UN chief slams "horrors" committed by Israel: "Gaza is a killing field"
New York, New York - UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday that Israel has turned Gaza into "a killing field" by bombing and blocking all aid for over a month.

"More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies. As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened," Guterres said in remarks to journalists.
Pointing to the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of people in war, Guterres emphasized the obligation of the "occupying power" to ensure the provision of food and medical supplies to the population.
"None of that is happening today. No humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza," Guterres said.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oren Marmorstein claimed without evidence that there is "no shortage of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip," despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes – explicitly declaring last month that "all entry of goods and supplies" to Gaza would be blocked.
The use of starvation as a weapon is a war crime under international law – one of many that Israel has been credibly accused of committing in a campaign of mass killing that has reached genocidal proportions, according to numerous experts.
Guterres rejects Israeli plan to restrict calories

Guterres also referenced recent Israeli proposals over controlling aid into Gaza, which a UN source told AFP included monitoring the calories of Palestinians, supposedly to prevent "misuse" by Hamas.
"The Israeli authorities newly proposed 'authorization mechanisms' for aid delivery risk further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour," he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
"Let me be clear – we will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles – humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality," Guterres said, demanding guarantees for the unhindered entry of aid to the coastal territory.
Guterres also raised the alarm about the situation in the illegally occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers and settlers have been running rampant, besieging the local population and murdering hundreds – including most recently a 14-year-old US national.
"The current path is a dead end – totally intolerable in the eyes of international law and history," he said. "And the risk of the occupied West Bank transforming into another Gaza makes it even worse.
"It is time to end the dehumanization, protect civilians, release the hostages, ensure lifesaving aid, and renew the ceasefire."
Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Xinhua & REUTERS