By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - UN relief chief Tom Fletcher on Thursday said his agency has a detailed humanitarian plan ready to deliver aid across the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire deal was reached, warning that funding and access remain critical.
Saying that US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan "must be the basis for lifesaving work throughout the region and for saving tens of thousands of lives," Fletcher indicated, during a virtual briefing, that "we must seize this moment with collective will, with determination and with generosity. There must be no backsliding on the agreements that have been made."
Fletcher said UN teams have pre-positioned 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other supplies to begin immediate delivery.
"So, here is what we plan to deliver in the first 60 days of the ceasefire," he said, outlining efforts to scale up the flow of aid to hundreds of trucks per day and reach 2.1 million people in need of food assistance, along with 500,000 requiring nutrition support.
He said the UN will "be supporting bakeries and community kitchens," provide "cash for 200,000 families," and work to restore livelihoods for "herders and fishers." On health, Fletcher said efforts will focus on restoring the "decimated health system" and deploying emergency teams.
He noted plans to reach 1.4 million people with clean water and sanitation, distribute "thousands of tents every week," and reopen learning spaces for 700,000 school-aged children.
"We will focus on bigger and more vulnerable families and those in particularly dire conditions in undeserved and overcrowded sites," Fletcher added.
He stressed that protecting civilians and ensuring "unimpeded humanitarian access" are essential.
"The blockade must be lifted," he said, adding that the UN will "continue to demand that."
The UN relief chief warned that only 28% of the $4 billion needed for the 2025 flash appeal for the occupied Palestinian territory has been funded.
"Every government, every state, every individual … now is the time to make that generosity count, to help us deliver, to help us save so many lives in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Fletcher added that while significant aid has been pre-positioned, "we will need to bring more aid over the coming two months," and emphasized that the humanitarian challenge "won't go away in two months."
"Famine must be reverted in areas where it has taken hold and prevented in others," he added.
On Sept. 29, Trump unveiled a 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza that includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip.
A second phase of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas’ participation, the formation of a security force comprising Palestinians and troops from Arab and Islamic countries and the disarmament of Hamas. It also stipulates Arab and Islamic funding for the new administration and the reconstruction of the enclave, with limited participation from the Palestinian Authority.
Arab and Muslim counties have largely welcomed the plan, but some officials have also said that many details in it need discussion and negotiations to be fully implemented.