World must act now: UN agencies

Muscat Daily

08-04-2025

New York, US – In a joint statement by heads of six United Nations organisations have called on the international community to 'act urgently to save the lives of Palestinians in Gaza'.
The joint statement was made by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Office for Project Services, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, World Food Programme (WFP), and World Health Organisation.
'For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza. More than 2.1mn people are trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck,' they said.
Over 1,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire, the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past year, it was stated.
Just a few days ago, the 25 bakeries supported by the WFP during the ceasefire had to close due to flour and cooking gas shortages. The partially functional health system is overwhelmed. Essential medical and trauma supplies are rapidly running out, threatening to reverse hard-won progress in keeping the health system operational.
'Assertions that there is now enough food to feed all Palestinians in Gaza are far from the reality on the ground, and commodities are running extremely low. We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life.'
New Israeli displacement orders have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee yet again, with no safe place to go. 'No one is safe. At least 408 humanitarian workers, including over 280 from UNRWA, have been killed since October 2023.'
58 Palestinians killed in 24 hours
At least 58 Palestinians have been killed and 213 injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave's Health Ministry.
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulances and Civil Defence crews, the ministry statement said.
Israel killed 1,449 people and injured 3,647 others since breaking the ceasefire on March 18, the announcement added.
The latest figures raised the total number of Palestinians killed in Israel's war on Gaza to 50,810, the ministry said. At least 115,688 people have also been injured since October 7, 2023, it added.
Throwing a stone is not terrorism
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has condemned Israel's killing of a 14-year-old Palestinian American boy in the occupied West Bank.
The Geneva-based group rejected Israel's claim that the boy, identified as Omar Mohammad Rabea, was a 'terrorist' who hurled stones. Two other children were wounded in the attack.
'They were unarmed children. This wasn't self-defence. It was the deliberate execution of a child on occupied Palestinian land,' Euro-Med said in a post on X.
'By calling stone-throwing children 'terrorists', Israel manufactures fake justifications for murder – and places itself above international law. This is part of a system of state violence and persecution designed to criminalise every Palestinian act of resistance – even from a child,' it said.
'Executing children is not self-defence. Throwing a stone is not terrorism. This is apartheid backed by bullets – colonial violence unleashed with total impunity.'
Israel kills 211 journalists
Gaza's Government Media Office has issued a statement urging global support for Palestinian journalists following Israel's deadly raid on a media tent in the early morning of Monday.
Ahmed Mansour, who died from severe burns sustained in the attack, is the 211th media worker killed during Israel's war on Gaza, according to the office.
'We call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip,' the office said.