Statement on Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
New York, 3 October 2025
President Trump’s Gaza initiative opens a window of opportunity.
It offers both a chance for Palestinians to receive life-saving aid at the scale urgently needed, and to bring the hostages home.
We are ready and eager to act.
We have some 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine, shelter and other desperately needed supplies poised to enter Gaza from across the region.
Our plan is not a theory – we know it works. During the last ceasefire, we moved with speed and scale throughout the Strip. We are mobilised again today. The UN and our partners have the people, the trust and the experience. Our plan delivers aid to civilians, through the safest and most direct routes, and in a principled and neutral way.
For our lifesaving plan to succeed, we need: open crossings; safe movement for civilians and aid workers; unrestricted entry of goods; visas for staff; the space for humanitarians to operate; and the private sector to be revived.
This nightmare has gone on too long. Every minute of delay brings more misery. But we now have a chance to deliver. We call on all parties to agree to a ceasefire, give us the access, let us work.
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