Crisis Middle East. Houthi government to stop Red Sea attacks only if Israel ends 'occupation' • US releases $53 million in emergency aid

A full-scale assault on Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, “would not only mean the end of our aid programs for more than a million Palestinian civilians there,” he said. United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this on Monday at the opening of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Guterres condemned the October 7 surprise attack on Israel by the radical Islamist movement Hamas, but also condemned the Israeli response to the attack. Israel has launched numerous attacks on the Gaza Strip in an effort to eliminate Hamas. According to the latest figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, 29,782 people have been killed and 70,043 injured in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge in the border town of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to stick to the planned attack on Rafa.

“I reiterate my call for a humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Guterres stressed. The UN has called for all necessary measures to “end the bloodshed in Gaza and prevent further escalation”. Despite his call to the Security Council, the UN He regretted that the Security Council had not taken action. As one of the council's five permanent members, the US has used its veto to block calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. “The council needs serious reform in its organization and working methods,” Guterres said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Dürk condemned efforts to undermine the UN's “legitimacy and mission”. “This is disinformation targeting UN humanitarian agencies, UN peacekeepers and my services. The UN has become a lightning rod for propaganda and a scapegoat for political failure,” he said at the start of the session. “That situation is deeply destructive to the public good and cruelly betrays the people who depend on it.”

Without mentioning the name, he appears to be referring to the UNRWA scandal: the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Many of the agency's (UNRWA) 30,000 employees have been accused of involvement in an October attack on Israel by the radical Islamist movement Hamas. 7. UNRWA President Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter released on Thursday on donors in the context of humanitarian needs in Gaza”.