War in the Middle East
UN Secretary General calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict
“I call for an immediate ceasefire,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. photo
© Xinhua/dpa
During a visit to Beijing, António Guterres comments on the dramatic situation in the Middle East. Before Israel’s possible ground offensive, he calls for alleviating “the epic human suffering.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has a humanitarian Ceasefire called for in ongoing Middle East conflict. “I call for an immediate ceasefire to provide enough time and space for my two calls to be realized and the epic human suffering to be alleviated,” he said in Beijing, speaking at the Silk Road Summit. With the two calls he meant his demand for Hamas to release hostages and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
China hosted the third forum on Tuesday and Wednesday on the occasion of its global investment and infrastructure initiative “New Silk Road”. In the conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas and its allies, concerns are growing that the situation will further escalate. In preparation for a possible ground offensive against Hamas after the devastating terrorist attack on Israel, the military had repeatedly called on the population in the northern Gaza Strip to leave the area to the south. According to the UN, around a million people have fled to the south so far; the Israeli army says around 600,000 people have fled.