NEW YORK, Monday, November 6, 2023 (WAFA) – Heads of 18 United Nations agencies and non-profit organizations today called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip expressing “shock and horror” at the large number of Palestinian civilians, mainly children, killed in the month-long Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now,” said the heads of UNICEF, UN Women, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, and Save the Children, among others in a statement.

Almost 10,000 Palestinian civilians were killed and over 24,000 were injured, more than 70- percent of them children, women and elderly, in Israel’s non-stop bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7.

“For almost a month, the world has been watching the unfolding situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in shock and horror at the spiraling numbers of lives lost and torn apart,” the statement said, condemning the killing of scores of aid workers.

“Scores of aid workers have been killed since October 7 including 88 UNRWA colleagues – the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict.”

The heads of the UN agencies called on all parties to respect their “obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law”, including protecting civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and schools and allowing aid into Gaza.

It is “unacceptable” that the population of Gaza is being denied essential goods and services as well as being “bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship,” they said.

M.K.