Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 8th Feb. UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr.Tor Wennesland on Wednesday underscored the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza at the press conference in New York.
Tor Wennesland said he 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 reporters that “we know very well” what the impediments are for this to happen politically, which must be overcome.
“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.
Mr. Wennesland has “been on the road more or less permanently” since the Gaza conflict erupted on 7 October after the deadly Hamas incursion into southern Israel and the seizure of hostages.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Mr. Wennesland met with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the five permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States before heading to Washington, D.C.
Mr. Wennesland said that the purpose of his visit 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.
He said the 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.
Mr. Wennesland said that the ongoing hostilities make it impossible for the UN to deliver effectively on the ground, “so that conflict needs a pause quickly”.
He commended diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the US, also acknowledged that an agreement on a lasting ceasefire “will be incredibly difficult to set up” and “not a quick fix whatsoever”.
Wennesland was speaking hours after UN chief António Guterres warned Member States that any Israeli military action in Rafah 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”.
Mr. Wennesland noted that Rafah is currently the only entry point for aid into Gaza, highlighted this humanitarian “perspective”, while the political “aspect” is also being addressed “proactively and intensively” between Israel and Egypt.
He said “it’s hard to find words to say to the people in Gaza who have lost everything.
Wennesland added that it is very difficult to preach hope when you sit in a safe place to people that are 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.”
Wennesland reiterated the call for a ceasefire which comes as a result of agreement on an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
