World
22:57, 30-Aug-2017
UN chief Guterres calls for humanitarian aid and lifting of blockade in Gaza
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in the Gaza Strip to check on the humanitarian situation. He was there for several hours, and called for the lifting of the blockade on the area.
Guterres said this is one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises he had ever seen in many years working as a humanitarian in the UN. He later said it was "important to open the closures," at a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Guterres and his convoy of UN vehicles entered Gaza through the Erez border crossing between the northern tip of the blockaded coastal enclave and Israel, witnesses said.
The demonstrators also called on Guterres "to intervene and put pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop its violations and crimes against" the Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
The Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has recently decreased electricity payments and medical services to the strip.