UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

25 October 2024

Lebanon Exodus Update

Rula Amin, Senior Communications Advisor, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a displacement crisis was unfolding in Lebanon and beyond. Intensified airstrikes had forced tens of thousands of people to flee within Lebanon. The crisis was growing by the day. This morning, there were two Israeli strikes at two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria. This was putting at risk a main lifeline that people used to escape the conflict in Lebanon and cross into Syria.

Lebanon was surrounded by the sea, Syria and Israel. Syria was the only escape route out of Lebanon. There were two Israeli airstrikes earlier this morning on Jusiyah al-Amar-Qaa border crossing in the north and Masnaa crossing.

The strike on the Jusiyah al-Amar-Qaa crossing happened less than 500 metres away from the immigration office, leaving a crater near UNHCR tents that people stayed under while their registration was being processed.

The Masnaa crossing was the main passage between Syria and Lebanon and it had been hit twice before. Tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians had used this crossing in the past to cross to Syria.

In the past two weeks, people had been determined and desperate to flee, walking on foot around the rubble and the craters. The Lebanese authorities were now saying that the Jusiyah al-Amar-Qaa border crossing was no longer functional. This was a major concern for UNHCR as it hindered people’s ability to flee the violence and seek safety.

Most of those displaced by the conflict in Lebanon were still inside the country. About one fifth of the country’s population had been displaced. People had been fleeing from one place to another. The city of Tyre, which was formerly considered a safe place and where some people who had escaped border villages had fled to, was now being intensively attacked and many people had left. There had been a lot of destruction in border villages and towns. People’s ability to go back to their homes once this conflict was over had been hindered. This was a major concern for those displaced, who had been waiting very anxiously for the conflict to end so that they could go back to their homes and villages. Major areas had been depopulated.

Colleagues were on the ground in Lebanon, trying to support with shelter, core relief items and protection services. Needs were growing immensely by the day. Schools and colleges that the Government had established as shelters were almost at full capacity. People’s ability to find shelter had been hindered by the fact that this had been going on for a month. For some, this situation had been going on for a year. Many people, especially vulnerable families including Syrian refugees, did not have resources to pay rent and were forced to sleep in the open air with their children.

UNHCR was helping address these acute needs. It was helping to set up partitions in the collective shelters, conduct repairs, and provide food and core relief items such as blankets and mattresses, but it was not enough. More funding was needed to reach all those in need. Colleagues from other United Nations agencies had been able to reach the Hasbaya area in southern Lebanon, providing various relief items for many people who were displaced there and unable to leave.

The level of destruction and devastation was taking its toll on those who were displaced. The fact that almost entire villages had been erased was bringing a lot of stress and challenges for fleeing people.

The situation affected not only displaced persons. Around 1,000 of the shelters established in Lebanon were originally schools and colleges. Even children who were not displaced could not go to school as their schools were closed or not functioning; many schools had not re-opened after the summer recess due to the security situation.

Families were facing protection risks, sleeping in the open air and in crowded shelters. Their needs were growing, and their resources had been hindered by the economic crisis. Businesses had been affected throughout Lebanon and opportunities to work and find jobs to support families were limited.

More than 430,000 people had crossed from Lebanon to Syria. About 70 per cent were Syrians and 30 per cent were Lebanese but other nationalities had crossed as well, including Europeans, Palestinian refugees and migrants. Attacks on border crossings were a major concern as they blocked the way for people fleeing the conflict from seeking safety in the way they saw fit.

In Syria, UNHCR colleagues were at the five border crossings with Lebanon, but these attacks were also putting the organisation’s presence there at risk. Many people were now crossing at night, so colleagues were working night shifts. This would need to be reassessed every time there was a mission to the border.

It was also very important to remember that the suffering of those people crossing did not end at the border. Unfortunately, there was another emergency and a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding at the final destinations where these people were crossing to. Syria had suffered from its own conflict and 13 years of crisis, and its infrastructure, health facilities, education facilities, livelihood opportunities, and even homes and houses had been destroyed. Displaced people were going to areas and towns and villages that had been really battered throughout the past 13 years. They were being hosted by vulnerable families themselves. More than 90 per cent of the Syrian population needed humanitarian assistance.

UNHCR had been rapidly scaling up support in the final destinations. It had a system of more than 114 community centres throughout Syria, through which it was reaching out to these new arrivals. However, the need to support them and to support the communities who were hosting them, including families displaced themselves, was immense. UNHCR needed funding to be able to do this in a sustainable manner and in the long run.

The conflict in Lebanon was spilling over to neighbouring countries. About 19,000 Lebanese had arrived in Iraq. Syrians were crossing into government-controlled areas and making their way to northwest and northeast, where the situation was also very challenging on the ground. Last week, another border crossing had been opened between the Syrian Government-controlled areas and the northwest areas where non-State actors were in control to help those who decided to go to northwest have an easier route.

This was a catastrophic situation. The displacement crisis was creating a major protection crisis and a crisis for people who were trying to seek asylum and were now being hindered, with many obstacles in their way.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had yesterday addressed the situation in Lebanon in his video message to the International Conference in Support of Lebanon’s People and Sovereignty.

In response to questions, Ms. Amin said UNHCR was not aware of any warnings regarding the attacks. Pictures showed that the airstrikes were very close to the Jusiyah al-Amar-Qaa border crossing.

The number of people crossing each day varied between a few hundred and around 5,000, depending on the situation on the other side of the border. Since the attack on the Masnaa crossing, many people were opting to go on the longer route to the northern borders to cross in a safe manner. But the latest attack was causing people to rethink. People were travelling through tough terrain and were desperate and exhausted. They did not have the energy to talk. Daily flows depended on how safe people felt to cross.

Migrants required birth certificates and other legal documents. UNHCR was helping people to obtain these documents so their children could go to school in Syria and they could overcome legal issues and restart their lives.

Many of the people fleeing were Syrian refugees who had fled to Lebanon. Many people had no plan; they were simply running from the bombings. They wanted a roof to protect them and their children, especially with winter coming.

The strikes in Syria were making the security situation very vulnerable. The conflict in Lebanon and Gaza needed to end. It was so unfair that people had had to flee multiple times. People were not sure what to do. The conflict could expand at any moment. The loss of options for displaced persons was profound, sad and unacceptable.

Situation of Hospitals in North Gaza

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, World Health Organization (WHO), said that yesterday, a WHO team and partners, including the Palestinian Red Cross Society, managed to reach Kamal Adwan Hospital amid ongoing hostilities in the north of Gaza. It was a complex mission involving two trucks with supplies and fuel and five ambulances that lasted for more than 20 hours.

The team transferred 23 patients and 26 caregivers from Kamal Adwan to Al-Shifa Hospital. It delivered 180 units of blood, trauma surgery and alcohol supplies to cover 1,600 interventions and medicines to cover 5,000 patients. In addition, 10,000 litres of fuel were delivered. Lab supplies, anaesthesia, medicines and antibiotics were also delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital to cover the health needs of 6,000 people.

A number of checkpoints had been closed on the way to Kamal Adwan. WHO and partners had witnessed a stream of thousands of women and children walking and limping towards Gaza City, carrying their few belongings. There were very few adolescent boys. The team also saw men being screened. There had been long delays at checkpoints with military vehicles in close vicinity. The boundary walls of Indonesian Hospital had been demolished and a fire at a school close to the hospital had also affected it.

The team saw mayhem and chaos at Kamal Adwan Hospital. On 21 October, the hospital had 75 patients, including 15 in intensive care. There were now more than 200 patients there; the emergency wards were overflowing. Staff were completely overwhelmed and underequipped to deal with the horrific trauma patients coming in. There were also hundreds of people in every corner of the hospital seeking shelter. This hospital needed to be protected.

There were two hospitals in the north of Gaza that WHO defined as being “minimum functional”: Kamal Adwan and Al-Ahli Arab hospitals. Dr. Peeperkorn said he understood Al-Ahli Arab Hospital to be very isolated and barely functioning. Kamal Adwan was functioning at an absolute minimum level and needed to be protected.

In response to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn said WHO had received unconfirmed but concerning information this morning that soldiers were close to Kamal Adwan Hospital, telling people that they needed to come out of the hospital and separating people into groups of men, women and children. Hospitals should not be attacked. People should be protected, and hospitals were supposed to be safe places where people could receive treatment and shelter. Currently, there were 200 patients and hundreds of internally displaced persons at Khamal Adwan.

Forced evacuations from the north were disconcerting. Approximately 450,000 people remained in the north. Over the last weeks, around 70,000 people had been moving from the north to Gaza City.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, quoted the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) who had said that intense fighting continued to kill and injure civilians and damage civilian infrastructure in northern Gaza. War was being waged with little if any regard for international law. Families in Tel al-Zaatar, northeast of the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as west of the camp in Al-Fallujah remained trapped and unable to move.

OCHA estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 people to remain in Jabalia. Since the Israeli ground offensive in the north began on 6 October, some 63,000 people had been newly displaced from the north Gaza governorate to Gaza City.

Update on the Polio Vaccination Campaign in Gaza

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, representative for the occupied Palestinian Territory, World Health Organization (WHO), said the second round of the polio vaccination campaign implemented by a technical committee consisting of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and many partners, started on 14 October with targets to cover 591,000 children under 10 years of age with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type two, and also to cover as many children as possible between two to 10 years of age with vitamin A to boost their immunity.

The first round of the campaign had made a huge achievement against the odds. It started very well in the central zone, where the coverage was 185,000 children with the polio vaccine and 151,000 with vitamin A, a coverage rate of close to 100 per cent. In the south zone, 266,000 children received the polio vaccine and 213,000 received vitamin A. In total, 452,000 children had been covered already with the polio vaccine and 364,000 with vitamin A. In those two zones, coverage surpassed 90 per cent, putting the mission on the right track.

The last lap was the north. Due to the escalating violence, the intense bombardment, the mass displacement orders, the lack of assured humanitarian process across most of northern Gaza, the technical committee had been compelled to delay this phase of the campaign in the north.

The team wanted to cover 119,000 children in the north, as was done in the first round. Access to children was needed to reach 90 per cent coverage, which was needed to stop the transmission of polio. The polio virus needed to be stopped so it did not spread in Gaza and to other countries.

WHO and partners still had high hopes that this campaign would be successful. They had a window between 28 October and 5 November to carry out the campaign. To ensure its success, they needed access to children wherever they were.

In response to questions, Dr. Peeperkorn said all parties wanted the campaign to go ahead. Against all odds, the WHO and partners on the ground had made massive achievements, managing to provide vaccinations in the first and second rounds. WHO had hope. It owed it to children to finish the campaign. The teams were ready. Over the coming week, the technical committee would engage in constant dialogue to ensure that the campaign could go ahead.

Lethal Decline in Medical Evacuations for Children in Gaza

James Elder for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said children were being evacuated from Gaza at less than one child per day. If this lethally slow pace continued, it would take more than seven years to evacuate the 2,500 children needing urgent medical care.

As a result, children in Gaza were dying, not just from the bombs and the bullets and the shells that struck them, but because even when miracles happened and they survived, they were then prevented from leaving Gaza to receive the urgent medical care that would save their lives.

This year, from 1 January to 7 May, there was a monthly average of 296 children medically evacuated. However, since the Rafah crossing closed due to the ground offensive there, the number of children medically evacuated had collapsed to 22 per month. In total, just 127 children suffering from head trauma, amputations, burns, cancer and severe malnutrition had been allowed to leave Gaza since Rafah closed. One of the many tragedies of Gaza was that appalling numbers had failed to stir those with the power to act.

Mr. Elder shared the story of Muzunia, a 12 year-old girl who was thought dead when two rockets struck her home. She had no pulse when she was found under the rubble. Her two siblings, Hala, 13, and Mohammed, 10, were both killed. Muzunia sustained devastating injuries to her face, which was literally torn off. Surgeons had held the remaining structure together, but she urgently required a medevac for specialized care and bone surgery. She also had shrapnel in her neck.

Muzunia was incredibly brave, but was in immense pain and her condition was worsening. The platinum that had been surgically used to rebuild her face was coming out and doctors had stated that she needed surgeries outside of Gaza to save her life. She had been denied medical evacuation four times.

Ilia, a four-year-old girl, her parents and siblings were sleeping in their house in Nuseirat early last month when a shell hit the neighbouring house and engulfed both houses in fire. She sustained fourth degree burns and her leg was amputated. She had been in hospital for 43 days. Most recently, given delays in medical evacuation, doctors had had to amputate fingers from her right hand.

When Mr. Elder met Ilia earlier this month, her mother Eslam was in the bed beside her. She also had fourth degree burns and needed urgent medical evacuation, both for her burns and now for severe blood poisoning. Her wounds were covered in fungus.

Eslam was denied medical evacuation. She died two days ago, on Wednesday. Since her mother's death, Ilia had received approval for medical evacuation, though no date had been given. Noting the immense number of cases, it was unlikely to happen soon. Doctors had said they may need to amputate this four-year-old's hand and her other leg if she was not medically evacuated soon.

Atef, a six-month-old baby, was battling muscle cancer and suffering from severe malnutrition. He also had a kidney tube inserted into him due to other complications. Surgical medical care was close by, but just not in Gaza.

Last month, Atef's mother, Amal, was forced to evacuate from the north. She carried Atef in her arms walking long distances in horrendous conditions. They arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital, but it did not have the necessary resources to treat her son. With no hope to return, Amal had set up a tent in the Al-Aqsa Hospital complex.

Every day, Atef's condition deteriorated, and he urgently required medical evacuation for specialised care. Atef was Amal's only son. She had been waiting for news on his medical evacuation for two months.

It was not known how many child patients had been rejected for medical evacuation. Only a list of approved patients was provided by Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which controlled Gaza's entry and exit points. The status of others was not shared. When a patient was denied, there was nothing that could be done.

Trapped in the grip of an indifferent bureaucracy, children's pain was brutally compounded. Mazunia, her face shattered and siblings dead, and Amal, whose only child could die from a treatable illness, had received the unthinkable news that no, there was no treatment, no pain relief, no escape. COGAT did not provide reasons for refusals.

All of this unfolded amid relentless bombings. Gaza's hospitals had been decimated, leaving them, despite the immense work of Gaza and health staff, unable to care for the flood of child patients. Medical staff repeatedly reported shortages of things like burn cream, IV fluids, needles and plasters, along with wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids and even batteries.

Deeply unwell children were being denied the medical care that could save them in Gaza and then prevented from going to areas where help was waiting. They were thus being denied medical care, a basic human right, and those who barely survived the ruthless bombardments were then condemned to die from their injuries.

This was not a logistical problem. We had the ability to safely transport these children out of Gaza. It was not a capacity problem. We were evacuating children at much higher numbers just a few months ago. It was simply a problem that was being completely disregarded.

In response to questions, Mr. Elder said since 7 October 2023, the total number of children evacuated was 2,303. However, only 127 child patients had been evacuated since the Rafah crossing closure - less than one a day. From the start of this year until the Rafah closure, 296 children on average per month had been evacuated.

As exhausted as everyone was, the crisis seemed to have hit a new phase. Attacks continued on mass. People had endured this for more than 12 months. The most exhausted people were the people enduring the attacks on the ground.

Dr. Peeperkorn said that before the Rafah crossing was closed, WHO and partners provided medevac for around 4,700 patients, mainly to Egypt and from Egypt to other places. Since the Rafah crossing closure on 6 May, only 282 patients had been evacuated, mainly to the United Arab Emirates. WHO had been calling for an organised medevac structure outside of Gaza.

Before the conflict, at least 50 patients were being referred from Gaza to East Jerusalem and the West Bank every day. WHO estimated that between 12,000 and 14,000 critical patients now needed to be evacuated out of Gaza. The traditional medical corridors to East Jerusalem and the West Bank needed to be restored, as well as corridors to Egypt and Jordan, so patients could be transferred onwards as needed. WHO had recently conducted a medevac to the United Arab Emirates for 100 patients, and could do such operations more often if countries were willing and ready.

WHO was not screening patients, it was helping to collect patients. There was no explanation for rejections of evacuations in security screenings.

Since the closure of the Rafah crossing, only 289 patients had been evacuated. WHO needed medical corridors - currently, corridors were ad-hoc. The situation had to change. Traditional pathways needed to be restored. Much more was possible for medical evacuations and the delivery of supplies.

Additional operational support and assistive technology was needed. For the 100,000 people injured in Gaza, one quarter would need lifelong assistive technology and rehabilitation. We needed to assist these people now and for a long time to come.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said that the UN Secretary-General said yesterday in his remarks at the 16th BRICS Summit that what we really needed now was peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the effective delivery of humanitarian aid without obstacles. We needed to make irreversible progress to end the occupation and establish the two-State solution.

Announcements

Zeina Awad for the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the Governing Body of the ILO would hold its next session starting next Monday. The Governing Body was the executive body of the ILO. It oversaw the Organization’s policy, agenda, programming and budget. It met three times a year and the next round of meetings were going to take place hin Geneva at ILO headquarters, starting on 28 October and ending on 7 November.

There were a number of issues on the agenda for the session, including the strategic plan of the ILO from 2026 to 2029, the Global Coalition for Social Justice, democratisation of ILO governance, the second World Summit for Social Development which would be taking place in 2025, Palestine’s status within the ILO and the war in Ukraine, and country situations in Belarus, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Guatemala and Myanmar. Journalists would be able to follow proceedings but would not be able to take photos or videos.

For more information, contact newsroom@ilo.org.

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that WMO was producing a number of reports in the run-up to the United Nations’ climate negotiations, which started in Baku in Azerbaijan in November.

On Monday, 28 October at 10 a.m., WMO would hold a hybrid press conference to announce the release of the Annual WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which reported on concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It was complementary to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report released yesterday. Speaking at the press conference were Dr. Ko Barrett, WMO Deputy Secretary-General, and Oksana Tarasova, Senior scientific officer at WMO and the coordinator of the report. The report had been sent under embargo.

On 7 November, WMO would be releasing the State of Climate Services report. “Climate services” were information products to help inform climate adaptation, such as seasonal outlooks on El Nino and La Nina which informed decision making on agriculture and health. The report would be reporting on five years of progress in the provision of climate services. There would be no press conference but an embargoed version of the report would be sent.

The State of the Climate 2024 Update would be released on 11 November, which would include figures on global temperatures up to the end of September. The main launch of the report would be by WMO’s Secretary-General in Baku, Azerbaijan. However, the report’s coordinator would be in Geneva and able to answer questions. If there was demand, a press conference would also be held in Geneva.

In response to questions, Ms. Nullis said WMO hoped to be able to share the State of the Climate 2024 Update by Thursday, 7 November, with an embargo until 11 November.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, invited journalists to the United Nations’ International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, which would be held in room XXVI of the Palais des Nations on Friday, 1 November, starting at 10:30 a.m. and going on the whole day. This was a seminar that the Department for Global Communication organised every year as part of its special information programme on the question of Palestine.

In the context of the alarmingly escalated crisis going on in this region, the United Nations would bring together journalists, media professionals, scholars, diplomats from Israel, the State of Palestine, Switzerland and other parts of the world to discuss two themes: “Freedom of the press and the safety of journalists in a time of war” and “Behind the headlines in Gaza: media challenges and perspectives”. The event would be opened by the United Nations Office at Geneva Director-General and Melissa Fleming, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Global Communication, who would be attending in person.

On Tuesday, 29 October at 12 p.m., UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would hold a hybrid press briefing to announce the publication of its Trade and Development Report 2024: Rethinking Development in the Age of Discontent. There was an embargo on the report until Tuesday, 29 October 2024 at 2:30 p.m. Geneva time. Speaking would be Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General, and Anastasia Nesvetailova, Head of the Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch of UNCTAD.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (89th session, 7-25 October, room XXIII, Palais des Nations) was having this morning an informal public meeting with States parties and for the launching of its general recommendation 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems. It would then close its 89th session this afternoon at 5 p.m.

The Human Rights Committee (142nd session, 14 October-7 November, Palais Wilson) would begin next Monday afternoon, at 3 p.m., its review of the report of Ecuador, the last on its agenda.

The Committee Against Torture would open next Monday its 81st session (28 October-22 November, Palais Wilson) during which it would review the reports of Kuwait, Namibia, Thailand, Jordan, Mongolia and Cameroon. In the morning of Thursday 14 November (beginning at 10 a.m. in Room XVIII of the Palais des Nations), the Committee would hold a high-level event to mark the 40th anniversary of the Convention.