Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator, announced that he will be traveling to the Middle East on Tuesday to try and assist in negotiating aid access to the Gaza Strip.
Griffiths expressed hope for “good news” regarding aid entering the blockaded and beleaguered Palestinian enclave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt later on Monday.
In response to mounting concerns about the precarious humanitarian situation faced by millions of Palestinians stranded in the brutally bombed region, Israel declared on Monday that there was no temporary cease-fire to permit aid into or foreigners out of the Gaza Strip.
“We need access for aid. We are in deep discussions with the Israelis, with the Egyptians and with others,” Griffiths said in a video statement, adding that the process had been “hugely helped” by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to countries in the Middle East.
“I shall be going myself tomorrow to the region to try to help in the negotiations, to try to bear witness and to express solidarity with the extraordinary courage of the many thousands of aid workers who have stayed the course,” he said.
The emergency aid coordinator for the UN is scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday, and his visit to the area, which will include Israel, will take “several days,” a spokesman told AFP.
On October 7, when Hamas militants crossed the strongly guarded border, Israel opened war on the Palestinian Islamist group, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.
Israel launched a persistent bombing assault against the Gaza Strip after suffering the bloodiest attack in its history, destroying neighborhoods and killing at least 2,750 people—mostly civilians.
On Monday, the Israeli military reported that 199 kidnappings by Hamas had been verified.
