NEW YORK: No organization can be a substitute for the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the Organization’s senior coordinator for the enclave said yesterday.

Apart from a political decision, which would have to be made by the General Assembly, “there is no way any organization can replace or substitute the tremendous capacity and the fabric of UNRWA and its ability and knowledge,” Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, told correspondents at a stakeout outside the Security Council Chamber in New York.

She also noted the key role the agency has played over decades, before the current Israeli aggression, in education, healthcare and other services, since it was established by the General Assembly in December 1949.

Kaag underscored that the success of her mandate “is about the ability to achieve and meet the needs” of the civilians in Gaza. “That is the only indicator, as far as I am concerned.”

She emphasized that the absence o
f a humanitarian ceasefire is hampering aid efforts and causing delays.

“Currently, there is no space, given the fact that there is no ceasefire there 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.”

She also reiterated the importance of increasing the flow of commercial goods into Gaza in addition to humanitarian assistance.

“Commercial goods need to be allowed back in,” she said. “There will be no recovery, let alone reconstruction in future, without that broad bandwidth.”

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA