The global community is failing innocent citizens

The UN’s top aid and reconstruction official in Gaza has told the BBC that the international community is failing to support innocent civilians in the area.

Sigrid Kaag, who was appointed nine months ago to boost the delivery of urgently needed aid, said the report she has to make to the UN Security Council today will be “very difficult and maybe dark”.

He described the situation in this area as “a big disaster”.

“We are not fulfilling the needs, let alone creating hope and hope for the people of Gaza.”

In a rare interview, the UN’s chief coordinator for Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction in Gaza said plans to deliver aid – including multiple land and sea routes to Gaza – were now in place.

And “the UN works around the clock and people risk their lives every day”.

But he called Gaza “the most unsafe place in the world to operate”.

He said he regretted that “not much else can be improved” until the shooting ends and the release of the Israeli hostages still held there.

Ms Kaag said that what is known as “de-escalation” – ensuring that aid programs can continue safely – is failing: “It is not working, or not working enough, to make operations possible.”

Last week, the UN said that one of its aid units headed to northern Gaza was blocked by Israeli forces, while the Hamas-affiliated security organization in Gaza said that a UN school serving as a shelter had been attacked by an Israeli strike, killing 18 people. The UN said its six employees.

Israel accused Hamas of using the facility as a “control center” and said Hamas fighters were among the dead.

The UN says that around 300 aid workers, more than two-thirds of whom are UN staff, have been killed in the fierce war in Gaza, which is now approaching one year.

Ms Kaag, one of the few UN officials to meet with senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described her talks as “constructive”.

“We put questions on the table. Others are met. We also get commitments.”

But he pointed out that “between the commitment and the time it takes to see a tangible and visible implementation, a lot of time passes”.

“There is not a day, not a moment to lose,” he told the BBC in an interview from New York.

Israeli officials have repeatedly insisted that sufficient aid is on the way to Gaza, and have denied reports of widespread and severe famine.

Ms. Kaag said “we know from our research and research that most people do not have access to food” and the UN health centers know “how many children or infants are malnourished or malnourished”.

Asked about Israel’s allegation that the biggest problem with food delivery was the diversion of aid to Hamas, Ms Kaag replied: “We hear that a lot. I find that very difficult to confirm.”

He said that in the battlefield “I can’t say that everything goes well all the time,” but he emphasized: “I can attest to the integrity of the work of my colleagues.”

He described Unrwa – the largest UN aid agency operating in Gaza – as “the backbone of the UN’s overall delivery.”

Netanyahu accused the organization of being “totally infiltrated” by Hamas and called for it to be “eliminated”.

Ms. Kaag said that an investigation has begun into Israeli allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel, and that whenever evidence is provided the investigation will continue.

Last month the agency fired nine UNRWA staff – It previously fired 12 workers, and put seven others on administrative leave, out of its 13,000 Gaza workers.

Ms Kaag, a former Dutch deputy prime minister who began working on Israeli-Palestinian issues 30 years ago, says she is often asked by Gazans when she visits there: “When will our suffering end?”

He spoke of the deep trauma of the conflict, including the Israeli hostages, and expressed hope that all those working to resolve the conflict will be forgiven.

If we drink too much, we’re too little, we drink too much, and if they feel we’ve failed, the only thing we can do is work even harder.”

But he emphasized that “there is no compensation for the lives of the people lost and the trauma that happened; nothing will fix that”.