
UN Secretary-General asks Israel to reverse decision to halt UNRWA operations in Jerusalem.. FAO: Emergency relief in Gaza must be coupled with the restoration of local food production
- Europe and Arabs
- Wednesday , 29 January 2025 8:3 AM GMT
Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Israeli government to withdraw its decision requiring UNRWA to "cease its operations in Jerusalem and vacate all buildings it operates in the city by January 30." In a letter addressed to Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, in response to a letter Danon sent to the Secretary-General about the Israeli decision, Guterres said he regretted the decision and asked the Israeli government to withdraw it given the legal framework related to the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its irreplaceable nature. According to the UN Daily News Bulletin, the Secretary-General indicated that he had detailed this matter in two speeches by the Israeli Prime Minister on October 4 and 28, 2024, and a speech by the President of the General Assembly on the 28th of the same month, and two identical speeches by the Presidents of the Security Council and the General Assembly on December 9, 2024 and January 8, 2025. In this context, Guterres stressed that any actions that prevent UNRWA from continuing its activities would severely undermine the provision of an appropriate humanitarian response in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Secretary-General referred to the General Assembly’s affirmation in its resolution issued at its tenth emergency special session on December 11, 2024, that no organization can replace or replace UNRWA’s capacity and mandate to provide the required services and assistance. He said that this affirmation still stands after the deal to secure a ceasefire and release the hostages in Gaza, which the Secretary-General welcomed and commended. Guterres added that the United Nations, including UNRWA, supports the implementation of the agreement by increasing the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the countless numbers of Palestinians who continue to suffer.
He said: “It is imperative that the ceasefire provides every opportunity to deliver assistance throughout Gaza so that we can support the significant increase in life-saving humanitarian support and eventual reconstruction.”
The Secretary-General added that implementing the legislation adopted by the Knesset on October 28 would frustrate the achievement of these goals.
For its part, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that the ceasefire in Gaza provides a critical opportunity to address the catastrophic food crisis by “enabling the delivery of emergency assistance and starting early recovery efforts,” as more than two million people need urgent assistance due to the collapse of agricultural production.
In a statement issued yesterday, Tuesday, the organization’s Deputy Director-General, Beth Bechdol, said that this is “just the beginning of a long journey to recover from the devastation,” adding that sustainable peace and access will be essential to meet the enormous needs “and ensure that no one in Gaza is left behind.”
FAO is committed to ensuring long-term food security in the Strip, she said, adding that for now, immediate recovery efforts will prioritize rebuilding agri-food infrastructure, such as greenhouses, wells and solar energy systems, and scaling up the delivery of vital agricultural inputs to restore local food production.
“These complementary resilience-building measures bridge short-term activities with longer-term development interventions to help communities rebuild, recover from crises, restore hope and support the right to food,” she said.
The 15-month conflict has left Gaza’s entire population severely food insecure, with many communities on the brink of famine. The latest geographic assessment conducted by FAO and the UN Satellite Centre between October and December 2024 found that 75 percent of previously crop fields and olive groves have been damaged or destroyed.
The assessment also found that more than two-thirds of agricultural wells are no longer operational, paralyzing irrigation. Livestock losses have reached 96 percent, milk production has almost stopped, and only one percent of poultry is still alive. The fishing sector is also on the verge of collapse, exacerbating the
Bechdol stressed that agriculture “must be at the heart of emergency and recovery efforts.” She said immediate action must combine emergency relief – food, water and medical assistance – with the restoration of local food production, adding: “Supporting farmers, herders and fishermen now ensures fresh, nutritious food tomorrow.” For its part, the World Food Programme said it was able to bring more food into Gaza in the first eight days of the ceasefire than it had brought in during the entire previous month, delivering more than 10,000 tons of food through all available border crossings from Jordan, Israel and Egypt without incident.
The programme said it was able to reach nearly 333,000 people with aid that week, and aims to reach one million people each month over the next three months, noting that it has enough food pre-positioned along the border and on its way to Gaza to meet the needs of that number of people. The programme has also reached more than 32,000 people with cash assistance since scaling up its programme yesterday. WFP’s Country Director in Palestine, Antoine Renard, said the programme was doing “whatever it takes” to reach displaced people in Gaza returning to their homes, providing hot meals and cash assistance to support the struggling economy. WFP was also able to operate 13 bakeries in the southern Gaza Strip, prepare hot meals and deliver ready-to-eat meals to families in shelters.
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