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The United Nations said Thursday that 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid is ready to arrive Gaza And he wants the green light israel Massive increase in aid to more than 2 million Palestinians following agreement to stop war.
Over the past several months, the UN and its humanitarian partners have been able to deliver only 20% of the assistance needed to address the critical situation in the Gaza Strip, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher Said. After the ceasefire agreement was announced on Wednesday, he said all entry points to Gaza should be opened to allow aid to arrive on a “very large scale”.
“Given the level of need, the level of hunger, the level of suffering and despair, it will take a massive collective effort and that is what we are prepared for,” Fletcher said. “We are absolutely ready to roll out and deliver at scale.”
The President announced the deal on Wednesday donald trump It is the first time in months that U.N. officials are optimistic about their ability to increase deliveries after two years of war, expanding Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian aid have led to a hunger crisis, including famine in parts of the region.
The conflict, which began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people, devastated Gaza, killed thousands of Palestinians, sparked other conflicts in the region and isolated Israel on the world stage, including at the United Nations.
UN hopes to get more aid to Gaza soon
Speaking to UN correspondents virtually from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, he said the UN was “demanding, demanding, pleading for access, which we hope we will have now in the coming days.”
blame on israel Hamas Accused of siphoning off aid funds without providing evidence of massive embezzlement and blamed UN agencies for failing to deliver food to Gaza. It replaced the UN aid operation in Gaza in May with an Israeli and US-backed contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the primary food supplier.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday he was not aware of any role for the GHF during the ceasefire.
Fletcher said the UN is being guided by a 20-point ceasefire plan put forward by the United States, which emphasizes “the importance of the UN role at the heart of the humanitarian response”.
These are the priorities of the United Nations during the ceasefire
In the first 60 days of the ceasefire, Fletcher said, the UN goal will be to increase the number of aid trucks entering Gaza to between 500 and 600 per day as well as food distribution to the 2.1 million people who need it and 500,000 people who need nutritional supplements.
“Famine must be eliminated in areas where it has taken hold and stopped in others,” he said, adding that special rations would be distributed to people facing severe hunger, and bakeries and community kitchens would be supported.
Fletcher said the UN’s goal was to deliver medicine and supplies to restore Gaza’s destroyed health system; enhancing emergency and primary health care, including mental health and rehabilitation services; supporting medical referrals and medical evacuation; Deploying more emergency teams.
The UN aims to restore Gaza’s water grid and improve sanitation by installing toilets in homes, repairing sewage leaks and pumping stations and removing solid waste from residential areas, he said.
With winter approaching and much of the housing destroyed, the United Nations is also planning to bring in thousands of tents each week in addition to heavy-duty waterproof tarpaulins, Fletcher said.
As far as education is concerned, he said, the United Nations plans to reopen temporary learning spaces for 700,000 schoolchildren and “provide them with learning materials and school supplies.”
Fletcher said the UN could carry out the plan as it has done before, but it needed to ensure protection for civilians, particularly women and girls who were victims of sexual violence, and identify where unexploded ordnance were located to reduce the risk of deaths and injuries.
It also needs Israel to allow access to UN humanitarian and other organization partners, and it also needs money – lots of it.
Fletcher warned that the 170,000 tonnes of aid ready to enter Gaza is just the tip of the iceberg of the need, and called on developed countries to increase contributions to aid efforts.
“Every government, every state, every person who is looking at this crisis and thinking, ‘What can we do? If only there is something we can do.’ Now is the time to value that generosity,” he said.