UN Renews Call for Unrestricted Aid Access to Gaza

Thousands of people in Gaza are on the move following the ceasefire deal © UN News

As displaced Gazans crowded the main route north on Friday following the reported ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, UN aid teams renewed their call to open all crossings into the devastated enclave to prevent famine from spreading.

“There is little information available on the details or how the agreement will be implemented. However, we call for all crossings into Gaza to be opened immediately so that humanitarian supplies can flow into the war-torn enclave,” said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

Her remarks came as Israeli forces reportedly pulled back from parts of Gaza, in line with an agreement brokered in Egypt this week by US mediators and representatives from Qatar and Türkiye.

Pushing back on famine

“This food from UNRWA is critical for averting and controlling famine,” Ms Touma stressed, as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 50,000 children were suffering from acute malnutrition and urgently needed treatment.

“They need to be treated immediately… with the ceasefire, we hope we can deliver the therapeutic care they so desperately need,” said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires.

The UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, said on Thursday that “the whole UN humanitarian family” was mobilised to get aid into Gaza. He underlined the “indispensable role” of UNRWA in distributing supplies across the Strip and noted the UN’s central role in implementing US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan now being enacted.

Active conflict ongoing

Aid teams operating in the enclave reported that the ceasefire had not yet taken effect early Friday morning.

Despite this, vital humanitarian work continues, including a UNICEF mission to Gaza City on Thursday “to rescue two babies who were in incubators and fighting for their lives,” said Mr Pires.

“Luckily, thanks to the hard work of colleagues and health workers on the ground, they survived and were reunited with their families today.”

He explained that the mission had to wait 15 hours to gain access to Gaza City because “the situation on the ground was still very unstable and kinetic activity was taking place – a lot of violence.”

Echoing that assessment, UNRWA’s Ms Touma said that colleagues in the enclave reported ongoing airstrikes on Friday morning.

She added that more than 370 UNRWA staff members have been killed since the conflict erupted following Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 — “the highest death toll in the United Nations since its founding,” she noted.

Joining the call for “unimpeded” aid access across “all possible routes,” UN health agency (WHO) spokesperson Christian Lindmeier stressed the need to resume urgent medical evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, along with flexible funding “to drive recovery.”

UN agencies currently have 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, and other supplies ready for delivery into Gaza. The aim is to scale up food assistance to reach 2.1 million people, including around 500,000 who need nutritional support.