History will judge us if the war on Gaza does not stop

First, I wanted to recall what I said: “The Charter of the United Nations is a commitment to our common humanity. Civilians - wherever they are - should be protected equally.” For more than two weeks, images of the unbearable human tragedy have been coming from Gaza. Women, children and the elderly are being killed, while hospitals and schools are being bombed, and no one is spared. 

As I write this, UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, has already, tragically, lost 35 of its staff, many of whom were killed while at home with their families. Entire neighborhoods are flattened above the heads of civilians in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. Israeli forces issued a warning to the Palestinians in Gaza to move to the southern part of the Strip while bombing the north, but the strikes also continued in the south. 

There is no safe place in Gaza. Nearly 600,000 people are taking refuge in 150 UNRWA schools and other buildings, living in unsanitary conditions with limited access to clean water and little food and medicine. Mothers don't know how to clean their babies. Pregnant women pray that they do not experience complications during childbirth because hospitals do not have the capacity to receive them. 

Entire families now live in our buildings because they have nowhere else to go. However, our facilities are not safe. 40 UNRWA buildings, including schools and warehouses, were damaged in raids, and many of the civilians who were sheltering inside were tragically killed. Gaza has been described for the past 15 years as a vast open-air prison, where a blockade from air, sea and land was suffocating 2.2 million people in an area of 365 square kilometers. 

Most of the young men have never left Gaza. Today, this prison has become a cemetery for residents trapped between war, siege and deprivation. In the past few days, intense negotiations at the highest levels finally allowed very limited humanitarian supplies to enter the Strip. While this is a welcome achievement, these trucks represent tiny trickles rather than the torrent of aid that a humanitarian situation of this magnitude requires. Twenty trucks of food and medical supplies are a drop in the ocean for the needs of more than two million civilians. 

However, Gaza has been strictly deprived of fuel. Without it, there will be no humanitarian response, no aid will reach those in need, no electricity for hospitals, no water, and no bread. Before October 7, Gaza received about 500 trucks of food and other supplies each day, including 45 fuel trucks to power the Strip's cars, desalination plants, and bakeries. Today, Gaza is being suffocated, and the few convoys now entering will do little to ease the civilian population's feeling that the world has abandoned and sacrificed them. On October 7, the Hamas movement committed unspeakable massacres against Israeli civilians, many of which amount to war crimes. 

The United Nations condemned this horrific act in the strongest terms. But there should be no doubt that this does not justify the ongoing crimes against Gaza's civilian population, including its one million children. The Charter of the United Nations and our commitments constitute a commitment to our common humanity. Civilians - wherever they are - must be protected equally. Civilians in Gaza did not choose this war. Atrocities should not be followed by more atrocities. 

The answer to war crimes is not more war crimes. The international law framework on this matter is very clear and well-established. It will take real and courageous efforts to return to the roots of this deadly impasse and present viable political options that can provide an environment of peace, stability and security. Until then, we must ensure that the rules of international humanitarian law are respected, and that civilians are preserved and protected. 

An immediate humanitarian ceasefire must be activated to allow safe, continuous and unrestricted access to fuel, medicine, water and food in the Gaza Strip. Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, once said: “The United Nations was not created to bring us to heaven, but to save us from hell.” 

The reality today in Gaza is that there is not much humanity left, and that hell is settling in. Future generations will know that we watched this human tragedy unfold across social media and news channels. We won't be able to say we didn't know. History will wonder why the world did not have the courage to act decisively and stop this hell on earth. * Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.