{"id":307540,"date":"2025-05-19T09:55:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=307540"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:56:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T13:56:50","slug":"un-relief-chief-statement-19may25","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-relief-chief-statement-19may25\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Relief Chief welcomes renewed aid deliveries to Gaza, but stresses it&#8217;s only a &#8220;drop in the ocean&#8221; of what is needed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>19 May 2025<\/p>\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<h3><strong>Statement on Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General\u00a0for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Israeli authorities have temporarily allowed us to resume delivery of limited aid into Gaza, following 11 weeks of complete blockade, and amid a spike in the military offensive. This is a welcome development that should remain in place.<\/p>\n<p>Today, nine of our trucks were cleared to enter, via the Kerem Shalom crossing.<\/p>\n<p>But it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed, and significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza, starting tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n<p>We have been reassured that our work will be facilitated through existing, proven mechanisms. I am grateful for that reassurance, and Israel\u2019s agreement to humanitarian notification measures that reduce the immense security threats of the operation. I am determined that our aid reach those in greatest need, and that the risk of theft by Hamas or other armed groups is minimized.<\/p>\n<p>Our expectations for today\u2019s crossings are realistic: Given ongoing bombardment and acute hunger levels, the risks of looting and insecurity are significant.<\/p>\n<p>But it is our job to do everything we can to deliver, even against these odds. I am grateful to our humanitarian colleagues for their immense courage and dedication. They are the best of humanity.<\/p>\n<p>The limited quantities of aid now being allowed into Gaza are of course no substitute for unimpeded access to civilians in such dire need. The UN has a clear, principled and practical\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/briefing-note-un-coordinated-plan-16may25\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plan<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to save lives at scale, as I set out last week.<\/p>\n<p>We are ready to do so much more. To make this possible, we urge the Israeli authorities to:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>open at least two crossings into Gaza, one in the north and another in the south;<\/li>\n<li>simplify and expedite procedures; and remove any quotas;<\/li>\n<li>lift access impediments within Gaza and not conduct attacks in areas and times of deliveries;<\/li>\n<li>allow us to cover the whole range of needs \u2013 food, water, hygiene, shelter, health, fuel, gas and beyond.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To reduce looting, there must be a regular flow of aid, and humanitarians must be permitted to use multiple routes. Commercial goods should complement the humanitarian response.<\/p>\n<p>We are ready and determined to scale up our life-saving operation Gaza and respond to the needs of people, wherever they are.<\/p>\n<p>We call again for the protection of civilians. We need a resumption of the ceasefire. Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.<\/p>\n<p>This will be tough. But the humanitarian community will take any opening we have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 19 May 2025 Statement on Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General\u00a0for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator The Israeli authorities have temporarily allowed us to resume delivery of limited aid into Gaza, following 11 weeks of complete blockade, and amid a spike in the military offensive. This is a welcome development that should remain in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-relief-chief-statement-19may25\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329,1338],"document-source":[2169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1945,5358,2005],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-307540","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-category-statement","document-source-office-for-the-coordination-of-humanitarian-affairs-ocha","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-ClosuresCurfewsBlockades","document-subject-gaza-strip","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/307540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/307540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307543,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/307540\/revisions\/307543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=307540"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=307540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}