Gaza war ‘betrayal of humanity’

Says UN humanitarian rights chief

FE Team | Published: April 06, 2024 21:23:28

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 06 (AFP): The United Nations' under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, Martin Griffiths, on Saturday decried Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza as a "betrayal of humanity."
In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, the outgoing humanitarian official called for a "collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity."
Gaza war death
toll reach 33,137
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Saturday that at least 33,137 people have been killed in the territory during nearly six months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes at least 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 75,815 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
Biden urges Egypt,
Qatar to press
Hamas for truce
President Joe Biden on Friday wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will meet Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza.
The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, come as Biden has deployed CIA Director William Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.
David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel's spy agency, and negotiators from Egypt and Qatar are expected to attend. The Hamas side of the talks is indirect, with proposals relayed through third parties to Hamas leaders sheltering in tunnels beneath Gaza.
White House officials say negotiating a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel is the only way to put a temporary cease-fire into effect and boost the flow of badly humanitarian aid into the territory.