Mr. Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on behalf of Mr. Tom Fletcher, USG for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator - Remarks to the Cairo Ministerial Conference to enhance the response in Gaza

Remarks at opening session of “A Year Since the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza: Urgent Needs, Lasting Solutions” conference by Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Thank you, Excellencies,

Minister of Foreign Affairs [Badr Abdel Atty],

Prime Minister and Foreign Minister [Mohammad Mustafa] 

Deputy-Secretary-General, on these opening words.

I thank President Sisi for hosting this conference and gathering all of us today.

And thank you all for coming.

It is an honor to deliver these remarks on behalf of the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Tom Fletcher, and convey his urgent call for action based on respect for international law and basic humanity.

We come together today in response to the overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the suffering of civilians is unimaginable.

As the Secretary-General has stressed, conditions in Gaza are unfit for human survival. Civilians cannot meet even the most basic human needs—water, shelter, food and healthcare.  People are dying and essentials – including through humanitarian aid – are denied. These conditions directly violate international humanitarian law.

The international community has moral and legal obligations to use all its influence to address and reverse the situation.   

Member States have leverage to stop violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. The protection of civilians is paramount. The situation can and must be changed. 

Excellencies and distinguished guests,

As Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, it is my duty to draw your attention to what people have been experiencing each day in Gaza for nearly 14 months. 

Every civilian in Gaza—man, woman, and child—lives in the shadow of death. If not killed by bombs or bullets, they risk dying from the lack of food, water, and medical care. Women are dying in childbirth at three times the rate compared to levels before October 2023. 

Nearly all of Gaza’s residents have been displaced – many multiple times. Most are living in temporary shelters, exposed to harsh winter rain and cold. Their physical and mental health is severely impacted. Preparations for winter have been affected by ongoing impediments to the movement of supplies into Gaza, including by insecurity, restricted access, hostilities, unexploded ordnance, and fuel shortages.

For more than 50 days, people in North Gaza have been under siege. North Gaza has effectively been inaccessible to the UN. 

Our requests for access have been repeatedly and systematically denied by Israeli forces with devastating consequences: families are trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded cannot reach hospitals, and basic supplies—water, food, medical care—have run out. Others have been forced to flee to areas that are no safer, facing the same brutal conditions. 

The food crisis worsens by the day across the Gaza Strip, with severe hunger surging in central and southern Gaza. More than one million people have not received their monthly food rations since July.

The healthcare system has been decimated. Hospitals and critical medical supplies have been destroyed in the bombing. Worse still, people in some parts of northern Gaza have asked the UN to stop providing assistance out of fear of themselves becoming a target.

Access to clear water remains very limited, and the dire sanitation conditions persist in Gaza.

Amid relentless violence and destruction across Gaza, domestic violence, sexual harassment and abuse of women and girls escalates, fueled by overcrowding, lack of services and livelihoods, and the trauma of repeated displacement. 

In addition, more than 17,000 Palestinian children are unaccompanied or separated from their relatives and guardians, and in need of protection.   

Meanwhile, the complete breakdown of public order has fueled a surge in the looting of aid trucks. Civilian police are attacked and prevented from operating by Israeli forces. 

So far this year, UN trucks have been looted 75 times. Armed groups have also broken into UN facilities 34 times. 

This is the reality in Gaza today. 

At the same time, the violence in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, has sharply escalated, with grave consequences for civilians.

Israeli forces continue to employ lethal force that is not consistent with law enforcement standards. In the West Bank, three Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces every week on average since 7 October 2023 - a four-fold increase compared to the first nine months of 2023. 

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property, often with Israeli forces present, have become bolder, and more brutal. Since 7 October 2023, settler violence, intimidation and harassment have displaced 1,722 Palestinians, including 835 children. The demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and movement restrictions hindering civilian access to essential services continue.

I take this opportunity to recall the demand of the International Court of Justice and the UN General Assembly that Israel put an end to its unlawful policies and practices.

Excellencies and distinguished guests,  

Despite extraordinary challenges, humanitarian workers persist in their efforts to deliver vital aid. 

In just two weeks in November, nearly half a million people received critical health services, in addition to tens of thousands of children and their caregivers who received mental health support. Malnutrition and health needs are increasingly being addressed in sites for internally displaced people. 

UNRWA provides vital services to nearly 2 million people in Gaza and one million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank. 

UNRWA has a vast humanitarian infrastructure across Gaza but also the West Bank, including schools, medical facilities, and deep ties to local communities. 

This must be allowed to continue.

We estimate that at least US $6.6 billion is needed to address the humanitarian crisis affecting 3.3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Gaza is one of the most dangerous and challenging places on earth to deliver humanitarian aid. 

Excellencies and distinguished guests, 

Alongside the destruction of basic infrastructure, we are witnessing the destruction of Palestinian life. 

People are dying, families are torn apart, and basic human dignity is stripped away daily.

Stopping this suffering requires above all a ceasefire. 

It also requires full and unwavering respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances, without condition.  

Humanitarian workers must have safe, rapid, unimpeded and sustained access to all people in need across Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 

All of this is indispensable to alleviate the suffering, rebuild lives, and restore dignity to the people of Palestine.

Immediate and decisive action is needed by all who are here. 

Thank you.