The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
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.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Community trust and lab testing at the heart of DRC Ebola response – WHO
In Ebola-stricken eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a massive push for early testing and contact tracing is underway to contain the virus, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNFPA
The UN in Lebanon appealed for an additional $331.5 million on Friday to help 1.4 million people in crisis as already massive needs continue to grow, three months after deadly violence erupted between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL
UN Security Council meets amid rising Israel-Hezbollah tensions in Lebanon.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the biweekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights spokesperson made the following remarks deplored the death in State custody of Brooklyn Rivera in Nicaragua.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Lebanon: Tyre hospital strikes leave patients without critical care – WHO
The UN health agency in Lebanon is verifying reports of strikes on a hospital in the southern city of Tyre on Monday, amid a concerning rise in attacks on healthcare in the country.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
El Niño confirmed, extreme weather events will be more intense, says WMO
The UN urged all countries on Tuesday to bolster early warning systems after confirming the onset of El Niño, warning that the Pacific Ocean-warming phenomenon will bring above-average temperatures “nearly everywhere” and fuel more extreme weather.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘A disease you get when you care for someone’: on the frontlines of the Ebola crisis with WHO
Two weeks into the latest Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) is estimating that there are 906 suspected cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including 223 suspected deaths.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on 29 May called for more robust measures by both states and tech companies to make online platforms safer for children, insisting on effective regulation, oversight and accountability. The digital world that connects children to learning, community and creativity also expose them to real risks, to their safety, to their privacy, and to their well-being. Online harms to kids’ safety, privacy, and well-being are not innate or inevitable.
See High Commissioner video: https://media.un.org/unifeed/en/asset/d357/d3579089
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: Life-saving medicines blocked as killing continues, disease gains ground
In Gaza, a dire humanitarian situation marked by continuing violence, rodent infestations and the spread of diseases is being made worse by blockages of essential medical supplies, UN agencies warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokesperson Shabia Mantoo, warned against the continuing trend of involuntary returns of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers from host countries to Afghanistan, in violation of international human rights and refugee law, at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | IFRC , OHCHR
Lebanon's first responders face high risks amid conflict, with 116 killed since March.