Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNICEF , WHO
Gaza: Moving vulnerable patients is a ‘death sentence’, says WHO
Following Israel’s order to the entire population of northern Gaza to relocate to the southern half of the territory within 24 hours, UN humanitarians on Friday raised deep concern for the affected civilians who have faced six days of bombardment in a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a move to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,“ said Rolando Gomez, spokesperson of the UN Office in Geneva. “The United Nations strongly appeals for any such order to be rescinded, avoiding what could transform – what is already a tragedy – into a calamitous situation.” He added that “senior Officials, including the Humanitarian Coordinator, are working to this end and this includes the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland.”
Echoing this message, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that “in the middle of a war zone, with people who are already at the end of the rope – I have rarely seen anything like this – how is that going to happen? There is only one solution and that is to rescind this order, rethink it, allow access for humanitarian agencies to do what they do which is save the lives of civilians.”
On Thursday, the UN launched a flash appeal calling for approximately $ 297 million for 77 humanitarian partners to address the most urgent needs of 1.26 million people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“This urgent appeal calls for nearly $300 million to address the most urgent needs of more than 1.2 million people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank,” said Mr. Laerke. “Some 100 humanitarian partners are behind the appeal, including 13 United Nations agencies, including UNRWA, and international and national NGOs and the Palestinian Red Crescent.”
Joining the wider UN in appealing to Israel to immediately revoke the orders for the evacuation within the next 24 hours, Tarik Jasarevic from the World Health Organization (WHO) said that “with ongoing airstrikes, civilians have no safe place left to go. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has informed WHO that it is impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from the north of Gaza.”
He reminded that “moving severely ill people – and remember, many of those are children – and these severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life-support, such as mechanical ventilators. So, moving those people is a death sentence.”
WHO reported that the health system in Gaza is at breaking point and time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel, water, food and life-saving health supplies cannot be urgently delivered to the Gaza Strip.
“What are we hearing from WHO and non-WHO health workers in Gaza is really horrifying,” reported Mr. Jasarevic. “Hospital corridors are overflowing, dead bodies are piling up as there is no more space in morgues. And ambulances and doctors have to make a horrific choice as to who to save and who to leave behind.”
According to the latest numbers of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) over 423,000 people have already been displaced since 7 October. Of them, more than 270,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, where basic food, medicine and support is provided to retain dignity and a glimmer of hope.
Calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, James Elder, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson said that “hundreds and hundreds of children have now been killed and injured every hour in Gaza. The number of children killed is rising. The killing of children must stop. The images, the stories are clear: Children with horrendous burns, mortar wounds, lost limbs and hospitals are utterly overwhelmed to treat them.”
UNICEF reported that as of Friday, 447 children were killed and with ongoing surgeries this number will rise.
UN human rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that “there are many violations of international humanitarian law that are most likely happening on the ground at the moment in Israel and in Gaza. International humanitarian law grants special protection for specifically protected persons and objects, including medical personnel, medical units, medical transport, humanitarian relief personnel and objects and cultural property – and the parties to the conflict must respect them in all circumstances. Attacks against such people and objects are prohibited and may constitute a war crime.”
OHCHR stressed that civilians must never be used as bargaining chip. It reported that more than 2,700 people, including civilians, have already been killed in both Israel and Gaza.
The UN human rights office “urge(s) Palestinian armed groups to halt the use of inherently indiscriminate projectiles, which violate international humanitarian law, as well as attacks directed against civilians. And we urge Israel to ensure full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law in any and all military operations.”
-ends-
STORY: Escalation Middle East - OCHA - UNICEF - WHO - OHCHR
TRT: 4 min 38s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 October 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell made the following statement on the latest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday called for investigations into hundreds of killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces and settlers, warning against ongoing forced mass displacement of the Palestinian population.
1
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR , UNRWA
Nearly 900 people have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks trying to fetch food, with most deaths linked to private aid hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the UN Human Rights Office have today released a report detailing the evolution of violent gang incidents beyond the capital Port-au-Prince since October 2024 up to June 2025, and the resulting loss of life and mass displacement.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza: ‘Unacceptable’ choice between getting shot or getting fed – UN humanitarians
Following the deaths of several children in an Israeli strike on Palestinians waiting in line for nutritional supplements in central Gaza on Thursday, UN humanitarians have once again condemned the killings of people at aid distribution sites in the enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the United Nations bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent violence in Kenya.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
US tariffs uncertainty hurts world economy, with poorest countries hit hardest – top UN economist
A new US decision to further delay the end of a 90-day pause on tariffs is bad for business, a top UN economist said on Tuesday.