UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has called on the foreign ministers of the G20 developed and emerging economies to work toward ending the war in the Gaza Strip.

“You have the power to make a difference. Use it. Your silence and lack of action will only lead to more women and children thrown into the open graves of Gaza,” Mr Griffiths said in an opinion piece published on the website of Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera.

He said the humanitarian organisations were doing everything they could to alleviate the immeasurable suffering of the Palestinian population.

The G20 foreign ministers will continue their meetings in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

The Gaza war was triggered by a massacre carried out by armed militants from the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7, 2023 in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.

The attackers killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive.

According to the health authority in the Gaza Strip, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.

The figures were regarded as largely credible by the UN and human rights organisations.

Israel has been heavily criticised for the many civilian casualties and the massive destruction.

“We have been pleading with Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, to facilitate aid delivery to little or no avail. We have been calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages to little or no avail. We have been urging the parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law to little or no avail,” Mr Griffiths said in his opinion piece.

He appealed to the G20 foreign ministers to use their influence to end the war and save the people of Gaza.

The opinion piece had previously been published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo.

(dpa/NAN)