World's largest humanitarian network urges ceasefire, access to Gaza

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) called on Wednesday for a ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, where millions of people face worsening hunger.

The war-torn enclave is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe nearly eight months after Israel launched a military offensive in the enclave, killing thousands and devastating the enclave.

"We desperately need a political solution that will allow us to have a ceasefire to get aid in," IFRC President Kate Forbes told Reuters in an interview in the capital, Manila.

"We're ready to make a difference. We have to have access, and to have access there has to have a ceasefire," said Forbes, who in December became the second woman to ever hold the top job at the world's largest humanitarian network.

The IFRC president is a volunteer position and oversees a network that unites 191 organisations working during and after disasters and wars, such as the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which has ambulance crews in Gaza.

Forbes said she had seen the "atrocious" situation in Rafah during a visit in February, months before Israel launched a military assault on the southern Gaza city, which had been sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled assaults on other parts of the enclave.

"There was not enough housing. There was no water, there weren't enough sanitation toilets. We had a hospital with no equipment and unfortunately what I was afraid of has happened, and that there wasn't going to be enough food," Forbes said.

Prospects for a resumption of mediated Gaza ceasefire talks grew over the weekend, even as Israel continued its brutal and indiscriminate military campaign in Rafah despite the top United Nations court ordering Israel on Friday to stop attacking Gaza's southernmost city.

Hamas has denied reports that talks would resume earlier this week amid Israel's ongoing offensive in Rafah.

"I plead with the governments on all sides to negotiate a ceasefire so that we can get aid in," Forbes said.

"My job is to ensure that when it (ceasefire) happens, we can give the aid that's necessary. And so they need to do their jobs so I can do my job," she added. 

Most of the casualties from Israel's war on Gaza have been women and children.