Over 250 humanitarian and human rights organizations have joined an open letter calling for an immediate halt to all arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups, Agence France-Presse reported, cited by BTA.
"We call for an immediate ceasefire and appeal to all countries to end the transfer of weapons that could be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law and human rights," the organizations said.
"The UN Security Council must assume its responsibility to maintain world peace and security by adopting measures to end arms transfers to the Israeli government and Palestinian armed groups," the open letter concludes.
The open letter was initiated in January 2024 by 16 organizations and already has over 250 signatures, including those of "Amnesty International", "Save the Children", Oxfam, "Doctors of the World", "Caritas international" and a number of religious and feminist NGOs.
"The Israeli bombardment and siege are depriving the civilian population of the basics of survival and rendering Gaza uninhabitable," the organizations wrote, describing in the letter "a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented severity and scale".
"The hostage-taking and indiscriminate attacks" by Palestinian armed groups "represent violations of international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately,", the letter also said, recalling the number of casualties from the October 7 attack by Hamas, the firing of rockets at Israel and the holding of about 130 hostages in Gaza.
Yesterday, the UN Security Council took note of Israel's pledge to open more humanitarian aid crossings to Gaza, but called for more to be done in the face of the threat of "imminent famine.
The war in Gaza followed on October 7, when Hamas fighters infiltrated the enclave into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. In response, Israel threatened to destroy "Hamas". Israel's army launched an offensive that has so far killed 33,545 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Hamas' health ministry. Progress towards a truce in the Gaza Strip has been slow despite the efforts of mediators.