Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA , UNITED NATIONS , UNOG
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
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO , ILO , OHCHR , UNDP , UNHCR , WHO
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IFRC , OCHA , UNCTAD , WMO
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Federation of the Red Cross, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Trade and Development, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO , OCHA , UNRWA
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Telecommunication Union.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO , WMO , OCHA , UNHCR , OHCHR , UNDRR
Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO , UNRWA , UNHCR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization.