"Secure ceasefire" between Israel, Hamas: UN to intl community

Describing the Gaza situtaion as "horrific," the UN has asked the international community to "secure ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas, with the last 24 hours of fighting claiming lives of 19 Palestinian children and injuring 52.

"Please secure ceasefire," pleaded a senior United Nations officer in Gaza to the international community.

Speaking through a video link, Gaza director of Operations of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) John Ging described the situation as "horrific and tragic."

"We have to get an end to the fighting. Nowhere in Gaza is safe. The situation is horrific," he said as secretary general Ban Ki-moon was briefing behind the closed doors the Security Council whose resolution calling for ceasefire has been ignored by both Israel and Hamas.

"Every hour that passes here, innocent women, men and children are dying and being injured in a very brutal way," he said, adding that the fighting overnight in Gaza City was "very excessive" as the offensive which Israel launched with the stated aim of stopping Hamas rocket attacks against it continued unrelentingly.

The overall toll is now put at more than 900 Palestinians killed, 42 per cent of them women and children, and some 4,000 wounded, nearly 50 per cent women and children.

Ging said that, as with the reported child casualties over the past 24 hours, the UN had been unable to verify the numbers, but the Palestinian reports have seemed credible. There has been a massive amount of destruction of Palestinian
infrastructure and homes, he added.

He paid particular tribute to the Palestinian ambulance drivers. "For me the bravest are the ambulance drivers. They're the ones, and the ambulance staff, that are going right in to the frontline to rescue those who have been injured and get them the life-saving treatment that they need," he said.

"More lives will be lost every day and every night but for their tremendous courage and bravery under fire."

Ban told the Council in closed consultations that at each stop on his trip beginning in Cairo on Thursday, he would stress to the leaders of Egypt, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria the vital need for an immediate and durable ceasefire and for the urgent provision of humanitarian aid without restriction.

At a news conference on Tuesday, he laid out the basic essentials for settling the crisis at talks with the parties underway in Cairo: agreement on an immediate ceasefire, with at a minimum a halt to rocket attacks by Hamas militants and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; international cooperation to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza; and full re-opening of border crossings into Gaza.

Ging said 5,000 more people fled their homes overnight seeking shelter in UNRWA schools, bringing the total to 40,000, although this represented only a fraction of those seeking refuge, since many others had gone to relatives and friends.

He paid homage to the dignity of the people as they sought to cope with the horrors of the crisis.

Assistance was getting through some of the crossings from Israel, with 90 trucks passing on Tuesday but that, together with the daily three-hour lull by Israel to allow for distribution, was not nearly sufficient, he said. Shortage of flour and fuel was still lacking with the Gaza power station operating at only 40 per cent capacity.

Sewage pumps are still not functioning due to the lack of electricity, diminished fuel supplies for back-up generators, and the lack of spare parts. 5 lakh Gazans still do not have access to running water, and 80 per cent of drinking water is not safe for human consumption, while in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, in Northern Gaza, sewage is flowing in the streets.