Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al of the Unit­ed Na­tions, An­to­nio Guter­res, has re­newed his call for an im­me­di­ate cease­fire in the Is­rael-Hamas War in Gaza, urg­ing com­bat­ants to ho­n­our the spir­it of com­pas­sion dur­ing the Mus­lim holy month of Ra­madan.

Speak­ing with the me­dia ear­li­er to­day at UN Head­quar­ters on New York, Mr Guter­res said now is the time to re­move “all ob­sta­cles to en­sure the de­liv­ery of life­sav­ing aid at the speed and mas­sive scale re­quired.”

“The eyes of the world are watch­ing.  The eyes of his­to­ry are watch­ing.  We can­not look away. We must act to avoid more pre­ventable deaths,” he urged com­bat­ants on both sides. 

The Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al al­so used the op­por­tu­ni­ty to call for a ces­sa­tion of hos­til­i­ties in con­flict-rid­dled Su­dan.

“The fight­ing there must end for the sake of the Su­danese peo­ple,” he said, “who face hunger, hor­rors and un­told hard­ships.”

He stat­ed: “In Gaza, in Su­dan, and be­yond, it is time for peace.”

FILE - Residents displaced from a surge of violent attacks squat on blankets and in hastily made tents in the village of Masteri in west Darfur, Sudan, on July 30, 2020. Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, by The Associated Press. (Mustafa Younes via AP, File)

Mustafa Younes

The fol­low­ing is the full text of his state­ment at to­day’s press con­fer­ence…

“To­day marks the start of the holy month of Ra­madan—a pe­ri­od when Mus­lims around the world cel­e­brate and spread the val­ues of peace, rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and sol­i­dar­i­ty.

Yet even though Ra­madan has be­gun, the killing, bomb­ing and blood­shed con­tin­ue in Gaza.

We re­cent­ly en­tered the sixth month since the Hamas ter­ror at­tacks in Is­rael and the cat­a­stroph­ic Is­raeli on­slaught on Gaza be­gun.

My strongest ap­peal to­day is to ho­n­our the spir­it of Ra­madan by si­lenc­ing the guns—and re­mov­ing all ob­sta­cles to en­sure the de­liv­ery of life­sav­ing aid at the speed and mas­sive scale re­quired.

At the same time—and in the Ra­madan spir­it of com­pas­sion—I call for the im­me­di­ate re­lease of all hostages.

The eyes of the world are watch­ing.  The eyes of his­to­ry are watch­ing.  We can­not look away.

We must act to avoid more pre­ventable deaths. 

We have wit­nessed month af­ter month of civil­ian killing and de­struc­tion at a lev­el that is un­prece­dent­ed in all my years as Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al.

Mean­while, life-sav­ing re­lief for Pales­tini­ans in Gaza is com­ing in trick­les—if it comes at all.

In­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­i­tar­i­an law lies in tat­ters.

And a threat­ened Is­raeli as­sault on Rafah could plum­met the peo­ple of Gaza in­to an even deep­er cir­cle of hell.

For months, lead­ers have ap­pealed for an im­me­di­ate hu­man­i­tar­i­an cease­fire and the im­me­di­ate re­lease of all hostages.

But the most com­pelling calls have come from the fam­i­lies of the vic­tims of this war.

I will nev­er for­get my meet­ings with them—and they have stood at this very podi­um and ad­dressed you—unit­ed in re­mark­able courage and un­fath­omable pain.

Is­raeli hostage fam­i­lies who shared their tor­ment and an­guish—and plead­ed for the im­me­di­ate re­lease of their loved ones.

And Pales­tin­ian fam­i­lies who shared heart-wrench­ing tes­ti­monies of fam­i­ly mem­bers killed in Is­raeli bom­bard­ments—and plead­ed for an im­me­di­ate cease­fire. 

As one of those fam­i­ly mem­bers said, “We are not here for con­do­lences.  We are not here for apolo­gies.  We are here for im­me­di­ate ac­tion.”

Is that too much to ask?

We must hear and heed those voic­es.

Des­per­ate civil­ians need ac­tion—im­me­di­ate ac­tion.

To­day, I al­so re­new my ap­peal for a Ra­madan ces­sa­tion of hos­til­i­ties in Su­dan.

The fight­ing there must end for the sake of the Su­danese peo­ple who face hunger, hor­rors and un­told hard­ships.

In Gaza, in Su­dan, and be­yond, it is time for peace.

I call on po­lit­i­cal, re­li­gious and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers every­where to do every­thing in their pow­er to make this holy pe­ri­od a time for em­pa­thy, ac­tion and peace.

Let’s not for­get that be­yond Ra­madan, Chris­tians will soon cel­e­brate East­er and Jews will cel­e­brate Passover in April.

It is time to end the ter­ri­ble suf­fer­ing.  Now is the time to do it.

Thank you.”