Biden’s Gaza humanitarian envoy to be replaced after overseeing aid boost
Lise Grande, ex-UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Iraq and Sudan, to take over from David Satterfield, who says volume of assistance entering Gaza has expanded significantly
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The White House’s top official on getting humanitarian aid to Gaza will step down this week and be replaced by a former United Nations coordinator with decades of experience in the Middle East, two US sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
Veteran diplomat David Satterfield was brought out of retirement to fill the role of Gaza humanitarian envoy less than two weeks after the October 7 attack.
The position was created by US President Joe Biden’s administration, as it backed Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, but recognized that it had the potential to exact a steep cost on Gaza’s civilian population.
The longtime State Department diplomat, who previously served as US ambassador to Turkey, will be replaced by Lise Grande, who currently heads the US Institute for Peace, or USIP.
Grande has decades of experience in the field, serving as UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, India, Iraq, and most recently, Yemen. She took over USIP in 2020.
Satterfield, who took temporary leave as director of the public policy school at Rice University to take on the envoy role, will stay on at the State Department as a senior adviser, the two US sources said.
His replacement this week allows him to leave the post on a relatively high note.
On Tuesday, he told reporters that after months of sluggish performance by Israel and a stern call from US President Joe Biden with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4, Jerusalem has taken “significant steps” to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The volume of assistance entering into and, most importantly, distributed within Gaza has increased significantly,” he said, pointing to Israel’s decision to open additional crossings and scale up aid coming in from Jordan.
However, he added that “the risk of famine throughout Gaza is very high, especially in the north.”
He leaves the position days before the US is slated to begin construction on a pier that will establish a maritime aid route meant to help flood north Gaza and the rest of the Strip with assistance.
Satterfield called on Israel to do more to facilitate efforts to avert famine in Gaza, including by establishing additional routes for aid to be transported throughout the Strip since the main two crossings have become overly congested due to the uptick in aid.
Satterfield also noted the need for the UN to secure additional trucks and transfer them into Gaza so that the additional assistance that has been approved in recent weeks can be delivered.
