UN calls for Gaza blockade to be lifted

Tom Fletcher, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, said that while the hostages should be released and should never have been taken in the first place, international law mandates that Israel must allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. “Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip,” Mr Fletcher said in a statement. “Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills,” he added.