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UN Suspends Aid Movements at Night in Gaza

A man stands by a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) as it sits along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
A man stands by a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) as it sits along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
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UN Suspends Aid Movements at Night in Gaza

A man stands by a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) as it sits along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
A man stands by a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) as it sits along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)

The United Nations has suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues following the killing of staff working for the World Central Kitchen food charity, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

He said the suspension started on Tuesday. The World Food Program is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza "where people are dying," Dujarric said.

"As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip," he told reporters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike on Monday, prompting condemnations and calls for explanations from the United States and other allies

The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza.

The UN has repeatedly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long war between Israel and Hamas. Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza over a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian gunmen.

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UN Humanitarian Chief Urges Massive Aid Boost for Syria

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
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UN Humanitarian Chief Urges Massive Aid Boost for Syria

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP

Visiting UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called Wednesday for a massive aid boost for Syria to respond to "this moment of hope" after the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.
"Across the country, the needs are huge. Seven in 10 people are needing support right now," Fletcher told AFP in a telephone interview as he visited Syria.
"I want to scale up massively international support, but that now depends on donors. The Syria fund has been historically, shamefully underfunded and now there is this opportunity," he said.
"The Syrian people are trying to come home when it's safe to do so, to rebuild their country, to rebuild their communities and their lives.
"We have to get behind them and to respond to this moment of hope. And if we don't do that quickly, then I fear that this window will close."
Half of Syria's population were forced from their homes during nearly 14 years of civil war, with millions finding refuge abroad.
UN officials have said a $4 billion appeal for Syria aid is less than a third funded.
"There are massive humanitarian needs... water, food, shelter... There are needs in terms of government services, health, education, and then there are longer term rebuilding needs, development needs," Fletcher said.
"We've got to be ambitious in our ask of donors.
"The Syrian people demand that we deliver, and they're right to demand that we deliver," he said. "The world hasn't delivered for the Syrian people for more than a decade."
'Test for all'
As part of his visit, Fletcher met representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the opposition group which spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad, including its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir.
Fletcher said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's new administration that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground.
"We need unhindered, unfettered access to the people that we're here to serve. We need the crossings open so we can get massive amounts of aid through... We need to ensure that humanitarian workers can go where they need to go without restriction, with protection," he said.
"I received the strongest possible reassurances from the top of that caretaker administration that they will give us that support that we need. Let's test that now in the period ahead."
Assad's government had long imposed restrictions on humanitarian organizations and on aid distribution in areas of the country outside its control.
Fletcher said that the coming period would be "a test for the UN, which hasn't been able to deliver what we wanted to over a decade now... Can we scale up? Can we gain people's trust?
"But it's also a test for the new administration," he added. "Can they guarantee us a more permissive environment than we had under the Assad regime?
"I believe that we can work in that partnership, but it's a huge test for all of us."