UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Jan 2 for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.

Mr Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organisations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.