USA: UN Sec Gen Guterres will travel to Egypt to unblock humanitarian aid to Gaza

António Guterres

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, will travel to Egypt on Thursday to hold talks with authorities from that nation and the region, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said.

Guterres will arrive in Cairo in the midst of the largest escalation in decades of the conflict between Palestine and Israel with the aim of unblocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

In addition, he plans a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and other actors in the region.

On Saturday, the head of the UN will participate in the international conference organized by the Egyptian president, the spokesperson said.

The recent outbreak between Palestine and Israel has claimed the lives of 4,200 people since Oct 7, according to the agency’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In addition, more than a million people were forced to leave their homes by order of the Israeli authorities while large areas of the Gaza Strip were reduced to rubble.

Since last week, the UN has been raising its calls to obtain the passage of humanitarian aid concentrated in areas near the coastal enclave.

However, access has been limited by the threat of Israeli bombing.

The United Nations relief agencies reiterated this Tuesday their request for a safe and reliable humanitarian corridor to deliver stored aid to the southern area of the Strip where the situation is worsening.

Some 300 tons of food are at or on the way to the Egyptian border in Rafah, which would guarantee food for about a quarter of a million people for a week.