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STORY: UN / UNDP DE CROO GAZA PRESSER
TRT: 6:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED / FILE
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNDP FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
CREDIT UNDP - 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
3. Wide shot, landfill site
4. Med shot, UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo touring the landfill site
5. Med shot, UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo meeting local workers
6. Various shots, heavy machinery and construction trucks clearing debris
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“Very, very difficult circumstances of living for the people of Gaza - I have been Minister of Development for six years in the past - these are the worst living conditions that I've ever seen, extremely painful conditions to live in. We are as UNDP working in a recovery effort; recovery effort on three dimensions. First of all, rubble removal and solid waste removal, Rubble removal - we have done approximately 0.5 percent of the total. At the current pace, it will take us seven years to remove all the rubble. So, we need to find a way to get the authority to have more capacity to do rubble removal and rubble recycling. 90 percent of the people of Gaza today live in the middle of that rubble, which is extremely dangerous also from a health point of view and unexploded weapons which are there.”
CREDIT UNDP - 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
8. Med shot, UNDP Administrator and local workers activating a debris crushing machine
9. Various shots, debris crushing machine at work, crushing debris for removal by heavy machinery
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“The second dimension on which we work is recovery housing. As I said, 90 percent of the population lives in what you could even, not even call tents. I mean, this is very, very rudimentary tents. We come there with what we call recovery housing units, which is definitely not reconstruction, but it's an improvement on what is available for the moment. We've been able to build 500 of these. We have 4000 which are ready, but the needs are gigantic between 200,000 and 300,000 units are necessary to give people a better living. Not the living that they should have, but a better living than what's available for the moment.”
CREDIT UNDP - 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
11. Various shots, temporary housing being constructed
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“And then third dimension which we work on is private sector restarts. Private sector has been in hibernation. But with limited investment and limited work for cash programs being able, for example, in food processing, to get back going. So to be able to help more people and to provide more recovery to the inhabitants of Gaza, we basically have one big ask to the Israeli authorities and that is to have more access, more access for material to do debris removal, more access with our recovery housing units and more access to help the private sector that we can restart. We understand the security concerns of the Israeli authorities, but that would not be a reason to not provide organizations such as UNDP, other UN organizations and international NGOs to provide us the more access that is definitely needed, to be able to help more people.”
CREDIT UNDP - 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
13. Various shots, water and basic supplies being delivered to people, loaded onto trucks and transported.
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“In the current circumstance, we really need all hands. And it's really all hands on deck and all type of support, being it financial or being it operational is welcome. You have 2.2 million people in Gaza, as I said, who live in very, very, very difficult circumstances. So, any help in providing more access in a safe way would be to their help.”
CREDIT UNDP - 16 FEBRUARY 2026, GAZA STRIP
15. Various shots, water and basic supplies being delivered to people, loaded onto trucks and transported
16. Close up shot, functioning medical equipment at work
17. Close up shot, medical equipment at a clinic
18. Med shot, patient in a clinic receiving treatment
17 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
19. Wide shot, end of press briefing
“At the current pace, it will take us seven years to remove all the rubble,” said United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Alexander De Croo, briefing reporters via video link.
During a press conference held at UN headquarters in New York today (17 Feb) De Croo described “extremely painful conditions to live in” and said UNDP is working on a three-part recovery effort focused on rubble removal, temporary housing and restarting the private sector.
On debris clearance, he said, “Rubble removal - we have done approximately 0.5 percent of the total. At the current pace, it will take us seven years to remove all the rubble.” He added that “90 percent of the people of Gaza today live in the middle of that rubble, which is extremely dangerous also from a health point of view and unexploded weapons which are there,” underscoring the scale and risks of the task.
Turning to shelter, De Croo said, “The second dimension on which we work is recovery housing. As I said, 90 percent of the population lives in what you could even, not even call tents. I mean, this is very, very rudimentary tents.” He stressed that UNDP’s recovery housing units are “definitely not reconstruction, but it's an improvement on what is available for the moment.”
“So far, we've been able to build 500 of these. We have 4000 which are ready,” he said, but added that “the needs are gigantic between 200,000 and 300,000 units are necessary to give people a better living. Not the living that they should have, but a better living than what's available for the moment.”
The third track, he said, focuses on livelihoods. “And then third dimension which we work on is private sector restarts. Private sector has been in hibernation.” Through “limited investment and limited work for cash programs,” he said UNDP has been able, “for example, in food processing, to get back going.”
To scale up assistance, De Croo said the agency has “one big ask to the Israeli authorities and that is to have more access, more access for material to do debris removal, more access with our recovery housing units and more access to help the private sector that we can restart.”
He said, “We understand the security concerns of the Israeli authorities, but that would not be a reason to not provide organizations such as UNDP, other UN organizations and international NGOs to provide us the more access that is definitely needed, to be able to help more people.”
Answering a question about Board of Peace he said, with 2.2 million people in Gaza, “In the current circumstance, we really need all hands. And it's really all hands on deck and all type of support, being it financial or being it operational is welcome.” He added, “any help in providing more access in a safe way would be to their help.”
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