No Humanitarian Pause, Full Gaza Ceasefire Needed, Says NGOs

AFP/APP

Paris: “We don’t know what a humanitarian pause means concretely. Unless safe areas are created on the battlefield, it’s impossible to work,” said Doctors Without Borders President Isabelle Defourny.

Hospital staff are dealing with massive arrivals of wounded people, are working in horrible hygiene conditions, can’t rest and are under constant stress, Isabelle added.

Maysara Rayyes, a 28-year-old emergency doctor with Medecins du Monde (Doctors Without Borders), was killed with his family on Sunday when their Gaza apartment building was bombed, according to the French group.

Scores of aid workers are among the thousands killed in the conflict since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

On the sidelines of a humanitarian summit hosted by France, about 10 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said on Thursday that a full ceasefire is needed between Israel and Hamas to meaningfully help civilians in Gaza.

A simple pause in the fighting would not alleviate the humanitarian “catastrophe”, they added.

Their appeal came as US President Joe Biden said there is no possibility of a ceasefire, although Israel has agreed to daily four-hour pauses in fighting.

Several Western governments have called for a ‘humanitarian pause in Israel’s offensive but not for an immediate ceasefire.

Israel has been battering the Gaza Strip relentlessly since the Hamas attacks that Israel says left 1,400 dead, mainly civilians, with around 240 taken hostage.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 10,800 people have died in Israel’s air and ground offensive.