By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – As the war between Isreal and Hamas rages, the United Nations had called for immediate release of all hostages in Gaza.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres who made the call on Saturday via his verified X handle (formerly known as twitter), @antonioguterres, lamentd that even wars have rules.
He further demanded that International humanitarian law and human rights law must be respected and upheld; and that civilians must be protected and also never used as shields.
The statement released with a video via X handle reads:
“Even wars have rules.
International humanitarian law & human rights law must be respected & upheld; civilians must be protected & also never used as shields.
All hostages in Gaza must be released immediately.
Sundiata Post gathered that more than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to flee south, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had only just begun to retaliate for last week’s Hamas rampage across southern Israel.
U.S. President Joe Biden said consultations were under way with regional governments on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as trapped Palestinians faced shortages of power, food and water amid Israeli bombing.
The situation in Gaza has reached a “a dangerous new low,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.
CONFLICT
Israel has warned nearly half of the population of the Gaza Strip to relocate as it plans an assault.
Tens of thousands in Gaza are estimated to have fled south after Israel gave Palestinians 24 hours notice to evacuate from the enclave’s north, U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said on Friday.
The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a “crime against humanity.”
Calls for an escape route for Palestinians from Gaza have been rebuffed by Arab neighbours. “It is important that the (Palestinian) people remain steadfast and present on their land,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Netanyahu discussed establishing safe areas in Gaza where civilians could relocate.
The first U.S. State Department-organized charter flight taking Americans out of Israel landed in Athens, as U.S. airlines ramped up connecting flights to help people get home.
Biden said he was making a priority of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while being committed to returning Americans taken hostage by Hamas.
Israeli security forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded dozens in confrontations across the West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said. The Israeli military has said it is prepared for an escalation in the West Bank and is on high alert.
Israel’s military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the “infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel.”
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. The Israeli military denied it.
Blinken said the Israeli government showed him photographs and videos of Hamas atrocities.
The Hamas attack last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks.
We have no track of her since then.” A brother is determined to find his sister missing after Hamas’ kibbutz raid.
Supporters of the Palestinians and of Israel protested and prayed in countries around the world on Friday.
Israeli air strikes have made major cemeteries in Gaza dangerous to reach so mourning families are burying their dead in informal graveyards dug in empty lots.
