The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
As Gaza continues slide towards famine, UN humanitarians plead for urgent access
A child dreaming of a slice of cucumber to eat and teenage girls saying they hope for death to “end their nightmare”: these are just some of the facets of the horror unfolding in Gaza, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
Briefing the press in Geneva, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder expressed his hopes for a “substantive, not symbolic” ceasefire that would offer relief to civilians in the enclave on the brink of famine. On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding a pause in hostilities during the month of Ramadan as well as the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, emphasizing "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza.
Speaking from Gaza, Mr. Elder described his recent visit to Jabalia in the north, where “up to tens of thousands of people crowd the streets”.
“They make that universal signal as you go through the streets again, as they stand in rubble, that universal signal of hand-to-mouth, desperately asking and seeking for food,” he said.
Mr. Elder stressed that there were “hundreds of trucks of lifesaving humanitarian aid waiting to get to these people in urgent need. But on the wrong side of the border, hundreds of trucks of UN and INGO supplies are currently backlogged,” he said.
The UNICEF spokesperson also highlighted that “an existing old crossing point” in Erez in the north could be used to reach desperate Gazans “10 minutes from where those people are putting their hands to their mouth, pleading for food”.
“Open that and we could turn this humanitarian crisis around in a matter of days,” he insisted.
Last week the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that famine is projected to occur “anytime between now and May 2024” in Gaza’s northern governorates,” following the most recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report on Gaza. The report’s data indicated that the “entire population” of Gaza – some 2.3 million people – are enduring high levels of “acute” food insecurity. Among them, over 1.1 million are suffering from “catastrophic” food insecurity, known as IPC Phase 5.
Speaking from Cairo, AbdulHakim Elwaer, FAO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, confirmed to journalists that the north of the Strip “remains [under] a total blockade and it's inaccessible”.
Asked by journalists about comments from Israeli politicians refuting the notion of famine in Gaza, Mr. Elwaer insisted that “definitely, we have enough evidence that shows there is ongoing starvation and extreme acute food insecurity, a lack of major food supplies and water”.
“Those who claim otherwise probably have to provide evidence for that,” he added.
“There are cases of death as a result of starvation, and those are the early indications of famine,” Mr. Elwaer said. “I hope we're not waiting for full famine declaration because the situation as it exists calls for action, which is long overdue.”
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA), insisted that according to international humanitarian law, the parties to the conflict “must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need”, creating an “enabling environment” so that lifesaving aid can reach those who need it most.
“You cannot claim to adhere to these international provisions of law when you block [UN Palestine refugee agency] UNRWA food convoys, when you just last week denied five missions to the north, when we have now reports of Israeli attacks on warehouses and the police that are supposed to help secure this aid inside Gaza,” he said.
“This is not a facilitated or enabled environment at all,” Mr. Laerke stressed, repeating UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for the Israeli authorities to revoke their decision barring UNRWA from reaching north Gaza with aid.
- ENDS -
STORY: Gaza humanitarian update: UNICEF - FAO - OCHA
TRT: 2:37”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 26 March 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley
2. Wide shot: speaker at the podium of the press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Yesterday I was again in Jabalia, up tens of thousands of people crowd the streets. So they make that universal signal, sign, as you go through the streets again, as they stand in rubble, that universal signal of hand-to-mouth, desperately asking and seeking for food.”
4. Medium shot: Journalists in the press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “When I came to the Gaza strip just over a week ago, there were hundreds of trucks of lifesaving humanitarian aid waiting to get to these people in urgent need. But on the wrong side of the border, hundreds of trucks of UN and INGO supplies are currently backlogged, waiting to get into Gaza.”
6. Medium shot: Journalists in press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Now there is an existing old crossing point that could be used in the north. 10 minutes from where those people are putting their hands to their mouth, pleading for food. 10 minutes. Open that and we could turn this humanitarian crisis around in a matter of days.”
8. Wide shot: speakers at the podium filmed from behind during the press conference with journalists in the press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – AbdulHakim Elwaer, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): “The north remains [under] a total blockade and it's inaccessible. And definitely we have enough evidence that shows there is ongoing starvation and is extreme acute food insecurity, a lack of major food supplies and water. And then those who claim otherwise probably have to provide evidence for that.”
10. Wide shot: Journalists in press room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) AbdulHakim Elwaer, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): “There are cases of death as a result of starvation. And those are the early indications of famine. And I hope we're not waiting for full famine declaration because the situation as it exists calls for action, which is long overdue.”
12. Wide shot: Journalists in the press room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “You cannot claim to adhere to these international provisions of law when you block UNRWA food convoys, when you just last week denied five missions to the north, when we have now reports of Israeli attacks on warehouses and the police that are supposed to help secure this aid inside Gaza.”
16. Medium shot: journalists in the press room
17. Medium shot: Journalists, cameraman and people in the gallery of the press room
18. Medium shot: journalists in the press room
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.