UN chief calls for lifting of Gaza blockade

A Hamas security officer tries to prevent demonstrators from blocking vehicles carrying UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres upon his arrival at the Palestinian side of the Erez border crossing in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday. (AP)

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip: UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the blockade of Gaza to be lifted Wednesday as he visited the Palestinian enclave enduring “one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises” he had seen.
The secretary-general’s comments came as he wrapped up his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since taking office.
Guterres said he had been struck by humanitarian conditions in the overcrowded and impoverished enclave, where an electricity crisis has worsened and clean water is lacking.
“I am deeply moved to be in Gaza today, unfortunately to witness one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises that I’ve seen in many years working as a humanitarian in the United Nations,” Guterres said.
He later said it was “important to open the closures,” in a reference to Israel’s decade-long blockade of Gaza and its border with Egypt that has remained largely closed in recent years.
Guterres made the comments at a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the northern Gaza Strip.
Guterres also called for unity among the warring Palestinian factions — Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Fatah, which rules parts of the West Bank.
“The division only undermines the cause of the Palestinian people,” he said, adding that he had a dream to “come back to Gaza one day and to see Gaza as part of a Palestine state in peace and prosperity.”
Guterres is on his first visit to the region since taking office at the beginning of the year. He has met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders aiming to encourage the resumption of peace talks. But he did not meet with Hamas officials in Gaza, who issued a demand he work to lift the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the strip and save it from a humanitarian crisis. Hamas also demanded he approve relief and development programs and pressure Israel about the Palestinian prisoners it holds.
Prior to arriving in Gaza, Guterres took a helicopter tour of the Israel-Gaza border with Israeli officials, visited a tunnel Hamas dug into Israel to carry out attacks and met local residents living along the volatile front.
Egypt and Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas takeover that has crippled the local economy. In recent years, Egypt has also cracked down on the once-vibrant tunnel trade along the border. Israel began construction of an underground anti-tunnel barrier along the border last year.