UN humanitarian official notes steps by Israel to boost Gaza aid deliveries

UNITED NATIONS — The UN’s top humanitarian official for Gaza says Israel has taken steps to improve the delivery of aid to the enclave but further urgent measures are needed to increase the volume of food and other critical items needed in the territory.

Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, tells the UN Security Council that “a paradigm shift is needed to continue to meet the immense needs of the civilian population in a safe and secure manner.”

She says this requires further scaling up “in the quality and quantity of assistance,” irreversible steps to enable the safe and unhindered delivery of aid in Gaza, and “timely preparations” for projects to start early recovery of Gaza.

Kaag says she and her team have worked to launch a new streamlined land corridor from Jordan and to maximize access for humanitarian cargo from Egypt through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

She says a “UN mechanism” to accelerate the provision of aid to Gaza that the Security Council called for in a December resolution will start operating “in the coming days,” initially by land from Jordan and by sea from Cyprus.

She adds that “a database and notification system will go online for all cargo destined for Gaza along supply routes.”

Kaag says her team has “very constructive cooperation” with Israel, which she says has taken a number of steps since April 5.

She says that includes increasing the volume of aid crossing into Gaza, temporarily opening the Erez crossing and opening the port of Ashdod for humanitarian goods, increasing the number of trucks entering from Jordan and preparing other crossings to northern Gaza where acute hunger and looming famine are worst. She also cites the resumption of some bakery operations in central and northern Gaza and the repair of the water pipeline to northern Gaza.

But Kaag says other measures need urgent implementation, including improvement in checkpoint procedures and clearing humanitarian convoys as well as repairing roads and approving additional communication equipment, armored vehicles and spare parts for critical equipment.

“Agreement on medical and casualty evacuation is equally urgent,” she says, and improved communications between aid workers and Israeli military decisionmakers and “effective and credible deconfliction “is vital for all humanitarian actors on the ground.”