Top UN officials on Gaza: ‘These atrocities must end’

Leading United Nations officials demanded on Monday “an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip, nearly a year into the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.

“These atrocities must end,” they said in a statement signed by the heads of UN agencies that include UNICEF and the World Food Program along with other aid groups as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly.

“Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need,” the statement said. “We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence.”

The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza during the war and distributing it amid “total lawlessness” in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have been killed.

“The risk of famine persists with all 2.1 million residents still in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance as humanitarian access remains restricted,” the UN officials said. “Healthcare has been decimated. More than 500 attacks on healthcare have been recorded in Gaza.”

Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Switzerland and the United Kingdom said on Monday they would team up to develop a declaration for the protection of humanitarian personnel and invite all countries to sign.

“2024 is on track to be the deadliest year on record for aid workers,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

“Australia felt this deeply with the IDF’s strike against World Central Kitchen vehicles in April, which killed Australian Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues,” she said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“Gaza is the deadliest place on earth to be an aid worker,” she said.

Israel’s military has apologized and dismissed two senior commanders involved in the WCK strikes. Three other commanders were formally reprimanded. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were unintended and tragic.

The war in the Palestinian enclave began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Hamas-run Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities who do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

The Israeli military says it takes steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and that at least a third of the Palestinian fatalities are militants. It accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, which Hamas denies.