The Maldives has called on the United Nations (UN) to help bring an end to the blockade of basic rights in Gaza, by restoring food, water, and electricity to the besieged enclave, and to expedite humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Addressing the international community at a UN General Assembly committee meeting, Hala Hameed, Bilateral Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, underscored that the people of Gaza were now fighting for their very existence.

Hameed described the people of Gaza as deprived of basic rights such as water, food and electricity and fighting to exist in the world, a state that is completely contrary to policies of non-exclusion.

“The blockade of Gaza must be stopped immediately and humanitarian aid, medicine, food and other essential supplies must be delivered to the people of Gaza immediately,” Hala said.

Israel has cut off electricity and water in Gaza, continuing for the last four days.

While millions in Gaza continue to endure even without the most fundamental rights, and with international aid organisations consistently characterising the situation as a growing humanitarian disaster, hundreds of aid-carrying vehicles stand ready at the Rafah border in Egypt. They are denied entry due to the explicit threat of Israeli attacks.

Hameed further called on both sides to cease their attacks on civilians and condemned Israel’s threat to millions of civilians in northern Gaza, to move south within 24 hours, as a violation of humanitarian norms. The nation and the people of the Maldives will stand with the Palestinian people and peace in the Middle East is important not just for the Maldives but the whole world, the Maldivian diplomat stressed.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 7 October has risen to over 2,800, mostly women and children, with more than 10,000 wounded. An estimated 1,200 people, including around 500 minors, are believed to be trapped under the debris in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health authorities. 

The number of Israeli deaths in the Hamas attacks stands at around 1,400.