The top UN official in the Middle East underscored the importance
of a ceasefire in Gaza during a briefing to journalists at UN
Headquarters on Wednesday.
Tor Wennesland is in New York for discussions on how to “chart a
way out of this crisis and how we can do it with the parties on
the ground.”
He told journalists that “we know very well” what the impediments
are for this to happen politically, which must be overcome.
No ‘quick fix’
“I can see that there is a lining up in the region, in Europe,
and from the international community, to see that happening. But
it’s not a quick fix, it’s not an easy one, and it will take some
very hard diplomatic work,” he said.
As the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process,
Mr. Wennesland has “been on the road more or less permanently”
since the Gaza conflict erupted on 7 October following the deadly
Hamas incursion into southern Israel and the seizure of hostages.
While in New York he will meet with the UN Secretary-General and
the five permanent members of the Security Council –
China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States –
before heading to Washington.
A ‘humanitarian nightmare’
The aim is “to see how we get from where we are in the midst of a
humanitarian nightmare, and a total conflicted West Bank, into a
different course” through a political solution.
Meanwhile, he said interim UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, is currently in
Gaza in efforts to establish key priorities for aid delivery
whenever a humanitarian ceasefire is in place.
Ongoing hostilities make it impossible for the UN to deliver
effectively on the ground, “so that conflict needs a pause
quickly”, said Mr. Wennesland.
While commending diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the US,
he acknowledged that an agreement on a lasting ceasefire “will be
incredibly difficult to set up” and “not a quick fix whatsoever”.
Crisis in Rafah
The envoy was speaking just hours after UN chief António
Guterres warned Member
States that any Israeli military action in Rafah – the southern
city on the border with Egypt where hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians are now sheltered - would exacerbate the
“humanitarian nightmare” in Gaza, with “untold regional
consequences”.
Asked about the situation, Mr. Wennesland noted that Rafah is
currently the only entry point for aid into Gaza, highlighting
this humanitarian “perspective”, while the political “aspect” is
also being addressed “proactively and intensively” between Israel
and Egypt.
Responding to another question, he said “it’s hard to find words
to say to the people in Gaza who have lost everything”, adding
that “it is very difficult to preach hope when you sit in a safe
place to people that are sitting in the middle of what is
hellish”.
He stressed the need for the international community to “put the
necessary pressure on the points that would trigger change”,
reiterating the call for a ceasefire which comes as a result of
agreement on an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
