UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : OCHA Press Conference: Martin Griffiths on the crisis in OPT / Israel

Good afternoon, everyone.

And good morning to those who are joining us from New York.

And also welcome to everybody

listening in and following on

Web TV where this is a live cast.

I'm very happy that we have with us today Mr Martin Griffiths,

the under Secretary General for humanitarian

affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

We will hear from him first. Now, in this live part of the briefing

on the situation in Israel and the occupied

Palestinian territory,

he will have some short opening remarks and then we will take a few of your questions.

It will not be that long,

but we of course prioritise to have your questions

asked.

So without further ado, Martin,

I will hand over to you.

Dude does that is a I now on.

Is that on?

Ok, good. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much indeed.

Yes, today

marks two months to the day

since

the start

of the Gazan

tragedy

that day,

October the seventh,

with the terrible events

that happened

to the people of Israel living near Gaza

and that led

to the terrible events

that continue to this day

and the message that we have been giving we here being the humanitarian community

and I represent

the humanitarian community

writ large, not just the United Nations,

is

that we do not have a humanitarian operation

in southern Gaza

that can be called by that name

anymore.

That the pace of the military

assault

in southern Gaza

is a repeat of the assault in northern Gaza,

that it has made no place safe

for civilians in southern Gaza, which

had been a cornerstone

of the

humanitarian plan

to protect civilians

and thus to provide aid to them.

But without places of safety,

that plan is in tatters.

And so what we have at

the moment

in Gaza,

northern Gaza even more difficult.

But in Gaza, where we have trucks still crossing

daily through, the Rafah

crossing

is at best

humanitarian opportunism

to try to reach

through some roads which are still accessible,

which haven't been mined or destroyed

to some people who can be found

where some food

or some water

or some other supply can be given.

But it's a programme of opportunism,

it's erratic,

it's undependable

and frankly it's not sustainable

it as a result of this declaration

and judgement by the humanitarian community,

the global humanitarian community

that the secretary general of the United Nations, as you know,

wrote

yesterday to the president of the

Security Council,

invoking for the first time ever in his tenure as secretary general

Article 99 of the charter,

which speaks of the threat to international peace and security of a specific event

as raised by

and in the judgement of the secretary general.

No,

I don't want to end these opening remarks without saying one more important thing.

And that is this.

That even while we have said enough done, finish, stop the fighting,

let's have that immediate ceasefire.

That doesn't mean to say that humanitarians are themselves

running for cover.

We are still negotiating

and with some promising signs at the moment,

access through

Khan

that other crossing, as you know,

to the west of Rafa

from Israel into Gaza,

which has been such a feature of discussion these many weeks.

And there are some promising signs now that that may be able to open soon

and we're still at it.

We are still in Gaza.

An R

is still in Gaza.

My office

is still there. We are still unloading trucks in the Rafa

crossing.

Well, What we don't have

is any sense of clarity of planning.

Is there any sense of what's going to happen tomorrow? And

to be specific,

None of us

can see where this will end.

None of us can see

where

the people crammed

into that southern pocket of Gaza.

We'll go. Those 2 million people,

What do they think their future are? I have just come from

a meeting with my own staff

around the world,

buried in the tragedy of conflicts.

And they have spoken to me this morning.

Now,

about

two things.

One is that in Gaza

there is no exit

for the people of Gaza

and the other is

in Gaza.

As a result, hope

for the future

is at its best at a premium.

So our humanitarian programme is no longer a functioning one.

It is one of response to opportunity.

Yet we are still trying to build a new access point.

And the Secretary General

has clearly evidently and quickly

renewed his advocacy

for what must be the only serious policy response to this globally, which is

silence the guns.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Under Secretary General Griffiths, we will now take your questions

Reuters first, and then we go to long

Mr Griffiths, question regarding the promising signs. Um,

on the possible opening of the

kalam Uh, Kam

Shalom crossing. What are these? Uh, promising signs. Thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much indeed. Very specific.

I mean, we we've been arguing in favour, obviously, for the opening of carry

on for months. I mean, not for months. For weeks,

these negotiations have been taking place

in a committee called the Cogat

Committee, which meets daily and nightly,

where the Israeli government is represented, as is the US, by the way,

as well as the Egyptians and the United Nations. My own office is present.

And in that

Mili

in that environment, we have been arguing for the opening of

kares,

not just as an opening to allow trucks to go through there to then go through

and then up into Gaza,

but to go straight through kares

up into the northern parts of Gaza or the need is greatest

now of late in these most recent days. In those discussions,

there have been some signs

that

the member states related to that Egypt and Israel obviously are related to that

have become much more open to the idea of opening kesal.

Probably not in one go, but certainly gradually.

Secondly,

I have a representative as we speak

in Jordan,

already lining up

the potential deliveries of aid

by land from Jordan,

which can come straight through from Jordan over the Allen Bry Bridge,

straight to Kares.

That's one

entry point to kares

if we get that,

Uh,

well, it'll be the first miracle we've seen for some weeks.

But it will be a huge boost

to the logistical

process and logistical base

of a humanitarian operation. It doesn't mean to say

that it will solve

the security problems. That of course I've spoken about,

but it will change the nature

of humanitarian access.

Thank you very much. Uh, loon.

Thank you, Laurence,

Swiss News Agency.

If that doesn't happen, and if the situation goes on like it is today,

how long do you think there will be still a

possibility to go on with at least that humanitarian opportunism?

And how long will the Palestinian population bear it? Thank you.

Part of your cut.

I'm sorry.

Uh, I think the second part of your question is is the killer.

How long will the Palestinian people of Gaza bear this?

Because they're being pushed further and further south?

They tell everyone every day we tell everyone every day.

There's no place for safety.

There's no safe zones. People aren't even talking about safe zones anymore.

Um, so they're being pushed south.

We know Israel

has a very firm policy

of no entry for the people of Gaza into Israel for reasons

I think we can all understand.

But that pressure,

that pressure

will grow exponentially over these days.

The humanitarian

activities, as you say, humanitarian opportunism, it it

can't be a humanitarian programme. That would be too,

too ample a description of it

that will continue.

So long as there are people in Gaza there and trucks that can cross into

into Rafah, that will not stop.

Um, the people

of Gaza should know, do know

that the

aid agencies that they have relied on

God help us these many decades

will not desert them at this time.

But the

the prospects

for safety

for those million

or more people

forced into that southern pocket,

I your guess is surely as good as mine

that we ain't seeing the end of this movie.

We'll see more of that

and we will see more pressure.

And

we haven't even begun to talk about

the impact of the increase in violence in the West Bank.

The worry about violence in in in in Lebanon,

the anxieties in Jordan

of an outflow into Jordan. I was in Amman last week with their majesties

convening a very practical operational meeting about

what needs to be done to help the people of Gaza where they are.

What's happening in Gaza is forcing the people of Gaza to choose where to be

and to choose on the basis of violence

and pressure.

Thank you,

Martin. We will come to you, Kathrine.

But I just wanted to say I can see people are raising their hands.

I hope that we can take a couple of questions online on this as well.

Over to you.

Thank you,

Fiona.

Franz.

Thank you for being with us. A question related to security.

We've seen recently that civilians

or humanitarians

journalists are openly targeted by Israeli forces.

How will you be sure that the convoys with humanitarian aid

will be

will not be targeted?

What will be

the

the evidence that will be given by the Israeli forces. Thank you.

I'm on now. Yeah,

well, first of all, it is a very good question because

plans for deliveries, convoys, whatever.

Although a convoy

sounds a bit surreal in the context of the current situation in southern Gaza,

um are discussed every day and every night in this

committee that I've spoken of the COT

committee.

But relying on the safety of those convoys is something

that is

also at a premium

also

in doubt

because there has been so much evidence

of attacks, for example, on people moving,

they thought safely from the north, remember, from hospitals in the north south

and yet been bombed on their way south.

Um, and that's why

this

notion,

this statement that there is no place of

safety in Gaza relates also to humanitarian operations,

which means that

if you're planning a humanitarian delivery

in Gaza today,

you can you must. You must plan

for the likelihood that it will be interrupted, that it may be attacked,

that it may be looted,

that it may be stopped. It may be diverted

that it may not succeed.

You cannot,

as we do in most other places around the world

assume that a plan that has been agreed between parties

is one that will go through without incident.

And I think that uncertainty

about

the likelihood of aid reaching people

in need

is yet another

aspect

of the

absence of hope

for the people of Gaza because they don't know

when they're next, a

will come from and where from.

What they do know is

that

the destruction of the health system. And I think Dr

Tedros today has made an announcement

of the demise of yet another hospital

of the few remaining hospitals that work,

that the

erosion, the elimination, the destruction of the health system has meant that

disease, hunger,

deprivation,

challenges

bombing

as a cause of

death

and wounding of the people of Gaza.

There are two horsemen

of the apocalypse

in Gaza today.

Conflict, of course,

but also disease.

And that

will only get worse

as we are unable to sustain any supplies to hospitals, any health,

any safe water

desalination and so on and so forth.

So the vectors, the signs, the

pointers

are going in the wrong direction. All of them,

thank you very much.

I think we will take a couple of questions online.

And then I'm afraid we have to wrap up this part of the briefing. First to Dina

Abi

Saab.

And then after that, to Imogen. Folks from the BBC.

Dina, over to you.

Yes, Thank you. Can you hear me?

Hello? Can you hear me?

Please? Go ahead. Thank you.

Actually,

today we saw photos and videos showing the

arrest of dozens of Palestinians in northern Gaza,

including a journalist called Dia Al

Khao. He's one of my friends.

I saw him in one of the videos among the detainees.

Do you have any ability to know the fate of those people or to

deliver aid or help to them?

And, uh uh,

does Israel cooperated with you

regarding providing information about the detainees

since the seventh of October?

And, um, we know the number of those detainees are more than 2700 people

at the same time.

We hear we hear the United Nations

repeatedly talking about Palestine about Israeli.

Uh uh, detainee detained in in

in Gaza.

How do you classify Palestinians detained by Israel since October? The seventh.

And

are they? Why don't you talk about them at the same level as the Israeli detainees.

Thank you.

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not

somebody getting into

defining

what's the name for one person

and the name for another. For a humanitarian.

People who are in need are all civilians

in need unless they're combatants,

whether they're detained or not.

The release

of

hostages

and also of Palestinian prisoners,

which happened in that seven day pause last week, showed us

very clearly in every single

take

of their re

reuniting with their family.

Reminded us what human,

what humanity is.

A seven day pause also allowed us to do some repair of systems, restocking of plants,

reparation and aid.

We do not distinguish

as humanitarian agencies

in terms of need

between those detained by either side.

We want hostages released. We have said it every time. We say

that publicly we decry.

That's a painfully weak word.

We deplore

the taking of those hostages

back on October the seventh,

we deplore

the detention of civilians.

We deplore

the killing of civilians

more than either,

and we deplore

the lack of our ability to function effectively for the benefit of those civilians.

But we do not discriminate,

according to nationality.

Thank you, Martin.

Imogen, uh, you will get the last question. I'm afraid over to you.

Thanks very much. Um, it's a couple. I hope you don't mind. I mean,

you were talking about the situation in Gaza,

and obviously your focus is on the short term.

But I'm just wondering whether you you look at what's happening if you you think Gaza

can ever be livable

in the foreseeable future given, given the disruption.

And my other question is really about

your your trust with

with, with Israel,

your relationship of trust because the UN resident coordinator, you know,

she's not had her her visa is not going to be renewed.

There's been quite a lot of

what here in Geneva, people would say, is misinformation,

even disinformation about the role of humanitarian agencies, including the UN.

I mean, what's what's your feeling? How do you approach that? Must be quite awkward.

It is occasionally awkward, but,

um, I visited Israel

now about 10 days ago, had meetings with Israeli officials,

and they were very constructive.

Um, they introduced me by the way, to

some of the families of the hostages,

which was very important for me to be able

to speak to them and hear their direct experience.

The Israeli contingent,

which is in that negotiating committee that I've mentioned

earlier

Cogat

negotiates constructively every day,

is not absent. It is always present,

as is my office, of course,

as is the Egyptian

representatives as well as the US representatives.

So we continue to negotiate,

as we do everywhere in the world,

on the basis of humanitarian principles

and with humanitarian aspirations.

Now

I have publicly said that

the

it is wrong to decry

the reputation

of my colleague,

the humanitarian coordinator Lynne Hastings, for whom I have a great respect

and who leads our team

in the occupied territories and who's done so for some time.

Not always. Easy job,

always, always demanding,

always requiring neutrality.

And Lynn is one of those

who has all those values

in very in a very good place. So

it is always distressing

for me

as it has been in a very different way for the secretary general

to be criticised

for what we believe is doing our job.

But we will continue to do so,

and although there may be awkward moments,

there are also moments

of achievement. And that's why I

was glad to say earlier on that there are those promising signs that I mentioned

which are promising signs in negotiations with

the Israeli authorities

over the opening of

Karam.

Let us

let us not lose our faith

in the possibilities

of humanity. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Martin. I'm afraid that I will have to close this

live stream part of the briefing. So thank you very much, Mr Griffiths.

Thank you very much for your questions.

However, for those reporters who are joining us on the zoom link,

please stay on board

because we will go into another briefing now

about the global humanitarian overview and that part

of the briefing will be under embargo.

So we'll just take a very brief

moment for technical reasons.

OCHA Press Conference: Martin Griffiths on the crisis in OPT / Israel - 07 December 2023