UN Secretary General Values ​​the Murder of 112 Residents Waiting for Humanitarian Aid in Gaza Needs to be Investigated

The death toll of civilians in Gaza. (Wikimedia Commons/Fars Media Corporation/Saleh Najm and Anas Sharif)

JAKARTA - Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres said that the murder of more than 100 people who were waiting for humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, is a situation that requires an effective independent investigation.

Speaking in St Vincent and the Grenadines ahead of a regional meeting, Secretary-General Guterres said he was "appalled" by the latest episode in the war with Israel, where Palestinian authorities said more than 30,000 civilians had been killed since October 7, quoted by Reuters March 1.

At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 injured in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said. Civilian casualties were the largest in recent weeks.

UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, the UN Secretary-General condemned this heartbreaking incident.

"Desperate civilians in Gaza need immediate help, including those in the besieged northern region where the UN has been unable to deliver aid for more than a week," he explained, quoted by CNN.

The UN was not present at the time of the incident but called for an investigation, Dujarric said.

The UN Secretary-General also reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Responding to a question about the failure of the Security Council resolution seeking a ceasefire, Secretary-General Guterres said worsening geopolitical divisions had "turned the veto into an effective instrument to paralyze Security Council action."

"I firmly believe that we need a humanitarian ceasefire and that we need the unconditional and immediate release of hostages, that we must have a Security Council that is capable of achieving these goals," he explained.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN that the aid trucks involved in Thursday's deadly incident were from "international aid from the government that came in private trucks to move north."

"We need to do everything to alleviate the humanitarian situation," he said.