UN relief chief calls for removal of humanitarian restraints on Gaza

United Nations, June 19 (IANS) UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher called for the removal of humanitarian restraints on Gaza.

Despite recent improvements, humanitarians still face continued persistent and deliberate constraints, Fletcher told the Security Council.

“Humanitarian access continues to rely on one, at most two, operational crossings, when significantly greater capacity could easily be made available for the movement of aid and staff. Cumbersome approvals and customs procedures, combined with restrictions on so-called ‘dual-use’ items, limit the entry of critical humanitarian supplies,” he said on Thursday.

These constraints, compounded by restrictions on essential services of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), are leaving too much vital support stalled outside Gaza, and humanitarian work undermined by shortages of fuel, spare parts, armored vehicles and other protective equipment for aid workers, he added.

Fletcher called for efforts to ensure the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers, and for efforts to ensure safe, sustained, unhindered humanitarian access to all those in need in Gaza.

He asked for the immediate, full-capacity operation of Erez/Beit Hanoun, Karni, and Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossings to establish a high-volume, multi-route pipeline, as well as access to critical sites inside Gaza, including the landfills near the perimeter fence, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We ask you (Security Council members) for the immediate removal of Israeli restrictions on essential survival items, specifically medical equipment, including diagnostic tools, but also critical spare parts for water and sanitation, consistent supplies of fuel and engine oil, communication and protective equipment for aid workers,” Fletcher said.

“We ask for the restoration of humanitarian customs waivers and the issuance of long-term, predictable — not month by month — visas for international, UN and NGO staff, alongside streamlined NGO registration processes,” he said.

“And we ask for the resumption of government-to-government convoys from Jordan and scaled-up medical evacuations to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” he added.

Humanitarian action is not a menu of options, but rather a single ecosystem that is severely undermined when its components are impeded. And these are not sequential steps or bargaining chips, he said.

Fletcher said the agreement between the United States and Iran to end hostilities and the hopes for an urgent and vital ceasefire in Lebanon should return the Security Council’s sustained attention to the reality in Gaza.

“We cannot allow the summit of our ambition and our will to be a world where children have sufficient calories to survive and are spared constant bombing, yet remain hungry, bitten by rats, homeless and out of school,” said Fletcher.

–IANS

jk/