UN Senior Humanitarian & Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza on the Country | UN Security Council

Comments to the media by Ms. Sigrid Kaag, United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, on the situation in Gaza.

UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, said that delivering humanitarian aid by air is “a testimony to our shared humanity, but it's a drop in the ocean,” reiterating that using land “remains the optimal solution.”

The UN senior official for Gaza spoke to reporters today (07 Mar) after briefing the Member States in closed consultations.

She said, “my message to the Council was as well we need to flood the market in Gaza with humanitarian goods, as well as re-energize the private sector so commercial goods can be entering in to really meet the needs of the civilians.”

Kaag reiterated that humanitarian assistance is “not an exercise in counting trucks.”

“We need to know quality, relevance, we need to know it meets the needs, and as I said, a volume," she added.

The UN senior official for Gaza also informed reporters that she briefed the Council members about the importance of the diversification of the supply routes via land.

“This remains the optimal solution. It's easier, it's faster, it's cheaper, particularly if we know that we need to sustain humanitarian assistance to Gazans for a long period of time,” she reiterated.

She also conveyed the importance of opening additional crossings to the Council, “aid should arrive via Ashdod but also other crossings, not just Kerem Shalom.”

Kaag also said, “I've informed the Council on the detailed planning that's gone into the design of a mechanism under the resolution, which is really aimed at providing transparency, enabling the verification the tracking, but also the acceleration of aid to arrive in Gaza.”

She continued, “It's a technical exercise. I will not belabor all the details, but it's an important one, because through a mechanism, we support the international humanitarian family to get the aid to where it needs to be which is inside Gaza, notwithstanding all the challenges when it comes to our collective ability to operate in very uncertain and unsafe conditions, given all the difficulties that humanitarians have faced today.”

Asked about the negotiation of a resolution, Kaag said, “I think the focus of the negotiators remains at trying to arrive at a deal. We all hope, and the Secretary-General has reiterated this so many times for the release of the hostages. It's important to have a ceasefire.”

But in the meantime, she added, “the humanitarian community will do whatever it can to meet the needs of people. They're entitled to food. They're entitled to shelter. They're entitled to health care, and they're entitled to the level of protection that one would expect despite the tremendously difficult circumstances.”