UN Secretary-General António Guterres is visiting the Egyptian border with Gaza today, Saturday, to renew calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
His visit comes amid threats from Israel of a major military operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, despite international pleas to prevent such an attack.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is concentrated around Rafah. Although conditions are worse in the north of the Strip, the plight of civilians across the region has drastically worsened amid ongoing conflict.
Guterres will visit Al-Arish in North Sinai, Egypt, where much of the international relief aid for Gaza is delivered and stored, and the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, one of the entry points for aid.
He is expected to visit a hospital in Al-Arish and meet with UN relief workers in Rafah.
With fading hopes for a Ramadan truce and the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorating, the United States and other countries are looking to use air drops and ships to deliver more relief materials.
However, humanitarian agencies report that only about one-fifth of the required supplies have entered Gaza, emphasizing that the only way to meet the sector’s needs is to accelerate overland delivery operations.
Israel has kept all its land crossings into the sector closed, except for one.
Last week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which monitors global hunger, warned that famine is imminent in northern Gaza and could spread to other parts of the Strip if a ceasefire agreement is not reached.
In addition to Egypt, Guterres will visit Jordan as part of an annual “solidarity” tour of Muslim countries during Ramadan, following his visit to the Egyptian border with Gaza shortly after the outbreak of the conflict.
