New York [US], December 8: In a rare move, United Nations Secretary-General AntonioGuterres has urged the UN Security Council to take action to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday, the UN chief invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since taking office in 2017.
The massive loss of life in the Gaza Strip and in Israel within a comparatively short period of time spurred Guterres's decision to invoke Article 99, according to the UN.
This allows the secretary general to draw the attention of the Security Council to "any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the maintenance of international peace and security." According to the UN, Article 99 has not been invoked for decades.
"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared," Guterres said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
He attached his letter to his post. "I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent," the letter said.
"The civilian population must be spared from greater harm." He outlined the dire situation for civilians in the narrow coastal strip of land, warning of total breakdown of civil society and the spread of disease due to overcrowding in inhumane living conditions.
Almost 1.9 million, more than three-quarters of the Gaza Strip's population, have been forced to leave their homes and corralled into an ever-decreasing space in the southern Gaza Strip, where they have neither access to drinking water, nor enough to eat.
"Without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible," Guterres wrote. "The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost."
Source: Qatar Tribune
