UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The world body is ready to deliver a massive amount of sorely needed life-saving aid if the Gaza peace proposal is enacted, the UN humanitarian chief said Friday.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said that the White House's Gaza initiative opens a window of opportunity for the world body.
"It offers both a chance for Palestinians to receive life-saving aid at the scale urgently needed, and to bring the hostages home," he said. "We are ready and eager to act. We have some 170,000 metric tonnes of food, medicine, shelter and other desperately needed supplies poised to enter Gaza from across the region."
Fletcher said the world body has the experience to dole out such an enormous amount of relief. "Our plan delivers aid to civilians, through the safest and most direct routes, and in a principled and neutral way."
However, he said for the plan to work, they need open crossings, safe movement for civilians and aid workers, unrestricted entry of goods, visas for staff, the space for humanitarians to operate, and the private sector to be revived.
His UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the situation in northern Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. Military operations and heavy airstrikes are driving up the death toll and continue to wreak havoc on the area.
OCHA said that aid workers continue to be killed, with at least 562 victims, including 376 UN staff, since the war's outset, some in the line of duty.
Its humanitarian partners reported that hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians remain trapped in the north of the Gaza Strip. Many have no means to relocate and are exhausted by continued displacement, said OCHA.
Hospital medics reported that most of their staff have either left for southern Gaza or are too terrified to go to work amid bombardments, it said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported leading a mission to evacuate three critically ill newborn babies from Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah for life-saving care.
Al-Aqsa is overwhelmed and is facing severe shortages of medical supplies, as more people flee south, the WHO said.
OCHA said the United Nations and its humanitarian partners continue to respond to Palestinian needs, despite access constraints and amid extreme insecurity and chronic shortages of supplies. ■
