On October 13, John Ging, the director of operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works, had a public discussion with Amjad Atallah, co-director of the New America Foundation's Middle East Task Force. This year UNRWA commemorates six decades of service to the Palestinian refugees, and Mr. Ging spoke about the current and prospective challenges facing UNRWA and Gaza as a whole.

Mr. Ging emphasized that first and foremost, ending the blockade is a matter of upholding international law: "Thank you very much to all the political interventions and statements, but this is a matter of law. It's a matter of international law. It's a matter of holding up human rights for civilians who are caught up in a conflict zone." As a result of the siege, which Mr. Ging claimed was also illegal, Gaza's infrastructure is in a state of permanent disrepair and deterioration. He noted an enormous amount of raw sewage flows into the Mediterranean from Gaza every day as a consequence the damage Gaza's sanitation plants suffered during Israel's December 2008-January 2009 offensive. Mr. Ging also spoke at length about the "truncated education" that young Gazans now receive due to a shortage of space in schools. Notably, students who have received scholarships to study abroad in the United States and Europe often find it near impossible to leave Gaza.

Perhaps the most significant impact of the situation on the ground, Mr. Ging explained, is the psychological impact on young Gazans: "Gazan parents share [our] universal values. What they're worried about is the coming generation and how devastating this environment is to them. That's why we need to not politicize these things, find operational solutions to security threats." Half of Gazans are children under the age of 18, many of whom have known little normalcy in their young lives.

With regard to whether UNRWA supplies ever go to Hamas, Mr. Ging was clear:

I am, at the moment, accountable for thousands of tons of aid every day-bags of flower, lentils, rice, sugar, and so on and so forth. I can do the very same for the bags of cement-not because only the state of Israel wants the comfort to know that the cement is not being used for unlawful purposes, but those who pay for the cement, the donors, they want to know that we [UNRWA] spent their money properly. So, in actual fact, we have always had to provide to all of our donors very detailed accountability for everything that they fund to us, whether it's on construction, whether it's in healthcare, where it's in education. So the mechanisms are there. They are in place. Nobody has challenged those mechanisms.

Mr. Ging's most important takeaway point was the issue of time. He noted that there are currently strong prospects among Gazas, who are surprisingly open to compromise, for establishing solid foundations for peace. The longer the international community waits to take action, however, the fewer these prospects will be.

John Ging serves as the Director of Operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). He was in charge of UNRWA's Gaza operations during the recent Israeli Operation Cast Lead, and continues to oversee humanitarian services in the territory. This year UNRWA commemorates six decades of service to the Palestinian refugees.