Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
STORYLINE
On the fifth day of a pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip, UN humanitarians echoed the UN Secretary-General and called for a full humanitarian ceasefire and for more aid deliveries to enter into the devastated enclave, such is the scale of need.
“If hostilities continued, if the attacks continue to like anything like the ferocity of the first six or seven weeks, we see the mass killings of children and civilians. We've already seen that. And now, as Gazans have told me here, they are starting from the position of a nightmare,” said Mr. Elder.
UN humanitarians underscored the critical need for more fuel in the north of Gaza, so that it can be used to power hospitals, provide clean water and maintain other vital civilian infrastructure.
Such services have been massively impacted by weeks of Israeli bombardment in response to Hamas’s 7 October massacres in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and around 240 taken hostage.
Gazan health authorities have reported that more than 15,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in attacks to date.
“I was in Gaza City on Sunday. You can see the look in people's faces when there was a delivery of water, people would drink the water at the moment it was given to them,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in an update from southern Gaza.
“We have 1.8 million people displaced now, all of them bearing the marks of these horrendous attacks,” Mr. Elder continued. “You really do see sorrow and stress sort of taking root here in Gaza. There are long queues. You see a queues for two, three hours of adolescent girls just trying to go to the bathroom. And they will say time and again, ‘We've lost everything. Why are we being denied our dignity?’”
As negotiations continue for the release of more hostages in return for a prolongation of the pause in fighting, the UNICEF spokesperson spoke of his distress at seeing so many youngsters fighting for their lives.
“I expected the worst in coming, and I was surprised that it was even worse than I had imagined,” he said. “Hospitals for children - hospitals full stop - are war zones. I see children with horrendous wounds of war in car parks, on makeshift mattresses, in gardens, everywhere, doctors having to make horrendous decisions on who they prioritize.”
Mr. Elder recalled a particular encounter he had during these last days in Gaza. “I think of the little boy I saw coming from Shifa, who has spent three or four days on a bus in those 40 kilometers because of checkpoints and who had not had any help. And he's missing his left leg. The smell was clear, that was decomposing and that boy had shrapnel all over. Potentially, he was blind and had burns to 50 per cent of his body. It's not an outlier, though. Those wounds are everywhere.”
Speaking in Geneva, UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said that on 24 November an assessment mission of shelters in northern Gaza had highlighted a lack of waste collection and the extremely limited access to medical consultations. “Basically, if you're sick, if your child has diarrhoea, if you've got a respiratory infection, you're not going to get any - you're very unlikely to get any - medical care because it just isn't available.”
Due to the overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions at UNRWA shelters, there have been significant increases in some communicable diseases and conditions such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections and hygiene-related conditions like lice.
“If you have a child with diarrhoea, you need to give them rehydration to in order to keep them going until they get better. And if you're not able to do that, they can die very quickly from dehydration,” said Dr. Harris.
Drawing attention to the many chronic health conditions affecting Gazans, Dr. Harris pointed out that these conditions “will become acute…and those acute conditions will kill them. So eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment.”
In its latest update, UN aid coordination office OCHA said that deliveries of relief supplies have been speeded up south of Wadi Gaza, where the bulk of some estimated 1.7 million internally displaced persons have sought shelter. “Key service providers, including hospitals, water and sanitation facilities and shelters, have continued receiving fuel on a daily basis to operate generators,” OCHA reported.
-ends-
STORY: Gaza Humanitarian Situation UNICEF - WHO
TRT: 3’21”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 28 November 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a wholesale assault on human rights amid global inaction, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, as the conflict is about to enter its third year.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said Israel’s increasing issuance of so-called “evacuation orders” for Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in their forcible transfer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years of war in Sudan have created epic suffering, aid agencies say
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
In Gaza, ongoing Israeli military operations and the aid blockade have continued to add to daily fears and hardships confronting those in the devastated enclave, the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS, said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP
Dangers grow for Myanmar earthquake survivors, health system 'overwhelmed' - UNDP
In earthquake-shattered central Myanmar people are sleeping in the streets in fear of buildings collapsing, facing early monsoon rains and the risk of waterborne diseases, the UN Development Programme warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ICRC , OHCHR , UNHCR
Myanmar’s military has continued to launch airstrikes and other attacks against opposition forces in the devastated country, one week since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck and despite announcing a ceasefire, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif on Tuesday presented a report on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, detailing the continued violations of human rights as a result of the offensive launched by the Rwandan-backed M23 in eastern DRC.