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Gaza update - Martin Griffiths- UN Emergency Relief chief
Gaza crisis: UN relief chief unveils 10-point plan ‘to rein in the carnage’
In response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the latest escalation with Israel, the UN’s top emergency relief official unveiled a 10-point plan on Wednesday “to rein in the carnage” there.
Martin Griffiths told journalists at UN Geneva that the initiative focused on a major expansion of aid into the wartorn enclave, along with a new call for humanitarian ceasefires and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’s 7 October terror attacks on Israel.
“Silence the guns, stop the fighting to allow the people to move safely, do it for as long as possible. Allow them to move safely on their own…Not hindered and not pushed.”
In a call to the warring parties and all those able to exert influence on them to heed the UN initiative, Mr. Griffiths underscored the need to ensure a safe and “continuous flow of aid convoys” into Gaza.
The initiative from veteran aid chief Martin Griffiths, head of the UN aid coordination office OCHA, comes more than five weeks since Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took around 240 hostages.
“Release of the hostages is not part of a humanitarian plan”, he said. “It's an obligation on all those involved...I have always spoken publicly about the fact that these hostages need to be released unconditionally.”
The full-scale Israeli siege and assault that followed has levelled thousands of buildings in Gaza and reportedly claimed more than 11,000 civilian lives, according the Ministry of Health there.
Additional crossing points should be opened into the enclave, over and above Rafah from Egypt, according to the 10-point plan, and private sector suppliers should be included in this plan too.
“More crossing points, including that Kerem Shalom, which used to carry more than 60 per cent of the truckloads going through before this conflict, this recent outburst of conflict started”, emphasized Mr. Griffiths. “So please, Kerem Shalom, please, Israel, give us that for our crossing point.”
Access to fuel, a key requirement for all aid to flow, should also be made possible “in sufficient quantities” to deliver basic services, and the UN and partners should be allowed to expand the number of shelters available to all those forced from their homes in northern Gaza by the Israeli military’s evacuation order.
“Fuel is the driver of so many aspects of the humanitarian response,” underscored Mr. Griffiths. “It's the driver of desalination. It's the driver of electricity. It's the driver of effective hospitals. It's the driver of trucks that will go from Rafah on entry to the distribution points.”
On behalf of the humanitarian community that Mr. Griffiths represents, he urged all the parties, all those who have influence over them, and the broader international community to do everything in their power to support and implement the humanitarian plan.
“I haven't witnessed in my many, many decades of dealing with war an occasion on which so much attention is being paid to the requirements of international humanitarian law, otherwise called the rules of war,” said the top UN relief coordinator. “One of them is to allow people to go where they decide to go. They will decide where they're safe. They will decide when they want to move. And not move. And the same goes for us that we need safety to deliver aid to wherever those people go.”
Additional funding for the humanitarian response is also required, Mr. Griffiths pointed out, noting that it now amounts to $1.2 billion. UN and partner aid distribution hubs should also be permitted and civilians should be allowed “to move to safer areas and to voluntarily return to their residences”, he said.
-ends-
STORY: Gaza update - Martin Griffiths- UN emergency relief chief
TRT: 2:34”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 15 November 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN building with UN flag, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, Martin Griffiths steps up on the podium, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Martin Griffiths, UN emergency relief chief: “Silence the guns stop the fighting to allow the people to move safely. Do it for as long as possible. Allow them to move safely on their own. Not hindered and not pushed and silenced those guns long enough to give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put on the this these last few weeks.”
- Cutaway: Close up, journalists listening, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Martin Griffiths, UN emergency relief chief: “Fuel is the driver of so many aspects of the humanitarian response. It's the driver of desalination. It's the driver of electricity. It's the driver of effective hospitals. It's the driver of trucks that will go from Rafah on entry to the distribution points.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, podium, Martin Griffiths and cameras, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Martin Griffiths, UN emergency relief chief: “More crossing points, including that Kerem Shalom, which used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going through before this conflict, this recent outburst of conflict started. So please, Kerem Shalom, please, Israel, give us that for our crossing point.”
- Cutaway: Close up, camera filming, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Martin Griffiths, UN emergency relief chief: “The release of the hostages is not part of a humanitarian plan. It's an obligation on all those involved. I am one of those who had the misfortune or privilege, depending on how you look at it, of seeing some of those videos of what happened on that day of October the seventh. And I have always spoken publicly about the fact that these hostages need to be released unconditionally.”
- Cutaway: Close up, photograph, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Martin Griffiths, UN emergency relief chief: “I haven't witnessed in my many, many decades of dealing with war an occasion on which so much attention is being paid to the requirements of international humanitarian law. Otherwise called the rules of war. One of them is to allow people to go where they decide to go. They will decide where they're safe. They will decide when they want to move. And not move. And the same goes for us that we need safety to deliver aid to wherever those people go.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, Martin Griffiths leaves, UN Geneva
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
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Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
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The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
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