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UN appoints ex-Dutch Dy PM, Mideast expert as Gaza humanitarian coordinator
Updated On: 27 December, 2023 07:32 AM IST | United Nations | AP
Israel stopped all deliveries of food, water, medicine and fuel into Gaza after the militant Hamas group`s October 7 incursion into southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
A picture taken from the border between Israel and Gaza shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Pic/AFP
Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands` former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert, was appointed the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza, the United Nations chief announced on Tuesday. The announcement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres follows the Security Council`s adoption of a resolution on Friday requesting him to expeditiously appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, where more than 2 million civilians are in desperate need of food, water and medicine, Guterres said Kaag, who speaks fluent Arabic and five other languages, `brings a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs as well as in diplomacy` to her new post. She is expected to start on January 8.
`She will facilitate, coordinate, monitor, and verify humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza,` he said, adding that Kaag will also establish a UN mechanism to accelerate aid deliveries "through states which are not party to the conflict.` Gaza`s entire 2.3 million population is in food crisis, with 576,000 people at catastrophic or starvation levels and the risk of famine is `increasing each day,` according to a report released last Thursday by 23 UN and nongovernmental organisations. It blamed the widespread hunger on insufficient aid entering Gaza.
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