UNRWA commissioner-general calls for stepped-up humanitarian aid access to Gaza

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called for a stepped-up flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip following a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Tel Aviv, as part of the ceasefire agreement and U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.

Lazzarini said in a post on X: “It is time to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza on a large scale,” adding: “Finally, a day of positive emotions, and Israeli and Palestinian families meeting their relatives, offering a glimmer of hope after more than two years of darkness.”

Under the end-of-war agreement, Hamas on Monday completed the release of 20 living Israeli captives from Gaza, while Tel Aviv estimates there are the remains of 28 other captives, of which Israel received four.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Prisoners’ Club in Palestine said in a joint statement that Israel today released 1,968 prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences and 1,718 from Gaza who were arrested after the war. The statement came amid Palestinian accusations that Tel Aviv manipulated prisoner lists.

Lazzarini added: “It is time to build a future of peace through recovery, justice and mutual recognition.” He continued: “It is time to allow humanitarian assistance on a large scale (into Gaza), including through UNRWA.”
On Monday morning, the Gaza government media office said 173 aid trucks entered the Strip yesterday after the ceasefire decision, describing the quantities as “very limited.” It said the aid convoy included “three trucks loaded with cooking gas and six trucks of diesel fuel designated to run bakeries, generators and hospitals.”

Over two years of what it calls genocide, Israel prevented the entry of gas and fuel to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Exceptions were very limited quantities that arrived during the truce in January and small shipments to international organizations for distribution to vital sectors such as hospitals and bakeries.

The Gaza authorities continue coordinating with international relief and humanitarian organizations to organize the entry and fair distribution of aid so it reaches all of the Palestinian people, the government media office said.

According to a ceasefire agreement document published by the Hebrew broadcaster, “the immediate entry of all humanitarian assistance and its free distribution is permitted according to the agreed mechanism, in line with the humanitarian decision issued on 19 January 2025,” referring to the humanitarian annex of the January truce.
The decision calls for the entry of 600 aid trucks daily into Gaza, including fuel and cooking gas.

On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on the first phase of his plan following indirect negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh with the participation of Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, and under U.S. supervision.

The plan includes ending the war, a phased withdrawal of the Israeli army, a mutual exchange of prisoners, the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Negotiations on the second phase of the agreement are due to begin in days, with Hamas insisting on a complete end to what it calls the genocidal war, the withdrawal of the Israeli army and not relinquishing the “resistance’s weapons” to the occupation.

With U.S. support, Israel has, since Oct. 8, 2023, committed what it calls a genocide in Gaza, leaving 67,869 dead and 170,105 injured, most of them children and women, and a famine that claimed the lives of 463 Palestinians, including 157 children.