Current aid system for Gaza 'geared to fail,' UN warns

The UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) warned Monday that the limited number of aid trucks entering Gaza were insufficient to meet the "unprecedented humanitarian needs" in the territory. Other agencies warned of the risk of a 'spillover' across the region.

Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, on Monday 30 October 2023. © Abed Khaled / AP

"The handful of convoys being allowed through Rafah is nothing compared to the needs of over two million people trapped in Gaza," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council, referring to the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Israel has unleashed a massive bombing campaign on Hamas-run Gaza after gunmen stormed across the border on 7 October, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

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The strikes have flattened thousands of buildings and, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, killed over 8,000 people, also mostly civilians.

According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza through Rafah on Sunday.

Prior to the war, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza every day.

"The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs," Lazzarini said, calling for the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

🇺🇳🇮🇱🇵🇸 Women and children account for about 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the escalating Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. pic.twitter.com/UHy6mHJWTc

— dan mutungi (@dannmuts) October 31, 2023

Lazzarini said that 64 of his UNRWA colleagues had been killed in just over three weeks, "the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time."

He added that a UN worker named Samir, as well Samir's wife and eight children, had been killed just hours before the meeting.

"My UNRWA colleagues are the only glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip... but they are running out of fuel, water, food and medicine and will soon be unable to operate," said the Swiss-Italian official.

"An entire population is being dehumanised," he warned.

Gazans "feel the world is equating all of them to Hamas.
This is dangerous. And we know this too well from previous conflicts and crises."

Full remarks from @UNLazzarini at the @UN Security Council ⬇️https://t.co/0KbTXV279M pic.twitter.com/IhGYmxo8e6

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 30, 2023

'Children's lives'

UNICEF chief Catherine Russell told the council that her agency believes "the true cost of this latest escalation will be measured in children's lives, those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it."

The UN General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution last week calling for an immediate humanitarian truce, but the Security Council has thus far been unable to reach agreement on any text related to the war.

With permanent members Russia, China and the United States applying their vetoes to previous resolutions, the Security Council's 10 elected members have begun working on a new draft they hope will garner consensus.

"We have the means to get something done and yet we repeatedly and shamefully fail," said Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, whose country currently holds the Security Council's rotating chair.

"The eyes of the world are staring at us and will not move away from our distressing inability to act."

More than 420 children are reportedly being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core.

Read my full statement at the @UN Security Council today:

— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) October 31, 2023

'Spillover to Syria'

The UN special envoy for Syria on Monday also warned that Syria was at its "most dangerous" point in a long time as violence surges and as "spillover" from the Israel-Hamas war starts to have an impact.

Syria has "seen growing instability and violence, exacerbated by the lack of a meaningful political process," Geir Pedersen told the Security Council.

"Today, I am sounding an alarm that the situation is now at its most dangerous for a long time."

"On top of the violence emanating from the Syrian conflict itself, the Syrian people now face a terrifying prospect of a potential wider escalation," Pederson added.

"Spillover into Syria is not just a risk; it has already begun."

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American and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with drones and rockets repeatedly this month.

Washington has blamed the spike in attacks on Iran-backed forces, and American warplanes have carried out strikes against sites in Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Tehran.

Syria's "humanitarian emergency has only deepened," added Edem Wosornu, of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"With more than 15 million people in need of critical humanitarian and protection support in ever more challenging conditions, the situation in #Syria is one that unquestionably demands our continued focus and action."
@EdemWosornu's briefing at the UN Security Council today ⬇️

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) October 30, 2023

"This month, several areas across northern Syria experienced a serious escalation in hostilities.

"It is even more concerning as we approach the winter season, with an estimated 5.7 million people across the country in need of humanitarian support for critical shelter and household items."

Since last week, Lebanon has also been on the verge of being dragged into the conflict.

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 (with AFP)