She is an experienced diplomat and has held numerous senior positions at the United Nations.
Nevertheless, this position will probably be an extreme challenge for Sigrid Kag (62). Namely, from Monday (January 8), a Dutch woman will manage humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip on behalf of the United Nations.
The task is enormous. Even before Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU, the US and other countries, attacked Israel on October 7, a good 80 percent of the population in Gaza was dependent on humanitarian aid.
Destroyed infrastructure in Gaza
Meanwhile, the Israeli army's two-month-long bombing and ground offensive has destroyed large swathes of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Fighting in the area, which is only 360 square kilometers, has led to the internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
According to the local Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, more than 20.000 people have been killed so far in the Israeli bombing and offensive.
The Israeli military expects the fighting could last for months, meaning that almost all of Gaza's 2,3 million residents will depend on humanitarian aid throughout the year.
At the same time, there is concern in Israel that international humanitarian aid shipments could be used to deliver weapons, ammunition and fuel to Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.
In this difficult environment, Sigrid Kag is tasked with coordinating and overseeing international aid – and establishing a UN mechanism to expedite the delivery of aid through states not involved in the conflict.
The UN Security Council has long struggled to pass a resolution calling for the "safe and unimpeded delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid" to Gaza. It was adopted at the end of December, and with it the new position of Sigrid Kag.
Return to the UN
Kag is one of the leading politicians in the Netherlands. She belongs to the left-liberal party D66 and has held several of the highest political positions in the country. She was the deputy head of government, and the minister of finance and foreign affairs during the long-term prime minister Mark Rutte.
However, after the collapse of the government coalition and the calling of new elections at the end of November, the mother of four announced her withdrawal from Dutch politics. Kag and her family have been threatened several times in the past – including by those who deny the existence of the coronavirus.
But the break apparently did not last long. When Kag takes office at the UN on January 8, he will actually return to his old job. Since she studied Arabic, she worked for the UN for decades and held several high positions in the world organization.
From 1994 to 1997, she was Head of Donor Relations at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jerusalem. Later, among other things, she was the head of UNICEF's regional directorate for the Middle East and North Africa in Amman.
Ten years ago, she led the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to destroy Syrian chemical weapons, after which she became the UN Special Representative for Lebanon.
The woman "who never sleeps"
Kag is a proven expert for the Middle East. He is fluent in six languages, including Arabic. And she has been married to Palestinian Anis al-Kagh for decades. At the time of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he was the deputy minister for international cooperation in the Palestinian Authority.
Later, Al Kag founded the International Forum for Peace, whose goal is to promote dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, Europeans and Mediterranean countries, as well as the implementation of cultural, economic and social development projects.
International diplomats have particularly praised Kag for her work in destroying Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, earning her the nickname "Iron Woman."
A Syrian diplomat is reported to have once said that Sigrid Kag is "a woman who never stops working and practically never sleeps."
Criticism of Israeli settlers
However, her appointment was not only received positively in Israel. Various media outlets in the country reported that Kag has repeatedly criticized Israeli policy in the past.
As deputy prime minister of the Netherlands, she repeatedly clashed with her boss, Mark Rutte, over his alleged pro-Israel policies.
She once allegedly described Israeli settlers as "illegal settlers on confiscated land."
Israel's relations with the UN are not considered strained since the speech of UN Secretary General António Guterres. In Jerusalem, the UN is viewed critically because of the stable pro-Palestinian majority of states from the Global South in the UN General Assembly.
Sigrid Kag will therefore have to put in a lot of diplomatic effort to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. He probably won't be getting much sleep at his new job either.
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