UN chief urges massive Gaza aid flow, sees 'dramatic starvation'

• U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a massive supply of aid to Gaza to fight starvation, saying there was a growing international consensus to tell Israel a ceasefire is needed in its war on Hamas.
• Speaking on a visit to Jordan, Guterres said he also saw a growing consensus for telling Israel that any ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town on the Egyptian border, could mean a humanitarian disaster.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a massive supply of aid to Gaza to fight starvation, saying there was a growing international consensus to tell Israel a ceasefire is needed in its war on Hamas.

Speaking on a visit to Jordan, Guterres said he also saw a growing consensus for telling Israel that any ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town on the Egyptian border, could mean a humanitarian disaster.

Rafah has become the last refuge for half of Gaza's uprooted population, swollen by displaced Palestinians escaping fighting elsewhere in Gaza after more than five months of war.

Israel should lift all obstacles to aid into Gaze and allow convoys of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA into northern Gaza where starvation is looming, Guterres said.

"It is absolutely essential to have a massive supply of humanitarian aid now. This means opening more entry points, this means a concentration of efforts of all entities and without obstacles and limitations from the Israeli side," Guterres said.

During a tour of a centre in Jordan's Wihdat camp where UNRWA provides health and education services, the top U.N. official said that the agency was a lifeline of hope and dignity for millions of refugees across the region.

"The decision not to allow UNRWA'S convoys to