UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said that many areas in the enclave have been flooded, “worsening the struggle of displaced Palestinians”, while UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini was due to brief journalists in Geneva on the situation on Thursday, following his most recent visit to Gaza. Almost 1.9 million people...
Lynn Hastings stressed that the intensifying hostilities have pushed almost half of the population of the Strip, or about a million people, into Rafah in the south, compounding the dire health and hunger crisis. “The reason why Gaza is not safe is not just because of the airstrikes but also because...
Briefing reporters from Gaza, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described corridors overflowing with trauma patients at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where doctors treat people on the floor and fuel, oxygen, food and water are scarce. In just 66 days of fighting, the Strip has...
Speaking in Doha at the launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview, Mr. Griffiths said that the situation was “getting worse”, while efforts to secure “moments of peace” remained of the “greatest importance”. According to the latest update on the emergency from UN relief coordination office (OCHA), tens of thousands of people “in desperate...
This is the first time since 7 October that a resolution on this conflict has been adopted by consensus within the UN system, the UN health agency noted. It underscores the importance of health as a universal priority, in all circumstances, and the role of healthcare and humanitarianism in building...
“The preeminent forum for the peaceful resolution of international disputes is paralysed by geostrategic divisions”, António Guterres told the Doha Forum taking place in Qatar, following Friday’s meeting in New York during which the United States vetoed a resolution demanding that Israel and Palestinian militants end the intense fighting across...
In a letter to the President of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that UNRWA’s ability to implement its mandate in Gaza is “severely limited” and that the primary platform for humanitarian assistance to over 2.2 million...
Women and children are bearing the brunt in terms of deaths and injuries as Israeli troops battle Palestinian militants across the enclave, with nowhere safe to go, and aid distribution stymied by war, insufficient access and insufficient supplies crossing into the Strip. Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle...
In a joint statement 27 aid organisations including UN agencies and their partners issued a call for an immediate stop to the fighting, stressing that conditions in Gaza are “amongst the worst we have witnessed”. Emergency meeting in New York Meanwhile, in New York, Ecuador – which holds the presidency...
Speaking from the southern city of Rafah, Dr. Rick Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described further bloodshed after the resumption of Israeli bombing last Friday. “The situation is getting worse by the hour,” Dr. Peeperkorn told journalists in Geneva via video link. “I mean…there’s...
The latest update from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, confirmed rising casualties and devastation amid “heavy Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea”. “From the afternoon of (Saturday) 2 December to the afternoon of (Sunday) 3 December, at least 316 people were killed and at least another 664 injured...
“Silence the guns and return to dialogue – the suffering inflicted on civilians is too much to bear. More violence is not the answer. It will bring neither peace nor security,” Volker Türk said in a statement, voicing deep concern that negotiations towards a continuation of last week’s pause had...