By Sita Planasari

Copyright tempo

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The United Nations stands ready to deliver large quantities of much-needed, life-saving aid if the proposal for peace in Gaza is implemented.UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, on Friday, as quoted by Antara, said the Gaza initiative from the White House opens up opportunities for the world body.”It offers both a chance for Palestinians to receive life-saving aid at the scale urgently needed, and to bring the hostages home,” he said.”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.”According to Fletcher, the World Bank is experienced in distributing aid on a very large scale. “Our plan delivers aid to civilians, through the safest and most direct routes, and in a principled and neutral way.”However, he said that for this plan to succeed, they need open crossings, safe movement for civilians and aid workers, unrestricted access for goods, visas for staff, operational space for humanitarian workers, and the recovery of the private sector.The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the situation in northern Gaza is deteriorating rapidly. Military operations and intensive airstrikes have increased the number of casualties and continue to damage the area.According to OCHA, humanitarian workers continue to fall, with at least 562 casualties, including 376 UN staff, since the war began. Some of them were killed while on duty.OCHA’s humanitarian partners reported that hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians are still trapped in northern Gaza. Many of them have no means of movement and are exhausted from constantly fleeing, OCHA said.Hospital medical staff reported that most of their staff have either left for southern Gaza or are too afraid to work amid the bombings, OCHA revealed.The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it has led a mission to evacuate three critically ill newborns from Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah to receive life-saving care.The WHO revealed that Al-Aqsa is overwhelmed and facing a shortage of medical supplies as more and more people seek refuge in the south.OCHA said the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people, despite facing access constraints and extreme insecurity, as well as chronic shortages of supplies.Editor’s Choice: Israel Ignores Trump’s Peace Call, Airstrikes on Gaza Kill SevenClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News