UN humanitarian chief calls for end to war in Gaza

UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths on Friday called for an end to the war in Gaza.

Three months since the horrific Oct. 7 attacks, Gaza has become a place of death and despair, he said in a statement.

"We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbors, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity," he said.

"It is time for the parties to meet all their obligations under international law, including to protect civilians and meet their essential needs, and to release all hostages immediately. It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen. This war should never have started. But it's long past time for it to end," he added.

The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than 2 million people in Gaza, even as its own staff members are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent, said Griffiths.

Almost three months into the war, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire. Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured. Families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet. Areas where civilians were told to relocate for their safety have come under bombardment. Medical facilities are under relentless attack. The few hospitals that are partially functional are overwhelmed with trauma cases, critically short of all supplies, and inundated by desperate people seeking safety, he said.

A public health disaster is unfolding. Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over. Some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amid this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is around the corner. For children in particular, the past 12 weeks have been traumatic: No food. No water. No school. Nothing but the terrifying sounds of war, day in and day out, he said.

"Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence, while the world watches on," said Griffiths.