Berliner Tageblatt - Israel's aid blockade to Gaza 'unacceptable': Red Cross

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of a growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which they say has been exacerbated by an Israeli blockade on all aid since early March.

"It is unacceptable that humanitarian aid is not allowed into the Gaza Strip," Pierre Krahenbuhl, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told reporters in Geneva.

"That's just fundamentally against anything that international humanitarian law provides."

The situation in Gaza is on a "razor's edge" and "the next few days are absolutely decisive", he added.

"There's a moment where we will also run out of anything that's left in terms of medical supplies and other" aid, he said.

Israel resumed military operations in Gaza on March 18 after talks to prolong a ceasefire stalled.

The country denies a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where it plans to expand military operations to force Hamas to free hostages held there since the Iran-backed group's unprecedented October 2023 attack.

- 'We should all be terrified' -

"What we would need is an immediate return to a ceasefire situation to ease the pressure," Krahenbuhl said.

"I think everybody should feel deep indignation about what is happening in Gaza. I can't reconcile myself with the human cost of this conflict," he said.

"Frankly, if this is the future of warfare, we should all be terrified, and we should all be aware that this questions the very foundations of our humanity."

Israel is reportedly aiming to shut down the existing UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, forcing all deliveries to go through Israeli hubs.

Krahenbuhl stressed that "there is no monopoly among humanitarian organisations" to deliver aid. "States can undertake it."

But he insisted that any delivery of aid must respect humanitarian principles "such as the impartiality of aid, that it actually reaches people, that it's not politically motivated and directed".

Every effort to get aid to Gazans in need should be "taken seriously", Krahenbuhl said.

"But right now, the most effective way to get aid to people is to lift... actions or decisions that were taken to prevent aid from reaching" inside Gaza.

"There are huge quantities of aid that are on the borders of Gaza that can go in tomorrow," he insisted.

O.Bulka--BTB