The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Update on health situation in Gaza UNICEF - WHO 05 December 2023
STORYLINE
WHO in Gaza: We are close by humanity’s darkest hour, the bombing must stop now
Amid intensifying Israel bombardments in the southern Gaza Strip, the UN health agency expressed deep concern on Tuesday that “we are close by humanity’s darkest hour, this bombing must stop now, we need a sustained ceasefire”.
Speaking from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO’s) representative on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Richard Pepperkorn, said that the situation was “getting worse by the hour. This intensified bombing is going on all around, including in the southern area of Khan Younis and even at Rafah.” He added that over the last couple of days, “a vastly increasing number of IDPs” (internally displaced people) had moved from the so-called Middle area and even now to certain areas … more to the south.”
According to WHO data, in less than 60 days of war, around 16,000 people have been killed, 60 per cent of them children and women. A child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza, the UN health agency said.
Stressing the need for the protection of hospitals in this ongoing bombardment, Dr. Peeperkorn said that “we are looking at an increasing humanitarian disaster. We cannot afford what had happened in the north, the one-by-one non- functionality of hospitals, it absolutely cannot happen in the south.”
The WHO official stressed that the agency was making sure that sustained supplies were coming in and that the number of beds would be increased from 1,400 to 2,500.” However, he said that “for the situation we are in, we actually need 5,000 beds, we are not getting there”.
Speaking from Cairo, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund, James Elder, stressed that “this war on children has resumed with a ferocity at scale beyond anything we've seen in the South and certainly at a horrendous power of anything in the North”.
The UN humanitarian also questioned the designation of “so-called safe areas” for Gazan civilians by the Israeli military as nowhere is safe.
“In the current context of the so-called safe zones, they are not scientific, they are not rational. They are not possible. And I think the authorities are aware of this,” Mr. Elder said. “I think it's callous, I think it's cold and I think it reinforces the indifference towards children and women in Gaza. And I've seen in hospitals from the South to the North that that indifference is lethal. It's heartbreaking and it's confounding.”
Mr. Elder told journalists in Geneva via video link that “in this specific case of Gaza, Israel is the occupying power. It's there, you have to provide food, water, medicines. So now, given we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, right now this minute people who are moving somewhere with bombardments at scale, 200 a day yesterday, aerial bombardments as we speak, the only possible way to create safe spaces in Gaza that are truly safe, that protect human life, is for the hell to stop raining down from the sky. Only a ceasefire, only a ceasefire is going to save the children of Gaza right now.”
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, at least 19 additional colleagues had been killed during airstrikes, bringing the total number to 130 since 7 October.
-ends-
STORY: UNOG NEWS Gaza Humanitarian situation UNICEF WHO
TRT: 3:19”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 05 December 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN building with UN flag, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, press briefing room with moderator UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “This war on children has resumed with a ferocity at scale beyond anything we've seen in the South and certainly at a horrendous power of anything in the North.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with moderator, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “We have the perfect storm for disease outbreak, remembering, of course, in this specific case of Gaza, Israel is the occupying power. It's there, you have to provide food, water, medicines. So now, given we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, right now this minute who are moving somewhere with bombardments at scale, 200 a day yesterday, aerial bombardments as we speak, the only possible way to create safe spaces in Gaza that are truly safe, that protect human life, is for the hell to stop raining down from the sky. Only a ceasefire, only a ceasefire is going to save the children of Gaza right now.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with spokesperson, journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson: “In the current context of the so-called safe zones, they are not scientific, they are not rational. They are not possible. And I think the authorities are aware of this. I think it's callous. I think it's cold and I think it reinforces the indifference towards children and women in Gaza. And I've seen in hospitals from the South to the North that that indifference is lethal. It's heartbreaking and it's confounding.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative on the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt): “The situation is getting worse by the hour. I mean, like this intensified bombing going on all around, including in the southern area of Khan Younis and even at Rafah. Even what I've seen over the last couple of days, that we see an increase vastly increasing number of IDP’s coming from the so-called middle area and even now from the southern areas towards furthermore to the South.”.
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with camerawoman, journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative on the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt): “We are close by humanity's darkest hour. And this has been the message by WHO, the U.N. in general, that these bombings. And I would say that senseless loss of lives must stop now. I mean, we need a sustained cease fire.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing room with camerawoman, journalists and screens, UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative on the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt): “We are looking at an increasing humanitarian disaster. So we cannot afford what had happened in the north, the one by one non- functionality of hospital it absolutely cannot happen in the south. So strengthening that system and making sure sustained supplies are coming in, making sure that we support the system as good as possible and that we expand the number of beds from the 1,400 that are now going to 2, 000, 2, 500. For the situation we are in, we actually need 5,000 beds, we are not getting there.”
- Cutaway: medium shot, press briefing room with journalists and camera man, UN Geneva
- Cutaway: close up, journalist listening, UN Geneva
- Cutaway: close up, journalist listening, UN Geneva
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.