UNRWA Claims Readiness to Deliver 4,000 Aid Trucks to Gaza

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, , says it is prepared to send up to 4,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, half of which will be allocated to carry food and flour, into the Gaza Strip. 

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, on Sunday, January 19, 2025, indicated that attacks on aid convoys in Gaza may decrease once humanitarian assistance begins to flow following the ceasefire.

Lazzarini affirms his agency's commitment to continue its operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank despite the Israeli-imposed ban on UNRWA’s activities effective January 30. 

UNRWA is the only agency capable of providing essential healthcare and education services to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In a related development, WHO delegate in the occupied Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, says the agency is planning to deploy an unspecified number of field hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The plan will be carried out to support Gaza’s decimated healthcare over the next two months. 

Earlier on Wednesday, January 15, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire which was enforced starting on Sunday, January 19. 

Talks began in Cairo on Friday to finalize the details of increasing the flow of aid into Gaza under the ceasefire deal. The UN has raised concerns about road damage, unexploded ordnance, fuel shortages, and lack of adequate communications equipment in the besieged enclave.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power hopes the surge in aid can create a stable humanitarian aid flow for Gaza. She said USAID has supplies ready to ship.

“We have sent a team from Washington to the region. They are working through the modalities of how many more checkpoints can be open at one time, how the hours can be extended, where the trucks can be sourced from,” Power told MSNBC on Friday, January 17.

Source: WAFA-OANA | Antara 

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