The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , OHCHR , UN WOMEN
Humanitarian Situation in Gaza: UNICEF - OHCHR - UN WOMEN
STORYLINE
Gaza: More than one million Palestinian women and girls in Gaza have almost no access to food or safe water, with disease growing amidst ‘inhumane’ living conditions.
Six months into the war in Gaza, UN Women on Tuesday launched its latest Gender Alert on Gaza stating that 10,000 Palestinian women in Gaza have been killed, among them an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned.
“To date, UN estimates that more than 8,000 women might have become widowed because of the recent war on Gaza, that means 8,000 husbands have been killed,” said Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen, Regional Director for the Arab States for UN Women.
Briefing journalists at the UN in Geneva from Cairo, she explained that these women were “in a particularly vulnerable situation because, as we can imagine, they are solely responsible for the very protection, well-being, but also assurance of food and water for their entire families”.
Women who have survived Israeli bombardment and ground operations have been displaced, widowed and now face starvation. The disproportionate impact of the conflict has made it a war on women, UN Women maintained.
“Women often find it much more difficult to access services. In this case, access food and water than men do. In the recent survey conducted in Gaza, it shows that 87 per cent of women find it harder to access food than men in Gaza,” said Ms. Eldhagen.
The publication launched on Tuesday (16 April) entitled “Scarcity and Fear” focuses on the lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, which are vital to women's health, dignity, safety and privacy.
According to the report’s finding, more than one million Palestinian women and girls in Gaza face catastrophic hunger, with almost no access to food, safe drinking water, functioning toilets or running water, creating life-threatening risks. Access to clean water is especially critical for breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women, who have higher daily water and calory requirements.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) deplored the high loss of life and injuries that Palestinian children in Gaza have sustained amid ongoing heavy Israeli bombardment.
Following her recent mission to northern Gaza where her UN vehicle was targeted, UNICEF's communications specialist Tess Ingram said from Cairo that over the last six months “a staggering number of children have been wounded amid the intense and often indiscriminate attacks, their lives forever changed by the horrors of war.
She noted that it was not possible to accurately estimate the total number of injured children in the conflict to date “but the most recent data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health documents more than 12,000 children, which is about 70 children a day injured in Gaza since the current conflict began.”
She added that “the war in Gaza is disproportionately impacting kids. Every second person in Gaza is a child, so children are wearing a tremendous share of the scars of this war.”
The UNICEF officer emphasized the ongoing challenges in evacuating critically injured or ill patients from Gaza for medical treatment elsewhere. With fewer than half of all "medivac" requests approved, only approximately 4,500 individuals, predominantly children, have been able to depart Gaza. This equates to fewer than 20 people per day gaining access to the care they urgently require outside the region.
“Sick and injured children who are evacuated must be accompanied by their family members. With at least 70 children injured every single day, we need the number of medical evacuations to increase so children can access the care that they urgently need. And with one child killed or injured every 10 minutes, above anything else, we need a ceasefire,” said Ms. Ingram.
Emphasizing the dire situation in Gaza, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, urged “all States with influence to do everything in their power to halt the increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank and the heightened risk of wider escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.”
According to OHCHR, nearly 1.7 million people remain forcibly displaced, living in appalling conditions and under constant threat. In the past week alone, fighting has intensified in Middle Gaza leading to the displacement of some 10,000 people from in and around An Nuseirat camp and near Wadi Gaza.
-ends-
STORY: Humanitarian Situation in Gaza: UNICEF - OHCHR - UN WOMEN
TRT: 2:51”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 16 April 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley
- Wide shot: speakers at the podium during press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Tess Ingram, Communication specialist, UNICEF (speaking from Cairo): “Over the last six months, a staggering number of children have been wounded amid the intense and often indiscriminate attacks. Their lives forever changed by the horrors of war. The total number of injured children in this conflict is quite difficult to gather, but the most recent data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health documents more than 12,000 children, which is about 70 children a day injured in Gaza since the current conflict began.”
- Med shot: speakers at the podium from behind with screen in front of them
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Tess Ingram, Communication specialist, UNICEF (speaking from Cairo): “It's disproportionately impacting kids. Every second person in Gaza is a child, so children are wearing a tremendous share of the scars of this war.”
- Med shot: Journalists in the press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Tess Ingram, Communication specialist, UNICEF (speaking from Cairo): “Sick and injured children who are evacuated must be accompanied by their family members. With at least 70 children injured every single day, we need the number of medical evacuations to increase so children can access the care that they urgently need. And with one child killed or injured every 10 minutes, above anything else, we need a ceasefire.”
- Wide shot: Journalists in the press room and speakers at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson, OHCHR: “The UN Human Rights Office urges all States with influence to do everything in their power to halt the increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank, and the heightened risk of wider escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.”
- Med shot: speaker at the podium from the side with journalists in the room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen, Regional Director for the Arab States, UN Women (speaking from Cairo): “Up to date, UN estimates that more than 8,000 women might have become widowed because of the recent war on Gaza. That means 8,000 husbands have been killed. These women are in a particularly vulnerable situation because, as we can imagine, they are solely responsible for the very protection, well-being, but also assurance of food and water for their entire families.”
- Med shot, moderator at the podium with speaker on screen
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Susanne Mikhail Eldhagen, Regional Director for the Arab States, UN Women (speaking from Cairo): “Women often find it much more difficult to access services. In this case, access food and water than men do. In the recent survey conducted in Gaza, it shows that 87 per cent of women find it harder to access food, than men in Gaza.”
- Med shot, journalists in press briefing
- Close up: journalist listening
- Wide shot: Technical team working behind windows
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO , WHO
LA wildfires: Climate change made the disaster worse says WMO
The powerful dry winds and tinderbox conditions that have been fuelling the continuing Los Angeles wildfire tragedy have been made worse by climate change, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif on Wednesday updated the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Ukraine, outlining the findings of OHCHR’s latest periodic report covering 1st September to 30th November 2024.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“We are deeply troubled by the marked increase in executions in Iran last year. At least 901 people were reportedly executed in 2024, including some 40 in one week alone in December. At least 853 people were executed in 2023,” Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the UN bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Avian flu risk still ‘low’ after first US patient dies – WHO
A day after the United States reported its first human death from avian flu, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) insisted that the risk to the general population remains “low”.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.