UN says ready for Gaza aid surge set out in Trump plan

GENEVA - The United Nations said on Sept 30 it remains ready to increase aid flows into the Gaza Strip once conditions allow, following the unveiling of US President

Donald Trump’s peace plan

for the Palestinian territory.

The UN declared a famine in Gaza in August, blaming “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian deliveries by Israel.

Mr Trump’s wide-ranging 20-point plan, outlined on Sept 29, says “full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip”.

The proposal says the entry and distribution of aid will proceed “without interference”, via the United Nations, its agencies and the Red Crescent, among others.

Mr Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, underlined that the UN was not involved in drafting the proposal.

“The United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, of course, as we have done since Day One, stand ready, prepared and capable to increase aid deliveries inside Gaza whenever the opportunity is such that we are allowed to do so – and the safety and security of doing so is there,” he said.

“Aid is ready and available to move in from various agencies, and has been so for a long time,” he told reporters in Geneva.

“It has been, of course, paid for by the donors, who will expect us to deliver that aid to people in need.”

He said UN humanitarian workers would “do what we always do: try to deliver aid to the people who desperately need it – and we have the structures available to do so, and the aid to push through those structures”.

Mr Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, release of hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, disarmament of Hamas and gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Mr Trump himself.

UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci added: “We welcome all the mediation efforts, and we stand ready to support any peace plan with everything we can do, including the provision of humanitarian assistance.” AFP