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Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
Winter is fast-approaching and heavy fighting in war-shattered enclave continues to drive mass displacement.
“It's important that we get that ceasefire and then we get aid flowing in not only to prevent the famine that continues to move to the south, but also to make sure that children and families are sheltered,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Ricardo Pires told reporters in Geneva.
Mr. Pires stressed that falling temperatures in the devastated enclave will create “a whole different range of issues”, including health challenges for children and their families.
He highlighted the “massive” displacement happening in Gaza, with ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza City forcing people to flee from the north to the south. Conditions are dire in the overcrowded coastal tented settlement at Al-Mawasi which “can simply not absorb the quantity of people who are moving in”.
“We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, an estimated 400,000 displaced,” he insisted.
According to the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), only about 18 per cent of the Gaza Strip is not subject to displacement orders or located within militarized zones.
People who have lost their homes need shelter desperately and UNICEF has 11,000 tents as well as tarpaulin sheets “waiting to get in” to the Strip, Mr. Pires said.
“We’re not being able to get those supplies in… It just shows how the conditions in terms of logistics and facilitation of aid continue to be very, very poor,” he concluded.
Echoing his comments, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke stressed that humanitarians’ ability to distribute aid within Gaza remains compromised. Some aid has been able to enter, he said, highlighting the fact that community kitchens have been “resupplied to some extent”, with some 660,000 meals prepared and delivered through 137 kitchens across the enclave last Sunday.
But the ability to get aid into people’s hands depends on humanitarians obtaining permission to collect and deliver it.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't,” Mr. Laerke explained, either because of non-facilitation by the Israeli side or for other reasons.
The UN previously said that on Sunday more than 40 per cent of the humanitarian missions that require coordination with the Israeli military were denied.
“A lot of the aid that has come in recently, that has been picked up, has been taken off the trucks by desperate people and in some cases by armed groups,” OCHA’s Mr. Laerke added.
He called the current situation “chaotic” and underscored the “absolute” need for a ceasefire as soon as possible so that humanitarians can resume “a proper and well-coordinated, well-supplied aid operation”.
-Ends -
STORY Gaza aid update UNICEF – OCHA 30 September 2025
TRT: 2:38”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 30 SEPTEMBER 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “It's important that we get that ceasefire and then we get aid flowing in not only to prevent the famine that continues to move to the south, but also to make sure that children and families are sheltered as we look at the winter coming and temperatures dropping, which will create a whole different range of issues, including health issues for children and their families.”
4. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Right now, there is massive displacement happening in Gaza, from the north to the south, to Al-Mawasi, an overcrowded area where the conditions are already very, very dire and can simply not absorb the quantity of people who are moving in. And we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, an estimated 400,000 displaced.”
6. Medium wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “UNICEF, we do have the urgent needed tents. We have 11,000 tents waiting to get in and over 7,000 tarpaulin sheets that are waiting to get in to help supporting these displaced populations that are going to the south, to help them set up temporary shelters - and we're not being able to get those supplies in. So it just shows how the conditions in terms of logistics and facilitation of aid continue to be very, very poor.”
8. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Community kitchens have been resupplied to some extent on Sunday, there were almost 660,000 meals prepared and delivered through 137 kitchens in Gaza.”
10. Close shot: Journalist in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It can be either because of non-facilitation by the Israeli side. It can also be for other reasons. And as you know, a lot of the aid that has come in recently that has been picked up has been taken off the trucks by desperate people and in some cases by armed groups.”
12. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “It is quite a chaotic situation and that underlines the absolute need for a ceasefire as soon as possible so that we can restart what amounts to what I would call a proper and well-coordinated and well-supplied aid operation.”
14. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
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