Geneva: United Nations agencies announced on Friday their immediate readiness to launch a large-scale humanitarian aid plan for the Gaza Strip following the announcement of a US peace initiative and a ceasefire agreement to end the two-year-long conflict.
According to Kuwait News Agency, this announcement was made during a joint press conference in Geneva held by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The agencies emphasized the need for swift implementation of the agreement's provisions, particularly the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In his remarks, UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires highlighted the necessity of immediate action following the ceasefire, stressing the organization's preparedness and the urgent requirement for aid to flow. He urged the Israeli occupation to open all crossings without delay to facilitate a massive influx of assistance and prevent a "new humanitarian catastrophe." Pires warned that the situation for children in Gaza is critical, with over 64,000 children killed or injured in the ongoing conflict and about 25 percent suffering life-altering injuries.
Pires emphasized that a sustained and genuine ceasefire must prioritize children's rights. He outlined UNICEF's urgent aid plan, which includes pre-positioned stocks and winter supplies ordered months in advance for children across Gaza. UNICEF also intends to distribute assistive devices for thousands of wounded children and help restore water sanitation, drainage, and solid waste management systems across the Strip.
"UNICEF has the capacity to rapidly improve the nutrition status of 50,000 children under five and 60,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women," Pires added, warning that child deaths could surge without immediate access to food, medical care, and shelter.
Juliette Touma, Director of Communications at UNRWA, reiterated the call for the "immediate opening of all humanitarian crossings" to allow life-saving aid into Gaza. She confirmed that UNRWA currently has supplies sufficient to fill 6,000 trucks with food, medicine, and hygiene materials, enough to support Gaza's entire population for three months and to combat the spread of famine recently confirmed in Gaza City.
Touma noted that the Israeli occupation has not permitted the entry of these supplies for more than seven months and that UNRWA has also been denied entry visas for its international staff since January. Despite these restrictions, she stressed that UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza, employing 12,000 staff who continue to provide services across the Strip, including the besieged north.
She emphasized that "it is impossible to imagine a humanitarian operation in Gaza at the required scale without UNRWA," noting that the agency has not yet received any official communication about its role in the ceasefire's implementation. Touma expressed concern over continued airstrikes despite the ceasefire announcement, confirming that more than 370 UNRWA staff have been killed since the beginning of the war, marking the highest death toll in UN history. She also highlighted that 616,000 children in Gaza have been out of school for three years, half of them UNRWA students.
Meanwhile, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier described Gaza's health system as suffering from "near-total collapse," underscoring the need for urgent international support. Lindmeier stated that the WHO is scaling up the delivery of medical supplies, deploying emergency medical teams, and rehabilitating hospitals to boost their operational capacity. He added that WHO is also working to resume medical evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.