Welcome to the press briefing here in Geneva.
Today's Tuesday, 26th of March.
We have got a few points on the agenda and I'll start immediately with Pascal for an update on the Human Rights Council.
Pascal, you have the floor.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is currently considering the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Cuba, which is the last adoption out of a total of 14 UPR.
It comes to be adopted during this session and the general debate on the UPR will follow starting around one 11:30 AM this morning.
At 3:00 PM this afternoon, the United Nations Human Rights Council is beginning its consideration of item seven of its agenda on the human rights situation in Palestine and in other occupied Arab territories.
The Council is holding an interactive dialogue with Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, who is presenting your latest report.
This will be followed by another interactive dialogue with the Deputy **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Nadan Nashif, who will present 2 reports, The first one a report of the **** Commissioner on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including E Jerusalem and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
And the second report is a report from the Secretary General on the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan.
And tomorrow we will hear a presentation of the intergovernmental working groups on the Durban, on the Durban declaration and plan of action.
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OK, so I'm I'm waiting now for my colleague Mrs Kira Kukova, who should join us in a few minutes.
But while we're waiting for her, maybe we we don't have Francois.
We don't have news if she's arriving now.
So maybe I'll, I'll, I'll go to maybe we'll go if, if Matt is here, maybe just let's go to DRC Congo.
Then we will hear from Kira and then we will go to Gaza.
And I'd like to add to the agenda because it just came in that James Elder is going to also brief you from Gaza on Gaza.
And so he will add his voice to Mr Abdul Hakim El Wahair, who is the FAU Assistant Director General and Regional representative from the nearest and the near North Africa, who is going to speak about the situation of food in Gaza.
So we listen to to Matt quickly and to Mrs Kruglikova and then we will go to Gaza with the 2 speakers.
Matt, you have the floor and you want to talk us about the Eastern Gear Sea, correct.
Morning everyone and thank you Alessandra.
We have an update on the displacement situation and the recent violence in the east of the DRC.
UNHCR is raising the alarm as ongoing violence in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reaches a devastating level.
2 years of cyclical conflict in the North Kivu territories of Ruchuru and Masisi have forced over 1.3 million people to flee their homes within the DRC, leading to a total of 5.7 million people becoming internally displaced across N Kivu, S Kivu and Ituri.
Since violent clashes enveloped sake in Masisi territory on the 7th of February, almost 300,000 people have arrived in Goma and it's surroundings, swelling spontaneous and official displacement sites as they desperately seek shelter from indiscriminate bombing and other human rights abuses.
Conditions are dire as growing needs for shelter, sanitation and livelihood opportunities outstrip available resources.
A further 85,000 people have fled that same violence and sought shelter in Minova, South Kivu.
In January, the town of Minova already hosted over 156,000 displaced people, with the majority in makeshift shelters.
The deeply troubling trend of the increased use of heavy artillery in the conflict continues amid reports of bombings targeting civilian locations in Minova.
The shelling of a commercial centre on the 20th of March killed a displaced woman and injured at least three others, including two children.
Reports of indiscriminate bombings in Sake and Goma over recent weeks, which killed more than 30 people and injured at least 80, are also alarming, as is the ****** of unexploded ordnance.
The latest reports from UNHCR teams are bleak.
Families continue arriving at sites traumatised and exhausted by the attacks.
Scarred physically and psychologically, many report being abused, some sexually, during their flight.
New arrivals find refuge in makeshift shelters, in overcrowded sites, in schools and churches or with host families stretching their meagre resources.
Worryingly, humanitarian partners have observed systematic incursions by armed groups into civilian structures like displacement sites, hospitals and health centres.
In 20/23/25, schools were occupied by non state armed groups in Masisi and Ruchiru provinces territories alone and a further 17 schools were attacked.
In 2024, seven schools have been destroyed by bombings, while lootings of medicine and essential materials from health centres in recent weeks has further Hanford humanitarians ability to support displaced people.
Hundreds of thousands have been identified as displaced behind the front lines in Masisi, Ruchiru and Nayara Gongo territories, cut off from aid and assistance.
The renewed violence means many children have been displaced and a large number are now unaccompanied and exposed to grave risks and violations including kidnapping, forced recruitment, mutilation and ****.
In 2023, in North Kivu alone, there were over 50 thousand reported cases of gender based violence, more than half of which were ****.
90% of these victims were women and girls, while 37% were children.
UNHCR is calling for an immediate end to the violence and urges all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold international humanitarian law and human rights and to protect civilians.
The risks for displacing civilian populations are clearly multiplying.
A scaled up humanitarian response in the eastern provinces between June and December of last year did manage to reach more than 3.1 million people.
With life saving assistance with our partners, UNHCR was able to provide emergency shelter to over 40,000 of the most vulnerable arrivals in Goma.
The distribution of thousands of core relief kits and tarpaulins helped improve daily life for those outside of the planned sites.
However, this addressed only a tiny portion of those in desperate need.
UNHCR remains deeply committed to supporting those affected in Eastern DRC and urgently calls for concerted international action to address the crisis.
We received only 14% of the $250 million required for the DRC in 2024.
You may also have noted that the recent Refugee Response Plan, issued in late February for almost $700 million, is also chronically underfunded.
The lack of funding threatens aid deliveries, exacerbating the region's dire humanitarian crisis.
Thank you very much, Matt.
Thanks and also thanks for stepping in.
Any question to UNHCR on the issue of the DRC in the room.
So I'll go to the platform.
Good morning, Alessandra.
Matt, it would be very useful if we could get your notes, excuse me please, because there are many figures and interesting info.
So could we get them as soon as possible?
They'll be coming out almost immediately, Catherine, so you should have them very soon.
They might be there already.
Doesn't sound like a good morning at all.
I'd like to who's doing the fighting?
Is it M23 along with other militia?
Where is it that I assume that it's they who are using the heavy artillery?
Where are they getting the weapons?
There are all kinds of reports that and 23 at least is being supported by Rwanda.
Has Rwanda said anything about this?
Have you asked them about it?
And what is the government response to all of this?
I mean, the government sounds like a missing.
It's missing in action, if you will.
Could you please answer those?
Matt, thank you, Lisa, for the question.
I mean, I think as you know, it's not our job to track who's firing the shells, but we do try, of course, to pick up the pieces, the shattered pieces of people's lives after those shells have been fired.
We don't name specific armed groups, but as you well know, there are several actors in the region that have been particularly involved in the activities most recently.
Overall, there are over 252 non state armed groups operating in the eastern provinces of the DRC, according to reputable study.
It's really our job to support those who have been impacted by this appalling violence.
And of course we we call for peace in the region and for all actors to respect the humanitarian principles.
In terms of the government, yes, of course we work with the government.
As you well know, the peacekeepers of UNESCO are currently drawing down their activities, and we think that it's important that as that situation plays out, civilians are protected and that the armed groups are disarmed of their weapons and that a democratic system can follow.
Thank you very much, Matt.
Lisa, as a follow up, a couple of things.
Where are they getting their arms?
Is this part of the international arms trade?
And then I'd like to know about what you and other aid groups are actually able to do in order to support these people.
Are you able to even reach them because of the obvious security problems that the dangers that there are and the fact that you and presumably other agencies are not being well financed?
I mean, we don't track where the arms are coming from.
So you would have to ask other more strategic experts to, to really follow the trail of of the arms.
What we're doing in the country is what we can given those very meagre funding, that very meagre funding situation that I outlined earlier.
We've been working on the displacement sites, some of which are incredibly dangerous of you, as you've just heard, trying to expand those displacement sites, reception centres, providing shelter kits for the people who have so tragically been forced to move there.
We're providing psychosocial support for traumatised displaced people who have witnessed the most appalling human rights abuses.
We are working with the authorities to try to, as I said, improve those displacement sites where we have access.
We are providing our non food items, the core items that we provide, things like tarpaulins, cooking kits, blankets, sleeping, sleeping mats and so on.
And of course we are advocating with the authorities to provide as much access as we can in terms of that access.
As you mentioned Lisa, we don't have a complete access in the region.
Many people have been displaced in Retura territory to whom we do not have access.
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Masisi territory where we cannot access them because it is simply too dangerous at the moment.
Thank you very much, Matt, for these updates, and we'll wait for your notes.
So, as I said before, I'm happy to welcome our Director of the Division of Administration.
I ask for Mr and James Patience.
We'll go to this briefing now on the issue of the cost saving measures we had been asked by the journalist and then we will go to Gaza with you both from Cairo and Gaza.
So I give the floor now to Kira Kruglikova.
Kia is the Director of our Division of Administration.
On Friday, we have shared with you and not a correspondent with all the information about the measures you've asked for this briefing.
So I'm happy to give Kira the floor to give you into that very brief and then we will go to questions.
OK, So thank you very much for this opportunity.
I think as you may be aware, in 2023, the organisation ended the year with the highest arrears in a very long time and the lowest collection of payments.
Within the last five years.
Only 142 of our Member States paid their dues in full.
This is available online in the honour roll if you're interested in looking at that.
The financial situation for 2024 is therefore extremely fragile and this of course limits our ability to effectively execute our mandates.
The task that we see here at UNOG is that in the midst of this global liquidity crisis, we need to reduce our non salary related expenses by about 42%.
We're asked with finding over 15,000,000 Swiss francs in cost savings.
So this means and what why is it so much in specifically in non salary related expenses.
The priorities that we have been set is to preserve conferencing.
Of course, that's one of the big reasons why we have where we're here in UNOG is to host conferences and the directive is to post preserve posts and salaries and entitlements at this point.
So effective April 22nd, we will begin implementing a series of strategic adjustments.
This is aimed at enhancing our operational efficiency and cutting costs, reducing spending.
So this includes temporary and permanent moves.
We're temporarily closing some of our less efficient buildings, the ones that are waiting to be renovated by SHP, and we'll be moving staff into the more efficient buildings, the ones that have been either recently constructed, that would be Building H or Building D, which was recently renovated.
This building as well of course has been recently renovated and we're enjoying the benefits of that in this press conference room.
Reducing this office space footprint means that we will not have to heat or cool these spaces.
We will not have to clean them, we will not have to maintain them.
So this is one way that we are able to reduce our costs.
Our non post budget, the budget we have for effectively operating costs, about 60% of that is the cost for utilities cleaning and maintenance.
So if we have to reduce that overall spending by 42%, naturally we have to cut into some level of our utilities, cleaning and maintenance.
We're concentrating our activities thus into fewer buildings on campus.
So Building H, which is the new building up the hill, it's new, it's very energy efficient and it was designed to be flexible.
We'll be implementing A manageable staff to desk ratio and this is consistent with directives that we already started at the end of last year, in the fourth quarter of last year.
We'll also be, as I mentioned, moving staff into the D building.
This is one that was recently renovated.
And people, this is the people.
These people were already planned to be going in there.
So there are people who are in the E building office tower.
They'll be moving into the D building.
This was planned and foreseen.
We're just pulling it up a bit.
This will allow us to have their offices and E Building is empty.
They won't have to be cooled and cleaned, and they'll be sitting in the offices in the D building.
We also are going to be reducing operating hours, so the Palais will only be open from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, will be closed on weekends and holidays.
This is both to use less energy as well as to reduce the burden on security.
We also have a number of energy saving measures that have been put in place since the end of last year, but it's in September.
That includes reducing the exterior lighting, so it's only what's we need for safety.
We're minimising heating and cooling.
Those of you who were here at the colder part of the year may have noticed it was always a good idea to bring a sweater.
We also have escalators turned off, except for periods when we have a lot of people in the house.
We are of course giving first priority to life and safety, so if you're over in the E building and there's an awful lot of people moving around, we need to make sure that the escalators are available.
We don't want any accidents.
We also of course are limiting travel and procurement to the minimum.
We have a very small, we travel is right, not really a big issue for how our budget is structured.
And we've done whatever we can to push procurement to the end of the year because this is a liquidity crisis, it's not a budget crisis.
So we're hoping that if the money shows up we'll be able to move forward on that.
Lastly, I just like to_that you know is committed to fulfilling its mandates particularly, in providing conference services even.
Though we have liquidity challenges the.
Team of course is very dedicated everybody.
Adapting to ensure our operations run smoothly even.
Though we're closing some office space that will not have an impact on our conferencing those.
People are being relocated elsewhere we.
Are not closing the Palais As it were one.
Of the things that we are doing though is given we had a lot of experience from COVID WITH how people can work remotely and there's was a big uptake of that.
When people came back from COVID, people did return to the office, but we still made very robust use of telecommuting within the framework of regulations.
We've also learned a lot from the how we handled the situation at the end of the year.
So we are continuing to operate at full capacity.
We will make sure that conference and operational activities proceed with minimal disruptions.
And of course, this ties to our ability and focus on maintaining **** productivity under difficult conditions.
Thank you very much, Kira.
Kira has one meeting after the other, so I'm just taking the opportunity of her being here.
Let me start with Anyas Pedrero.
Anas is our correspondent of the French news agency FP.
But then we will have to let her go.
Oh, I'll take a few questions.
And yes, yes, my, my question would be specifically for, for the journalist.
As you say, the, the working hours will be 8 AM, 7:00 PM and closed on the weekend, on holidays.
Will that affect our working hours as, as journalists?
And and also it says that journalists needing to work outside these hours who need to ask for exceptions.
Does it mean that we would need to ask for exception on a daily basis which would be very complicate on a logistic point of view?
And can we ask for a general exception because every day we we could need to to work at every time.
Yes, I'll let Kira answer.
But Please remember that it is already the case.
If people want to come during the weekend and come with guests, we already have to to ask for permission.
But it not not for the people who have got the budget.
This is this is very useful input.
We're having a meeting tomorrow to talk about exactly how this will work out because your point about needing to ask for daily exceptions, not only is that a burden for you, it's a burden for the security team and others will have to look at that.
So we'll be taking a look at seeing what the situation is.
What we are trying to_though is that this is a sort of problematic for everyone I.
MYSELF am going to have to hustle out the door at 7 and I'm Usually I, USUALLY leave about 7 between 7:30 and 8:00 so.
We are asking for people to be flexible I'll.
Raise this in the meeting tomorrow with our security colleagues and we'll try to understand what is possible the.
Thing is that they need to have they, need to have people there at the gates to let people in and.
Then we need to make sure as well that you know, somebody is available and they do go after a certain point, they go through the buildings to make sure that nobody is there want to see who's there, what they're doing.
So the question is, is is there funding available for them to be having an extra officer to come and do that again, the way it's set up right now is that when they they'll do their last sweep little bit after 7 and then it should be done.
If they have to go back and re sweep places, then it's an extra cost.
So we'll see what we can do.
Certainly we understand this is going to be an inconvenience for all of us, but we'll see what we can do to minimise that inconvenience.
Yes, I have 3, three questions.
First, I know that there's a draught resolution by the Swiss government to, to start again the online broadcasting of the Human Rights Council.
Is that will that be started again or And second question, are all those cost casting cutting measures have an impact on the SHP process, on the renovation process?
And my last question is you talked about 142 Member States which paid their due, who are the main Member states which didn't?
The question about online and hybrid meetings, that's actually not tied to the liquidity crisis and I understand that the Swiss are running that resolution at the council.
We'll we'll see how that plays out.
The way things had been going with hybrid meetings while they were in place was that since we never received a budget for that, so the meeting organiser had to find money.
I understand sometimes they got money from the member states, sometimes they were able to reprogram money from within their budget.
If this situation were to change, if it were to change with a new mandate, that would then trigger a request for resources which would resolve the whole situation.
If there's some sort of ad hoc situation, then I would I really we'd have to see how it plays out.
I don't want to speculate in terms of the SHP and liquidity that we are expecting.
Looks like that's going to be not going to be an issue.
I mean there is some impact in that.
For instance, you know, we are going to be moving up the Building D occupancy, but that was something that was foreseen later this year anyway.
So it's a small change, but we do not see that the liquidity crisis is going to have a negative impact on the SHP at this point.
And then in terms of the Member states who haven't paid, the best thing is to go online.
I don't have the latest information.
So there is a, it's called the honour Roll and we're happy to share with you the link so you can see which member states have paid and in full.
Benjamin Louis Artes, thank you for the briefing.
Do you mind answering in French if you want to ask a question in French or you want me to speak French?
I mean, we can do both, but OK, I'll give it a try, but you'll have to be patient.
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I'll take a last question from Catherine fan conference.
Venkat Catherine you have the floor.
Thank you for coming at the briefing.
Would you be kind enough to send and share your notes because that will be very useful for us in order to cover.
And I have a very short question.
You say that for the moment you're not taking any measures regarding staff.
Do you intend to reduce security staff?
Yet we were happy to share some notes.
At this point, the instruction is that the staff will be preserved, which is great.
As a staff member myself, I appreciate that not only the staff and their salaries and entitlements, but this is an instruction from the highest level.
The Director General is fully committed to this as well.
And I think it's very important.
Again, this is meant, this is expected to be a temporary measure.
This is a liquidity measure.
It's not a budget measure.
So if action were to be taken vis A vis the staff, if we were to to discontinue hiring, you know, not extend people's contracts or let people go, we would be in a very difficult situation when the money were to come up.
So the idea is really that we address this through non post means, but there certainly would not it's not any intention of letting any staff go, not extending contracts, etcetera for the staff.
This is at at this point everything is being preserved and I feel personally confident that this will be remain the case through the end of the year.
So but I think that's very important.
The director to the secretary General and the director General have made that really clear because it this is already a difficult enough situation for staff and we don't want people to be in a situation where they have that kind of anxiety on top of it while they're being asked to perform at an even higher level with fewer resources.
To Kira Krugikova, our Director of Division of Administration, thanks for coming and briefing and we will send out your notes to to the journalist.
OK, let's go to the situation in Gaza now.
I would like to thank Mr Abdul Hakim El Waher for his patience.
Mr El Waher, as I said, is the FAU Assistant Director General and Regional representative for the Near East and North Africa.
He's coming in to us from Cairo to tell us about the food insecurity situation in Gaza and it's impact in the region.
And then we will listen from James Elder on the situation of children in Gaza talking from Gaza.
So you have the floor, Mr Elware.
Thank you and thanks for your patience.
Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.
The from the Food and Agriculture Organisation perspective, of course, we are all aware about the latest release of the IPC, the integrated fiscal assification.
I don't want to allude on to that, but it clearly indicates what we have anticipated earlier in the year, since December last year, that we things will get worse very soon.
The crisis in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, of course, and the West Bank has reached unprecedented levels at the moment since the escalation from October.
The ongoing hostilities have resulted in significant loss of life, injuries, of course, mass displacement and destruction and to the infrastructure, as well as critical shortage of essential supplies, food, water and and medicine.
Now, from our perspective, the conflict has severely impacted the agricultural sector, leading to disruptions in agricultural production, livestock losses and limited access to essential resources for farmers and herders.
This may sound a little bit not look at the priority at the station we're talking about saving lives of people.
But just to give you an indication, the the the animal folder that we intend to supply since December last year would would be enough to produce milk for all the children in Gaza for over a month.
And that is that by itself would be a great replacement or overcome for the ongoing malnutrition that we see today among all the children where perishable protein is not available and cannot be supplied through food AIDS.
Now in in general to the agricultural sector, we we have lost 43% of the croplands, 27% of the greenhouses and 28% of the agricultural wells.
And, and that basically suspended all the production either fruits, vegetables or also egg, milk, fish and, and daily products that we used to supply.
Bearing in mind that at a certain time the the the Gaza used to, to export fish from out Gaza to other parts either in Egypt or or Palestine.
And the whole fishery sector basically suspended function completely since the 7th of October.
The lack of electricity has further exacerbated the situation affected the refrigeration.
Of course, the irrigation system has collapsed and the livestock care.
And and I want to add here that the with the lack of care for the livestock will also run the risk of transmittable diseases from animals to humans because of lack of vaccines and and necessary care inputs for the livestock.
Maybe one of the points I would like to highlight here that from the if you perspective, if you has been actively involved in addressing the immediate needs of vulnerable farmers and livestock holders in Gaza and the West Bank through distribution of animal fodder.
We are currently engaged in supplying 500 tonnes out of 1500 tonnes of animal fodder that will hopefully sustain minimum levels of local production of meat, egg and and milk for the communities in gas.
Although access is still not possible throughout Gaza, basically only the South and partial central part of Gaza that's accessible at the moment.
If you all secured funding so far of what is needed to face immediate needs, which is about 20 million out of which 50% has been already skewed, but access still the main challenge and constraint to reach out to those communities with those supplies.
I will stop here at the stage and they will respond to your questions later if there are any.
And I'm pretty sure I'm I'm I'm talking to Sebastian now if the journalist will definitely ask for your notes, Sir, if we can get them, then we can distribute it to everyone.
Let me go now to James James Elder.
James, you are in Gaza and you have an update on what you're seeing that especially for the children.
We heard you and then you re muted yourself.
Sorry if you can just OK, you're on.
Oh, Sandra, thanks for your patience.
So today I'd like to speak about two major issues that people here in Gaza regularly say are central to their survival.
That is the safety of those in Rafa and a delivery.
Today, Rafa is absolutely unrecognisable to what I saw 3 1/2 months ago because of congestion, tents on the streets, people sleeping on the streets, people sleeping in sandy plots, public buildings, any available space.
Now, to give a sense of what this means for families, for civilians, for children, the Global Standards for Humanitarian Emergencies say there should be a maximum of 20 people using a single toilet, 20 for one.
In Rafa it's approximately 1 toilet for 850 people.
I mean, I think of this everyday here where we only have to queue for 5 minutes.
There one toilet for 850 people.
For showers, it's four times that number one shower for around 3600 people.
This is a hellish disregard for the most basic human needs and of course, dignity.
Those same standards, international standards, say people need 15 litres of water each day.
When I was here in November, families and children in on the Gaza Strip were relying on three litres or less of safe water per day.
Today, on average, the households we survey have less than access to 1 litre of safe water per person per day.
Neighbouring Khan Unis is also unrecognisable, though for different reasons.
It barely exists anymore.
In my 20 years with the United Nations, I've never seen such devastation.
It's just chaos and ruin, debris and rubble, every single direction, everywhere where I look, every street, utter annihilation moving around those streets.
I was overwhelmed by loss.
That particularly so in NASA hospital where I spent so much time last last mission watching incredible medical staff do their 24 our 36 hour shifts.
Such a critical place for children with the wounds of war.
It is no longer operational like 2/3 of hospitals here, in fact 1/3, only 1/3 of hospitals in on the Gaza Strip are partially functioning.
This is a time of course, where today more children need health services on the Gaza Strip more than ever before and they have less access than ever before.
This all takes us back to Rafa and the endless talk of a large scale military offensive here in Rafa.
Rafa is a city of children.
OK, 600,000 girls and boys are here.
A military offensive in Rafa.
Offensive is the right word.
Rafa is home to some of Gaza's last remaining hospitals and shelters and water systems.
Then of course there is the North.
Yesterday I was again in Jabalia.
10s of thousands of people crowd the streets.
They they, 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.
When I came into the Gaza Strip just over a week ago, there were hundreds of trucks of life saving 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.
Remembering in the context of this last week's IPC stating that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, that Gaza now has the largest percentage of a population anywhere to receive that most severe rating since the body began reporting 2 decades ago before this war, it's important to get some context.
Before this war, wasting on the Gaza Strip was rare, with less than 1% of children under the age of five acutely malnourished.
Today, of those children under 2 years, one in three are acutely malnourished.
Now, clearly, the north has massive needs for food and nutrition treatments, and they're urgent.
But let's be clear, our efforts to provide aid are being Hanford.
Just one example there is when I when we come in from the South, remembering you were going through hundreds of thousands of people, it's a difficult dirt journey, it's a dangerous journey.
A UNICEF vehicle, once it's been loaded from our warehouse, we'll offload 4 different times before it gets to people.
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.
Remembering imminent famine, Entirely predictable, entirely preventable.
If we want a glass half full man made.
It can be reversed if the right decisions are made.
Between the 1st and the 22nd of March, 1/4 of 40 humanitarian aid missions in the in the northern Gaza were denied.
UNRWA, the backbone of so much humanitarian aid on the Gaza Strip, is now blocked from delivering food to the north.
And yet 50% of food going to the north was delivered by UNRWA.
Life saving aid is being obstructed.
Lives are being lost, dignity is being denied.
The deprivation, the forced desperation, it means that every time I'm among Gazans here, you can now hear the the, the shelling and the firing from the coast.
Despair is there's a sense of despair pervading the population and people's nerves are shattered.
I mean unrelenting attack.
People often ask me, is there still hope?
Everything is that extremes here.
And that question is no different.
So on the one hand, a mother will speak to me and explain that she has lost loved ones, she's lost her home, she's lost her ability to regularly feed her children.
She will tell me all she has left is hope.
Then yesterday, then yesterday, UNICEF with Sat with Adolescence, several of whom said they're so desperate, so desperate for this nightmare to end that they hoped to be killed.
The unspeakable is regularly said in Gaza, from teenage girls saying they hope they are killed to end their nightmare to a child being told that little boy or girl is the last surviving member of their family.
Such horror is no longer unique in Gaza.
Amid it all, amid amid all of this, so many brave and generous and tireless Palestinians continue to support one another with whatever they have.
And sister UN agencies and UNICEF, we continue despite the challenges for UNICEF, we persist.
It's water protection, it's nutrition, and it's shelter.
As we heard yesterday, the ceasefire must be substantive, not symbolic.
The hostages must go home.
The people of Gaza must be allowed to live.
When you have bombardments here at 3:00 in the morning and the entire building shakes, you lie in bed and honestly, it feels like you're lying in a coffin, just waiting.
And then I think there are children who've been doing this for five months, parents lying next to them.
There is no lullaby you can sing when your entire building or tent shudders from the intensity of these bombardments.
So in the three months between my visits, yes, every horrific number facing children and families and civilians has risen dramatically.
Gaza has shattered humanity's records for its darkest chapters.
Humanity must now urgently write a different chapter.
Thank you very much, James, and thanks to Mr Elware.
So we've heard the FAO assessment of the food insecurity situation and we've heard what the situation is on the field in, in, in, in Gaza by James.
And I'll open the floor to questions now to both our speakers.
I'll start and introduce you so that Mister Elware knows.
So we have a question from Christian Erich, who is the correspondent of the German news agency DPA.
Thank you for your testimony.
We had someone from COGAT here last week who told us there's no humanitarian crisis and that the people in the north of the Gaza Strip per capita get more food than anywhere else because there are fewer people living there.
What would you say to that, James?
And Mr Elware, if you want to add anything, just just raise your hands.
So, James, trucks with N with food haven't gone N for several days.
As I say, I was in the north a week ago.
I was in the north yesterday.
A week ago I was in Kamala Adwan Hospital where we've had those reports of 20 plus children dying of malnutrition and dehydration.
When I was there, I saw a room full of mothers and carers.
Not always mothers, Some mothers have been killed.
Carers shuddering over children who are paper thin.
Absolutely paper thin incubators full of babies who are born prematurely because of the stress on mothers.
Also, malnourished mothers have done so well to keep children alive from the bombardment.
They know their children now.
fast-paced starvation that is very simply because of a lack of food.
People in the north now when I speak to them, speak mainly that they are surviving on a type of grass.
I'm sorry, I need to get the name.
It is a type of grass that people have at times, I understand traditionally eaten here with lemon.
The lemon plantations have not been destroyed.
I can only speak to the many thousands of people who do that symbol, who whose gauntness I see in their face.
The child who yesterday asked for a single tomato.
The mother who told me that her 12 year old has a recurring dream about eating a slice of cucumber.
This is what children dream of in the North, a vegetable.
So I think it's important to share the challenges we get, the events, complexity from getting aid from the South, the simplicity of opening an old crossing in the north that's not being done, the increasing denials, the block of UNRWA, truth matters, life saving aid matters.
And Christian, maybe I will add what UNRWA told us about going to the north with convoys, Israeli authorities.
This is I'm calling from the UNRWA report.
The latest Israeli authorities continue to ****** urgent UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza.
Since 21st of March, UNRWA has submitted daily requests to the Israeli authorities, all of which have been denied with no reason given.
1/4 request submitted on the 24th of March was also denied.
And we have all read, I think, the reports about getting UNRWA to Gaza from the Palestinian Authority.
Sorry from the Israeli authorities, just see that Mister Elwaher would like to add something and I'll give you the floor for the follow up.
Maybe just thank you James for for highlighting that the north definitely is is the is the most disastrous, catastrophic of the whole of Gaza.
Access to the north is not in, is not assured.
Even crossing to Rafa we still have difficulty accessing in northern particular.
Now I want to maybe quickly allude to the IPC data.
Most of the IPC 5 catastrophic phase are are actually in the north and the central part of of Gaza.
And this is where the the the situation is really worse in terms of accessibility to food.
James has confirmed 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 for famine declaration because the situation as it exists calls for action which is long overdue.
I just like to correct myself, my understanding.
I said, I think, I said no, no food aid for several days.
There were some trucks from WFP yesterday.
That is the first time in five days.
In no way will anyone say that it is enough.
Not a humanitarian level, not from evidence, not from those hungry on the ground, but to understand yesterday, I understand through that Access point 96, first time in four or five days.
Christian is a follow up.
Yeah, this is again from this Kogat briefing.
They made it sound like the UN is just one little player in the whole game and that they they are letting 44 trucks an hour go through and most and a lot of that is private contractors.
They played down the role of the UN.
Do you see any evidence that aid other than from the UN is actually reaching anywhere in the north?
Oh, absolutely the, I beg your pardon?
The Palestinian Red Crescent, the Egyptian Red Crescent doing immense work.
I guess we have to go back to numbers, remembering that as you all know, before this war, on average 500 trucks, commercial and humanitarian, came into the Gaza Strip every day.
The average is 1/3 of that, 1/3 of the 500.
Remembering there have been periods of weeks we're not when nothing got into the north.
So it is best now we simply deal with facts, the IPC, the most respected data we have, as I, as I said in the briefing is showing, you know, record catastrophic declines into imminent famine.
UNICF's own numbers less than one in three.
So I beg your pardon, less than 1% of children under 5 suffering acute malnutrition.
Now one in three under 2 year olds.
This speaks to utter deprivation.
This speaks to devastation of things.
Children rely on warfarin health systems, but it also speaks to what the numbers speak to, which is a lethal lack of food and nutrition aid.
Still not getting to the north, indeed.
No Stefan Litton, Geneva newspaper, Mr.
Thank you, Mr Elder, for this briefing.
2 questions, first, could you say what are the reasons put forward by the Israeli authorities to block the the trucks on the other side of the border?
And my second question, do you have any kind of dialogue with the Israeli authorities about that?
Yeah, if I I couldn't speak to the go ahead, but I think it was for Mr Elware.
But go ahead, James, if you want to add something.
No, no, please, please, please go ahead and then I'll give the flow to Mr Elware.
Just finish your sentence and I'll go to Mr Elware if you want.
I'd rather deferred wire.
OK, Mr Elware, maybe you want to answer to our correspondent.
I think 1st I want to highlight a fact on the tracks, OK, the the 500 trucks that Gaza used to receive prior to 7th of October, many of those trucks are actually inputs for as raw materials for further productions.
So we have to imagine the, the, the multiplication factor here we're talking about seeds and fertilisers and, and, and, and pesticides and animal powder that produces chicken and, and meat and milk and eggs and, and, and fruits and vegetables that we, we lost all that and we cannot compare them to direct tracks that are only supplying food direct to mouth, which is 70 to 80 average daily if it persists on a day.
Now, do we have contacts?
Yes, we do have contacts.
We have an FAO office in in Jerusalem which communicates on a daily basis with the authorities and trying to facilitate this access.
I also sit here as a regional office for the nearest North Africa in Cairo and I have direct contact with the Egyptian at Crescent and the Egyptian authorities for the Rafa axis.
So we had trucks rather from December of animal fodder.
Now when you say about difficulty, I'm talking about animal fodder.
It's just barley, nothing else.
They were sitting there for two months and there were challenges to get them across.
We have to return them back finally, we've got them cleared, but we still have to go to go through a long process of fumigation and preparation before reshipment again to Rafa.
And by now if even if we get them to Rafa, we may not securely get them to the north part of Gaza.
Thank you very much, Sir.
Our next question from **** Pedrero, the our correspondent of the French News agency ISP.
This is would be a question for for OK, like this.
So this is a question for James Elder.
The Hamas authorities say today that seven people have have drawn in the Mediterranean trying to reach a aid air dropped into Gaza and that others were injured.
So I wanted to ask you if, if you are asking those countries who are doing those hair dropping of aid to, to stop this kind of operations, what is your perspective on that?
I think the common approach has been that the the situation is so desperate here that as long as aid is safely delivered and what you're speaking to challenges that as long as aid is safely delivered to the civilians who desperately need it, then any aid is welcome.
But let's ensure it's not a distraction.
The the ship that came in had the equivalent of 12 trucks worth of food aid on it.
Again, hundreds of trucks on the other side of the Gaza, of the Gaza border.
There are Rd networks here.
There are other crossings that can be opened.
The only way, just as we say this is man made, this imminent famine, it can be undone, but it will only be undone by using the networks that we're here.
Typically food aid when delivered from the air is because people are cut off for hundreds of kilometres, hundreds of miles and it's the only way to reach them here.
The life saving aid they need is a matter of kilometres away.
We need to use the road networks.
And the Secretary General has also said yesterday exactly that that the only.
He stressed that the only efficient and effective way to move heavy goods is by Rd.
Any other question in the room?
I'd seen your hand before.
I just introduced you for Mr.
Anyway, Emma Farge, our correspondent of Reuters.
Thanks for James or anyone else from the UN.
Maybe Yens might want to weigh in on this one.
What is the plan now for for getting food aid to starving Gazans in the north now that UNRWA is barred?
I understand they were the biggest provider.
And a clarification, James, which crossing point do you think needs to be opened in the north?
That was very close to the delivery spot.
Maybe Carney, maybe Erez and a specific one for Mr Elwy please, since he mentioned the animal fodder.
It's hard to imagine that animal fodder is a jewel use item.
What explanation did you get for the rejection and what has that meant in the meantime?
Does that mean that animals have have been slaughtered in the meantime to be eaten because people couldn't get the feed for them?
So let me start with the ends and the question about the planning of what we are going to do now.
Yeah, thank you Emma and good morning everyone.
First of all, I I really appreciate yours and and all your colleagues questions and your pursuit of of truth and facts in this conflict where reality has been so distorted.
But ask not how much of A contortionist the United Nations is able to be.
Ask not how much we are willing or able to bend ourselves out of shape to get a little bit of aid to thousands upon thousands of people facing a cruel death by famine in the north.
But do ask the Israeli authorities if they are familiar with the basic tenets of international humanitarian law, because I think we need to dispel this notion that their obligation with getting aid in somehow stops for getting a few trucks, a fraction of what is needed across the border.
And then once it's in there, as I have seen reported, they kind of say, well, then it's not our problem anymore and it's the UN and humanitarian agency's problem.
International conventions and customary international law says otherwise, and they says this in a way that applies to everyone, everywhere and at all times.
And this is what it says.
The parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.
This has never been truer or more urgent as it is today.
The law also says that this aid has to be impartial in character and conducted without any adverse distinction and subject to the right of control.
They have a right of control.
They inspect every single gramme litre, kilo of whatever goes in together.
So that is taken care of.
But they cannot say that once it's inside, we leave it with you.
They must create this enabling environment that allows us to move it around.
So directly to your question on planning, what do we do after this message?
I think UNWA said it, Martin Griffiths said it, the secretary general says it, the decision must be revoked.
And what I've just read out and meant it to you is why you cannot put this in, You cannot claim to adhere to these international provisions of law when you block on.
Why UNWA food convoys when you just last week denied 5 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.
And when we hear and see and protest that hospitals are coming under siege and we do not have a situation whereby we can access those hospitals.
This is not a facilitated or enabled environment at all.
We've lost James where we're trying to get him back.
Mr Elware, the our Reuters correspondents.
Well, thank you very much, Bertrand.
Indeed, yes, we got, well let's let's put it that way, a no and a yes rather we got a yes first followed by shortly a, a, a no.
You, you mentioned dual use.
These trucks that we've shipped went through the first security point at Karam Abu Salem, where all the dual use purposes have been checked and were cleared and they were denied access at the last point in in Rafa.
Now there are questions whether there are animals still alive or not from even the authority side for clearance.
By then we have a list of 1400 farmers and herders of small groups of animals that they still maintain them and they were desperately waiting for animal fodder.
What could be the other reasons?
The first questions we are the first responses we had is that priorities is for water, fuel and food.
And our response was immediate.
The only difference is that it's not direct food to the mouth, it is to produce food sustainably and locally, which is also offload the burden on the humanitarian aid.
Besides that, we believe strongly you cannot overcome malnutrition through canned and dried food.
You need perishable fresh protein being produced locally and that's the same every crisis.
We do the same in Sudan and Yemen and everywhere.
And finally, it took long time, could be not to support sustainable livelihood, maybe not to support settling, We don't know.
We got in March, late March, we got another clearance to go ahead or have another try with the animal product which is being processed at the moment.
Thank you very much, Sir.
We're trying to get James back, but for the moment, we can't find him.
So I'll go to the next question.
I had seen another hand in the room, but I don't see it anymore.
So let's go to the platform.
Lisa Schlein was of America.
I hate to be a nag about notes, but I will be a nag about it is just to impress that we need the notes like now, not at the end of the day, which happens unfortunately on occasion.
OK, now I heard a rather what sounded like a surrealistic interview with a member of the Israeli Knesset who said that there is no food shortage in Gaza and that children are not starving.
Now perhaps Ocha and Margaret Harris I think is there for WHO or or somebody else Tarek could.
Hi, Tarek could update us on the situation and especially the situation of what is happening in regard to the Israeli offensives in, in at at the hospitals, what is happening in regard to deaths and whether this is continuing?
Lisa, I'm not sure who about your first question.
Mr Edward, would you like to say something on that or maybe and then I'll go to Tariq.
I thought you had someone from WFP on the question of starvation.
We, we actually don't have somebody from WFP, but I don't know if you want to say anything about that.
Well, the, the, the, the confirmed reports on the IPC shows that the IPC 5 catastrophe phenomenon, which is now half of 50% of the population, about 1,100,000 and which is affected with, with this category.
And this category is extreme malnutrition, extreme lack of food security and of course starvation.
And we've seen reports of death as a result of starvation specifically in the north.
Access to the North is not at all possible.
We have indicated to the Jordanian authorities who are negotiating a possibility of access from Jordanian side and we're willing to come from the north side.
Currently the only available access is through the South through Rafa border and that is is is basically obstructed halfway through Gaza to the north.
And James has already mentioned that the only few trucks that arrived at the north of WP where after five days of no supply at all to to the to the region.
So the north remains total blockade and it's it's inaccessible.
And definitely we have enough evidence that shows there is ongoing starvation, there's extreme acute food insecurity and lack of major food supplies and water.
And those who who claim otherwise probably have to provide evidence for that.
Thank you very much, Sir.
Let me let me go to Tariq.
But I see James, we've we've got James back.
So afterwards I maybe ask Emma to repeat her question to him.
Tariq, sorry, it's completely UN understandable.
You sound like Donald Duck.
If I miss, sorry, but it was really, it was really strange.
Maybe you can just reconnect to or or try again because the voice really comes out very strangely.
I'm afraid it doesn't work.
Maybe you can disconnect and reconnect.
And while we're doing that, I'll ask Emma to repeat her question to James now we've got him back.
James, if you could just clarify which crossing you were calling on to be opened in the North, was that Eris or another one or I think it's called Carney, which one did you say needed to be open?
Thanks both, but the one I was referring to which is closest to to where I was yesterday would be errors.
An old crossing but can be used.
Of course it can and I think we should get Tarik back because we desperately need a bit of light relief here.
Tarik, are you back and maybe with a better sound system here?
He has not reconnected yet.
So while we're waiting for Terry to reconnect, John Zarro, Costas, our correspondent Franz von Kat has and The Lancet has a question.
I was wondering, since you're on the ground again, if you can bring us up to speed if there are any emergency therapeutic feeding centres for children on the verge of death through the starvation.
And if you are unable to set up these emergency therapeutic centres, are you sending the children over the border to Egypt to at least try to save their lives?
Yeah, it's a great question.
The mission I was to the north was to set up a stabilisation centre.
There is a therapeutic centre here that one of our partners has, you know, created.
You see that happening here.
UK Med have constructed an entire field hospital.
These things are critical, Same on the nutritional front.
So yes, not to the level that is needed.
Interestingly, John, talking to nutrition experts here, my colleague here who I can link you with who leads the nutrition cluster, was explaining that part of the challenge as well when we're in the north is to try to build capacity of those health staff because malnutrition was not an issue for them.
And the Gaza strips as per those numbers I mentioned earlier.
So there are elements that not just in terms of creating stabilisation centres or the therapeutic feeding centres, building the capacity as well.
So yes, working, working on those things, but in no way are they currently like every aspect of the aid delivery at a level that they need to be based on the need.
And I think we've got Harry back, so I'll give him the floor.
Tariq, I can see your name on the list, but not yet your face.
We we we do have a problem with Tariq, I'm afraid.
Hi, I, I I'm really sorry.
We have a problem of bandwidth.
I think, Tariq, we can't see.
Yeah, let's give it a try.
For the for the connection.
Can you hear me now for the moment?
I'm really, really sorry for the for the bad connection.
So, Lisa, I don't know if you have seen the the tweet that we have that the doctor Tetris has put out on the day before yesterday where we expressed concern.
There was a there was an attack and besieging of Alamal Hospital.
That is in the in the in the in the in the South.
And that reportedly there was a one person from a Palestinian Red Crescent that has been, has been killed and another person that was sheltering at the hospital.
So, so most of the patients have been have been forced to leave because of the intense hostilities in the vicinity of the, of the, of the hospital.
So it's just just again, another example of, of hospitals being being, being under attack.
You've seen what happened last week and still happening in Al Shifa Hospital.
We don't have access there.
We were not able to, to get there and our, our demand to, to, to, to get, for example, to Alamala hospital has been denied.
And just like, you know, going back to the point of, of, of access, like I remember we had the figures from January where half of our missions to hospitals have not given green light to go.
So the situation where you have health workers dying, you have hospitals that are under siege, you people were looking for shelter in these places and if you can't get a shelter and if you can't feel safe in a hospital, where else can you go?
More than 400 attacks on health have been recorded since October.
This includes hospitals, health centres, ambulances, patients, health workers with more with, with, with, with, with more than 600 people who died in these, in these attacks.
So this really has to stop.
And, and, and, and we just can hope that the resolution will be on a ceasefire will be implemented.
It has to be implemented because what James was describing now, it's just horrible.
There's no there's no person, there's no pregnant woman, there's no sick person that should go through this trauma of not being able to get medical care.
And I like to to quote the secretary general about the resolution race.
He says that the resolution must be implemented.
Failure would be unforgivable.
I see John has a follow up and then Lisa.
Yeah I have a follow up in case Tariq was not connected that what I asked James Tariq.
I asked James if children who are in need of emergency therapeutic feeding, if you are getting some of these children to Egypt, given the lack of adequate infrastructure in Gaza to save their lives if possible.
Well, WH one partners have have established 2 stabilisation centres in South of Gaza to treat the children from acute malnutrition.
So we are trying to see if we can, we can establish more in the middle area because because there are reports and our teams are seeing malnourished children and there was latest analysis by IPC that that one out of three children are, are acutely malnourished.
So, so we need these centres when it's possible and when it's when it's really needed.
There is also there's also effort to, to bring people outside.
And we just yesterday we, we managed to bring two young persons from Kamal at one hospital and to try to get them outside of Gaza.
One of them had leucemia.
So, so, So what we need really is to be able to do things inside Gaza and to help health workers in Gaza do their job.
That's the priority really.
But there are patients and we think there are some 8000 people who need to be brought outside for for medical referrals and to get their treatment outside.
Unfortunately, only 2000 of patients have been, have been evacuated from Gaza so far.
What we need really access again is we are there, we are ready to help.
There are 20,000 health workers in Gaza who want to do their job, but they cannot reach hospitals.
They are themselves victims of, of, of being moved away and they have to take care of their security.
Security is really the first thing you need if you want to have a healthcare system that is functioning indeed.
And Lisa, you had a point also for Tariq.
And Janskin weigh in as well, if he wishes.
Israel says that Hamas is using hospitals, Al Shifa and others as their military headquarters.
How do you respond to that?
On the issue of starving children, I think the number has gone up.
Do you have the latest figures on that and also just numbers in terms of deaths and injuries and so forth?
Thank you, Tariq and whatever else wants to answer.
Yes, I can, I can, I can, I can answer on the on the issue of hospitals, we have not seen what what what you are saying.
What we have seen is places where health workers are trying to to to do their best and with the little they have in the dark without electricity provide health care.
But again, WHO drill is not for to look for the for for for these sort of activities.
Simply we cannot confirm, we cannot deny idea, but we have not seen it.
What we see is volunteers, health workers trying to do their best to help people.
And James maybe on the number of the figure of children death and I don't know if you have any update.
I think it was a number of children reportedly killed.
I think she she just asked about the figures, the current figures of children's death.
My understanding is the latest number shared is 13,750 children reported to have been killed.
Reports of double digit number of children killed overnight.
My understanding is quite close to here.
It's only hours after the Security Council resolution was passed.
And of course, an untold number of children and families under the rubble.
Lisa, you want to maybe just give you the floor because maybe you can repeat your question.
Yeah, James, Hi, thanks for that.
But but specific more specifically, do you have a figure on how many children have actually starved to death?
Because there are some Israeli Knesset members who say that nobody has stopped.
No, no child has starved in Gaza.
I I don't have exacts, I know.
At Kamal Ardwan Hospital, speaking to the director of the hospital had explained 23 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration.
That number though is now several weeks old.
I certainly, Lisa, myself saw children whose malnutrition state was so severe, skeletal that I wouldn't be certain of their status.
Tariq is right on several children, at least one who they tried to move down South.
But I'm sorry, it's very hard to come up with with precise numbers on that.
Thank you, Tariq or Mr Albert.
Yeah, let me let me just really try to make a point here because we hear constantly this questioning of numbers that are provided by the by the Ministry of Health.
We know from the past that that figures provided by the Ministry of Health, reporting from the Ministry of Health has been has been accurate and and there were several studies that have been done showing that if anything, the figures have been under reported.
This has been also published in in Lancet.
So, so really we have heard about that, but it's probably more because it's, it's, it's not only starvation, it's this deadly combination of diseases and, and malnutrition.
So, so we don't have exact numbers because the, the, unfortunately also the, the, the disease surveillance and reporting has been interrupted on diseases.
But what we see in our hospitals and what our teams are seeing is, is exactly that they see the malnutrition.
And then when you speak with health workers, they explain you the situation.
So when you have a combination of people who are hungry and especially triple, they cannot fight off diseases.
And we know that there is an increase in water borne diseases, in respiratory diseases, in skin diseases.
So, so really it's what what we should really try to to do is to, to get that access and bring what is needed and, and, and, and try to try to avoid further suffering instead of instead of questioning, questioning numbers.
I don't see other hands up.
So I would like to thank very, very much Mr Abdul Abdul Haikim Elwayo, if you Assistant Director General calling him from Cairo.
James, of course, thank you very much to you and please take care of yourself in in this very dire situation where you are.
And of course, Jens and Tariq for this updates.
I have a few announcements for you.
The first one from Jennifer from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, who is asking me to remind you that you have, we should have received the notification this morning that the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Mrs Najad Rushdie, announced that 15 Syrian women have agreed to join the Syrian Women's Advisory Ward as new members, someone withdrawing in May 2024 and more in November.
And Mrs Rushdie said that these new members of the board will bring the realities of Syrian women and men, girls and boys to the OSC, to the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria.
And they all look forward to receiving their perspective and advice over the three-year term that every board member will now serve.
There is a, we've heard about the various press conference of the Human Rights Council from Pascal.
There is one by the UN Human Rights Committee that is going to present the findings on Chile, Guyana, Indonesia, Namibia, Serbia, Somalia and the UK.
And that's Thursday, 28th of March at 1:30 PM.
And the Conference on Disarmament is having this morning a public plenary meeting under the presidency of Ambassador Ali Bahraini of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And I think I've given you all the information ahead.
Is there any further question?
And yeah, I was just wondering whether, yeah, that's that's, that's all I have.
