The United Nations needs a direct hotline to Israeli forces fighting in Gaza to combat mistrust and deliver aid safely and effectively, the outgoing UN humanitarian coordinator insisted, according to AFP.

Rather than going through liaison bodies, the UN and other humanitarian actors “need to be speaking to people who are firing guns”, Jamie McGoldrick told a press briefing in Geneva.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and humanitarian groups in Gaza need to understand each other better, he said following a final visit to the Palestinian territory at the end of a three-month posting as interim humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories.