UNITED NATIONS, Oct 07 (APP): As Palestinians and the world mark the second anniversary of Israel’s genocide in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli military and settlements, the UN is appealing for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering – all as talks on a US-driven peace plan continue in Egypt.
In a statement, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher referred to what he called “abhorrent” Hamas cross-border attacks, asserting, “Civilians everywhere have to be protected.”
Fletcher also underscored the fact that since 7 October 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians — more than 66,000 — have been killed and “hundreds of thousands endure starvation and displacement”.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said that Gazans have lived through “two long years of destruction, displacement, bombardment, fear, death and hunger”. In a statement posted on X, he again called for the release of all hostages and Palestinian detainees, an immediate ceasefire and for the unfettered delivery of humanitarian supplies at scale, including through UNRWA.
He also urged accountability for atrocities committed on and after 7 October 2023, saying there was “no other way out of this abyss and mayhem”.
Amid ongoing violence and airstrikes, UN humanitarian and health officials said on Tuesday that children are paying the heaviest price, with tens of thousands killed, maimed or severely malnourished, while Gaza’s hospitals and clinics edge towards total collapse.
Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday, Ricardo Pires from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) maintained that Israel’s “disproportionate response” had left children suffering “in their bodies and minds for way too long”. He told reporters that 61,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed since October 2023 – one child every 17 minutes – and that many have been traumatised, orphaned and displaced multiple times, “an unacceptable, staggering figure”.
“They’ve been exposed to disease and violence on a scale unprecedented for Gaza,” he continued. “We’ve been denied permission to bring incubators and ventilators to children from the north. They desperately need that to survive. We’re talking about children sharing oxygen masks in order to stay alive.”
UNICEF says that one in five babies in Gaza is now born prematurely, often to mothers weakened by hunger and stress.
Referring to the peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, which has been the object of negotiations in Egypt for a second day, Pires welcomed “the plans by the US Government which bring a glimpse of hope to the region and to civilians and children in Gaza, that a better future is ahead”.
His words echoed those of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who, in a statement on Monday, said that the recent proposal by the US President “presents an opportunity to that must be seized to bring this tragic conflict to an end”.
The opportunity must not be lost, the UN chief stressed. “After two years of trauma, we must choose hope – now,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially operating – none in northern Gaza – and just 62 primary health-care centres remain partly functional, compared with a pre-war total of 176.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that official figures confirm 400 malnutrition-related deaths since January 2025, including 101 children, 80 of them under five. Over 10,000 children have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition in the past two months, and about 2,400 severely malnourished children are at risk of starvation.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the WHO spokesperson warned that the true toll is likely much higher, as many families in overcrowded shelters cannot reach clinics or hospitals. “Famine that was once confined to Gaza City is now spreading south as people flee renewed fighting,” he explained.
From the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), spokesperson Jens Laerke added that since October 2023 more than 8,000 missions inside Gaza have required Israeli approval, and that nearly half had been denied, delayed or impeded. “Any aid that gets in is positive,” he said, “but there hasn’t been a single day where supplies met the levels required”.
Meanwhile, the United States, Israel’s closet ally, has used the occasion to acknowledge only the victims of one side.
In a statement issued in Washington on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged 1,200 Israeli and dual citizen victims — many of them reportedly killed in Israel’s Hannibal Doctrine reaction — but omitted the over 66,000 Palestinians killed by Tel Aviv in the besieged enclave.
Currently, Rubio’s statement said, 48 hostages remain captive by Hamas, “including the remains of US citizens Itay Chen and Omer Neutra.”
“The United States reaffirms its unwavering support for Israel’s right to exist, to defend itself, and to ensure the safety of its people. As the United States marks this tragic anniversary and honours the victims, we renew our resolve to prevent such evil from ever taking place again,” it said.
Analysts said that the omission of Palestinian casualties in Rubio’s statement appears to be a deliberate choice to highlight the suffering of Israelis only while downplaying the plight of Palestinians.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s air strikes and ground incursions in the occupied West Bank and other areas have resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian casualties.
Palestinians have documented the killings of more than 66,000 people and reported nearly 170,000 injuries.