Welcome to this press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva.
Today is Friday, 12 April. We have a packed agenda and just one hour to go through it
because, as you know, Jens will be here. I'll
happily give my seat to him
in one hour at 1130 for a press conference by Jimmy McGoldrick,
who is terminating his tenure
opt and want to talk to you about
the situation and the humanitarian situation there.
So let me just start by introducing you to
who is the chief media and communications of UF.
And she's just here for introducing herself and
remind you of the press conference of Monday.
thank you. Good morning. Yes, My name is Linda Dil,
head of communications at
UNFPA, the UN Population Fund,
which is the UN sexual productive health agency,
and just a quick announcement to say that we will be launching our
flagship State of World Population report
Wednesday is when the embargo lifts, however,
we will be having a press briefing here,
Um so it's an embargo press briefing which gives you time to
prepare your reports. Um, before the embargo, which we hope you will do.
Um, the report is, uh, called interwoven lives.
Threads of hope ending inequalities in sexual reproductive health and rights.
and, uh, how far we've come and how far we have yet to go in achieving those rights.
Um, who's been left behind and why?
so again, that press briefing is at 2. 30 here.
You should have all received, Um, an email from Alessandra.
Um, And if you would like to receive the report in advance,
there is an email address there
from my colleague Eddie Wright.
Um, at UN FP a.org. You'll find it in the email.
Uh, so please reach out if you'd like the report ahead of time.
And we look forward to seeing you on Monday. Thank you.
As I told you last Friday, this is the first, The best of my knowledge,
the first or maybe one of the first times that
from Geneva. So we really hope that we will get a lot of coverage.
And as Celinda said, because of Tuesday, and we are expecting a few good news.
Maybe not good but important news on Tuesday at the briefing.
The fact of having the embargo press conference on Monday should
help you cover the report that is going out of embargoes
said on Wednesday morning.
So thank you very much, Selinda.
With the launch of the report,
we are available to send you again the information about the right, if needed.
And I will quickly go now to my first speaker, who was brought to us by Sara Bell of
who is the country representative in Sudan for
and who has a few new findings of the report on the livelihood in Sudan.
thank you very much, Alexandra, we're gonna go very fast.
Uh, our resident representative in Sudan, as Alexandra mentioned,
is here to brief you on the assessment
of the social and economic impact of the younger
arm conflict in Sudan. On rural communities,
we're publishing today a new report titled Livelihood in Sudan. I mean,
armed conflict evidence from a national rural household survey I've sent you, um,
the the press release with all the the the statistics
the study is the outcome of a collaboration between U NDP and if
R, which is the International Food Policy Research Institute.
It is based on a comprehensive survey
of more than 4500 household rural households across the entire country.
The floor is yours to to present the key findings of the report. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Sarah and, uh, thank you colleagues for having me.
indeed, Actually, Sudan faces an accelerating
Our study highlights that, uh, 59% of the households, uh, surveyed
face moderate or severe food insecurity
with highest, uh, prevalence in the states of West Coran
The study warns that a famine in Sudan is expected in 2024
particularly in the states of
Al Jazeera and in the Darfur
The food crisis is rooted in problems of, uh, availability
as food production and supply chains
have been disrupted by the ongoing war.
But at the same time, as well as it emanates from an increasing lack of affordability
uh or have seen their livelihoods and incomes,
uh, dwindle or cut down because of the war
The study shows that over 71% of households
do not own agricultural land
they can, uh, cultivate to feed their family.
indicated that they did not
cultivate any land during
and half of the households that reported
cultivating lands indicated that their farming was disrupted
uh of the rural households surveyed reported that they were
not able to visit markets due to physical barriers,
inflation is high on basic products that are essential to Sudanese people.
43% reported being unable to make essential purchases.
64% of those citing high prices are the primary
The study also observes that the current
conflict has severely disrupted rural household incomes,
employment and livelihoods,
resulting in widespread economic instability. A
proportion of households experienced a shift in income generating activities,
from employment to no employment.
Nationally, income has dropped for 60% of sampled households,
uh, with alarming incidents of complete
income loss particularly in conflict affected areas.
The findings show income reduction of over 50%
with some sectors such as
mining experiencing a dramatic drop of over 90%
highlights the gravity of the situation,
and the conflict has also
exaggerated existing pre-war vulnerabilities,
UH, related to housing and access to infrastructure
Most households live in in advocate housing conditions,
with disparities in access to water,
electricity and sanitation services posing additional challenges.
Uh, rural households have low access to assets, including agricultural land,
which further complicates their livelihoods.
calls for immediate humanitarian and food assistance
for households facing severe food insecurity and income loss,
but that may not be enough
to stave off the looming famine.
concurrent and urgent support to agricultural livelihoods,
focusing on providing farmers with access to
subsidised inputs like seeds and fertilisers,
rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure
and rapid training programmes on resilient farming practises
critical and complementary tracks.
Immediate life saving, humanitarian aid and early life sustaining development.
and they are necessary now.
Thank you very much, sir, for this update. Let's stay on Sudan.
We have got three speakers today on Sudan. So let's go to.
And then we have Christian with an update,
and then I'll take questions on the situation in Sudan.
I would like to ask everybody to be brief, please.
So let's go to Farid Abdul
head of delegation for Sudan, who is reaching out from Mombasa.
Um, thank you very much, uh, for inviting us. Um, today
is three days before the,
Since the war started in Sudan as we speak today,
over 6.8 0.6 million people are displaced.
1.8 million are out of Sudan. Well, almost 86.4 are inside Sudan displaced,
um, one year later. And as our colleagues I had explained
a lot has, um, has has, uh, has has changed in terms of the situation getting worse.
Uh, we have, uh, a health system that is not able to provide
adequate services to its population.
You have a lack of supplies of medical equipment.
You have you, uh, uh, staff or, uh,
medical staff who are displaced and some are inside the country.
Some are outside the country.
We are talking about a situation to date that, uh,
almost 17.7 million people are in need of food assistance
while over 700,000 Children at risk of being malnourished.
Um, the humanitarian consequences of the war is dire.
It has affected the infrastructure in terms of water supply
But worst of all, the people engagement in livelihood and food production,
uh, impact now and impact in the future.
Uh, we are also looking at an infrastructure that has already been, uh, you know,
destroyed some areas that are functioning at a very minimum rate,
including that of Sudanese Red Crescent,
where the headquarters vehicles have been looted.
So they're operating in a very challenging environment.
the Sudanese Red Crescent Society has mobilised over 40,000 volunteers.
Uh, 3000 are working at the, uh, uh, concurrently throughout the 18 states.
Uh, since the war started, the volunteers have been working around the clock.
Uh, and these are volunteers that are coming from the community that they serve.
Uh, they've been providing food services, healthcare, uh, provision of,
uh, burial of, uh, of dead body use.
Ensuring that they are buried in a dignified way and able to be identified
we are also looking at a situation where Children right now are are being supported,
of course, in some areas, but the number of them are at very high risk.
As I explained, so far, the figure given is over 700,000.
And with the time it will even get worse.
the federation, the Sudanese Red Crescent are calling upon, um,
the the all parties in Sudan,
to sit and reflect to reflect on the
challenge and humanitarian challenges that the war has posed
because despite any support that will be mobilised or the current, uh,
humanitarian support that will be have been mobilised,
which is like 10% of the total required resources.
will be able to to to to to fill these gaps if the root cause is not addressed.
So it is calling upon all parties to deeply
reflect on the humanitarian challenges the action has taken
and to look at the greater nation and how to be how
to be able to address these humanitarian challenges through at least in
that the cease fire is powerful and people sit in dialogue
to minimise the void and and and and and and ensure that the Sudanese,
who are currently suffering both inside Sudan and outside Sudan,
are able to move back to the normal way of life and to move back to where
the homes are and to start rebuilding their country.
So as International Federation of Red Cross
and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement,
we are calling upon all parties
to sit down for the sake of humanity,
for the sake of the people and the Children that are suffering
so that we can be able to together sit down
and look at the ways of recovering and ensuring that,
the the community the families are able to recover from
the crisis that have almost taken one year to,
uh to date. Thank you very much.
Stay with us for the questions and answers and
I will go to Christian now for an update from
Yeah, Thank you. Everybody.
without a stop to the fighting and unhindered
access for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Sudan's crisis will dramatically worsen the months to
come and could impact the whole region.
We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg
and the situation could be much more dire. In reality,
access to humanitarian actors is particularly constrained,
as has been reported so many times by all of the colleagues.
Half of the states are not accessible from within Sudan.
koan are inaccessible and cut off from humanitarian aid.
As the world is grappling with multiple disastrous crises,
Sudan remains an underfunded crisis.
The humanitarian response plan appeal for health is only 17% funded so far.
next week on 15th April, our director general,
Dr Tedros will take part in the Sudan International Human Day Conference.
Now a A few key figures and yes, I will share those afterwards. In my notes,
every second person or 25 million people,
are in need of humanitarian assistance this year.
This is 9 million more than last year.
15 million people are in need of urgent health assistance.
An alarming 18 million of people are facing acute food insecurity.
with 5 million people on the brink of famine in areas affected by the conflict.
With the lean season expected to start soon and without unhindered access for aid,
the situation will only worsen in the coming months.
3.5 million Children that's every seventh child under five years
Pregnant women and new mothers could die in the coming months to Ju
unless urgent life saving funding and aid address their needs.
And that's according to save the Children.
70 to 80% of the health facilities
are not functioning due to the ongoing conflict.
Attacks on health care during the war have
left more than 25% of all hospitals nonfunctional.
62 attacks have been verified by WHO only the last year,
resulting in 38 deaths and 45 injuries.
Um, medical supplies in the country
are estimated at about 25% of the need, and for several months
there has been a general crisis in medical supply at all levels of the health system,
with increasing drug prices
that people suffering from diabetes, hypertension, cancer or kidney failure,
experience and even die from severe complications
due to the lack of treatment available.
not received medical supplies for the past year.
These disease outbreaks are increasing in the face
of disruptions of basic public health services,
sea surveillance, functions of public health laboratories
and rapid response teams outbreaks.
over 11,000 cases of cholera,
over 4600 cases of measles,
1.3 million cases of malaria
Indeed, Christian, thank you very much for this update on the health side,
and I just would like to add,
as Christian has reminded
also the assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs. Josua
will also be in Paris alongside Dr
and other UN officials attending this conference that Christian has referred
to as the humanitarian conference for Sudan and its neighbours.
Germany and the European Union will be co hosting this press conference where Mrs
will advocate for scaled up resources to expand our operations
in Sudan and in the region as a whole.
She will also advocate for improved humanitarian access so that
agencies can ensure the timely delivery of life saving supplies,
which we have heard is particularly difficult to the communities in need.
And we will have also a message from the secretary general for the conference.
And I will conclude this part on a briefing on
Sudan by saying that the UN fact finding mission on Sudan
has released some heartbreaking figures,
much on the line of what our colleagues have said
and I will invite you to consult their website for the details.
So let's open the floor to question
to question for our briefers on Sudan. Is there any in the room
and I don't see any. So let's go to the platform.
Schlein, Voice of America.
Can you please Lisa, tell to whom you address your question. Thank you.
hi to anyone who has a good answer.
Um, I, I know that you, Christian, we have we have tamed you,
so you will send us your note.
could I ask the IIFRC and U NDP representatives to do the same and as soon as possible,
Not at the end of the day when deadlines have been missed.
As far as the question goes, I heard that,
uh, an interview with somebody from NSF from, um,
Doctors Without Borders has said that actually, famine,
uh, is is happening, uh, in, uh, Sudan. Uh, the, uh he mentioned the city. I'm sorry.
I don't remember the name of that,
but what do you know about that? Um is it? Yes.
And and And he said one of three Children,
very young Children were dying, which is kind of,
So what do you know about that? Um uh, how how close are we to this
you representatives speak about negotiations and the importance of ceasefires.
But is this a possibility or are the,
um, the generals really, uh, so entrenched
in, uh, what they're doing in their power Grab that this seems to be, uh,
Very much. Lisa, I don't know who would like to take. First of all the notes
tells me that she has already sent them out, so I hope Christian and Tomaso
will do the same for the other two speakers.
I saw your hand up. Would you like to start answering?
Ok, thank you very much. Uh uh, probably I was taking my notes, but nevertheless,
I think the the the truth and the truth and nothing but
the truth is that the humanitarian challenges in Sudan a lot.
I mean, even without the war, we already had a, uh a food deficit in the country.
Today, we are talking about 18 million or 7.
17.7 million, 18 million, as Christian has said, or people in need of food, uh,
And with the war, without any doubt,
it has and will affect the food production in the country.
So we are actually looking at a critical
situation because one livelihood have been disrupted,
food production has been disrupted entirely dependent on external aid
to feed the population. And you've heard about the funding levels?
Uh, both in the UN. The Red Cross red
person movement has been very minimum.
Um, that's why the call for ceasefire The call for,
uh people to sit down and look at the humanitarian consequences of their action
and to try and ensure the Sudanese people suffering are put to an end.
The Sudanese people have suffered enough.
are even bigger because people have to recover from the current crisis. But
the situation is that, uh, yes, war causes challenges. What causes disruption,
And, um, the the climate change has not stopped doing what it does.
Thank you very much, sir. Maybe, uh, Tyler, you would like to add something.
Thank you. Uh, no. I just wanted to add that the,
uh, uh, possibility for a famine. It is absolutely there,
considering, uh, that there is, uh, a severe, uh uh,
reduction in the production of food in Sudan.
Plus, as as, uh, the the numbers I was mentioning in in, uh, in our, uh, uh,
analysis or assessment socio-economic assessment
uh uh, income also was, uh uh uh affected, uh,
negatively for most of the households in Sudan.
I mean, we if we do not do something now, we will be heading towards that, uh,
And and this is where I hope the politicians
and the, uh parties of the war will will realise the, uh, impact of this war, Uh,
on the normal, uh, Sudanese lives.
Thank you. very much, sir.
Let me go to another question. From Yuri
Yes. Uh, good morning, Alessandra.
Uh, I think my question is not only for one speaker, but I think for everybody,
Of course, in this conflict,
there is a lack of interest from the media and from the governments.
what do you think can be done to be changed in that? Because
every time when we are speaking about Sudan,
we all hear the same things that nothing is funded.
Uh, nobody is trying at least to cover this. Um, I I'm not speaking about the media.
I mean about the government at the same time.
This is not a crisis where we are hearing big leaders talking about.
So what do you think that can be changed?
And, uh, what would be the consequences if nothing changed?
If, for example, the money that you are asking is not coming,
and you will stay at 7% or 11% of whatever you are
you are asking. Thank you.
Yuri, I think you are absolutely right. That's a challenge.
for all of us, For us and for you, of course. Also
to keep the interest alive in crises that are not necessarily under the
I, of course, ask my colleagues to answer.
But I think this humanitarian conference for Sudan one year after the start of the
conflict is exactly the kind of initiative of the
international community that we are expecting in order to
bring the attention to this crisis that, while being forgotten or sidelined,
As we heard, the numbers are just heartbreaking.
So I don't know, I will ask maybe Taro
Thanks. Uh uh, In in fact, I just wanted to reemphasize that Yes.
If there is no action now, it will be.
I mean, the the consequences will will be really catastrophic.
Uh uh uh, more than 25 million, Uh, in, uh, Sudan.
Now they are being recognised that they they they need, uh uh,
uh assistance by by the UN standards.
if a a and it is the biggest, Uh uh um uh, crisis in the whole world.
But it is not getting enough media attention,
considering that there might be also other,
uh uh, uh, international crisis in the world.
Uh, that might be more interesting for political reasons, but indeed,
Sudan is the biggest humanitarian crisis.
Uh uh, in the current, uh, time,
Uh, I think if we do not do something now,
the the, uh uh, prices within the country will be, uh, enlarged.
Uh, more people will be in need.
And I think the impact of this crisis will cross the borders
we do not really step up for for, uh, uh, a crisis in this size.
Uh, I, I, uh, imagine the the, uh, Sudanese,
uh, will have further complications inside.
there there might be also a greater impact.
Uh uh, fleeing outside of the country if we do not do something,
uh, that can save the situation.
I don't know if I were to other.
think, as Christian said, the WHO. Is doing its part. As Tai said,
they're doing their part on our side. And as we said, we are doing our part.
If there is less media attention to the world's biggest
humanitarian crisis in terms of displacement of population.
If the humanitarian world has done their part, the media also has their part.
So I would ask the, uh, esteem journalist to ask the question,
What have you done to ensure you highlight the
challenges that have been faced today in Sudan,
in other parts of the country?
How many people should die? How many, how much suffering
should should happen Until then, you revive and you highlight and profile.
You are the ones with the cameras, not us.
I think it's also time to deeply reflect
on the current humanitarian challenges the world today,
uh, the rhetoric from all sides that you see, uh,
it's time for the world to deeply reflect on what is happening in the world today,
uh, and the humanitarian challenges it's facing.
But worst of all, what is the consequences of such challenges in the future?
uh, they they they to the human being who sees a child suffering,
or the mother looking for a hospital to give birth,
or a child who needs food to be able to ensure that they survive the day.
Uh, it's time to deeply reflect and look at the conscience of a man And what is in this
world today that is looking at suffering and and and all this pain
and they don't feel the urge to support or they
don't feel the urge to extend a helping hand.
Is it that the minds that have changed
or is it that the hearts have changed? And it's time to reflect and ensure that
humanity, uh, put humanitarian, uh,
needs and and the suffering of the people And it should be a feeling from deep inside.
then we should always ask. Our question is, Where are we going from here?
Let me see if there is any other question. I don't see any.
So thank you very much to our speakers.
Christian, you stay with us because we haven't finished with you,
Katherine, is that also on Sudan? Because I would like to go to the next
Yes. Good morning, Alexandra.
No, it's not on Sudan. It's regarding the conference taking place on Monday.
Could you be kind enough to send? Um, I mean to share with us.
Uh, what the SG is gonna say,
Uh, as soon as you get it.
will be happy to. But it is about Sudan because the conference is on Sudan. So
and we will share with you.
I am pretty sure that he ends afterwards. We will be able to also
assist you on this press conference on this conference. But definitely we will.
If we have it under the embargo, we will send it to you. Of course.
OK, so I would like to thank tair
and fare for this briefing. As I said, Christian stays with us
because now let's go to our next item on the agenda, which is Gaza
has brought us two of their colleagues from Gaza.
And of course, Richard Peppercorn doesn't need introductions.
representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.
trauma surgeon and emergency officer in Gaza.
You are extremely busy, Mr
and we are very happy that you took some time to brief the journalist in Geneva.
So Christian, should I give directly the the floor to
to Richard. I see you nodding so, Richard. Welcome. Thank you very much for being
with us today. Um, you have the floor for a brief introduction, please.
Thank you very much. Uh, I hope you Good morning and hope you can hear me clearly.
I can hear you loud and clear.
um, yeah. I would like to, um
I would like to focus, actually, on 22 issues on on a mission
of the 10th of April, the day before yesterday from WHO, together with OSHA
Uh, And then my colleague, uh, Dr
will maybe focus a little bit on his mission to sa
and and more specifically,
chief hospitals. So on the 10th of April, we visited cha
And first of all, I want to stress the the destruction
I mean, like, we had seen it early February when we entered from the West.
Now we entered from the east and we crisscrossed through all of Han Unit.
It's disproportionate to anything
one can imagine. It's no building or roads.
Is actually intact there. There's only rubble and dirt.
Uh, we saw quite a bit of this was the E day. The first E day.
We saw quite a few populate, uh, people actually moving,
sometimes very eerie. Moving into
looking for their houses, which, of course,
they couldn't find because most of them were damaged or destroyed.
trying to see if they could get anything out of their houses. Uh,
and we saw all the people trying to, uh, to scavenge for, for for wood, et cetera.
I want to focus now on on health. Uh, so on this trip, we we visited four hospitals in
actually, we also passed the WHO warehouse. The WHO two warehouses in Ha
They are unfortunately, both destroyed due to hostilities in its vicinity.
So let me start with the most important hospital in K
and actually the second most important hospital in in Gaza, the national
most of the medical specialisations.
Uh, it had a was it 350 bad hospital,
and then you might recall in in the the early months
of this conflict actually provided service to more than 700 people.
Nasser, uh, medical complex WHO also for years, uh, support this, uh, this complex,
including the limp and Reconstruction
medical complex, they became nonfunctional after the last siege in February. And
I think we reported extensively on that. The WHL organiser supported with
the Palestinian Red Crescent and
Uh, the medevac of the last, uh, number of patients and staff
around a couple of days around the 20th of February.
So it then already reported that, uh, that, uh, the warehouse,
the warehouse of North America complex was
severely damaged and and partly burned out.
We are now witnessed, um, that the hospital warehouse,
which used to supply many hospitals in the south in
the South, was burning. And actually it's completely destroyed and
incredibly sad sight to see because also realising in WHO
and part as we provide a substantial amounts of medical
supplies, trauma supplies, equipment, essential medicines, uh,
Solar panel are missing. The south wall was torn down, etcetera.
We went all through the hospitals and
damage. The hospital is still standing at least the main buildings.
But damage is is incredible. It's an incredible mess.
Critical access such as CCT scanner, IC, U equipment, et cetera.
They seem functional, but we have to inspect biomed by biomedical.
X rays. Uh, destroyed mobile X ray.
Uh, destroy destroyed extensive destruction of surgical material.
Anaesthesia devices destroyed. Large hole dug
in in the building, et cetera.
The limb Reconstruction centre heavily supported
by the WHO unrecognised unrecognisable maternity ward
and equipment, uh, destroyed. And so
Immense structural, uh, destruction Even more, I would say,
And and, uh, compared to the February 25th when WHO mission was lost there,
ambulances cannot enter or exit a huge hole.
Uh, damages in the radiology department. Third floor. Totally ruined.
ruined et cetera. Three out of five operational tiers are still functional.
The other two have been destroyed.
The main hospital generator is completely destroyed, et cetera.
It was actually encouraging and and also
surprising to meet the director Doctor Heider
and some of the health workers which are present
and still took the INI initiative to treat some trauma and maternity emergency.
the inpatient capacity and to
repair restart some basic services. Uh,
O'Hare Hospital was a third hospital visit was as a private NGO hospital linked to Al
Sahaba Hospital in the North focused on maternal and
child health A little bit like a Alamar,
just want to say support by other parties, including UN FP, a
five floors still standing but everywhere heavily damaged, smashed et cetera,
The Jordanian Um hospital
is actually only small hospital, which is functional.
I would call it minimal functional.
Now I wanna say something because we get a lot of questions about that,
and it's becoming a bit of a topic, and that is good.
We get questions about rehabilitation of hospitals and facility
and just to be very clear, WHO and partners. We are ready
efforts to revive priority functions of key hospitals
and pragmatically rehabilitate.
And let's let's not forget that just recently, Oshi
When it was nonfunctional after the first siege,
it became partially functional again
thanks first and foremost thanks to their health workers,
then with support of WHO in
part as it became again like a functional first referral hospital,
uh, the trauma centre for the North et cetera.
Some dialysis patients, et cetera, and unfortunately, now
Tunnels will refer to that.
So we know there's enormous need for hospital capacity.
So we plan and we we would like to support rehabilitation of these key hospitals like
complex. Can we assist and Al
First of all, what is needed is to sustain
WHO supported medical, electrical and water engineers in
a proper assessment and planning.
We need to get, of course, focused on the planning or building
material, but also think about heavy generators, solar infrastructure,
specific medical images, equipment, CTS, MRI, SX, rays, lab equipment as
equipment for oxygen plants, uh, and and and and
besides the what we call the regular stuff medical supplies, trauma,
And it is important to note
that before this crisis it was extremely hard to
get any specialised medical equipment into Gaza X rays,
MRI CT scans or their spare parts.
and I don't even want to discuss large generators. WHO we We It took us two years
to get three mobile X rays into Gaza Mobile X rays, which
which you have in every referral hospital.
So this kind of import restrictions will have to change
if you want to focus on any substantial rehabilitation. But more important,
how fragile these gains are and how quickly efforts to restore hospitals
can be lost due to hostilities and attacks. Look at N, a
medical complex. So this is
also not sustainable and a huge strain on health partners and and, of course,
a lasting ceasefire is, of course needed to
go forward with meaningful restoration and rehabilitation of the health system.
But we W, HR and partners are very much ready for this. We're planning for that
and we're looking forward to come
to to to take, uh, that road forward I wanna shift now to to
Thank you very much. Richard and I give the floor to
Taos, please. Remember, we only have 50 minutes. So if you could be brief, please.
Because I know there are questions
and we will not be able to take them if we don't
Thank you very much. Uh, for this opportunity,
Uh, we are here in Gaza, and while, uh, my head of office, Dr Peppercorn
already, uh, explained you the situation in canyon.
I would like to focus on Shea
Shifa Hospital. Used to be the biggest hospital, uh, along the Gaza Strip.
It used to be the centre of all specialties
besides oncology, even though, if some, uh,
level of oncology treatment was taken there.
unfortunately, what we saw
when we went last week to shifa is that
the hospital has been turned into dust and rubble.
It has been completely destroyed.
Valuable assets like the oxygen plant, like the CT scan,
Like a laboratory equipment
and, like, critical pieces of equipment, uh,
that that are necessary for all operations.
Like ventilators. Like anaesthesia. Devices
like machines that require are required for any doctor to
to to provide life saving interventions are all destroyed.
The maternity ward has some, uh, incubators that seem intact. But this is just
The only nice part of this assessment.
The buildings themselves are burnt down, walls are missing.
There are holes of, uh, shrapnel and fire all along them.
And especially a specialised surgery building
that used to shelter all surgical specialties
is now having a huge crater
from the basement to the second floor.
we are sure that these buildings have to be evaluated by a specialist and
by a by by an engineer so that we can know whether their,
uh their their structural integrity is still viable or not.
to my eyes, as a surgeon and as somebody who does not know of engineering,
I do not think that it would be
possible that these two buildings will be rehabilitated.
Moreover, it is it was shocking to be realising that
the hospitals open spaces were filled with makeshift
graves for people that lost their lives there.
Some of them they had some names on some of them they had not their names on,
and it was really shocking as well to be seeing that we had bodies that had
been left uncovered or covered with some plastic
sheet on the sides of the buildings.
WHO, along with other UN agencies,
organised a process for the dignified burial of these of these people.
each remains were put in separate body bags
so that they could properly receive burial rituals and
be identified using DNA and forensic practises in the future by
their families so that their families can find some consolation.
We still stress that right now,
Gaza Strip's bigger hospital was the only one
that could provide with the support of,
This means that right now medical oxygen can be produced only in one small hospital,
Awan Hospital, which is a paediatric hospital.
And obviously the quantities are suboptimal
from a medical perspective. After this destruction,
we feel that we are returning 60 years
before when medical imaging was not available,
elaborate laboratory tests were not available and doctors
and nurses had to use only the clinical
We want to stress again that hospitals should never be militarised,
and I would like to thank you for your time and I'll stop here.
The line at the end was not perfect, but we understood everything.
So I'll open the floor to question knowing that, as we said at the beginning,
we will also have at 1130 the
briefing by Mr McGoldrick. Very much on the same
was in Gaza very recently.
Let me see if there are questions in the room.
I will give the floor to Nina Larson, who is the
Uh, yes, thank you. Um, thanks for taking my question.
I was wondering if, um, you had details on
how many, uh, bodies were buried and and found within shifa. And then also,
uh, on the issue of, uh, wanting to rehabilitate, um, the other hospitals.
How much access does WHO have? Uh, there. And, uh,
what do you think the possibility of doing so is especially, um
uh, And in bringing in, uh, this advanced, Uh, these this advanced equipment that,
uh, that, uh, doctor Peper
Korn was was talking about Thank
You need to a moot yourself on your side.
you here, but you need to do it on your side. Go ahead.
My my policies. Thank you very much.
Uh, thank you for thank you for your question.
I can talk only of what we saw when we were there. So while our presence
sa, uh was only some hours for security reasons, we found
eight bodies, remains of eight bodies there.
However more they are buried in a makeshift cemetery in one of
the open spaces and more were remaining under rubble and some of them
seen visibly seen under plastic sheets.
So, unfortunately, I cannot give you precise numbers, but I can surely say
that while we were there, we found
regarding the other question for rehabilitation and access for, uh,
elaborate equipment and supplies.
Peppercorn, uh, explained late be before
before the war, it was extremely difficult to bring inside Gaza.
These pieces of elaborate equipment.
Uh, Rick, would you like to, uh,
give some more information on this, please?
Well, yeah, I can I can add. So
just as an example, uh uh
for example, II, I think I raised this already
That that over the last two years I recall that, um,
we want to assist with, uh
uh, mobile X rays for Gaza. And? And it took us almost two years to get three. I
mean, in location and in place. And that shows a little bit, Uh,
the paperwork, the red tape,
the bureaucracy around all of that to get this kind of specialised
uh, but I wanna be clear on this. I think
not that I'm positive at the moment and in a positive mood, but I think we have to.
we have to look forward and and then you talk, of course, about pragmatic,
uh, pragmatic rehabilitation of hospitals. So, of course, in
this current, uh, in this current phase, well, there's still a war going on.
So how can they become again,
partly or minim functional?
And then you look, of course, on
how can it become a trauma stabilisation point?
How can they, uh, deliver some outpatient? Uh, uh,
departments, activities, primary healthcare, et cetera.
You focus on the on the basics. Can any of the emergency medical teams assist
So we are also coordinating emergency medical teams that one
or two have reached out to us and said,
Well, we are willing we if if feasible And of course,
it all depends on the security and and and if feasible, to assist there as well.
So we're looking at this kind of, uh um combinations. And then,
in that sense, uh, I think it was
and a little bit of an of spirit. It's positive spirit. When we were, for example, in
a Ma hospital, the P CS Hospital,
the first to meet the director and the staff and to to hear that
they were still trying to treat some trauma patients
when they came in and even some maternity.
trying to push to open up some of their work again over the coming week.
Well, we, of course, have to assist
them as good as possible. The same applies for no
But if you look at proper rehabilitation,
then I think I described that in my introduction
Yes, thank you very much. So I go to John
the Lancet. And Francois?
Yes. Uh, good morning. Uh, my question is to Doctor Thanos caravans
I was wondering, sir, if, uh,
you could elaborate on the lo loss of medical oxygen what is being done
to bring in supplies since that is critical for many of your interventions.
And secondly, the loss of such a big referral hospital.
What does that mean now for all the patients? Where are you gonna redirect them?
Thank you very much. John
first of all, the loss of medical oxygen for North
Wadi Gaza is a really critical issue.
Shifa was able to use, uh, electricity to pro to deliver oxygen to the north.
However, after this attack, the needs are
with all parties to make sure that we make available oxygen inside.
we have been denied multiple times oxygen tanks,
uh, as possible. Dual use dual use
uh, dual use items by the Israeli authorities
Eventually. This has been overcome.
Right now, we're in a phase where we can import this kind of supplies.
the needs are way bigger than what we can actually cover
with the existing mechanisms for the import of goods and supplies
we have to scale up regarding patients in the North.
We would like to stress again that right now
there are very few places all along the Gaza Strip and mostly in
the south that can provide the full set of surgical operations required,
and a structured medical evacuation mechanism
has to be established. We are not there yet.
Medical evacuations until now are ad hoc,
have fuzzed and have to do with bilateral agreements between,
uh, the Palestinian authorities and third countries.
When a third country says that we can, we can receive X number of patients,
then a medical evacuation is way easier.
we are still in a phase where there's no mechanism in place,
there's no standardised approach
and this puts us all in really difficult situation.
We need to go forward to have a standardised medical
evacuation mechanism that will be allowing on a daily basis
to to evacuate at least 50 patients.
Right now, at the moment we're talking,
we have a list of more than 9000 patients that require
to be moved abroad for the continuation of their treatment.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have the time for the last question.
Nica, M Bruce, The new New York New York Times.
Yeah, thank you very much. I just wanted to ask you, uh, briefly
what has improved in terms of resupplying
medical requirements in the in the last week or 10 days.
you've talked about the need for a standardised system for medical evacuations.
Thanks for that. It was my question, but
what's actually holding back you?
What's holding you back from getting that standardised system?
Um, this is something that's been discussed for a while. What?
What's holding you back? Thanks.
the current situation is extremely challenging
because too many parties are involved.
we don't have a blanket coverage of import of supplies and equipment for WHO.
is that medical equipment and supplies and
consumables should be not considered as possible
to use items because right now the delays are all related to security concerns.
adds that right now we still have the issue
of coordinating with neighbouring countries.
again, we have to stress out that medical supplies are not considered
and the improvement has to do with bilateral agreements between agencies like WHO
and the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to make sure
that these items become available on the ground.
Yeah, I think it's a very good question. First of all, it's in Uh uh, Tao
has already discussed the whole the mechanism.
9000 plus bases need to be urgently evacuated, so you need a system of that.
an AN and security screening both by the Israeli sides by the Egyptian side.
Uh, we were asked at WHO already back in November
And we were thinking on batches of 60 to 70 patients, uh, per day
the authorities would like WHO to vet those patients.
So came from the ministry, the hospital directors, et cetera,
criteria where we added CRI
criteria where we added on age restrictions, et cetera, which became unworkable,
and and what we've seen up till now is a dysfunctional
medevac system. It's a lack of transparency.
There's only 2.5 1000 patients have been coming out of that.
While we expect, uh, we estimate 6
to 6.5 1000 trauma related patients and 2 to 3000
plus medical cases. Not forgetting that before this crisis, between 50
100 patients daily were referred
to East Jerusalem and to the West Bank, and 50% of that was oncology cancer
And we understand that from the Egyptian side and
the Egyptian government is ready to receive these patients.
Some of the countries in the region have
reached out and already have accepted patients.
more pa uh, countries have reached out. Some of the European countries have
expressed interest to take patients. We hope
that the EU will come together and also be clear that
are they able to receive a number of
thousands of patients and their companions et cetera,
also that we get clear ideas about that
we are ready to facilitate and to, uh to support that. So that's,
uh and the other thing I think is Thomas made a really good point,
Is is is is coming up with a list of supplies, et cetera.
Like everywhere around the world.
We get access to those supplies here we struggle in some areas.
And the last part I wanna make the confliction
mechanism is still not complete is still not working.
to transfer Three patients were denied and yesterday our
mission to come out at one word. We would both go to transfer three critical kids.
Patients of the South was also denied.
Thank you very much, Richard. Thanks to you and
Thanos for this very important update. Of course,
will stay with Gaza with Jamie McGoldrick, who is already online.
But I just ask Jens to very, very briefly.
You have one minute for your announcement and then we
will close the briefing and we will go to Jamie.
Thank you very much. Yes,
And I've sent you a media advice rates for next Tuesday.
We have a high level pledging event for the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia.
National in Room 23 and you're welcome to join us there to listen in.
It's also a Webcast on Web TV. It will wrap up at 6 p.m.
and we will send you the pledging results.
At that point, we are working on immediate availability at noon
with high level representatives of the three co
hosts who says the government of Ethiopia,
the government of the United Kingdom
so that will be noon on Tuesday and then the event itself at 3 p.m.
I see that Christian has put in the notes that the
will also have an Ethiopia statement coming today as well to you.
Human Rights Council asks me to inform you
that the Permanent Forum of people of African descent
will hold its third session in Geneva from 16 to 19 April 2024.
I don't have time to go into the details, but Pascal will send you the information,
so thank you very much. This closes the briefing today,
and I would like now to cede my seat to
Jens to moderate the press conference with Jamie McGoldrick.
Jamie Thank you so much. We know you are in a very tight schedule. It's your last day
and you are coming to us to brief us on these three
months and what you have seen in your recent mission to Gaza.
Thanks for being with us and the Geneva journalist. Jens,
