End War's 'Nightmare', UN Chief Says at Gates of Gaza

A Palestinian inspects the ruins of a house hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip © SAID KHATIB / AFP
A Palestinian inspects the ruins of a house hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip © SAID KHATIB / AFP
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End War's 'Nightmare', UN Chief Says at Gates of Gaza

A Palestinian inspects the ruins of a house hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip © SAID KHATIB / AFP
A Palestinian inspects the ruins of a house hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip © SAID KHATIB / AFP

UN chief Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of Gaza, on Saturday said the world has seen enough of the war's horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid.

"Palestinians in Gaza -- children, women, men -- remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare," he said on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing where truckloads of aid trickle into Gaza but the population is stalked by "hunger and starvation".

"I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough," Guterres said, deploring "communities obliterated, homes demolished, entire families and generations wiped out".

He reiterated that "nothing justifies the horrific attacks by Hamas" against Israel, triggering the war on October 7

"And nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," the United Nations secretary-general said.

Guterres, speaking at a lectern in front of the imposing gates to the Gaza side of Rafah, through which aid trucks pass, said the "heartbreak and heartlessness of it all" were clear, AFP reported.

"A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates. The long shadow of starvation on the other," which he called "a moral outrage."

Guterres emphasized "it is more than time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" and appealed to Israel for "total, unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza."

The UN chief, who makes an annual "solidarity mission" to distressed Muslim communities during their holy fasting month, said that "in the Ramadan spirit of compassion, it is also time for the immediate release of all hostages" captured in the October attacks and still held by militants in Gaza.



Yemen's Houthis Launched Missile at US Fighter Jet, Missed

Houthi militants stormed the Greek tanker "Sunion" and rigged its deck with explosives before blowing it up (EPA)
Houthi militants stormed the Greek tanker "Sunion" and rigged its deck with explosives before blowing it up (EPA)
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Yemen's Houthis Launched Missile at US Fighter Jet, Missed

Houthi militants stormed the Greek tanker "Sunion" and rigged its deck with explosives before blowing it up (EPA)
Houthi militants stormed the Greek tanker "Sunion" and rigged its deck with explosives before blowing it up (EPA)

Yemen's Houthis launched surface-to-air missiles at an American fighter jet and MQ-9 Reaper drone this week, but did not hit either, two US officials told Reuters.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not specify if the attacks occurred over the Red Sea or Yemen itself.

One said the incidents could suggest the Houthis were improving their targeting capabilities.

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, who leads the Iran-backed group, said in a televised speech on Feb. 13 that the Houthis would intervene with missiles and drones and attack vessels in the Red Sea if the United States and Israel tried to remove Palestinians from Gaza by force.

An Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect in Gaza on January 19 but has appeared close to collapse recently amid mutual accusations of violations.

US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace Palestinians from Gaza and take over the enclave to turn it into a beach resort.

The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen since November 2023 in support of Gaza's Palestinian militants fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping.