The Hostage Families Forum on Thursday met with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who committed to appointing a "dedicated official to coordinate the UN's response to hostage situations worldwide," the forum announced on Friday.
This addresses "a gap that families say has left them without proper institutional support," the forum added.
The new official will coordinate the UN's "legal and institutional response to hostage-taking and serve as a central contact point for governments, UN agencies, and affected families," the forum stated.
Notable participants from the Hostage Families Forum's delegation included Orna and Ronen Neutra, parents of murdered Israeli-American Gaza hostage Omer, whose body remains in Gaza, and Shelly Aviv Yeini, Head of the Forum's International Legal Department.
Hostage-taking has become "a global humanitarian crisis requiring stronger international legal responses," the Neutra family commented.
Guetteres speaks on Gaza aid access
Additionally, Guterres discussed the entrance of aid authorized by Israel into the Gaza Strip on Friday, telling reporters that it "amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required."
"Without rapid, reliable, safe, and sustained aid access, more people will die - and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound," the Secretary-General added.
The UN has said that it will not take part in a new US-backed aid distribution plan that will be run through the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation by the end of May. The UN and other bodies have criticized the new plan of being neither impartial nor neutral and will force further displacement of Gazans.
"The United Nations has been clear: We will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality," Guterres said.
The UN and its partners have a plan to get the aid needed into Gaza, he said.
"The supplies – 160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks – are waiting," Guterres said. "This is my appeal for life-saving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza: Let's do it right. And let's do it right away.
UNSC discusses returning bodies of slain hostages to Israel
Earlier in May, the UN Security Council held a meeting on returning the bodies of slain hostages to Israel.
At this meeting, Ruby Chen, the father of slain hostage Itay Chen, began by describing his son and explaining how he was taken hostage. But he noted that Hamas has been engaging in the " lowest form of terrorist psychological warfare imaginable" by refusing to confirm Itay's status.
Ruby Chen also urged the UNSC to uphold Resolution 2474, which addresses the return of the remains of missing persons held by hostile parties during armed conflict. The resolution states that both state and non-state actors, like Hamas, must provide accounts for missing people during periods of conflict.