By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest independent aid groups working in Gaza, said President Donald Trump’s plan to increase aid to starving people as part of a ceasefire will fail unless all aid groups can resume operations.
“The desperation is deeper and the exhaustion is greater than anyone can imagine inside Gaza…It’s not enough with some U.N. agencies and some few NGOs,” Jan Egeland, NRC head, told Reuters in an interview via video link from Oslo.
“If not, the Trump peace plan will not succeed…We don’t have time for more bureaucratic obstacles.”
Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday rejoiced after Trump announced that a ceasefire and hostage deal was reached under the first phase of his plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Egeland said NRC, among other international NGOs, had been blocked from bringing aid into Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade on supplies in May.
Israel has said there is no limit on quantities of food aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, accusations the Palestinian militant group denies. COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, did not immediately reply to Reuters request for comment.
Trump’s 20-point plan includes allowing “full aid” to be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip, and for water infrastructure and bakeries to be restored in the enclave, where some areas are experiencing famine.
The NRC is resubmitting a request to get hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving aid into Gaza, which had been denied access for months.
Egeland called for all border crossings to be re-opened, following the closure of the Zikim and Allenby crossings and emphasised the urgent need for tents and tarpaulins to shelter Palestinians in Gaza as winter approaches.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, has killed more than 67,000 people.
Hamas’ October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli officials.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Ros Russell)
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