Evening update: UN chief describes Gaza as ‘graveyard for children’

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers, 

Day 30 of Israel’s war in Palestine marked a grim milestone, with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres labelling Gaza a “graveyard for children.” 

During his first press conference since October 7, Guterres painted a dark picture of the situation in Gaza and called for both sides to end the fighting. 

The UN Chief used his remarks to acknowledge the lack of aid enter Gaza and said the Rafah crossing in Egypt would not be suitable for the aid needed to help Gaza, given the scale of destruction in the besieged territory. 

Guterres also his speech to pay tribute to the 88 UN workers killed in Gaza, the largest loss of UN aid workers in any given conflict, and urged Hamas to return its hostages to Israel. 

The UN chief's statement came hours after the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that Israel had killed more than 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 4,104 Palestinian children. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent also urged the international community to help Gaza after reporting that the Al Quds hospital will run out of fuel in the next 48 hours. 

Here are other updates that took place during this evening: 

- Biden and Netanyahu discussed a potential “tactical pause” in Gaza

- Jordan said it was open to “all options” days after it recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest at the growing death toll in Gaza. 

- The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) told MEE that the violence since 7 October has been the deadliest four-week period for journalists covering conflict since they began documenting journalist fatalities in 1992.

- Sources told Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that the Biden administration will tell the US Congress that it plans to send precision bombs worth $230 million to Israel.

- The Israel army said it was targeting Hezbollah military sites after the Israelis claimed the Lebanese group had fired dozens of rockets into Israel

- The United Arab Emirates said it will be establishing a field hospital in Gaza as the besieged enclave's health system is on the verge of collapse. 

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