Gaza aid plan at risk without full NGO access, warns Norwegian Refugee Council

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s new plan to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza will fail unless all international aid groups are granted full access to the territory.

Jan Egeland, the NRC’s Secretary General, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was far worse than many realize, stressing that partial access for a few organisations would not be enough to meet urgent needs.

“The desperation is deeper and the exhaustion is greater than anyone can imagine inside Gaza,” Egeland said in an interview with Reuters from Oslo. “It’s not enough with some UN agencies and some few NGOs. If not, the Trump peace plan will not succeed. We don’t have time for more bureaucratic obstacles.”

According to Egeland, the NRC and several other international non-governmental organisations have been unable to deliver aid to Gaza since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade on supplies in May.

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire and reconstruction plan includes provisions for immediate delivery of “full aid” to Gaza and the restoration of water infrastructure and bakeries in areas hit by severe food shortages.

Egeland said the NRC is resubmitting its request to send hundreds of truckloads of essential supplies into Gaza after months of denied access.