Juliette Touma of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, outlines the challenges humanitarian groups face under current restrictions, and was asked what can be done to improve and safeguard aid delivery.

Amman

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

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Juliet Touma, Director of Communications for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), outlined the critical humanitarian situation in Gaza, noting that recent international airdrops are not making a significant impact due to their limited capacity and high cost. Touma stressed that the only effective solution is to allow 500 to 600 aid trucks into Gaza daily, carrying not just food but also essential items like medicine, fuel, and hygiene supplies.

Touma also highlighted operational challenges faced by UNRWA, including a ban on bringing humanitarian assistance into Gaza and restrictions on international staff visas. She cautioned against creating new aid distribution systems, arguing that supporting existing UN structures is the most effective way to address the crisis. According to UN data, nearly 1,400 people have been killed while seeking aid, underscoring the urgency of restoring and supporting established humanitarian operations.

UNRWA outlines Gaza humanitarian challenges and what can be done

For more, let's cross over to Juliet Touma. She is the Director of Communications with the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA. She joins us from the Jordanian capital, Amman. Welcome to you, Juliet. There has been an apparent increase in aid drops organised by several countries, including Germany and France. Is that making any difference on the ground? Thanks for having me. Not really. And also because these airdrops are very, very expensive. And what you can put on one airdrop is less than half of what you can put on a truck. So what's really needed is political will to open the gates to the Gaza Strip so that we in the United Nations can bring in 500 to 600 trucks every single day. That is the only way to alleviate the famine that's now in Gaza. And you mentioned aid trucks. How many aid trucks are getting into Gaza in a day right now? And how many would be needed to end the starvation at this point? Very little is going in. And what needs to come in, like I said, is 500 to 600 trucks every day, not only of food, but also of medicine, fuel, water, medical supplies for the hospitals, hygiene, material, very simple stuff, like, for example, bars of soap and detergents. As the Director of Communications for UNRWA, your organisation is banned from operating in Gaza right now and has not been able to provide any humanitarian assistance since that ban. Is the absence of UNRWA one major factor, perhaps, for the humanitarian disaster we are witnessing right now in Gaza? Look, we continue to be present inside Gaza. We have a team of over 10,000 people, including doctors and emergency workers who are still inside Gaza, who continue to provide assistance to the degree possible. They are very, very tired and hungry themselves. We had a few cases of colleagues of ours who fainted while they were on duty. What we are banned from, however, is twofold. We cannot get in any humanitarian assistance from outside into Gaza. And it has been the case for over five months now where no trucks of UNRWA were allowed in. And the other thing that we cannot do is international staff. They are not getting visas to go into Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. We've not had any of our international staff. Their visas have not been renewed since end of January this year. The US Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Gaza and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution systems in an effort, he says, to come up with a new aid distribution plan. Do you think the US has the ability to organise aid distribution and the will without the help of established aid agencies like yours? I think what needs to happen is to support the system that is in place, and that is the UN system, including UNRWA, to allow us to do our work. There's no need to reinvent the wheel or come up with another organisation or another system. I mean, we've seen with this humanitarian foundation, so-called system that was put in place, we've seen that that system has put the lives of people at risk. In fact, according to our numbers in the United Nations, close to 1,400 people have been killed while trying to get some assistance. So let's not reinvent the wheel. Let's support the UN, including UNRWA, to do its work and bring in the supplies and distribute the supplies through the teams that we already have on the ground inside Gaza, at UNRWA, and other organisations. Juliet Touma, Director of Communications with UNRWA in Amman. Thanks so much. Thank you.

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UNRWA outlines Gaza humanitarian challenges and what can be done

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