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STORY: UN / GAZA SIGRID KAAG
TRT: 06:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 JANUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
30 JANUARY 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag walks up to stakeout podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza:
“This is about volume, quality, speed, and continuous delivery of humanitarian, and commercial goods to reach the civilians of Gaza. And the mechanism, when up and running can really help facilitate that. It helps us to track; it helps us to enhance the transparency that we know what's coming in, whom it's for; it helps with the verification and obviously to know if it really reached the civilian population.”
4. Wide shot, Kaag at the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza:
“First of all, when you're looking at the supply routes and access, there are opportunities obviously, to do more via land from Jordan. The Israeli government and Jordanian government are in a very constructive discussion around that. If we're looking at additional supplies and the logistical review, sort of the support to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, the question is, can we do more? Can we do it differently? Under the leadership, of course, of the Egyptian authorities and the Egyptian Red Crescent Society. So, I've, I've detailed a few of the options. And of course, also the importance of land routes and arrival of goods, in Israel, and what the options are there.”
6. Wide shot, Kaag at the podium
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza:
“When you're looking at the distribution in Gaza, I very much laid out what, of course is needed when it comes to deconfliction, when it comes to the operating environment with humanitarian workers, not just the UN would require to be able to reach all in Gaza, with particular regard for the population in northern Gaza. And then of course, also the other discussions we need to have when it comes to, as I just mentioned, deconfliction, but also the types of supplies that are needed. So, not only humanitarian but also commercial, because before the 7th of October, there was a bulk of commercial goods that went into Gaza. Humanitarian assistance alone, as much as we beef it up, it won't meet the needs of the civilian population.”
8. Wide shot, Kaag at the podium
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza:
“It's very critical that we recognise the central role that UNWRA plays in the Gaza Strip, in the delivery of humanitarian aid, and prior, of course, to the conflict, when schools were opened or the clinics were opened or other facilities run by the agency, all those were services in support of the civilian population. So, I can't precipitate this. There's an ongoing discussion, I think, and donor countries, of course, have set their parameters and also have given clarity. It's an ongoing discussion. There's no substitution for the humanitarian role that is played in Gaza.”
10. Wide shot, Kaag at the podium
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza:
“Currently there is no space, given the fact that there is no ceasefire, and the conflict is raging. There's no space to have monitors all over Gaza to work with the agencies to see, to verify, and monitor how and if, how and to whom aid is distributed. This is in support of mandates of agencies. What we will start to do is to establish a data base, which is very important to know who's donating what when it's coming, prior clearance. It's based on the example this been used through UNVIM in Yemen. Prior clearance can be given. And you also then have a totality of aid and supplies that is coming, which helps actually the humanitarian community and the NGOs to set better priorities and prioritise, because currently we're not in a position to do so.”
12. Pan right, Kaag walks away
13. Wide shot, ambassadors at the stakeout podium
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Nathalie Broadhurst, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, France:
“The Security Council members received their first briefing and urged all parties to engage with Mrs. Kaag to facilitate the implementation of the mandate, as reflected in resolution 2720. The Security Council members in this regard expressed their concern regarding the dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and they emphasised the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.”
15. Wide shot, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the stakeout podium
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The United States fully supports Senior Coordinator Kaag’s efforts to streamline and accelerate the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance. Her success is the UN's success, it is the Council's success, and her work is essential. As was just mentioned, more humanitarian assistance including food, medicine, fuel, and other supplies need to get in the hands of civilians in Gaza. Expanding commercial access is also critical to meeting basic needs and addressing food insecurity and every party in the region must work with senior coordinator Kaag and her team to sustainably scale up aid deliveries.”
17. Wide shot, Thomas-Greenfield at the podium
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“There cannot be progress toward a durable peace without a resolution of the hostage crisis. As Secretary Blinken noted yesterday. The proposal on the table is strong and compelling. It envisions a longer humanitarian pause than we saw in November, which would provide an opportunity to get more hostages out and lifesaving humanitarian assistance in.”
19. Wide shot, Thomas-Greenfield at the podium
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“There has to be accountability for anyone who participated in this attack on October 7th. But we also know that UNWRA plays a critical, critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food and medicine, shelter, and other vital humanitarian support. So, the United States has reached out to the government of Israel to seek more information about these allegations. We’ll brief members of Congress, and we will remain in close contact with the United Nations, as well as with the government of Israel regarding this matter.”
21. Pan right, Thomas-Greenfield walks away
Following her first briefing to the Security Council since her appointment as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag today (30 Jan) underscored that once a mechanism for delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza is in place, it will facilitate the “volume, quality, speed, and continuous delivery of humanitarian and commercial goods” into the Palestinian enclave.
Talking to reporters outside the Council, Kaag said such a mechanism “helps us to track; it helps us to enhance the transparency that we know what's coming in, whom it's for; it helps with the verification and obviously to know if it really reached the civilian population.”
On supply routes and access, she said, “there are opportunities obviously, to do more via land from Jordan,” and noted that the Israeli and Jordanian governments “are in a very constructive discussion around that.”
Kaag said, “the question is, can we do more? Can we do it differently? Under the leadership, of course, of the Egyptian authorities and the Egyptian Red Crescent Society. So, I've, I've detailed a few of the options. And of course, also the importance of land routes and arrival of goods, in Israel, and what the options are there.”
On distribution inside Gaza, she said it “would require to be able to reach all in Gaza, with particular regard for the population in northern Gaza. And then of course, also the other discussions we need to have when it comes to, as I just mentioned, deconfliction, but also the types of supplies that are needed.”
Kaag said, “before the 7th of October, there was a bulk of commercial goods that went into Gaza,” and stressed that “humanitarian assistance alone, as much as we beef it up, it won't meet the needs of the civilian population.”
Asked about allegations involving staff at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) she said it was “very critical that we recognise the central role that UNWRA plays in the Gaza Strip, in the delivery of humanitarian aid, and prior, of course, to the conflict, when schools were opened or the clinics were opened or other facilities run by the agency, all those were services in support of the civilian population.”
She noted there's “an ongoing discussion,” and said, “donor countries, of course, have set their parameters and also have given clarity.”
Kaag told reporters that “given the fact that there is no ceasefire, and the conflict is raging,” there is “no space to have monitors all over Gaza to work with the agencies to see, to verify, and monitor how and if, how and to whom aid is distributed.”
She said a data base will be established “to know who's donating what, when it's coming, prior clearance” and added that “you also then have a totality of aid and supplies that is coming, which helps actually the humanitarian community and the NGOs to set better priorities and prioritise, because currently we're not in a position to do so.”
Also talking to reporters, French Ambassador Nathalie Broadhurst on behalf of other Council members “urged all parties to engage with Mrs. Kaag to facilitate the implementation of the mandate, as reflected in resolution 2720.”
Council members, she said, “expressed their concern regarding the dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and they emphasised the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.
United States Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, for her part, expressed support for Kaag’s “efforts to streamline and accelerate the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” adding that “her success is the UN's success, it is the Council's success, and her work is essential.”
Thomas-Greenfield said, “more humanitarian assistance including food, medicine, fuel, and other supplies need to get in the hands of civilians in Gaza. Expanding commercial access is also critical to meeting basic needs and addressing food insecurity and every party in the region must work with senior coordinator Kaag and her team to sustainably scale up aid deliveries.”
On current negotiations, she said, “there cannot be progress toward a durable peace without a resolution of the hostage crisis. As Secretary Blinken noted yesterday. The proposal on the table is strong and compelling. It envisions a longer humanitarian pause than we saw in November, which would provide an opportunity to get more hostages out and lifesaving humanitarian assistance in.”
On the UNRWA issue, the US Ambassador said, “there has to be accountability for anyone who participated in this attack on October 7th. But we also know that UNWRA plays a critical, critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food and medicine, shelter, and other vital humanitarian support. So, the United States has reached out to the government of Israel to seek more information about these allegations. We’ll brief members of Congress, and we will remain in close contact with the United Nations, as well as with the government of Israel regarding this matter.
Later in the day, Secretary-General António Guterres met with 35 Member States, as well as the European Union to discuss the UNRWA situation to brief Member States on the actions being taken to deal with the allegations regarding UNRWA and some UNRWA staff, and to listen to their concerns.
The Secretary-General underscored the importance of the humanitarian work that UNRWA does every day in Gaza and in the region.
