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UN chief at Rafah crossing says aid convoy ‘the difference between life and death’

21 October 2023 12:03 (UTC +04:00)

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Egypt's crossing with the Gaza Strip on Friday and delivered a powerful call in front of the gates at the Rafah crossing to get lifesaving aid moving, APA reports citing UN News.

In a speech standing just a few metres from the Egyptian side of the crossing, he pointed behind him and spoke of the two million trapped without sufficient supplies now for nearly two weeks.

“We are witnessing a paradox: behind these walls we have two million people that are suffering enormously, have no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive".

“On this side,” he continued, indicating the convoy carrying lifesaving supplies, “we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with food, with medicines – exactly the same thing that is needed on this side of the wall. These are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.”

To see the convoy stuck at the border makes what needs to happen very clear, he said.

It was “absolutely essential to solve these problems quickly”, he said, reiterating his appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire. He also thanked the Government of Egypt and humanitarian partners for their efforts.

“It is impossible to be here and not to feel a broken heart,” he said, adding that he hoped the food aid and medicines he had seen on planes arriving would serve the people that needed it most and that “one day there will be peace with the two-State solution.”

The UN chief arrived on a cargo plane carrying 65 tonnes of humanitarian supplies including food donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) tarpaulins from the UN migration agency IOM and trauma kits from the World Health Organization (WHO).