A girl blows a balloon as behind her boys search through the rubble of a destroyed building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 5, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
United Nations, United States: Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has escalated into a "betrayal of humanity", the United Nations' humanitarian chief said Saturday.
In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, called for a "collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity."
"Each day, this war claims more civilian victims," said Griffiths, who will leave his post at the end of June due to health reasons.
(Files) UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths speaks on the situation in Gaza, at UN Building in Geneva, on November 15, 2023. (Photo by Jean-Guy Python / AFP)
"Every second that it continues sows the seeds of a future so deeply obscured by this relentless conflict."
Griffiths lamented "the unconscionable prospect of further escalation in Gaza, where no one is safe and there is nowhere safe to go."
He added that "an already fragile aid operation continues to be undermined by bombardments, insecurity and denials of access."
"On this day, my heart goes out to the families of those killed, injured or taken hostage, and to those who face the particular suffering of not knowing the plight of their loved ones," he said in the statement.
