UN humanitarian agencies have urged immediate expansion of aid access to Gaza following the Security Council’s endorsement of a US-brokered peace plan, as severe winter weather compounded the suffering of displaced Palestinian families.
The Security Council on Monday backed the “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” announced by US President Donald Trump on September 29. The resolution authorises a transitional “Board of Peace” administration to establish a temporary international force in Gaza after two years of war.
However, UN officials cautioned that implementation details remain unclear while conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate.
“We’re still in the hypotheticals,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), noting the resolution “needs some meat on the bones.”
Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said humanitarians are “very optimistic” about the peace plan but stressed “the reality for children on the ground continues to be very tragic.”
Heavy rains and flooding have worsened conditions for thousands of displaced families living in tents. “We’re seeing heartbreaking stories of desperate families feeling completely lost and exhausted after their tents got flooded,” Pires said, warning of risks including hypothermia, respiratory infections and death among children already weakened by malnutrition and trauma.
Pires noted that Israeli forces occupy more than 50 percent of Gaza’s territory, forcing Palestinians into flood-prone coastal areas.
Aid deliveries have increased modestly, with more than 5,400 metric tonnes collected between Thursday and Sunday, according to OCHA. The Zikim border crossing reopened after a two-month closure, bringing the total number of open crossings to three. UNICEF recently delivered 96 pallets of high-energy biscuits to famine-stricken northern Gaza.
“We need more, a lot more,” Pires said, calling for additional humanitarian corridors as part of the peace agreement.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the Security Council resolution as “an important step in the consolidation of the ceasefire” and reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to scaling up humanitarian assistance.
