Good afternoon. My name is mona yacoubian, and the Vice President for the middle east and north africa here at the o u. S. Institute of peace. Its my great pleasure to welcome those of you in the room as welll as those joining us online for thisos fireside chatn navigating humanitarian assistance in gaza. For those of you who are not familiar with the u. S. Institute of peace, we are a national, independent, nonpartisan institute created by congress. Our mission is the prevention, litigation, and resolution of violent conflict around the world. As we think about conflict, i think our minds turn very quickly tour gaza, to the conflt in gaza which has presented an extraordinarily complex set of managerial challenges. On octob7 with the hamas attack and the ensuing conflict in gaza, we have seen humanitarian conditions deteriorate to really extraordinary crisis levels. There are now concerns about imminent famine in northern gaza. There are an estimated 129 hostages from several countries who remain unaccounted for also in gaza. And looming over all of this is a potential incursion into rafah, the southern part of gaza. Im honored to welcome ms. Sigrid kaag to help us unpack the complexity of the humanitarian challenges in gaza. Ms. Kaag serves as the United Nations senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for gaza. This is a position she has held since january following the passage of Un Security Council resolution 2720 last december. In this role, she facilitates, coordinates, monitors, and verifies humanitarian relief into gaza. She brings a wealth of experience to this job. She has held several positions in the dutch government, most recently serving as deputy Prime Minister and minister of finance. She also has a wide range of senior positions at the u. N. She served, among other places, as u. S. Special court nader for lebanon from special coordinator for lebanon. I want to make sure the audience knows you all have the ability to pose questions. You should have question cards with you that will be collected. Yes, robert in the back has question cards. Just signal and we will make sure you get one. Those who are joining us online, you can use the chat box to pose your questions. We want to make sure we have time for that at the very end. With that, sigrid, let me dive right in. The situation in gaza was already quite dire in december when the Un Security Council resolution passed creating your position. Since then, several u. N. Agencies are warning about the prospect of imminent famine. Can you describe for us the scope and the scale of humanitarian need in gaza . And more broadly, how would you frame this overarching problem set of the humanitarian challenges that are posed in the gaza conflict arena . Ms. Kaag thank you. The first one is hard to summarize, but i would start to say the situation is catastrophic. All civilians are deeply affected. The majority have lost their homes. Certainly lost their livelihoods. We have thousands and thousands of children in modern wartime without a known living relative. Gaza families have always been extended gaza families to have quite a number of children. No living relative is very telling about the extent of loss of life. We know the statistics that two thirds of the casualties in this conflict are women and children. No clean water, or very little. People are reduced to sharing a latrine. This has an effect that women and girls are not particularly safe to use whatever is one would call facilities. Communal use at best, if you are lucky to have it. Waste is lying in the streets, piling up, piling up. Im still surprised you dont see rats or not as many as one would expect. Im told no, because rats also get eaten. Everything tells you, every example tells you how dire it is. I dont think the word dire is applicable. In a place where you are confined, no place to flee, and internal movements within gaza have been compounded. So, extent and scale, i have said this a number of times. I have been going to gaza for different professional reason since 1998. You cannot recognize the place. I also know palestinians from gaza who desperately tried to look up on the map to see if they can find some sort of markers to see where their house was because, lets say, the mosque is destroyed. You dont have the classic, you turn around the corner, there is that church or that school and i will find my house. Everything has been destroyed or reduced to significant amount of rubble. We have to start how to keep growing, retain a measure of Human Dignity. It is catastrophic, very daunting, and significantly more needs to be done. Mona so on that point, and earlier this week, the Biden Administration did note that israel has taken significant steps to improve the flow of aid to gaza. But also stressed that there is significant more work to be done, i think, to the point you are making. Are you seeing any improvements on the ground, and how would one measure improvement given what you have just laid down . How do we understand what the metrics are for any improved situation on the ground in gaza . Ms. Kaag i believe you are referring to David Satterfield as well. He gave a little bit of an exit interview perhaps. Mona now, former ms. Kaag a minimal job from day one. He has been out there bringing and pushing and asking and checking. I have said this yesterday too. Since april 5, in the wake of the tragedy which led to the death of the wck humanitarian workers, israel has taken a number of steps. It has made a number of commitments so i think we need to recognize that. But, we need a lot more. I have been very clear on that to the Security Council. We need a paradigm shift. That means we need to see a significant increase in volume. We need sustainable and consistent flows. We need to see measures being implemented or that will be implemented which i know israeli officials have confirmed they will do that can definitely alter the way in which we can actually receive and distribute the assistance. Maybe in the months where supplies were only coming in more by a trickle effect, way below anything we would expect for effective humanitarian assistance, we have started counting trucks. But trucks is the wrong metric. It is a means to an end. You need to move around, but it tells you very little on the quantity of the supplies, the relevance, the types of goods you need to not only sustain the population, but deal with malnourished children, to give the dignity to women and girls, to have the right type of medication for trauma care, but also Chronic Health care. It is a broad scope of need. And for that, we need to see a change not only on the supply side, but in our ability to deliver. And then it gets very granular and practical. It gets to road repairs. It is sometimes said, well, the u. N. Will pick it up. It is quite difficult because the trucks cannot go. The Israeli Government made the decision to expand the fuel supply. Theres not enough fuel for trucks and cars to go. The clearance of drivers of convoys. Behavior at checkpoints inside gaza. Theres a lot of improvement that still needs to be made and clear agreements to be firmly established or reaffirmed. That is what we also qualify as a paradigm shift. All that underpins the collective ability of the u. N. Lets not forget the International Ngos and the palestinian ngos. It underpins our collective ability to expand our footprint, and above all, reach people on a constant and consistent basis. Now, the wck case, the tragic incident has also shown that deconfliction is a much touted word. It needs to be clearly understood and adhered to. It is meaningful a to z. The convoy has the agreement to go, what happens on the way, if there is a risk of an incident. There will be direct contact to the military authorities, i would say, with the idf, that we can prevent. And theres always a constant negotiation or dialogue. I expect additional measures to be made or announced and to be firmed up. At the end of the day, the only metric then is the wellbeing of people is improving. If we can treat malnourished children. If we are bringing people back from the brink. If there is sufficient shelter. If access to clean water is improved. Im working on a Measurement System basically with the u. K. , but i also had this morning a meeting at the nsc. The u. S. Has committed to assist us to make sure we all have the right metrics. Otherwise, we go from the anecdotal into the measurable. As we know, data and our ability to measure is extremely important because it also makes it less political and makes it even more practical. We dont have to argue. If we are firm in the data, the ask is also very clear and the accountability is also important in this. Mona it is very helpful. I would like to draw you out further on different aspects of this paradigm shift you are talking about. But, i want to start by having you articulate in more detail the particular vulnerability that women and children face. You have worked in other conflict zones. We see this across the globe in various conflict zones. We have seen it in the gaza conflict. You noted the number of children, not just orphans, but with no living relative which is devastating. The number of widows and women head of households which conveys its own set of challenges. Can you articulate more on the nature of, or the disproportionate challenge that women and children in particular face in a conflict zones such as the one in gaza . Ms. Kaag i have to say the conflict zone of gaza is, given the parameters and perimeters of the conflict, there is other situation like this. Gaza was a conservative society, but all women and girls went to school and completed their education. I think vulnerability has many faces. It is the acute, it is the now. It is the more marginal position that may have within their Family Household or community. The fact that a lot of the men are either out there looking for food or barter or queueing up. The girls are often sent to go look for water or other food commodities. We have seen it in the pictures often with these baskets or anything to try to gather some foodstuffs or water. I hear from my colleagues on the ground in gaza that they are deeply concerned about the rise of genderbased violence. Sadly not surprised, but it is a given. When people are ultimately deeply poor and dependent solely on very low levels of assistance certainly until now, the risk of exploitation in any other form are very real. A number of the conversations my colleague has had, this is something we need to hone in on. Deeply so at night given that electricity is hardly available. It is not a safe place for women and girls to queue up for the latrine. Nightfall is a very dangerous place in these types of settings for women and girls. Would also argue for the many unaccompanied children. How what i describe it . That is the current. The vulnerability also lies in the deep poverty and total exposure and lack of safe shelter or any opportunities. How do you get children and girls back into places of learning . Usually we see a family is deeply impoverished and has no opportunity. It is not the girls that continue their education. There are also risks to their future Development Even if we are in the stage again where recovery they have taken place and Educational Opportunities are opening up, even in the most creative forms. We have to push here also for the fact that rights are equal, but vulnerabilities are not equal. There is an inequity built in. That is something we have to anticipate. Mona it sounds like with the magnitude that labs over a generation. These are not just changes that are addressed in the immediate term. I want to have you help us understand better the threat we have already seen, the breakdown of law and order in northern gaza for sure. I dont know how the situation is further south. But, some of the chaos that erupts as a result of security vacuums and governance vacuums. I think i read somewhere something you said which i thought was fascinating. It makes sense unfortunately, which is the scarcity of food itself becomes a driver for conflict. I wonder if you could kind of explain, help us understand better this nonpermissive environment in which these challenges are taking place. How do we understand the role of the breakdown of law and order . What kind of additional challenges does that present to your team and others that are working on this issue . Ms. Kaag the breakdown of law and order in the absence of the de facto authority, so to speak, the security there was earlier provided imposed by hamas, but there was a functioning police force for better or for worse. I will not caveat that further. It has led to this vacuum. In nature, a vacuum always gets filled but not necessarily by the forces for good. Despair has crowded out any ability to organize. Despair has upped prices for scarce commodities, certainly before the measures of the april 5 were taken. When there was an attempt to increase the levels of assistance. We have seen a drop in the prices for certain commodities, the moment supplies were a little more available or the volume was out there on the market. That had a restorative aspect partially. Then, of course, the many months where there was hardly anything coming in or far from a level of sufficiency, we have seen the crowds. People say this might be the last truck coming, particularly in the north where supplies were short of anything we would call acceptable levels. Despair drives many factors. But in a vacuum, when there is no law and order provided by any structured force, criminal gangs, the availability of guns, weapons, the show of force. The strongest or most organized entity tends to rise above. Who are the victims . Those who have no means, women and children. The ones who tend to be already vulnerable. They can never reach and it has a very distorted, damaging effect and it is a further negative spiral. But, the concern is this holds this is why in the Security Council yesterday but in many other cases, the secretarygeneral or myself and others have called for the return of the Palestinian Authority and the reestablishment of governance. Under governance, law and order, security, stability is extremely important not only for the ability to provide aid, but for people to receive it in a secure and safe manner. It is not the law of the jungle that you are entitled to be assisted in a manner that provides for Human Dignity and respect for the human being. Mona so, there are lots of things i want to ask you. Im mindful of time and i want to make sure we have time for the audience to also ask their questions. I do want to talk a little bit about the maritime route. This is something that has received attention here. There was recently a pentagon spokesman saying that u. S. Military vessels are in the military and region in the Mediterranean Region and standing by pair to construct the pier off the coast of gaza when given the order to do so. The u. S. Was positioned to begin construction very soon, in the near future. Tell us a little bit tell us a a little bit about t role that peer will play. Talk us through the mechanism of getting food to this maritime route, how will that work, nor the Different Actors involved in that . And where does the. Fit into the broader paradigm you are laying down about related to access . The pier, the maritime route is part of the Bigger Picture of diversification of routes. The priority remains what i would say land, land, land. Its quicker, cheaper, more predictable, or sustainable. The maritime route evolved as an option as we had great difficulty to get the goods to gaza by land given the number of crossings remained closed until fairly recently. It evolved as an opportunity an option to provide for additional commodities to arrive in gaza. Checked and verified. In cyprus, shipped of course to the port which is sort of in the middle of gaza i would say, and where humanitarian actors can from a safe zone received to distribute further across the gaza strip. It wouldnt be something weou would do under other circumstances. Perhaps not. Its a testimony to the collective will of the International Community to find opportunities by any means to reach innocent civilians and to not only procure but also provide the level of assistance they need. I consider it additional. The port in future could also have a helpful function if it stays because the plan is evolving each time, a helpful function when it comes to recovery and reconstruction materials for gaza. To look at the questions i want to break something you have reference to the time the world central kitchen episode in which some 17 members of the world central kitchen were killed accidentally killed by an israeli airstrike. The question is, what is the u. N. s position on mechanism m r protecting ngos operating in gaza . You talked about deconfliction and deconfliction channels but can you talkca more about what posture is being taken, how to ensure aid workers are also safe and secure in provision assistant . I think weeka have to sadly recognize that this conflict has extracted a very high toll of casualties amongst to mention workers, more soke than any othr situation. Secondly, the need to protect and ability to work safely for jamaican workers the work for ingos or ngos is as important as you and family. So for me the whole discussion and negotiation around deconfliction needs be applicable to the entire humanitarian community. Theres no difference. We do know in gaza certainly comes to g arrangements and followup the i ngos are even more vulnerable position. We need to make sure we make sure all agreements that will be reached or reaffirmed apply to all and that requires receive joint planning. There is in countryry setting alwaysth a human return country team. The are members of that group. Everything is discussed, negotiated together so you have a firm, solid position as one voice on half of the group. Another question thats come up and on the minds of many who watch caza close to, you and i chatted briefly before coming on stage aboutut it, and that is yr assessment or that of the u. N. Of what a rafah operation would mean for the displaced gazans that are now very much group in rafah, in the southern part of gaza. What are the implications of a significant incursion into rafah in terms of humanitarian consequences . I think we can hardly imagine what the consequences would be. But we fear for the worsening of an already profound