UN relief agencies and humanitarians, led by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the Gaza ceasefire accord reached between Israel and Hamas, and called for a massive scaling up of humanitarian operations.
Guterres said the world body’s priority must be to ease suffering caused by the conflict once the ceasefire takes effect, scheduled for Sunday, calling for rapid, unhindered, and safe humanitarian relief for all needy civilians, Xinhua news agency reported.
“It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent lifesaving humanitarian support. The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels,” he said.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, said in a statement that the ceasefire agreement offers much-needed hope to millions of people whose lives have been devastated by the conflict.
Anticipating the accord, he said that humanitarian agencies have been mobilising supplies outside Gaza to scale up aid delivery across the strip.
“We will do our utmost to respond with the ambition, creativity, and urgency this moment demands, despite the significant security and political challenges to our work,” Fletcher said. “To help us save lives, we urge all parties to adhere fully to international humanitarian law.”
He said that means protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, allowing aid workers safe, unfettered access to people in need, whoever and wherever they are, and removing all obstacles to the entry of essential aid.
Fletcher said it will be critical for the Israelis to enable entry of commercial supplies in addition to admitting to Gaza UN humanitarians and their partners.
Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), welcomed the ceasefire announcement long overdue for the children and families of Gaza who have endured more than a year of bombardment and deprivation and for the hostages in Gaza and their families in Israel.
“UNICEF and partners are ready to scale up our response,” she said. “The ceasefire must, finally, afford humanitarian actors the opportunity to safely roll out the massive response inside the Gaza Strip that is so desperately needed.”
The aid response must include unimpeded access to all children and families with essential food and nutrition, health care and psychosocial support, clean water, sanitation, education, learning, cash assistance, and the resumption of commercial trucking operations, Russell said.
Citing the collapse of essential services across Gaza, Russell said it is urgent for action to save lives and help children recover.
“Less than half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functional, increasing the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and putting children at risk,” she said. “Water production is at less than 25 per cent capacity. Nearly all of the territory’s 2.1 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity. And 95 per cent of Gaza’s school buildings have been damaged or destroyed.”
Russell added that a secure environment is necessary to allow UNICEF to increase the screening and treatment of children suffering from malnutrition, facilitate vaccination catch-up for 420,000 children under 5 years, and support the prevention of disease outbreaks, including polio, measles, and cholera.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported earlier Wednesday that there are continuing efforts to scale up aid operations despite the continuing challenges. Humanitarians have long complained of Israeli authorities in Gaza blocking or impeding aid deliveries.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, told reporters at a regular briefing that Israeli authorities continue to deny UN-led efforts to reach the North Gaza governorate, where Palestinians have been under siege for more than three months.
He said attempts made Tuesday and Wednesday to reach besieged areas to deliver critical humanitarian assistance were denied. Across Gaza, the UN planned 21 coordinated humanitarian missions. Less than half were facilitated. Seven were denied outright, and four were impeded. IANS
