Trucks carrying aid provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) wait at the Kissufim crossing, located east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, before entering the Palestinian enclave on Oct. 17, 2025. (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
JERUSALEM — The United Nations' aid chief took stock of the monumental task of restoring basic necessities in the devastated Gaza Strip on Saturday as a cease-fire entered its second week.
In a short convoy of white U.N. jeeps, relief coordinator Tom Fletcher and his team wound their way through the twisted rubble of shattered homes to inspect a wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City.
"I drove through here seven to eight months ago when most of these buildings were still standing and, to see the devastation, this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland, and it's absolutely devastating to see," he told AFP.
The densely packed cities of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, have been reduced to ruins by two years of relentless Israeli bombardment.
Just over a week since U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker a truce, the main border crossing to Egypt has yet to be reopened, but hundreds of trucks roll in daily via Israeli checkpoints and aid is being distributed.
Hamas has returned the final 20 surviving hostages it was holding and has begun to hand over the remains of another 28 who died.
Digging latrines
Surveying the damaged pumping equipment and a grim lake of sewage at the Sheikh Radwan wastewater plant, Fletcher said the task ahead for the U.N. and aid agencies was a "massive, massive job."
The British diplomat said he had met residents returning to destroyed homes trying to dig latrines in the ruins.
"They're telling me that most of all they want dignity," he said. "We've got to get the power back on so we can start to get the sanitation system back in place.
"We have a massive 60 day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school."
According to figures supplied to mediators by the Israeli military's civil affairs agency and released by the U.N. humanitarian office, on Thursday some 950 trucks carrying aid and commercial supplies crossed into Gaza from Israel.
Relief agencies have called for the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to be reopened to speed the flow of food, fuel and medicines, and Turkey has a team of rescue specialists waiting at the border to help find bodies in the rubble.
JERUSALEM — The United Nations' aid chief took stock of the monumental task of restoring basic necessities in the devastated Gaza Strip on Saturday as a cease-fire entered its second week.
In a short convoy of white U.N. jeeps, relief coordinator Tom Fletcher and his team wound their way through the twisted rubble of shattered homes to inspect a wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Radwan, north of Gaza City.
"I drove through here seven to eight months ago when most of these buildings were still standing and, to see the devastation, this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland, and it's absolutely devastating to see," he told AFP.
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