UN chief says Gaza death toll 'unacceptable' as it passes 25,000

Israel's military operation in Gaza has resulted in destruction and killing on a scale that is “completely unacceptable”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday, while Palestinian authorities said the death toll in the area has risen since the beginning of the Gaza Strip has risen. campaign had surpassed 25,000.

Mr Guterres called for immediate help humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, which would allow aid to reach everyone in need, and facilitate the release of hostages taken during a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 that Israeli authorities say killed around 1,200 people. There are still more than a hundred hostages in captivity.

In response to the October 7 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a campaign of airstrikes in Gaza and a ground invasion in an attempt to root out Hamas. The government also declared a siege on Gaza, which has a population of about 2.2 million.

The Israeli government says civilian casualties are a tragedy, but says it is bombing residential areas because Hamas is hiding its forces among the civilian population and has built an extensive network of tunnels, some under hospitals. It also says it is warning civilians to move to areas far from the fighting.

Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced by Israel's military campaign, and international groups say the aid entering Gaza is only a small fraction of what is needed to address the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded over the past three months. to exorcise.

“This is heartbreaking,” Mr. Guterres said of the loss of life. He was speaking in the Ugandan capital Kampala at a summit aimed at increasing trade and investment between countries in parts of the world that are less economically developed.

“The Middle East is a tinderbox,” he said. “We must do everything we can to prevent conflicts from arising in the region.”

Mr Guterres said the destruction and civilian casualties in Gaza – which included the deaths of more than 150 UN staff – were worse than ever before since he took up his current post in 2017. By comparison, the United Nations says the fighting in Gaza Ukraine, which has also caused huge military losses, has killed at least 10,000 civilians since Russia's full-scale invasion began.

In a further indication of the number of casualties, British charity Save the Children said this month that Israel's military operation had caused fatalities. 10,000 childrenand that thousands more were missing and believed to be buried under the rubble.

The United Nations and aid agencies cite the number of Palestinian Health Ministry casualties in their reports, although those figures have sometimes been the subject of debate. That's partly because officials in Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and fighters, and because the level of destruction has made it difficult for them to provide an accurate accounting. U.S. and Israeli government officials have sometimes questioned the casualty figures, although they have not systematically questioned the ministry's figures in recent weeks.

Palestinian authorities also say more than 62,000 people have been injured in the war. The head of the United Nations World Health Organization's operation in Gaza and the West Bank said many of them are children who have had limbs amputated and will need further care.