UN implores Israel to open Kerem Shalom crossing for aid delivery into Gaza

The UN relief chief appeals to Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel.

"Kerem Shalom, please Israel, give us that for our crossing point," Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.

Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of truckloads heading to Gaza before this conflict, he added.

Griffiths also urged the warring parties to abide by a 10-point plan that he unveiled "to rein in the carnage" in Gaza.

"Next allow the UN and other humanitarian organizations access to fuel," he stressed.

Aid without impediment

Other points include facilitating aid agencies’ efforts to bring in a continuous flow of aid convoys, and enabling humanitarian organizations to deliver aid throughout Gaza "without impediment or interference."

He also highlighted the need to expand the number of safe shelters for displaced people in schools and other public facilities across Gaza.

Improving a humanitarian notification mechanism that would help spare civilians and civilian infrastructure from hostilities is needed, the chief stressed.

He emphasized the need to set up relief distribution hubs for civilians, and to allow civilians to move to safer areas, and voluntarily return to their residences.

Meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister

Upon a question about his earlier meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Griffiths, without giving any further detail, said they discussed the situation in detail and expressed his concern about the expansion of the war.

"The expansion of the war into the north and if there is to be a war in the north with Hezbollah and Israel. Then I fear the worst. I feel the worst.

"And we know that we can easily imagine the worst because it will be a war that makes even Gaza with its awful horrors of daily struggle look like just the beginning. It'll be a regional war which will affect so many parts," he added, stressing that Amirabdollahian agreed with him that "such expansion would not be a good thing."