United Nations leaders and agencies have said that people in Gaza need much more than the aid convoy of 20 trucks that made it past the Rafah border and entered the Strip on Saturday. They welcomed the entry of the relief aid but added that it was far from enough, and noted that the world needs to do more than that. The aid convoy that entered Gaza was the first humanitarian relief supply in the enclave that has been witnessing massive Israeli airstrikes after a surprise assault by Hamas on October 7.
"I want to express my deep gratitude to Egypt in this regard. But the people of Gaza need a commitment for much, much more – a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday at the Cairo Summit for Peace, reported PTI.
"We are working nonstop with all parties that are relevant to make it happen," he added.
Five UN agencies - UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) - said the "first, but limited, shipment of life-saving humanitarian supplies" from the UN and the Egyptian Red Crescent that entered Gaza through the Rafah Crossing, will provide an urgently needed lifeline to some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, cut off from water, food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.
However, they added that it was only a small beginning and far from enough. "More than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian aid. Children, pregnant women and the elderly remain the most vulnerable. Nearly half of Gaza’s population are children," the agencies further said, quoted PTI. The agencies noted that the Strip was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. "It is now catastrophic. The world must do more," they said.
Israel has cut food, water and power supply to Gaza in a bid to hit Hamas and disrupt its operation in the region. But the decision has increased the troubles of residents in the enclave with hospitals running low on fuel posing dangers for thousands of patients. The agencies said that with so much civilian infrastructure in Gaza damaged or destroyed, "time is running out" before the number of deaths could skyrocket due to disease outbreaks and lack of health-care capacity.
"These are expected to run out in the next day or so. Water production capacity is at 5 per cent of normal levels. Pre-positioned humanitarian supplies have already been depleted," they said.
Calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza, the agencies said, "Flows of humanitarian aid must be at scale and sustained and allow all Gazans to preserve their dignity."
UN Agencies Ask For Safety Of Workers
At the Cairo Peace Summit in Egypt, the UN agencies have called for the protection of workers giving their best in the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
"We call for the protection of humanitarian workers in Gaza who are risking their lives in the service of others. And we call for the utmost respect of international humanitarian law by all parties," they added.
Meanwhile, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths welcomed the announcement that the aid convoy has entered Gaza.
"The delivery follows days of deep and intense negotiations with all relevant sides to make sure that aid operation into Gaza resumes as quickly as possible and with the right conditions," he said.
Griffiths expressed confidence that the delivery of aid will be the “start of a sustainable effort" to provide essential supplies – including food, water, medicine and fuel – to the people of Gaza in a safe, dependable, unconditional and unimpeded manner.
Adding that the people of Gaza have endured decades of suffering, Griffiths said, "The international community cannot continue to fail them." UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, thanked the Egyptian authorities for facilitating the entry of the first truckloads of aid into the Gaza Strip through Rafah.
Around 4,385 Palestinians are said to have been killed in Gaza in Israel's offensive action into the Strip.