{"id":255015,"date":"2021-06-28T17:38:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T21:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=255015"},"modified":"2021-07-07T18:32:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:32:47","slug":"fuel-deliveries-to-gaza-gaza-reconstruction-death-of-nizar-banat-28-june-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/fuel-deliveries-to-gaza-gaza-reconstruction-death-of-nizar-banat-28-june-2021-daily-press-briefing-excerpts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel Deliveries to Gaza, Gaza Reconstruction, Death of Nizar Banat \u2013 28 June 2021 Daily Press Briefing \u2013 (Excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

28 JUNE 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Gaza<\/u><\/p>\n

Turning to Gaza.\u00a0 Tor Wennesland, our UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, announced that, under the UN framework, the Qatari-funded fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant are resuming today.\u00a0 That is in accordance with the previous agreement between the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the State of Qatar.<\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Wennesland welcomed all steps taken to de-escalate the situation.\u00a0 The UN will continue to work with all concerned parties and partners to solidify a ceasefire and help the people of Gaza.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 I can give you another question now, which is Palestine and protests against the Palestinian Authority, a large-scale protest.\u00a0 There seems to be all sorts of cases of beatings and arrests of protesters; the UN\u2019s reaction to that, too?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay, we\u2019ve seen the reports of the air strikes, the US air strikes in the Iraqi-Syria border area.\u00a0 The Secretary-General remains concerned about the volatile situation in the area and the region, in fact.\u00a0 He renews his call for all concerned sides to exercise restraint and avoid any risks of escalation, which could undermine the ongoing diplomatic efforts at finding a peaceful solution to the region\u2019s tensions.<\/p>\n

On Gaza, we honestly have been following this very closely.<\/p>\n

Correspondent<\/u>:\u00a0 Sorry, the question was more about the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 The West Bank, I\u2019m sorry, sorry.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s literally I need an IFB, like an anchor, so people can tell me what to say as it comes in.\u00a0 But thank you for pointing me in the right area.\u00a0 We are obviously following very closely.\u00a0 And we have seen\u2026 I think we have all seen the images coming out of the West Bank.\u00a0 I think the conduct of the Palestinian security forces is concerning.\u00a0 This, obviously, follows the death of the former parliamentary candidate, Nizar Banat, who died in unclear circumstances, as it were, right now, in the custody of Palestinian security forces.\u00a0 We have our human rights colleagues on the ground who witnessed both Palestinian security forces and nonuniformed persons using force against protesters, as well as journalists and human rights officers, who are themselves documenting the event.\u00a0 Several people have been injured, as you probably have seen.\u00a0 We call on the Palestinian Authority to ensure that security forces ensure freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and peaceful assembly.\u00a0 And that any excessive use of force is investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n

Nabil?<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 I will ask about Gaza.\u00a0 Do you know why the reconstruction process has not kicked off in Gaza after the recent escalation?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Look, obviously, it\u2019s a very complex situation, where various parties have to manage and be managed.\u00a0 We would like to see reconstruction start as quickly as possible.\u00a0 I think the start of the fuel deliveries that we saw today and are expecting again tomorrow are a positive sign, in the sense that ensuring that the Gaza power plant has electricity to function is sort of the backbone, in a sense, of any reconstruction.\u00a0 Because you need electricity for everyday living, but you need electricity and power for reconstruction.<\/p>\n

My understanding is that eight trucks with fuel went through today.\u00a0 Sixty trucks are expected this week.\u00a0 The power plant uses fuel for electricity.\u00a0 The average daily amount of electricity currently generated by the Gaza power plant is about 60\u00a0to 70\u00a0per cent of the amount generated before the latest conflict.\u00a0 We understand a third turbine was turned on a bit earlier today, about 1\u00a0p.m. local time, with total electricity supplies from the power plant and other sources now returning to about 14\u00a0hours a day.\u00a0 That\u2019s up just recently from about 11\u00a0to 12\u00a0hours a day.<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 A follow-up:\u00a0 I heard here in New York and now Reuters reports, quoting an Israeli official, that Israel has a condition here that the reconstruction would be eased or facilitated if the Palestinian groups in Gaza release or engage in the releasing of the four Israelis, I think two soldiers and two others released, who were captured in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen these press reports.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve said, the reconstruction issue from our end is, I mean, from anyone\u2019s end is a complex one, because they are obviously, it\u2019s within a political context.\u00a0 We hope all the parties involved will ensure that reconstruction starts as soon as possible for the benefit of the civilians in Gaza who have already suffered tremendously.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah, I have a follow-up.\u00a0 In fact, James took my question.\u00a0 But my question is:\u00a0 if Mr.\u00a0Tor\u00a0Wennesland had any contact with the Palestinian Authority, with Mr.\u00a0[Mahmoud] Abbas or any of his associates about what happened from the minute that Nizar Banat was assassinated to the present?<\/p>\n

Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 My understanding is that contacts were had with the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 JUNE 2021 The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General. \/… Gaza Turning to Gaza.\u00a0 Tor Wennesland, our UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, announced that, under the UN framework, the Qatari-funded fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant are resuming today.\u00a0 […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[1062],"document-category":[2573],"document-source":[5352,6169,3185,1877],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1945,1829,6189,2005,4317,1741,5200,1857,2185,2349,2285],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-255015","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-qatar","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-source-secretary-general","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-source-united-nations-office-for-project-services-unops","document-source-united-nations-special-coordinator-for-the-middle-east-peace-process-unsco","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-energy","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-governance","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-incidents","document-subject-legal-issues","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-prisoners-and-detainees","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=255015"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=255015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}