ICRC director says 'new inferno was unleashed' on Gaza

A "new inferno" has been unleashed on Gaza following the restart of Israel's war on the Palestinian territory, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Monday.

"Gaza is experiencing and enduring... death, injury, multiple displacements, amputations, separation, disappearance, starvation and denial of aid and dignity on a massive scale, and just when the all important ceasefire led people to believe they had survived the worst, a new inferno was unleashed," Pierre Krahenbuhl said.

"This includes the trauma of families of Israeli hostages who face a never ending nightmare, and of the families of Palestinian prisoners, over 400 aid workers and 1,000 health care workers have been killed in Gaza, including 36 from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement," he told the annual Global security forum in Doha.

"This horror and dehumanisation will haunt us for decades to come," Krahenbuhl added.

A truce in Israel's war on Gaza, brokered by Qatar with Egypt and the United States, came into force on 19 January, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting triggered by Palestinian militants' 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

The inital phase of the truce ended in early March, after Israel refused to move onto phase two negotiations that would have discussed an end to the war.

Israel then resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on 18 March after laying siege on the enclave on 2 March, with the UN's World Food Programme saying that food aid has run out in Gaza.

The health ministry Gaza on Monday raised its overall death toll to 52,314 people since the war began.

The International Court of Justice on Monday began five days of hearings on Israel's blocking of aid entry into Gaza on accusations that the policy violates international humanitarian law.