The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, stressed today that “we must not fail to see through in full” the implementation of the agreements made under President Trump’s peace initiative.
In a statement issued earlier, he said that while humanitarians were able to kick off their scale-up in Gaza earlier this week after months of frustration and blockages, there were further setbacks yesterday to the implementation of the deal.
“We are now tested to see whether we can ensure that these do not prevent the progress on which President Trump, the UN Secretary-General and so many leaders have insisted,” he added.
Fletcher called on Hamas to urgently make strenuous efforts to return all bodies of deceased hostages as agreed, also expressing his concern about the evidence of violence against civilians in Gaza. He said that Israel must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid as agreed – thousands of trucks a week – on which so many lives depend and on which the world has insisted, and he reiterated that the facilitation of aid is a legal obligation.
The Under-Secretary-General paid tribute to the humanitarian community, which is determined to save lives, no matter the obstacles*. “We will not accept any interference with our aid distribution,” he added.
He recalled the 60-day plan to scale up vital assistance and said he remains in the region this week to coordinate it. Fletcher is in Cairo today and in constant contact with regional actors, the United States and humanitarian teams on the ground “as we unblock obstacles to delivering life-saving aid in Gaza.”
Today, OCHA reports that humanitarian efforts on the ground continue**.
In a social media post yesterday, UNICEF noted that the agency is trucking water, as well as supporting wells and desalination, to reach 1.5 million people – while stressing that the needs remain immense.
Partners are also supporting the production or delivery of hundreds of thousands of meals and bread bundles every day.
On Monday, the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings were closed for the entry of humanitarian supplies by the UN and its partners – with priority given to the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees – which meant that no cargo could be offloaded and that only limited supplies could be collected.
Yesterday, both crossings remained closed to humanitarian supplies coming from the Israeli side, but the UN and its partners were able to collect cargo from them inside Gaza to support health, water, hygiene, sanitation and food operations.
Humanitarian teams are required to coordinate their movements inside Gaza with the Israeli authorities in fewer areas, compared with previous weeks. Yesterday, all seven such humanitarian missions were facilitated, with only one impeded on the ground – although that mission was nevertheless accomplished. Through those coordinated movements, teams collected supplies from crossings and advanced the clearance of the road to Zikim crossing in the north, in anticipation of its opening.