UN chief Antonio Guterres urges ceasefire to end Gaza's 'godawful nightmare'

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, on Saturday (Oct 21), urged for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas that has ravaged most parts of Gaza, demanding "action to end this godawful nightmare".

Guterres, while addressing a Cairo summit, said that the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people was living through "a humanitarian catastrophe" with thousands dead and more than a million displaced.

"We meet in the heart of a region that is reeling in pain and one step from the precipice," he told the meeting that included the leaders of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as well as of Italy, Spain and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

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On Oct 7, Hamas took the world by surprise after it launched an unprecedented attack against Israel. The violence in the region has claimed the lives of at least 1,400 people, which includes mostly civilians.

Guterres said "the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long" after "56 years of occupation with no end in sight" but stressed that "nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorised Israeli civilians".

He then stressed that "those abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people".

Jordan's King Abdullah II called for "an immediate end to the war on Gaza" and condemned what he labelled "global silence" on Palestinian death and suffering.

"The message the Arab world is hearing is loud and clear: Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli ones. Our lives matter less than other lives," he charged.

"The application of international law is optional. And human rights have boundaries -- they stop at borders, they stop at races, and they stop at religions."

The summit comes on the day when a convoy of 20 trucks, carrying humanitarian aid, entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing.

"The relief aid convoy that is supposed to enter [Gaza] today includes 20 trucks that carry medicine, medical supplies, and a limited amount of food supplies (canned goods)," said Hamas's media office, in a statement.

The UN has said that about 100 trucks per day are needed to meet worsening needs in Gaza.

The Palestinians need "a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed", the UN chief told the Cairo "Summit for Peace".

(With inputs from agencies)

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