reiterated his plan to send ground troops into the southern city of Rafah. “I hope to do that with the support of the United States, but if we need to, we will do it alone,” he told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Netanyahu has said repeatedly that a ground invasion of Rafah is the only way to root out Hamas, but global leaders have warned that an incursion would worsen an already catastrophic situation.

Blinken said he would continue discussions with Israeli officials to find an alternative to a ground incursion of Rafah.

Even without ground troops, Rafah is suffering regular bombardments.

A family’s agony

Members of the Kawari family, who had taken refuge in Rafah after fleeing from Gaza City, told AFP a “huge explosion” killed four children and their grandmother during an air strike early Saturday.

“The entire house is destroyed. It went up in flames,” said Fawzy Kawari, a relative of those who died.

To the north of Rafah, in Khan Yunis city on Friday, the Barbakh family mourned relatives killed in strikes. “We want to understand what’s the purpose of this war?” said Samih Barbakh.

He accused Israeli forces of “annihilating us,” before addressing a complaint to Hamas’s self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh over the shortage of basic foods.