As the death toll due to Israeli attacks on Gaza now tops 10,000 (with over 4,100 being children), 18 United Nations agencies have issued an unprecedented joint statement demanding an immediate ceasefire while South Africa has joined countries like Honduras, Chile, Colombia and Turkey in recalling its ambassador. Bolivia has formally severed all relations with the country.
The statement says that the killing of so many civilians in Gaza, and the "cutting off
2.2 million Palestinians from food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel" is an "outrage".
It reads:
An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable.
More than 100 attacks against health care have been reported.
Scores of aid workers have been killed since October 7 including 88 UNRWA colleagues – the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict.
"We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now."
The situation is indeed horrific.
Al Jazeera reports that the Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson noted today (November 6):
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing war with Israel has reached 10,022 people, including 4,104 children and 2,641 women.
The number of those wounded since October 7 has risen to 25,408.
Al-Rantisi Hospital was targeted twice by Israeli air attacks. The Cancer Center and the Specialised Children Center were also targeted. Four people were killed and 70 were injured, some of them children, staff and refugees. The Israeli attacks destroyed the solar panels and the water tanks in al-Rantisi Hospital.
Targeting essential supplies threatens everyone’s lives at the hospital.
Israel conducted 18 attacks in the past hours, killing 252 people.
192 medical staff were killed and 32 ambulances destroyed since October 7, while 16 hospitals are now out of service.
The targeting of bakeries is adding to the food crisis.
Israel is taking the international community’s silence as a green light to continue its massacres.
“We are … extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians in the Palestinian territories and we believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment,” South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told press conference.