United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the ceasefire and hostage release in the Gaza Strip and reiterated the organization's commitment to providing support and assistance to the affected parties, Reuters reports.
"We stand ready to support this implementation and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer," Guterres stated on X on Sunday.
He stressed that this ceasefire is imperative to remove the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid.
Earlier, the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect at 11:15 local time (09:15 GMT) on Sunday after a nearly three-hour delay, with Hamas handing over three Israeli hostages. In return, Israel is expected to free 90 Palestinian detainees later on the day.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire deal also includes a significant increase in supplies into the Gaza Strip. About 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including 50 fuel trucks, are expected to enter the war-torn enclave daily to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has repeatedly warned that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is intensifying, with civilians in urgent need of basic supplies such as food, medicines and shelters.
The implementation of the ceasefire has opened a life-saving window for humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza.
In the past 15 months, 46,913 Palestinian people in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli onslaught which began on October 7, 2023, with 110,750 others injured, according to Gaza-based health ministry on Sunday.
