UN humanitarian chief urges Israel to allow massive surge of aid into Gaza

The UN's top humanitarian official called on Israel on Wednesday to permit a massive increase in aid deliveries to Gaza under a ceasefire agreement.

"As Israel has agreed to a ceasefire, they must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid-thousands of trucks a week-on which so many lives depend, and on which the world has insisted," said Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

Speaking in Cairo, Egypt, Fletcher said the UN has outlined a 60-day plan for scaling up "lifesaving aid" and that he remained in the region to coordinate the effort.

"We need more crossings open and a genuine, practical, problem-solving approach to removing remaining obstacles," he said, stressing that withholding aid "is not a bargaining chip" and that Israel is legally obliged to facilitate humanitarian assistance to civilians.

Fletcher added that the UN would ensure all aid is delivered "neutrally and with maximum efficiency," emphasizing that supplies must reach civilians and not armed groups. "We will not accept any interference with our aid distribution," he said.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a plan he laid out on Sept. 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip. The first phase of the deal came into force on Friday.

Under the deal, Hamas released 20 living Israeli hostages and handed over the remains of eight captives in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Phase two of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza, without Hamas' participation, the formation of a multinational force, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 67,900 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.