The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Closed Consultations with Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag
Tomorrow morning (5 March), Security Council members will hold closed consultations on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). Sigrid Kaag is expected to brief on the implementation of resolution 2720 in her capacity as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator (SHRC) for Gaza. (Since January, Kaag has also served concurrently as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim.) Tomorrow’s meeting will be Kaag’s sixth and likely final briefing to the Council on the implementation of resolution 2720.
Kaag is expected to brief Council members on the latest humanitarian developments in Gaza. Under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that went into effect on 19 January—during which Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of over 1,700 Palestinian detainees—Israel also committed to allowing more humanitarian aid to enter the territory, enabling an increase in food and medical assistance. According to a 27 February statement from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Agency has provided food assistance to over 90 percent of Gaza’s population since the beginning of the ceasefire, “helping to slightly improve food security”, despite Israeli legislation restricting UNRWA’s operations entering into force on 30 January. (For background on the legislation, see our 16 January and 27 January What’s in Blue stories and the brief on the MEPQ in our November 2024 Monthly Forecast.) Additionally, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN entities, concluded a polio vaccination campaign on 26 February that reached over 600,000 children under the age of 10, according to the UN.
The first phase of the ceasefire ended on 1 March. Negotiations on the parameters of the second phase—which would establish a permanent ceasefire, during which Israel would fully withdraw from Gaza and Hamas would release all remaining hostages in exchange for additional detainees—were supposed to begin in early February, but Israel deferred the start of those talks. One of the most contentious issues to be resolved is the post-war governance of Gaza: while Israel insists on the complete dismantlement of Hamas, the group has only expressed openness to ceding civilian administration of Gaza but has not indicated willingness to disband its military wing. In a 1 March statement delivered by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, Secretary-General António Guterres said that the first phase of the ceasefire had provided “a fragile but vital reprieve” for civilians on both sides and cautioned against a “catastrophic” return to hostilities. He also urged the parties to “find a way forward” on the second phase.
On 2 March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a proposed “framework” for a “temporary ceasefire for the Ramadan and Passover period”, which he attributed to US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Under this plan, Hamas would release half of the 59 hostages it is still holding on the first day that the framework goes into effect and the remaining hostages on the last day, with the parties negotiating a permanent ceasefire in the interim. Netanyahu described the proposal as an extension of the first phase of the existing ceasefire agreement and said that Witkoff had proposed it after finding that “there is no possibility, at present, of bridging between the two positions, Israel’s and Hamas’s, regarding the second stage.” According to Netanyahu, Witkoff therefore concluded that “additional time for talks was necessary in order to achieve a possible agreement”.
In the same statement, Netanyahu said that Hamas had rejected the proposal, and that Israel would therefore prevent the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, adding that there would be “additional consequences” if Hamas did not change its position. Elaborating on possible further actions in a 4 March interview with Israeli media, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said that Israel has “additional leverage” and may cut off water and electricity to the Gaza Strip unless Hamas accepts the proposal. At the time of writing, Witkoff had not publicly commented on the framework proposal or the Israeli decision, but White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes reportedly said that the US “will support [Israel’s] decision on next steps”. Today (4 March), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is “suspended”, as the Kerem Shalom, Zikim, and Erez border crossings “remain closed for cargo for the third consecutive day”.
Hamas reportedly described the proposed framework as a violation of the original ceasefire agreement and characterised Israel’s decision to block humanitarian aid as “blackmail” and a “war crime”. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher called the Israeli decision “alarming”, stressing that international humanitarian law protects the delivery of “vital lifesaving aid”. In remarks delivered today at an extraordinary summit of the League of Arab States (LAS) held in Cairo, Egypt, Guterres said that “[h]umanitarian aid is not negotiable” and “must flow without impediment”, adding that “Israel, as the occupying power, must comply with all its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law”. Kaag may echo these messages at tomorrow’s meeting.
Kaag may also raise the issue of Gaza’s post-war governance. She will be briefing Council members remotely from Cairo, where she is also attending the LAS summit, during which Egypt presented a plan for the territory’s recovery and reconstruction. According to media reports, the plan calls for $53 billion over five years to build housing, critical infrastructure, and industrial zones, without displacing civilians, initially under the management of an “administrative committee” of Palestinian technocrats that would hand over control of the territory to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) after a six-month transitional period. It also calls on the Security Council to consider deploying peacekeepers to Gaza and the West Bank to protect both Palestinians and Israelis, with the ultimate aim of preserving the viability of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and preventing the resurgence of hostilities.
The Egyptian proposal follows a series of remarks made by US President Donal Trump in February suggesting that the US would “take over” Gaza after the war and that neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan should resettle displaced Palestinians, who would not have a right to return to the territory. The comments were strongly rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community, including Arab countries in the region, which subsequently accelerated discussions on their own plan for Gaza’s long-term governance. At the time of writing, LAS members were reportedly considering a draft communiqué endorsing Egypt’s proposal and calling on the international community to support it.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Kaag may also offer her views on the future of her mandate and the humanitarian mechanism under resolution 2720. This resolution, which was adopted in December 2023, requested the Secretary-General to appoint an SHRC mandated with establishing a UN mechanism for accelerating humanitarian consignments to Gaza. The resolution did not establish an end date for the SHRC’s mandate or the humanitarian mechanism, but it requested the SHRC to report to the Security Council on her work every 90 days until 30 September 2024. The Council subsequently extended the SHRC’s reporting requirement for an additional six months, until 31 March, through a 30 September 2024 letter to the Secretary-General.
While it seems that Council members do not expect to extend the mandate’s reporting requirement beyond its current expiry on 31 March, Kaag has apparently recommended subsuming the humanitarian mechanism—which comprises several components, including a database for the registration of humanitarian consignments; verification of the humanitarian nature of the cargo; facilitation of clearance; and monitoring of cargo flow—under other UN bodies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which could also assume responsibility for reporting to the Council on the mechanism’s implementation.
