GAZA – The UN’s most senior official overseeing aid and reconstruction in Gaza has told the BBC that the international community is collectively failing innocent civilians in the territory. Sigrid Kaag, who was appointed nine months ago to improve the delivery of urgently needed aid, said a report she is due to make to the UN Security Council would be “very sad and perhaps dark”.
She described the situation in the territory as a “significant catastrophe”. “We’re not meeting the needs, let alone creating prospects and hope for the civilians in Gaza.” In a rare interview, the senior UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction in Gaza said the systems to deliver assistance – including through multiple land and sea routes into Gaza – were now in place. And “the UN is working around the clock and people are risking their lives day in, day out”. But she called Gaza “the most unsafe place in the world to work”. She said she regretted that “not much else can be improved” until there was a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages still being held there.
Kaag said that what is known as “deconfliction” – to ensure aid missions can proceed safely – was failing: “It’s not working, or working insufficiently, to render the operations feasible.” Last week the UN said another of its aid convoys heading into northern Gaza was blocked by Israeli forces, and Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said a UN school operating as a shelter was targeted by an Israeli air strike, killing 18 people. The UN said six of its staff died. Israel accused Hamas of using the facility as “a command and control center” and said Hamas fighters were among the dead.
The UN says nearly 300 aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have been killed so far in the grievous Gaza war, which is now approaching the one-year mark. Kaag, one of the few UN officials to meet senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described her discussions as “constructive”. “We put asks on the table. Some are met. We also obtain commitments.” But she pointed out that “between the commitment and the time that it takes to see visible and tangible implementation, too much time passes”. (BBC)…[+]