UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Post Canada) – A senior humanitarian official has issued a powerful plea for urgent international action to end Israel’s war in Gaza, warning that speeches and expressions of hope are meaningless without concrete steps to stop the bloodshed.
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson in Gaza for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), delivered an emotional appeal from Deir Al-Balah. “When Gaza burned, and children starved, and hospitals collapsed – did you act?” she asked the global community.
Cherevko described Gaza City as having been “handed a death sentence” earlier this week when hundreds of thousands of already battered civilians were ordered to flee to overcrowded areas in the south, where even basic shelter no longer exists.
She shared harrowing accounts, including the death of an eight-year-old boy and several other children killed while waiting for bread. “The unmistakable smell of death is everywhere – a grisly reminder that the ruins lining the streets hide the remains of mothers, fathers, children,” she said.
Humanitarian convoys entering Gaza are routinely delayed or blocked, she added, creating what she described as a “race against time, against death, against the spread of famine.”
Still, she praised the resilience of Palestinians and aid workers, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics working without pay, medicine, or electricity, as well as ordinary citizens sharing their meager resources.
“Hope may be all we have left, so we must nurture it,” Cherevko said. “But hope alone won’t keep people alive. Urgent decisions are needed to pave the way to lasting peace before it’s too late.”
She stressed that Gazans are not asking for charity but for their fundamental right to live in safety, dignity, and peace. “Our humanity – yours, mine, all of ours – demands that we act now,” she concluded.
