No Replacement for UNRWA, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Underlines
This is according to Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.
"I think you've heard the Secretary-General and other agencies, and they've been very clear. At the moment, beyond political decisions, which are GA (General Assembly) bound, there is no way any organization can replace or substitute the tremendous capacity, the fabric of UNRWA, their ability and their knowledge of the population in Gaza,", she said during a news conference following a closed session on Gaza at the UN Security Council.
At least 12 countries — Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, France, Austria and Japan — have suspended funding for UNRWA, which was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
The main issues discussed during the UN Security Council session were supply routes to the Gaza Strip and distribution across the enclave as well as the establishment of the UN mechanism, according to Kaag.
Read More:
"This is not about counting trucks," she said. "This is about volume, quality, speed and continuous delivery of humanitarian and commercial goods to reach the civilians of Gaza, and the mechanism went up and running and can really help facilitate that. It helps us to track, it helps us to enhance the transparency that we know what's coming in…It helps with the verification and obviously to know if it really reached the civilian population," she added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
