UN says ready to deploy police force to Gaza

“If we are called on by the relevant bodies to help, of course we would do our best,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, answering a reporter’s question at UN headquarters in New York.

Pointing to numerous issues related to aid distribution in Gaza, Lacroix noted that incidents of looting have increased significantly.

He emphasized the need to find a solution to these problems, saying that involving a third party could be one of the options.

Lacroix stated that it is uncertain whether this third party would be the UN, adding that certain processes would be required for the involvement of the UN peacekeeping force and that the UN Security Council is part of this process.

Israel, flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Human rights organizations have warned that thousands of people in the besieged enclave are facing the risk of famine amid ongoing Israeli devastating onslaught.