Guyana’s Deputy UN rep visits Egypt for briefing on Gaza crisis

See below full release from the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the United Nations: 

On Monday December 11, Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, Ambassador Trishala Persaud, joined current and incoming members of the UN Security Council for a visit to Al Arish and the Rafah border crossing in Egypt which connects the Gaza Strip to the outside world.

The visit was organized by the United Arab Emirates in coordination with Egypt and was intended to help delegates better understand the challenges in delivering humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the people of Gaza.

The delegation visited the Egyptian Red Crescent Warehouse, a logistical centre for packing and loading relief aid trucks in Al Arish city, before proceeding to the Rafah border crossing. Along the way, they observed long lines of trucks waiting to deliver aid to Gaza.

They also visited injured Palestinian patients who were evacuated to the Al Arish Central Hospital. The group was able to interact virtually via screens with doctors and patients at the new UAE field hospital inside Gaza – and was taken to the opening of a new desalination plant funded and managed by the UAE that is expected to pump fresh water to Gaza.

A minute of silence was observed for the UN staff and civilians who perished in the Gaza Strip following which the delegation received briefings from UN agencies, Egyptian authorities and health officials on the crisis in Gaza.

The delegation included ambassadors from the United Kingdom, China, Russia, Albania, Ghana, Guyana, Ecuador, Mozambique, Slovenia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, and Switzerland. UNRWA Chief, Philippe Lazzarini, and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the Palestinian Territories, Lyn Hastings, were also present.