Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza?

Special Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza?
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A paramedic assists a woman carrying a child arriving at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 31, 2023. (AFP)
Special Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza?
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In this photo taken on July 28, 2009, Sigrid Kaag, then UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, gives a press conference in front of the debris of the American School in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, which was demolished during an Israeli military operation. (AFP/File)
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Updated 22 January 2024
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Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza?

Can new UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag get more aid into embattled Gaza?
  • Veteran Dutch politician takes on UN’s aid brief for Gaza as Israeli forces continue to bombard Palestinian enclave
  • Curbs on delivery of humanitarian supplies to displaced civilians have left Gaza “uninhabitable”

DUBAI: Sigrid Kaag, the UN’s newly appointed senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, faces a monumental task as she takes the reins of the world body’s relief operations in the embattled Palestinian enclave. 

Twelve weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment and restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian relief to displaced civilians have left the Gaza Strip “uninhabitable” and on the brink of famine, according to aid chiefs.

With the UN thus far unable to provide sufficient assistance to civilians, many in the aid community hope that a change in leadership could help move the dial on the stunted humanitarian response.

“Peace, security and justice have always been my motivations,” Kaag said in a statement on taking up the new UN role. “I have accepted this special assignment in the hope to contribute to a better future.”




Sigrid Kaag takes on the UN’s aid brief for Gaza as Israeli forces continue to bombard the Palestinian enclave, causing displacement and a mounting health crisis. (AFP/File)

However, given the scale of the humanitarian challenges and the obstacles thrown up by Israel and its allies in Washington, some observers and analysts have been left wondering whether Kaag’s appointment will make any difference. 

Israel mounted its military campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which resulted in the death of 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the kidnap of 240. 

In the months since the outbreak of fighting, more than 22,700 people have died in Gaza under Israeli bombardment, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while almost two million have been displaced. 




A girl mourns the death of her relatives who were killed by Israeli bombardment at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 31, 2023. (AFP)

In southern Gaza — where most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people now live in makeshift shelters with limited access to food, water and health care — the Israeli military has continued bombing raids, despite deeming these areas safe havens for displaced Gazans.

Kaag, who took over the UN’s Gaza relief operation on Jan. 8, was appointed to the new role following a breakthrough UN Security Council resolution passed on Dec. 22, which called on all parties to “facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale.”

One of the Netherlands’ leading lawmakers, Kaag formerly served as the deputy head of government and finance and foreign minister under the country’s longtime prime minister, Mark Rutte.

FASTFACTS

Sigrid Kaag is the UN’s newly appointed senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.

Her role was created as part of a breakthrough UN Security Council resolution passed on Dec. 22.

The veteran politician has worked for UNRWA, UNICEF and as UN special coordinator for Lebanon.

When the Dutch coalition government collapsed and new elections were called at the end of November 2023, Kaag declared she would be retiring from politics. However, the Arab studies graduate has since returned to her old place of work at the UN to take on one of the most challenging tasks of her career. 

From 1994 to 1997, Kaag was the head of the Donor Relations Department at UNRWA, and subsequently headed UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Directorate in Amman, Jordan.

In 2013 and 2014, she led the joint mission by the UN and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to destroy Syrian chemical weapons. Afterwards, she held the position of UN special coordinator for Lebanon.




In this photo taken on July 28, 2009, Sigrid Kaag, then UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, gives a press conference in front of the debris of the American School in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, which was demolished during an Israeli military operation. (AFP/File)

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, said Kaag “brings a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian, and development affairs as well as in diplomacy,” and is also fluent in Arabic as well as five other languages.

“She will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza,” said Guterres, emphasizing how she will also establish a UN mechanism to accelerate aid deliveries “through states which are not party to the conflict.”

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, held a call with Kaag on Monday in which they underscored the importance of strengthening the coordination mechanism delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, according to a State Department statement.

They emphasized a shared commitment to reach the most vulnerable, including urgently expanding the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza, increasing the use of localized aid to meet immediate needs, and enhancing funding for humanitarian assistance. 

While Kaag’s resume is impressive, the challenge of getting aid into Gaza is immense, frustrating the best efforts of the UN’s top humanitarian officials.




Egyptian paramedics transport an injured Palestinian child to a Red Crescent ambulance upon his arrival from Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on January 10, 2024.  (AFP)

According to the UN’s aid chief, Martin Griffiths, Gaza has become a place of “death and despair” for Palestinians. In a special statement on Jan. 7, he said: “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence — while the world watches on. 

“A public health disaster is unfolding. Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over. Some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amidst this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is around the corner.

“For children, the past 12 weeks have been traumatic: No food. No water. No school. Nothing but the terrifying sounds of war, day in and day out.”

Amid severe shortages of food, water and medicine, disease and hunger are spreading throughout Gaza. According to UNRWA, some 40 percent of Gaza’s population is “at risk of famine.”

A report released at the end of December by 23 UN agencies and NGOs said that out of Gaza’s entire population of 2.3 million, 576,000 people are at catastrophic or starvation levels, with the risk of famine “increasing each day.” 

The report blamed the hunger crisis on insufficient aid entering Gaza. 

Although it is constrained by the geopolitical wrangling of the UN Security Council, the UN is widely seen as the only body capable of responding to the massive humanitarian challenges posed by the war in Gaza.

“Everything that happens in Gaza will require consensus,” Ziad Asali, the founder and president of the American Task Force on Palestine, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, told Arab News. 

“That is why the UN is the main venue for getting things done and not just proposed.”

However, there is a widespread view that the UN Security Council’s Dec. 22 resolution on aid for Gaza, adopted with 13 votes in favor and the US and Russia abstaining, has been so watered down that it will fail to meet the challenges posed by the conflict. 

Lahib Higel, a senior analyst at the Middle East and North Africa program at International Crisis Group, told Arab News that only an immediate and lasting ceasefire would allow sufficient aid into Gaza. 

“What we have argued at ICG from early on, and what was also reflected in the (UN) secretary general’s press conference after the resolution was adopted, is that you’re not going to have a significantly improved situation in Gaza unless you have a ceasefire,” Higel said.

“That’s really the bottom-line condition, but there’s an understanding that it is not on the horizon anytime soon.”




Palestinian children look from the windows of a minibus at a market in Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on January 8, 2024 amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas forces. (Photo by AFP)

With a ceasefire off the table for the time being, humanitarians and diplomats must find ways to help Gaza.

“There have been several obstacles throughout this period,” Higel said. “The main one is, of course, that Israel not only shut down its border crossings with Gaza through which most of the commercial and aid traffic was coming … it also shut down all essential services to Gaza — electricity grids, water pipelines.”

Although some of those water pipelines have resumed operations, damage caused by Israeli bombardment is still widespread. 

“They don’t operate full-time. You still don’t have electricity. There are constant communication blackouts, which means that distribution becomes extremely chaotic because people have been used to being notified through SMS messages, which they then can no longer receive,” Higel said.

“And then what was left was the border crossing in Rafah, which initially was a pedestrian crossing. It doesn’t have the infrastructure that Kerem Shalom (border crossing) has.” 

While about 500 trucks a day used to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before Oct. 7, only about 100 trucks a day can pass through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. 




A truck carrying a humanitarian aid cargo arrives from Egypt on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, before entering the southern Gaza Strip, on January 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)

Despite the reopening of Kerem Shalom in mid-December, Higel said that there was still not enough aid entering Gaza. 

“Part of the reason is there is only so much that you can facilitate each day, considering the rigid inspections that Israel requires,” she said. 

“Secondly, they (Israel) still reject a lot of goods based on their dual-use potential — fuel, construction material — that you would need for shelter.

“What can the UN do under these conditions? Quite little. It also took them quite a long time to set up a logistics hub that is actually working because the UN infrastructure was based in Israel.”

Other barriers to the UN’s work in Gaza include the denial of visas.

In early December, Israel told the UN that it would not renew the visa of its resident humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories, Lynn Hastings, effectively kicking her out of the country.

The precise details surrounding the aid mechanism Kaag will devise have yet to be revealed. One thing is clear, however — she faces a colossal task finding new ways to get aid into Gaza while navigating Israel’s continuing bombardment and strict controls on entry.

Only time will tell whether Kaag’s appointment will prove transformative for Gaza’s stricken population or merely a continuation of the UN’s lackluster response to a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

 


Sudan’s army chief appoints new acting foreign minister

Sudan’s army chief appoints new acting foreign minister
Updated 04 November 2024
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Sudan’s army chief appoints new acting foreign minister

Sudan’s army chief appoints new acting foreign minister

CAIRO: Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has appointed a new acting foreign minister, following a cabinet decision issued on Sunday.
Hussein Awad Ali has been relieved of his duties, with Ali Youssef Ahmed taking his place, a statement from Burhan’s office said.


Yemen’s Houthis will keep blockade on Israeli vessels after asset sale reports

Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
Updated 03 November 2024
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Yemen’s Houthis will keep blockade on Israeli vessels after asset sale reports

Sarea said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel.
  • “Intelligence information confirms many companies operating in maritime shipping affiliated to the Israeli enemy are working to sell their assets”: Spokesperson

CAIRO: Yemen’s Houthis said on Sunday they would maintain their maritime blockade against Israeli vessels in response to “intelligence information” regarding Israeli shipping companies selling their assets to other companies.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have said they are intensifying their attacks to support Hamas and Hezbollah in their resistance against Israeli actions in the region.
“Intelligence information confirms that many companies operating in maritime shipping affiliated to the Israeli enemy are working to sell their assets and transfer their properties from shipping and maritime transport ships to other companies,” said Yahya Sarea, military spokesperson of the group.
The Houthis will not recognize any changes of ownership and warned against any collaboration with these companies, Sarea said in a televised address.
Sarea also said the Houthis will continue imposing their naval blockade on Israel and would target any ships belonging to, linked to, or heading to Israel.
He said the blockade would continue until “the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted and the aggression on Lebanon stops.”


Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel

Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel
Updated 03 November 2024
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Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel

Iran president says potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel
  • Since the strikes last month, Israel has warned Iran against retaliating
  • Supreme Leader said the Islamic republic would retaliate

TEHRAN: Iran’s president said Sunday a potential ceasefire between its allies and Israel “could affect the intensity” of Tehran’s response to Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military sites.
“If they (the Israelis) reconsider their behavior, accept a ceasefire and stop massacring the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could affect the intensity and type of our response,” Masoud Pezeshkian said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
He added that Iran “will not leave unanswered any aggression against its sovereignty and security,” according to the news agency.
Israeli warplanes carried out the Oct. 26 strikes in what Israel said was retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 missile barrage.
Iran had in turn described that attack as a reprisal for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.
Since the strikes last month, Israel has warned Iran against retaliating, while Tehran vowed to respond.
On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, said the Islamic republic would retaliate.
“The enemies, both the USA and the Zionist regime, should know that they will definitely receive a tooth-breaking response to what they are doing against Iran, the Iranian nation, and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a speech to students in Tehran.
He was referring to the alliance of Tehran-backed armed groups that include Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
After the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they “hit Iran’s defense capabilities and missile production.”
Iran’s armed forces said the attack killed four military personnel and caused “limited damage” to a few radar systems. Iranian media said a civilian was also killed.


Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference

Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference
Updated 03 November 2024
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Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference

Jordan to host inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference
  • JCC’s President Khalil Haj Tawfiq speaks of collaborative spirit of event

LONDON: The Jordan Chamber of Commerce will host the inaugural Gulf-Jordanian Investment Conference on Dec. 4, the Jordan News Agency reported on Sunday.

Held in alignment with Jordan’s Economic Modernization Vision, the event is the latest bid to boost economic cooperation between Jordan and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) in conjunction with the Gulf-Jordanian Economic Forum, which held its third edition in 2023.

The conference will coincide with the 65th meeting of the Federation of Chambers of the GCC’s Board of Directors — the first such gathering held outside the GCC states.

The JCC President Khalil Haj Tawfiq told of the collaborative spirit of the conference in a statement on Sunday.

He said: “Through this conference we aspire to establish an integrated economic framework that will strengthen trade and investment cooperation, allowing us to better navigate global economic challenges and attract further investment.”

Key figures expected at the conference include the Secretary-General of the GCC Jasem Al-Budaiwi, leaders of Gulf chambers, board members, prominent Gulf investors, and representatives of economic and financial institutions from Jordan and the Gulf region.

The agenda will feature in-depth discussions on investment opportunities, success stories of Gulf investments in Jordan, and sector-focused dialogues with Jordanian ministers.

Priority sectors include energy, mining, transportation, logistics, tourism investment, food security, agricultural production, information technology, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Tawfiq highlighted the timeliness of the event, given the current economic challenges facing the region.

He praised King Abdullah II for fostering stability and creating an investor-friendly environment, adding: “This conference is pivotal for Gulf-Jordanian economic integration, especially as global economic crises continue to affect us all.”


Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
Updated 03 November 2024
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Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
  • Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: After over a year of war in Gaza, Palestinian fishermen gather along the coastline, desperately casting their nets in hopes of catching enough for their families amid widespread hunger.
Since Israel began a military onslaught in Gaza after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, Israeli restrictions in the waters off the enclave have made life almost impossible for fishermen, who no longer sail out to sea and instead must stay by the shore.
In Khan Younis, Ibrahim Ghurab, 71, and Waseem Al Masry, 24, fish for sardines from the shoreline in front of a encampment of tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the war.
“Life is difficult,” Ghurab said. “One tries to secure food. There is no aid, we don’t receive anything anymore. In the beginning there was some (humanitarian) aid, very little, but now there is no more.”
Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families. There is rarely any fish left over from a daily haul to be sold to others.
Fishing was an important part of daily life in Gaza before the war, helping people eke out a living by selling their daily hauls in the market and feed the population.
But scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting, and many people have no income. The price of simple goods are largely out of reach for most.
“We have to come here and risk our lives,” Al Masry said, describing shootings by the Israeli military from the sea that he accused of targeting fisherman on the beach in Khan Younis.
Ghurab similarly said that Israeli military boats had fired upon fisherman at Khan Younis.
The Israeli military did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the claims the military had shot at fishermen.
Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas for the Islamist militant group’s deadly, cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has devastated densely populated Gaza and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.