Middle East Monitor / January 22, 2020
The United Nations on Monday called on Israel to lift its crippling siege of the Gaza Strip adding that support for Palestinians must continue until a solution is reached for the crisis, Anadolu reported.
In a press conference held in the UN headquarters, spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the call for lifting the siege was made by Ursula Mueller, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
Mueller made her call after completing a six-day visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel.
Dujarric reported Mueller saying that the international community “must” continue offering “regular” and “sustainable” assistance to the Palestinians until an “applicable” political solution is reached.
He also said that Mueller had renewed the UN commitment to deal with the humanitarian needs in all the occupied Palestinian territories and called for long-term solutions, including lifting the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza.
More than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been under a strict Israeli siege, which has been in place since 2006. The UN has previously warned that the Gaza Strip would become “uninhabitable” by 2020 as a result of Israel’s stifling measures.
