Despite some improvement in aid delivery, Gaza — devastated by war and gripped by severe hunger — remains in desperate need of humanitarian relief, a United Nations spokesperson said on Friday.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that the United Nations and its humanitarian partners had managed to deliver around 37,000 metric tonnes of aid, primarily food, to the enclave since the October 10 ceasefire. However, he warned that the assistance falls far short of what is required to meet the immense needs of Gaza’s population.
“While there has been notable progress in scaling up humanitarian operations, people’s urgent needs remain overwhelming, and restrictions are not being eased quickly enough since the ceasefire,” Haq said, citing updates from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
He expressed concern that aid access continues to be severely constrained, with only two crossings currently open. There is still no direct entry to northern Gaza from Israel or to southern Gaza from Egypt, and humanitarian organisations face continued obstacles, including restrictions on staff movement.
Earlier this week, the UN said it had distributed food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire, but warned it was still in a race to save lives.
The UN’s World Food Programme stressed all crossing points into the Gaza Strip should be opened to flood the famine-hit Palestinian territory with aid, adding that no reason was given why the northern crossings with Israel remained closed.
WFP aims to reach 1.6 million people in the territory with parcels, which provide enough food for a family for 10 days.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10, after both sides agreed to a US-brokered 20-point peace plan.
Separately on Friday, new details emerged on the United States’ draft Security Council resolution aimed at bolstering President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including by greenlighting an international security force.
The draft resolution “welcomes the Board of Peace,” a transitional governing body for Gaza envisioned in Trump’s 20-point plan, according to a copy of the text obtained by AFP on Friday.
Its mandate would last until the end of 2027.
It also authorizes member states to “establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza” with the aim of providing border security in cooperation with Israel and Egypt, demilitarizing the Gaza strip as well as achieving “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”
While it appears that Security Council members support the broader idea of the “Board of Peace” and the stabilization forces, diplomatic sources note that the text raises several questions, including the lack of a Security Council oversight mechanism, the role of the Palestinian Authority, and the details of the ISF’s mandate. AFP
Source: Express Tribune
