The United Nations Office at Geneva
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Geneva Press Briefing - 27 February 2024
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50:19
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MP4
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UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
27 February 2024
Situation in Gaza
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that on 25 February, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the United Nations had evacuated 24 patients from Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis, including one pregnant woman and one mother with a newborn. This hospital had been at the epicentre of military operations in Khan Younis for over a month, which had left it incapacitated. Despite prior coordination for all staff members and vehicles with the Israeli side, the Israeli forces had blocked the WHO-led convoy for many hours the moment it had left the hospital. The Israeli military had forced patients and staff out of ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes. Three PRCS paramedics had been subsequently detained, although their personal details had been shared with the Israeli forces in advance, while the rest of the convoy had stayed in place for over seven hours. One paramedic had been released, and the UN appealed for the immediate release of the other two, and all other detained health workers.
Mr. Laerke stressed that this was not an isolated incident. Aid convoys had come under fire and were systematically denied access to people in need. Humanitarian workers had been harassed, intimidated or detained by Israeli forces, and humanitarian infrastructure had been hit.
The UN and partners had consistently communicated the requirements for meaningful facilitation of relief efforts across Gaza to the Israeli authorities. The bare minimum was this: acknowledging notification of a humanitarian mission in advance came with the responsibility of facilitating safe, smooth and rapid passage on the ground. Mr. Laerke said that the UN would continue its engagement with the Israeli forces for those requirements to be met, so that the critically needed humanitarian response be enabled.
Full statement by the Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine is available here.
Replying to questions from the journalists, Mr. Laerke said that the humanitarian community had had a coordinated response in Gaza ever since 21 October, since the Rafah crossing’s limited opening. The organizations were present in Gaza and across the region, and the UN had a substantial footprint. He renewed the call for a humanitarian ceasefire and warned about a high loss of civilian lives if there were to be a full attack on Gaza. The Secretary-General, in his remarks at the Human Rights Council the previous day, had appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire and immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, reminded Alessandra Vellucci, for the UN Information Service (UNIS). Mr. Laerke explained that 32 non-critical patients had been left behind at the Al Amal hospital. Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), specified that there were 215 people in the hospital, including the 32 patients left behind and 45 medical workers, without functional ambulances. He reiterated that just before the 25 February incident, two family members of Médecins Sans Frontières had been killed in an unprompted attack by Israeli forces against a deconflicted compound where their staff and family members had been sleeping.
Mr. Laerke, answering other questions, said that northern Gaza was extremely difficult to reach, the main reason being that convoys that had been planned in recent months had almost all been denied access. The only opening into Gaza was in the south, he reminded, so all humanitarian convoys would need to cross the entire chaotic, violent war zone in order to reach the north. On the top of the priorities which needed to happen was a humanitarian ceasefire, which would allow unimpeded and safe delivery of much-needed aid. Mr. Lindmeier reiterated that urgent access was needed to prevent avoidable deaths from disease and malnutrition. Only 12 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza were now partially functioning, he added. About allegations of looting, Mr. Laerke said that what often happened was that crowds of desperate people in Gaza would stop humanitarian convoys and take the aid. The UN did not use armed guards; the primary security of all convoys was acceptance and prior knowledge that they were happening. Regarding the 25 February convoy, Mr. Laerke emphasized that all the details had been shared with the Israeli military in advance, as per established practice; the military had acknowledged the receipt of the information.
Human Rights Council
Pascal Sim, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), informed that the Human Rights Council was today continuing its high-level segment and would hear from more than 50 dignitaries; this segment should conclude the following morning. The Council would then hold a discussion on the human rights situation in Eritrea, and, time permitting, the High Commissioner for Human Rights would present his Office’s report on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Nicaragua and Afghanistan would be on the agenda of the Council on 29 February.
Mr. Sim also informed that on 29 February at 1:30 pm, there would be a press conference to
launch the latest report on the human rights situation in Nicaragua. Speakers would be
Jan-Michael Simon, Chair of the Group of Experts, and Ángela Maria Buitrago, Member of the Group of Experts. On 1 March at 1:30 pm, there would be a launch of a new report by the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. Speakers would be Yasmin Sooka, Chairperson of the Commission, and Barney Afako and Carlos Castresana Fernández, Members of the Commission.
Announcements
David Hirsch, for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), announced that the ITU now had over 1,000 industry, academia, and organizational members, in addition to its 193 Member States. This milestone marked the largest, most diverse membership in the agency's history. He also announced over USD 9 billion in investment commitments from mobile operator groups to extend global connectivity. The announcement, initially made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, built on the mobile industry's strong support to ITU's efforts to connect the world. Further information is available here.
Elisabeth Schoeffmann, for the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), introduced herself as the new senior communications officer at UNIDIR. Her contact details would be shared with the media shortly. She informed that on 5 March, UNIDIR would mark the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness.
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that today at 5 pm there would be a virtual press briefing at the global high-level technical meeting on noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings, which was taking place in Copenhagen. Speakers would include the Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme and the WHO Regional Directors for Europe and Eastern Mediterranean.
Ahead of the World Obesity Day (4 March), an embargoed press briefing on obesity and other forms of malnutrition would take place on 29 February at 2 pm. Data from new research by the WHO and the Imperial College of London would be released on 4 March.
Alessandra Vellucci, speaking on behalf of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE), informed that the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen would brief the Security Council today at 10 am New York time/4 pm Geneva time. The briefing would be open and the Special Envoy’s remarks would be shared following the briefing.
Ms. Vellucci, for the for the United Nations Information Service, informed that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would close on 1 March at 5:30 pm its 75th session and issue its concluding observations on Romania, Mauritania, Ireland, Iraq, Indonesia, and Sweden.
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances would conclude today at 11 am its dialogue with Honduras under article 29(4) of the Convention. The Committee would then close on 1 March at 5 pm its 26th session and issue its concluding observations on Cambodia, Burkina Faso, and Honduras.
The Conference on Disarmament was continuing this morning its high-level segment until 28 February.
Teleprompter
So let's start again. Good morning. Welcome to the information service briefing.
Today is Tuesday 27 February here in Geneva
and we are going to listen
first of all from Pascal
Sim,
who has an update on the Human Rights Council that, as you know,
it started yesterday and is continuing his high level segment today.
Pascal.
Thank you, Alessandra and good Morning, everyone.
Today, the Human Rights Council is continuing its high level segment.
We will hear today from more than 50 dignitaries
and this high level segment is scheduled to conclude tomorrow around midday.
Starting on Wednesday afternoon,
the council will begin an immense interactive dialogue
on Eritrea with the participation of the special rapporteur
on the human rights situation in the country,
Mohammed
Abdel
Salam Haba
biker
and the UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights,
Jose Brands
Kerri
and time permitting, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk
will present his latest report on the situation
of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories,
including east Jerusalem,
including, and the obligation of ensuring
accountability and justice. This is the report that the
media team shared with you on Friday.
On Thursday,
the council will hold an interactive dialogue with
a group of human rights experts on Nicaragua
in the morning and another interactive dialogue with a special rapporteur
on the human rights situation in Afghanistan in the afternoon.
Mr. Richard Bennett.
And just to remind you that we have two press
conferences this week by Human Rights Council mandated investigations,
the group of human rights experts in Nicaragua will
hold a press conference on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
and we will also have a press conference by the Commission on Human Rights in South
Sudan on Friday at 1:30 p.m. Both investigations
will present their latest reports with you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Pascal,
for this update,
Jamie has a question for you. Pascal
Richard Bennett. Will he be doing a press conference?
I'm not 100 per cent.
Sure I can double check with the colleagues of
special procedures and I'll get back to you soon.
Thank you.
Other question for the council.
I don't see any in the room. Let me look at the platform.
I don't see any.
So Pascal, thank you very much. Good luck for the second day of the high level segment
and, um I'd like now to go to, um Christian. Uh, Christian, you are online.
You are going to brief us on two points.
I give the floor.
Yeah. Thank you very much. Alessandra.
Uh, two brief announcements.
One is for today, and you should have been sent to the, uh, media advisory.
Um, there's a virtual press briefing at the global high level technical meeting
on non communicable diseases in humanitarian settings where this conference is
taking part in Copenhagen.
The virtual press briefing is at five o'clock 1700
Geneva time this afternoon.
Uh, speakers will include Doctor Mike Ryan
WO, executive director of Health Emergencies Programme. As you know,
Mrs
Malik
UN
H from UN HCR,
Uh, director of resilience and solutions. Then we have
Hanan
Balki, Dr
Hanan
Balki, the WHO new regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean,
And
Dr Hans
Luger, the WHO regional director for Europe. So really interesting.
Uh, this this afternoon,
Um, the second, um, is an embargoed press briefing on Thursday.
Oh, sorry. Coming back on the on today's, um, you You should have been
sent or will be sent later today.
Um uh,
material on on this, um,
for your background.
So
secondly for Thursday. 29 February
Uh, an embargo, Pre
brief
press briefing on obesity and other forms of malnutrition at
two o'clock on
Thursday, again ahead of World Obesity Day on 4 March,
WO will be holding an embargoed virtual press briefing
on obesity and other forms of malnutrition. On
29th February, the Imperial College of London,
in collaboration with WHO, contributed to the data collection and analysis
and will
release its data on First of March. Hence this embargoed briefing
material.
Um, embargoed press release and other material will be shared ahead of time
and again You have been or will be sent further
details. Thank you.
Thank you.
Sorry. Thank you very much. Christian, uh, questions for the WHO
in the room.
Ok, Lisa.
Hi. Thanks. Good morning. I, uh
Christian, Just a quick question. Uh, is World Obesity Day on March 1st and then,
uh, there are some conflicts on Thursday in terms of press conferences, and
I'm already schizophrenic, but I'm wondering whether it's possible to get
an audio of the obesity press conference so I
don't eat too much because of my nervousness.
Thank you, Lisa.
Um, I hope I didn't say, first of March? It should be,
uh, or I misspoke. Uh, it should be World Obesity Day on 4 March.
So world obesity is on 4 March.
Uh, that would be what, then? Monday next week.
Um, so not first of all on 4 March.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to correct that
in case. And, uh, yes. Please get in touch.
Um, I'm sure there would be a recording which we can make available.
Um, unless there's a post press. But yeah,
um, I'm sure we can arrange.
Thank you very much. Other questions to the WHO.
I don't see any
you may have seen.
So
sent
you a revised agenda
that
Jens is coming with an update on the statement on the situation in Gaza,
but he couldn't be with us before 1115. So I guess we will have to wait for him.
And I'd like to ask Christian if he could be
on the line in case there are questions to the
on Gaza when we will touch upon this
subject. So
thank you very much, Christian for this announcement.
I turn to my left now, David, this year for it
to tell us about the membership
milestone
of
Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Pleased to announce that yesterday
the it
announced that it has reached its 1000
member threshold 1000 members from industry,
academia
and organisational members.
Those are regional and international organisations and
this is in addition to IT US 193
member states.
The milestone marks the largest and most diverse membership in IT U's histories.
ITS expanded membership base builds on the on
IT U's unique contribution to the UN system,
and global membership has evolved over the organization's 159 year history
to reflect changing technologies and the
expanding digital ecosystem in everyday lives.
Um, in addition to that announcement,
which was made at Mobile World Congress in in Barcelona, Spain yesterday,
IT also um announced that
an additional 9 billion in investment commitments
were made to IT U's partner to Connect system,
which is meant to support access and
affordability to communications to telecommunications worldwide,
particularly
uh,
to connect the 2.6 billion people around the
world who are yet to be reliably connected.
one more note on on the membership I I bear saying
that two thirds of IT sector members are from industry,
with the rest divided between academia
and regional and international organisations.
Thank you very much, David. Any question to to you?
I don't see any in the room or nor in the
on the platform. So congratulations for this Uh
uh, milestone and, uh, I like to ask Elizabeth maybe to come on the podium.
Thank you.
So I'm happy to introduce you to a new colleague, Elizabeth, Uh, Sman.
I hope I pronounce it.
Well, Who is the new senior communication and partnership specialist at Uni?
As you may remember, as I was answering questions from
the press. But now we have The unit
has a specialised person senior communicator,
and she's here to introduce herself to you.
Please,
Elizabeth,
Thank you very much. And
thank you, but I'm very happy to present myself here today.
I don't have a special announcement. I just want to say that
I'm very glad today is actually my first day at
Geneva. I'm normally based in Brussels, and one hour into being here in Geneva.
I'm already there
to meet you. So I'm very glad about that.
And so I will be your main contact in terms of media questions. If you have any.
As you know, UN
conducts independent research on disarmament
issues and general security issues,
arms control.
And just for your own planning.
Next week on the fifth of March,
we are actually celebrating the International Day of Awareness on
Disarmament and Non
Proliferation. So that's all from my side.
And I'm very much looking forward to working with you.
Thank you very much, Elizabeth.
I don't know if there is anybody who wants to take the floor.
I don't see any.
And, of course, Solange, we are preparing a new list of spokesperson as usual
for the beginning of the year. So you have,
As you know, we always publish one in March and one in October.
So you will have Elizabeth's
telephone numbers and contact details in the list.
But of course, if you want to contact her beforehand,
you can just either ask us or, um,
AA Or maybe Elizabeth.
You could just circulate your, uh, your contact details once you have a
Swiss phone and whatever
I see Chris,
Chris
is our a
FP chief of office.
Hi. Welcome.
Uh,
It was just about your contact if through through you, Alessandra,
you could just send us your email phone number.
Um, as before we get the list because that might take longer,
so that would be great. Thank you.
No, Absolutely with pleasure.
I can also just afterwards take your name,
and then I'll send you an email just right away so that you have everything you need.
I think it would be useful for all the journalists
JB you had raised your hand.
I was also just going to welcome you on behalf of
AKANU. The, uh, UN press association here in Geneva. Um,
So, um,
we have a number of, um journalists who are affiliated with that.
So I'll give you the address to
Akanu as well.
Thank you very much for welcoming Elizabeth on behalf of
a
thank you, Elizabeth.
So I am left with a couple of announcements which I'm going
to give you now and then for those who want to stay,
we will wait for Jens to come and
tell us about this statement on Gaza.
So first of all, I am the office for the special envoy on Syria
is asking me to inform you that the UN special envoy for Syria, Mr Geor
Pedersen, will brief the Security Council today
at 10 a.m. New York time. So that's four in Geneva, of course, 4 p.m.
The briefing is open and Mr
Petition remarks will be shared following the briefing. As usual,
the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights will close next Friday
first of March at 530 its 75th session
and will present an issue the concluding observation on the
six countries that they have reviewed during the session.
Romania, Mauritania, Ireland,
Iraq, Indonesia and Sweden.
As you may remember,
I told you on Friday the Committee on Enforced
Disappearances will achieve this morning its dialogue with Honduras.
Um
and then we'll close next Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. its 26th
session where they have observed the report analysed the reports of Cambodia,
Burkina Faso and Honduras.
And of course, the conference on this armament is continuing this morning.
It's a level settlement which started yesterday, as you know,
has been addressed by the Secretary General who has
left us yesterday to go back to New York,
and
we we were very happy to have him here and to listen to him.
The two statements and the media stakeout.
And this is what I had for you. So let's interrupt for a moment.
Um, And again, for those who can stay either online or in the room,
we will wait for Jens to come. And then we will take up the issue of Gaza. Thank you,
Toby.
It is too much.
Too much
of very
like.
OK, so thank you very much. Welcome back. Thanks for your patience.
We have now Jens here with us on the podium.
And as I told you before, he has a statement on Gaza.
Jens,
Thank you very much. Uh, Alessandra, and thanks for your
time
patients.
I know how it feel like to be a UN boss. People waiting for me to be the other way around.
So, yes,
I have a statement on the situation in Gaza
from the humanitarian country team in Palestine and pertains to
an incident that happened on Sunday.
Let me just read it out for you,
uh, into the record
on 25th of February. So that was Sunday.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society and the United Nations evacuated 24 patients
from Al Amal
Hospital in
units
including one pregnant woman
and one mother and newborn
Al
Amal
hospital has been at the epicentre of military operations in units for over a month.
40 attacks at the hospitals from 22nd of January to 22nd of February,
killing at least 25 people have left it incapacitated
from more than one attack per day on average.
Despite prior co ordination for all staff
members and vehicles with the Israeli side,
the Israeli forces blocked the WHO
led convoy for many hours. The moment it left the hospital,
the Israeli military forces,
the Israeli military forced patients and staff out of
ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes.
Three Palestinian Red Crescent Society paramedics were subsequently detained,
although their personal details had been shared
with the Israeli forces in advance,
while the rest of the convoy stayed in place for over seven hours.
One paramedic has been released and we appeal for the immediate
release of the two others and all other detained health personnel.
This is not an isolated incident.
A convoys have come under fire and are
systematically denied access to people in need.
Humanitarian workers have been harassed,
intimidated or detained by Israeli forces
and humanitarian infrastructure has been hit.
Just prior to Sunday's incident, two family members of Medecins
Sans Frontieres were killed in an unprompted attack by Israeli forces against
a de conflicted compound where their staff and family members slept.
The inadequate facilitation for the delivery of aid throughout Gaza means that
humanitarian workers are subject to unacceptable
and preventable risk of being detained,
injured or worse,
leaving us and our partners unable to safely reach
northern Gaza and increasingly parts of southern Gaza.
The UN and our partners have consistently communicated the requirements for
meaningful facilitation of relief efforts across
Gaza to the Israeli authorities.
The bare minimum is this.
Acknowledging notification of a humanitarian mission in advance
comes with the responsibility of facilitating safe,
smooth and rapid passage on the ground.
We will continue our engagement with the Israeli forces for those requirements
to be met so that the critically needed humanitarian response is enabled.
The United Nations and the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society had to leave
another 31 non critical patients at Al
Amal Hospital.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Jens and I am
pretty sure there are questions, So I Yes, I start with Gabrielle writers
hi and thank you for for this information. Just a quick question regarding
US President Joe Biden saying that Israel has
agreed to halt military operations during Ramadan.
Given
if that is indeed the case, how is O just set up to
get humanitarian aid in as fast as possible? Thank you.
We have, as you know, a co ordinated response
in Gaza
that has been
working essentially since I believe 21st of October,
when the borders were opened or the one crossing from Rafa
was opened.
We have also said very consistently that it is
far below where it should be
because of the exponentially growing humanitarian needs in Gaza.
So we are there
in Gaza,
in Rafah,
we are in the region. We are in Egypt, We are Jerusalem and so on and so forth.
So there's quite a substantial
UN footprint
across this crisis.
So that's about what I can say to that. Of course,
we renew our call for an immediate
ceasefire on humanitarian grounds
and we warn again against the potential large scale loss of
civilian life if there is a ground offensive in Gaza.
Sorry. In Rafa.
Thank
you.
And I would also like to recall the words that the Secretary general
addressed yesterday at the Human Rights Council exactly
repeating the call for a humanitarian ceasefire and immediate
and unconditional release of all hostages
and
the things he said about the humanitarian aid.
Yes,
thank you.
I
want to ask about
Israel Prime Minister's recent remarks saying that even hostage deal cannot
stop, but only delayed the Rafah attack.
So I would like to ask, How do you evaluate that? Israel's no deal can stop Rafah
attack approach.
And do you think that such attack aims to make Gaza uninhabitable? Thank you.
Thank
you.
I
think at this point we take it one step at a time, one day at a time.
There's a lot of messaging going around
as Alexandra mentioned the United Nations and ours from
position is very clear. We need an immediate humanitarian
ceasefire. We need release of all hostages unconditionally.
So those are our two goals.
Thank you. I had seen another hand.
Um
uh,
No. Then wait, please. IYY. Yeah. Jamie.
Hi, Y.
Um, just wanted to know what, uh, you or OCHA or the UN?
Uh, more broadly knows about,
um an area that's being cleared off right inside of Egypt, Um,
across the border with a wall that's being erected and,
uh, a sort of a zone.
can you tell us anything about what that, uh, zone may be used for And if, uh,
the UN is involved in any way And, uh,
and and, um, maybe equipping it or or supplying it or whatnot?
Yes. Thank you, Jamie.
My reply to that has not changed over the past week
because this is not
the first time we ask about this. We do not have any information about that,
and we are not
involved
in
that. So
I guess your question would have to be addressed to the Egyptian authorities.
Mick.
Yeah. Thank you. Um, a couple of things. Uh, Jens, Um,
do you have any information on the situation
that, uh, prevails in our on
our hospital? Um, you've got these particular numbers out. Um, what's
the status of how How many medics and staff are left in the hospital?
Is there any information on on the condition, uh, in which they're operating?
And I mean, if there is AAA cease fire again, I I'm just wondering.
I mean, have you had any detailed discussions with cogs.
Um, that would, um,
open up additional entry points that would facilitate a a greater delivery of aid.
Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Nick, um,
we know that when When? This
movement
on Sunday that I just
referred to
happened and was didn't go as it should have,
we were forced to leave another 31 critical
sorry. 31 non critical patients at a
hospital. The situation inside the hospital, I believe, who
can perhaps speak to that
on the
of course, there is
planning of
various sorts going on,
and we will inform you about that in due course.
Thank
you.
Would you
Would you like to add something?
Yeah, thank you very much. And thanks, Nick.
Just a few more details on on the numbers that, um,
Jens mentioned there are currently 215
people in the hospital, including those 31 patients, uh, that were left behind
and 45 health workers. These are paramedics, ambulance drivers,
eight physicians and 10 nurses.
Um, no. Ambulances are functional.
This This this is on the figures.
Um, all all of those health workers, uh, have confirmed that This was the first time
that they had gone outside the hospital after an entire month.
And that's pretty stunning for context.
They had been afraid for their for their lives all the time.
And since there was fighting all over the area and
the hospital had been hit numerous times and
they had been staying inside all the time.
Thank you, Christian. Uh, Liza,
Uh, thank you. Yeah.
Um, Yen,
Um, and maybe you said it and it went by too quickly for me. I'm not sure. But
the, uh, 24 patients that were,
uh,
uh, in the, uh, in the the, uh, Palestinian,
uh, ambulances. Uh, what condition were they in? Presumably they were in critical
are in critical condition.
And where are they now? What has happened to them?
And then I'm wondering,
has there been any explanation from the Israeli authorities as to
why they took this? Rather dramatic. Uh
uh
uh.
I don't know what what the word is, but,
um, what happened there?
Have Have you had any
Any explanation from the Israelis as to why this happened? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Thank you, Lisa. I believe Christians will probably have a bit more.
What I have on the 24 patients is that they were
transported from
Alam to hospitals in Rafa
where they could receive treatment.
And several, if not all of them required some kind of surgical
intervention which could not happen at
hospital.
We have not had
any
information
or any communication
from the Israeli authorities. Why this clearly
notified movement,
which they, by the way, acknowledged that we had sent them. The notification
was still detained.
As I said,
for at least seven hours,
health workers taking out,
forced to undress,
held back, two of them
still
not released.
Liza, you had a follow up.
I see Christian that you have put your mic on. No, no, Only if if, uh if, uh, uh,
Christian has more to add on this situation. That would be helpful. Thank you.
Yeah. So he has put his mic on. So,
Christian, maybe you wanna add something?
Yeah. The the patients those, uh,
24 were referred to the INC field hospital in the area.
Um
and to note that as you asked about it. So this is this is not an isolated incident.
The N aid convoys have come under fire,
uh,
and are systematically denied access to,
um
uh to people in need.
Humanitarian workers have been harassed,
intimidated or detained by Israeli forces,
and humanitarian infrastructure has been hit.
Just prior to the Sunday incident,
two family members of Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed in an unprompted attack
by a
forces against a deconflict compound
where their staff and family members slept.
Thank you very much.
I see online. Uh, Melanie Litman, can you introduce yourself, please?
Uh, thank you. This is Melanie Lidman from Associated Press.
I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the, um,
aid being delivered to north Gaza.
Um, and W what's happening when the last time
is that you were successfully able to bring aid to north Gaza,
Um, And, um
and, uh, if there's plans to increase aid to north Gaza,
Um, I also have a follow up question.
Right.
Should I
ask that now?
Yes, please.
Um, I I'm just curious. The Israeli army has, um,
said that the UN isn't, um isn't able to re to adequately distribute
the, um, the aid coming in. They're saying that they can bring more aid in, but,
um the UN can't distribute it.
So I was wondering if you could comment on those, uh, on those accusations.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And this gives me the opportunity to
remind journalists who connect on the platform.
Please put your name and the media
that you represent.
Uh, Jens,
thank you. Um,
northern Gaza is extremely difficult to reach.
I will have to look up exactly when The last time we were able to deliver any material
aid
there. It's been a long time.
Main reason being that the convoys that have been planned over the past one month,
two months
have all been denied. Very few have been able to proceed because we have not received
the assurances
or the acceptance
of our notification from the Israeli authorities. So
we certainly fear for the situation there. We have been able to
send in
one or two, I believe, very short, if you like,
kind of reconnaissance missions just to get an idea
of what the situation is, what the needs might be so that we can plan for the time,
hopefully soon
when we can access northern Gaza.
It is very complicated at the moment because there
is only the opening into Gaza from the south,
which means you have to traverse an entire
war zone
from the south, the extreme south to the extreme north to deliver aid,
whereas it would be much more logical, practical and efficient
if we had border crossings directly in the north
where you could just cross in and deliver aid.
So we are certainly working
on that on a daily basis
with those involved in that
about the distribution inside
inside Gaza again,
it is
a very
violent, chaotic war song.
We
acknowledge that we have tremendous difficulties
distributing
the aid that does get in
across
across Gaza.
That is certainly not a situation of our making. It
is the war
itself that creates it
on
the top of our list of things that needs to happen
and there is no way around. It
is a humanitarian ceasefire
that will enable us to safely deliver and for people to safely
receive the aid that comes in.
We have a number of organisations and staff colleagues. Friends who are working
are under extreme conditions, extreme conditions. They are doing
their level best to do what they do best, which is to save lives on a daily basis,
and we applaud them for their courage
but
to mount a humanitarian
operation that is fully worthy of its name.
There's a whole laundry list of things that need
to happen first.
And I'd like to call your attention also on the situation report that
issued yesterday and we distributed to you.
It's the number 82 has quite a few figures
on the most recent humanitarian aid getting into Gaza,
not necessarily to the North East, but there are many
figures you may be willing to look at.
So let's go to the next question, which is from Nina
for
we can't hear you, Nina.
Sorry. Can you hear me now?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No.
Can you hear me now?
Yes. Go ahead. You're on.
Great. Thank you.
Um, thanks for taking my question.
I was wondering, um, Jen, if you could, uh, comment. I saw that the, uh the, uh,
Red Crescent.
Uh,
the Palestinian Red Crescent has decided not to
or to suspend all humanitarian coordinations procedures.
Uh,
on the medical missions.
I guess after after this event, is the UN also considering doing the same.
Or, uh, what do you think about about doing that. And
if you could say a little bit more about what?
The consequences of this long, lengthy seven hour, Um uh, wait, uh,
were for the people involved.
Um, that would be great. Thank you.
Yes. And then I see Christian as well, racism
and go ahead.
Yeah, I think I will leave this this one to Christian to go first.
And I can see if I have anything to add. Thank you, Chris.
Go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Wasn't un muted. Thank you. Um,
first to underline again. What? What? Jens said before all the
issues about access to the north.
So access to the North remains extremely difficult, as as he pointed out.
And importantly, no humanitarian aid has reached the North since 23 January.
That's over a month now.
Five weeks
and WHO last reached Al
Shifa
Hospital, for example, on 22 January
and the urgent access just as or just just over and over again.
Now, of humanitarian aid is needed to avoid further
preventable deaths from malnutrition and diseases
on the the people on the on the convoy.
Um, several of those that don't have the numbers now in front of me were,
uh,
people who couldn't walk.
Uh, so they were not movable, but everybody else had to get out of the ambulances.
Um, and you can imagine, uh,
being already transferred under life threatening circumstances.
Uh, not being able to move or being able to move and then being made to stand outside
and having to wait for seven hours is, um,
pretty unimaginable.
Thank you.
Absolutely. Um,
Christiana,
uh, thank you. Question two. Christian.
Can you just, uh, remind us of how many, uh,
hospitals or primary care facilities were there and are still
working? So this is the question on numbers.
And to
answer the question,
you are avoiding the word looting, I guess, because you you
understand that people are so desperate that you wouldn't call it looting.
But is that the problem that convoys are being stopped
and unpacked that are possibly meant for other areas?
The Wall Street Journal has a story. Lawlessness hampers Gaza aid efforts.
So I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. Thank you.
And maybe let me start with, uh, the sheer figures. And then I let Jens come in
on
the on the
repositioning or whatever you. You You call it, uh, of of the needs for those in need.
so only 12 out of originally 36 hospitals are partially functioning.
And that's six in the south. Uh, with Al
Amal being one of the minimally functioning ones
and six in the North, Um, 23 hospitals are not functioning at all.
let me see if I have further details.
Yeah, the names of the hospitals.
But if that helps, um, there are currently that's maybe important.
There are currently 15
emergency medical teams deployed in the south of Gaza with four field hospitals,
and that adds 305 beds combined, three of which are now functional,
uh, south of the
Gaza Line. So these these are important
pots of help, um, or pockets of help.
Uh, but of course, more importantly, it would be to get the Gaza
health system back up on its feet and get all
those health care workers which are there and are trained
and are even under these circumstances,
willing to work into a position and able to work
like
yeah. Thank you, Christiane. What we hear from
our country team colleagues in Palestine is that
it frequently happens that trucks after they have crossed into.
Sometimes just a few 100 metres
are stopped by crowds of people
who then take off the relief
items, whatever that may be. If it's food, maybe to consume on the spot
for those incidents, I think it's important
just to recall that the aid
on those convoys
does not belong to the UN per SE. It belongs to the people in need.
So there is a certain
understanding
that desperate people take what
they can. It's absolutely not
optimal way of doing
humanitarian distribution via this self distribution
incident.
What we have also seen and the humanitarian Country team has also spoken about that
is that there seems to be elements of criminal activity
where some kind of gangs
are taking
some of the relief
of the convoys that later appear in the black market.
That
should of course,
never happen.
It is linked to
the increasing breakdown of civil order inside Gaza
after more than almost five months now
of war.
There's not much in terms of enforcement of normal law and order.
Uh, Nina, a follow up.
Um, hi. I just Yes, I.
I was wondering if you could answer my question from before, which,
which was about what the Palestinian Red Crescent, uh, had suspended, um,
had suspended its humanitarian, uh,
coordinations with the Israelis after this event.
And if that is something that the UN has also considered doing,
given the frustrations over the way, this is obviously not working.
Very well. Thank you.
Yes, thanks. I hope Christian could
answer that
one. But of course, we understand.
We understand why.
You know the Red Crescent they take,
they make their own decisions and their own assessments of the situation.
As to my
information, as of this morning, there is no similar decision being made by the UN.
Ok, sorry. John has been waiting for a long time on online. John?
Yes. Good morning. Uh, patience is a virtue.
Uh uh.
I've got 22.
Basic questions. One to Jens.
Uh, Jens, uh, did, uh, concerning
the incident with the evacuation convoy?
the military affairs unit of
AA
you mentioned they had given all
the deconfliction details to the Israeli authorities
from the same unit. Do you have the details?
Which, uh, Israeli commander or unit were
on the spot and responsible for this incident.
And secondly, to Christian,
Uh, do we know who was, um, uh, heading the for the WHO
the and coordinating the convoy out of, uh,
the hospital. Was it, um,
Dr
Peppercorn and his team. Thanks.
Thank you, John. Yes, indeed.
I mentioned it was it was what we consider fully de conflicted. That means that
the route of the convoy, the people on the convoy, their ID card numbers, the number,
plates, everything.
It's very minute detail
we provide. So it's 100% clear
that everybody on the convoy can be
identified and every vehicle is accounted for every
route where it is at what point in time and so on and so forth.
It's quite
detailed. Now, this is a centralised
mechanism
whereby we are not in direct contact with
the commanders on the ground for this deconfliction.
We count, of course.
And it is their responsibility on the authorities that we sent this information to,
and as I mentioned, they acknowledge receipt of the information
that they
communicate that to whomever is commanding on the ground. If that does not happen,
or if there's some kind of lack of communication,
we will have to have to ask the authorities about that. But we certainly did.
Our part of the of the of the of this exchange,
Christian.
Yeah. Thank you.
I don't have the, uh, names, uh, of the convoy leads or convoy members now from WHO.
And
I'm actually also not too sure if we wanna give that. Um,
but I'll I'll see if it's available or not.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chris. Also, Thanks for your patience.
it is a virtue,
Jens. I was just wanted to come back on the criminal activity.
Can you give us a sense of the scale of that? Because if
humanitarian aid is, as you say, already very scarce,
how much of it goes to the to the
criminal gangs? And
can you give us a sense of what security measures are taken with those convoys?
Do you have armed guards or
thank you?
Yeah. Thank you. Uh, Christoph,
I
I cannot give you a breakdown. How much? How many percentage is this?
And how many percentage is the other?
in terms of the
security of those movements,
the UN does not use armed guards.
Full stop.
That is not the way we operate in this scenario, as in others, the primary
security
of convoys at any moment is acceptance,
acceptance and prior knowledge that this is happening.
So, of course, when we notify this to the authorities, in a way, it is to assist them
in living up to their obligations under international law, which is to facilitate
and safeguard these convoys.
It's to make it easy for them to do what they're supposed to do.
At
the same time.
There is, as I mentioned
internally in Gaza, a breakdown of order.
Normally, you would have you could have an unarmed police
present as kind of deterrent. Or at least a show of this is being watched.
That is not the case at the moment.
And Chris,
and you wanna add something?
Yeah, just because, uh, we checked.
I checked in the, uh, the names of the convoy leader actually in the uni
feed, uh, details.
Uh, so that's
that's public knowledge now. So it's Dr
Gaga
van, a
trauma surgeon and the emergency officer for WHO. And by the way, our good old,
uh colleague Chris Black was also part of the convoy.
Thank you. I don't see other questions on Gaz as well. Turn to Yuri. Uh, OK, go ahead.
Hi. Uh, Christian, it's Jamie.
Um, could you are there gonna be visuals of this incident?
I mean, uh, Chris Black usually has a camera with him, so could we get some visuals?
Thanks.
So there's indeed, uh, it's actually on the on the UN multimedia already.
It's on uni feed. Um,
I could put it now on the link here, but that's not easily available for everybody.
I understand. But I'll put it in anyway.
Maybe, um, UN colleagues can help out
by
email.
I can do that too.
I think
also there are some footage available on U multimedia from Gaza.
So if you want to have a look from yesterday, I think,
thank you.
OK, so if there are no other questions on Gaza,
let me see on the platform and there aren't.
I'll turn to
Yuri. Yuri
had a question for you. Answer on another subject.
Yes, Thank you. And good morning. One more time. I was speaking with
Ukraine. I tried to ask this question to
to
and they all told me that I have to ask you this question.
So
sorry
I am trying since one year to understand why the UN can't provide
help to millions of people who are living in the territories under Russian control
in the conflict.
And I was trying to ask this question to diplomats and
some of them told me that it is a problem,
a political problem.
It means that for example,
Ukraine
don't have access to these territories, but
in theory
Russia could have access, but they are not going there.
So I'm trying to understand what is the main problem because
every time we we we heard that we don't have access.
But as far as I understand, you can have access.
This is just more than only a logistical problem, but also a political problem.
Is this the case?
I think it's it's
it's fair to say that there certainly are
political aspects of that problem.
Let me take your question very
as you have asked it straight to
the people who should be able to answer that. I'm reluctant to say
anything now because
we do not have a presence in the Russian Federation,
so I don't have anyone
that that that I can call that is
it is as it is.
So So let me take it up and push for for for you to get a
reply on that. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Is there any other question for Jens or Christian or anybody on the line?
Don't see any.
So I've already given you my little announcements.
Uh, therefore, I thank you all very much.
Thanks for also your patient that, as we said today, it's a virtue.
Also, for those who have been waiting, uh, online.
And, uh, I'll see you on Friday. Thank you.