联合国儿童基金会主席呼吁巴以立即停火
A Palestinian mother carries her daughter, who was wounded in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, as she receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, May 16, 2021. /CFP
据《联合国新闻》19日报道，联合国儿童基金会主席呼吁中东地区立即停火，并让援助进入，以避免灾难的发生。
联合国儿童基金会执行主任亨利埃塔·福尔表示：“加沙的100万儿童正在遭受暴力冲突带来的日益严重的后果他们无处可逃，很多人失去了生命，很多家庭支离破碎。”
据联合国儿童基金会负责人称，自5月10日冲突爆发以来，巴勒斯坦被占领领土上已有近3万名儿童流离失所。
The head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is calling for an immediate ceasefire and aid access to stave off disaster in the Middle East, UN News reported Wednesday.
"Gaza's one million children are reeling from the mounting consequences of violent conflict with nowhere safe to turn. Lives have been lost and families shattered," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
Fore's comments late on Tuesday came as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reported that only five trucks in a 24-vehicle humanitarian convoy had been able to enter southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which Israeli authorities closed only hours after reopening it for the delivery of aid. .
According to the UNICEF chief, nearly 30,000 children have been displaced in the occupied Palestinian territory enclave since the conflict broke out on May 10.
This underscores the need for "an immediate cessation of hostilities on humanitarian grounds to allow the entry of staff and essential supplies, including fuel, medical items, first-aid kits and COVID-19 vaccines."
Fore also appealed for the establishment of humanitarian corridors "so that we can deliver these supplies safely, so that families can reunite and access essential services, and so that the sick or wounded can be evacuated."
A Palestinian girl stands aside debris of a building after airstrikes by Israeli army hit buildings in Gaza, May 17, 2021. /CFP
An estimated 250,000 children need mental health and protection services, she continued, while at least four health facilities and 40 schools have been damaged in Gaza since weeks of tensions escalated into Palestinian rocket fire into Israel and Israeli airstrikes.
Electricity provision across Gaza "has dropped by roughly 60 percent, leaving hospitals increasingly dependent on generators" to provide essential healthcare services.
"These generators require significant amounts of fuel to function," Fore said, adding that "any reduction in health care capacity could also jeopardize treatment for those with COVID-19."
Some 48 schools, most of them run by UNRWA - the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, are being used as emergency shelters for families seeking refuge from the violence, the UNICEF top official noted.
"Each and every day the conflict continues, children across the State of Palestine and Israel will suffer," she said.
"These children need a ceasefire now, as well as a long-term political solution to the broader conflict. They deserve far better than this horrible cycle of violence and fear that has gone on for far too long," Fore said.
哈马斯高级官员预计，巴以将在一两天内达成停火
哈马斯高级官员穆萨·阿布·马尔祖克在周三接受黎巴嫩媒体采访时表示，他预计以色列和加沙的武装分子将在“一两天内”达成停火协议，结束持续10天的暴力冲突。
A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that he expects Israel and Gaza militants to reach a ceasefire "within a day or two" that would end ten days of cross-border violence.
"I think that the ongoing efforts regarding the ceasefire will succeed," senior Hamas political official Moussa Abu Marzouk said during an interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV.
"I expect a ceasefire to be reached within a day or two, and the ceasefire will be on the basis of mutual agreement," he said.