Palestine aid group says UN Security Council resolution on Gaza 'utterly insufficient'

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The head of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said Friday that the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that called for more aid and better access to Gaza is not a sufficient move.

Melanie Ward welcomed the resolution but said “it is an utterly insufficient response to the scale of humanitarian need,"

The CEO of the UK-based charity noted that 20,000 Palestinians have been killed while a quarter of hospitals function and said the world continues to "fail Gaza's people in their darkest hour.”

Ward said the resolution will not halt the "disaster."

The UNSC failed “to demand the one thing which can sustainably protect civilian lives and enable the distribution of sufficient aid to all who need it: an immediate and permanent ceasefire."

Following delays this week, 13 UNSC member states voted Friday in favor of the resolution, while the US and Russia abstained.

The resolution calls for "urgent steps" to immediately allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded" humanitarian access to Gaza.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in 20,057 deaths and 53,320 wounded, most of them children and women. It has caused immense damage to infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to Palestinian and international sources.