UN Secretary General Says the Only Effective Way to Increase Aid to Gaza is by Land

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. (Twitter/@antinooguterres)

JAKARTA - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday said that the only effective and efficient way to send heavy goods to meet Gaza's humanitarian needs is by land, including an exponential increase in commercial deliveries.

Speaking after meeting with Egypt's President and Foreign Minister in Cairo, Guterres also warned of the impact the war in Gaza would have on the rest of the world.

"Daily attacks on Palestinian human dignity create a credibility crisis for the international community," he said, as reported by Reuters, March 24.

Secretary General Guterres visited Egypt and Jordan as part of his annual Ramadan solidarity tour of Muslim countries, previously traveling to Egypt's border with Gaza on Saturday, where he called the backlog of aid destined for the Palestinian territories a moral outrage.

Although more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas has devastated Gaza, aid donations have piled up in Egypt's northern Sinai, with limited amounts sent via the Rafah Crossing in Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel.

As hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan fade and the risk of famine in the coastal region increases, the United States and other countries are seeking to use air and ship support to deliver aid.

Meanwhile, UN aid officials say aid deliveries can only be increased by land, and accuse Israel of hampering aid, which Israel denies.

Sending aid in large quantities requires Israel to remove remaining obstacles and choke points for aid, Guterres said.

"This requires more crossings and access points," he said.

"The only efficient and effective way to move heavy goods is by road. This requires an exponential increase in commercial goods," he stressed.

Previously, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that increasing land crossings to distribute humanitarian aid could help prevent famine in the densely populated Palestinian enclave.

"Recent efforts to deliver food by air and sea are welcome. However, only expanding land crossings will enable large-scale deliveries to prevent famine," explained Tedros.

"Once again, we ask Israel to open more crossings, speed up the entry and distribution of water, food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to and within Gaza," he explained.

Separately, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said that the death toll since the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza broke out on October 7 2023 has now reached 32,226 Palestinians, mostly women and children, killed, and 74,518 others injured, quoted from Anadolu.

In addition, the war is said to have displaced 85 percent of the region's population, destroyed or damaged much of the infrastructure in the enclave and created famine conditions as aid deliveries remained woefully inadequate.