Gaza is becoming a ‘graveyard for children’ UN chief warns, urging immediate ceasefire

‘Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day,’ said Antonio Guterres

The Secretary General was formally launching a US$1.2 billion UN humanitarian appeal to help 2.7 million Palestinians in New York on Monday

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Palestinian children inspect a destroyed home after an Israeli bombing. Photo: dpa

Published: 2:36am, 7 Nov 2023Updated: 4:34am, 7 Nov 2023

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the protection of civilians “must be paramount” in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, warning that the Gaza Strip was becoming “a graveyard for children.”

“We must act now to find a way out of this brutal, awful, agonising dead end of destruction,” Guterres told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and again called for a humanitarian ceasefire.

“Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day.

“The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour.

“The parties to the conflict – and, indeed, the international community – face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Guterres said.

Talaat Barhom, attends the funeral of his wife and four of his children killed in Israeli bombardment, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. Photo: AFP

Guterres was formally launching a recently announced US$1.2 billion UN humanitarian appeal to help 2.7 million Palestinians over the entire Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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