The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The UN's emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths on Monday expressed deep concern about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the fate of Israeli hostages, while also anticipating "good news" regarding aid access into southern Gaza from Egypt.
“History is watching,” Martin Griffiths told UN News in Geneva, highlighting the desperate situation facing around one million Gazans uprooted in recent days, after the Israeli military warned of an imminent offensive following the deadly 7 October attack on Israel by militant group Hamas.
“Aid access is our overwhelming priority. And we are in deep discussions hourly with the Israelis, with the Egyptians, with the Gazans about how to do that,” Mr. Griffiths said, adding that he was optimistic about hearing “some good news” soon that a solution could be found to the political impasse.
Transcription:
“We're living in the worst of times. The first thing I want to emphasize is the unacceptable, illegal act to take those hostages from Israel, many of whom, for God's sake, are children, women, old and sick, and keep them hidden in Gaza against some future eventuality. They have to be let out straight away.
Number two: the response to that egregious act also includes humanitarian rules of war. You cannot ask people to move out of harm's way without assisting them to do it, to go to places of their choice where they want to be safe and with the humanitarian aid that they need to make that journey safely.
And right now, the movement that has happened has not had those provisions and it must have it; hospitals are running out of fuel, are running out of supplies up in the north. People can't move without help.
Number three: we need access for aid. We are in deep discussions with the Israelis, with the Egyptians and with others, hugely helped by Secretary Blinken in his travels around the region. And I'm hoping to hear some good news this morning about getting aid through Rafah, one of the crossing points but an important one, into Gaza to help those million people who have moved south as well as those who live there already. So, rules of war, aid, access.
I shall be going myself tomorrow to the region to try to help in the negotiations, to try to bear witness and to express solidarity with the extraordinary courage of the many thousands of aid workers who have stayed the course and who are still there helping the people in Gaza and in the West Bank.
And I want to leave you with one final thought. History tells us that an act of war has consequences which are often unconsidered, when people move into those acts of war. We have seen this movie far too often before. We need to be concerned about creating a situation - absurd as it may seem at the moment - where Israelis and Palestinians can live as neighbours, as friends, ideally, certainly as interlocutors, where they do not need to teach each other lessons through war.
Thank you.”
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza aid site horror continues as more starving people shot trying to get food
Amid intensifying hopes for a new Gaza ceasefire, UN humanitarians confirmed disturbing details on Friday of continued killings and injuries of Palestinians desperately seeking food at aid sites.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A clearer picture of needs across Iran is beginning to emerge after the conflict this month with Israel, which left hundreds dead, several hospitals hit and a spike in Afghan refugees returning home, the UN’s top official in Tehran said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
The blistering early-summer heatwave that’s brought life-threatening temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere is a worrying sign of things to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on Palestinians killed seeking food in Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Iran-Israel war: UN rights office concerned over strike on Tehran prison, reported espionage arrests
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.