UN News Service A university building in Gaza is being used as a shelter for displaced people. Middle East: UN Secretary-General calls for détente Peace and Security
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East. Spokesperson for the UN chief Stephane Dujarric stated this at a briefing for journalists on Wednesday.
“The Secretary-General calls on all parties to take immediate steps to reduce tensions and return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” Dujarric said. security.Dujarric also said that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had received reports that an armed group had entered a solid waste treatment facility in Deir al-Balah governorate, Gaza Strip. The incident reportedly occurred earlier this week. A security guard working at the site was detained and questioned for about 30 minutes before being released.
“We reiterate that humanitarian personnel, premises and property must be treated with respect and protected under all circumstances, and a safe environment must be created for humanitarian operations to continue,” the spokesman said UN.
Meanwhile, today the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Suzanne Tkalets, together with representatives of partner organizations, visited the former UN school in Bureij, located only about 45 meters from the so-called “Yellow Line”, which separates the zone of Israeli control. Access restrictions make it difficult to deliver aid to the internally displaced people who have settled on the school grounds. Across Gaza, humanitarian organizations continue to help displaced families.
The UN also reports that access to education continues to deteriorate in the West Bank: six UN Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools in the Jenin and Nur Shams camps have been inaccessible for more than a year, six more UNRWA schools have closed in East Jerusalem, and ten schools in Area C have been deserted since how Palestinians were forced to leave these areas due to settler attacks.