Secretary-General António Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter: “I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, together with the unconditional release of hostages and the delivery of relief at a level corresponding to the dramatic needs of the people in Gaza, where a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes.”
The UN chief is on his way to Nepal but is following the situation closely. His spokesman in NY said that at a stopover in Doha, Qatar, Mr. Guterres spoke by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and the two discussed the current situation in the Middle East and spoke about the coordination of humanitarian efforts for civilians in Gaza.
The UN health agency says that it has lost contact with its staff in the enclave but is still trying to gather information on the overall impact on civilians and health care.
“WHO reminds all parties to the conflict to take all precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. This includes health workers, patients, health facilities and ambulances, and civilians who are sheltering in these facilities,” the agency said in a press release.
Active measures must be taken, the agency continued, to ensure civilians and health workers are not harmed and safe passage provided for the movement of desperately needed medical supplies, fuel, water and food into and across Gaza.
WHO’s warning comes as the crisis in the Gaza Strip enters its third week following the 7 October incursion by Hamas militants into Israel and Israel’s subsequent declaration of war.
The ongoing violence has left thousands dead on both sides and while UN and other humanitarian agencies have been able to move a trickle of aid, goods and health supplied into the ravaged enclave through the Rafah crossing in Egypt, much more is needed to meet the skyrocketing needs.
Despite progress in clearing debris, the city still wears a haunting emptiness that is slowly returning to community life, thanks to support from the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Emel and her family were lucky to survive. Yet, their survival came at the heavy cost of losing everything they held dear.
“My husband and I just bought a new house three years ago, after living with his parents for many years,” she said. “Our house was totally damaged. We couldn’t retrieve anything.”
They now reside in a formal settlement, colloquially known as a ‘container city’ — a temporary refuge not far from the city centre. Here, over 4,500 residents have found a place to live after the quakes left them homeless.
Emel welcomes visitors into her new home, a two-room furnished container unit, complete with a bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen. Given the size of her family, with children aged between six and 17, they were provided with a more spacious container.
She fondly recalls that the day they moved into their new, albeit temporary, home coincided with the Eid festivities. The settlement had a joyous spirit, despite the challenges the residents had all gone through.
Vefa, Neslihan and Emel (left to right) at work at the laundromat.
Renewed sense of purpose
After settling in, she found employment at a public laundromat, where she now works alongside fellow residents Neslihan and Vefa. Aside from it being a source of income, the job has given her other benefits.
“Working here has significantly improved my mental health,” she said. “I have a sense of purpose each day, and I get to spend time with my neighbours who work with me.”
Neslihan and Vefa echo her sentiments about their newfound employment. The trio diligently work at the laundromat on weekdays, clocking in from 8am to 5pm and a half-day on Saturdays, leaving Sunday for quality time with their families.
Children of different ages spend time in the settlement’s library.
Sprawling with activity
The settlement is slowly sprawling with activity. Among other recent infrastructure improvements, the settlement hosts a school, library, computer lab, sports centres, recreational spaces and a child-friendly centre.
With the child-friendly centre, Emel, Neslihan and Vefa no longer have to worry about where to leave their kids while they are at work.
In the summer, the centre began offering drawing and handicraft making activities. With the school year resuming, teachers now offer kindergarten lessons with the aim of ensuring that children’s education is interrupted as little as possible.
An example of a container that serves as homes and public spaces in settlements..
Temporary homes for thousands
The resumption of such public services would not be possible without prefabricated containers, aside from giving temporary homes to hundreds.
As of October 2023, IOM has delivered over 830 containers to authorities, which are distributed across the four most earthquake-affected provinces – Adiyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Malatya.
“We work closely with authorities to ensure that the containers reach where they are needed most,” said Ibrahim Timurtas, IOM’s National Area Operations Officer. “Not only are these critical for people to have shelter, they also help residents regain a sense of normalcy in a new environment.”
Pleased with improvements
With the winter approaching, the three women are pleased with the improvements in their lives and with the facilities and amenities offered in the settlement.
“For three months, we lived in a house with two families,” Neslihand said. “The containers here are much better than where we were living after the earthquakes.”
Although it takes a lot of courage to start afresh, Emel, Neslihan and Vefa are maximizing new opportunities in their communities even as they hold onto hope that one day they will own their own homes again.
Volker Türk’s appeal came as UN humanitarians continued to issue dire warnings about the full scale of the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
‘Crumbs’ of aid
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), said that the “few (aid) trucks” which have come in from Egypt since 21 October are “nothing more than crumbs that will not make a difference for two million people”.
“What is needed is meaningful and uninterrupted aid flow. To succeed we need a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure this aid reaches those in need,” he insisted.
UN human rights office (OHCHR) Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva about the “harrowing testimonies” of parents writing children’s names on their arms to be able to identify their remains.
Staff on the ground tell her that each night they make calculations on whether to sleep in the open or indoors, weighing the risks of being killed by a falling ceiling or shrapnel.
A living ‘nightmare’
UN World Food Programme (WFP) Representative in Palestine Samer Abdeljaber said that people in Gaza described the situation as a “nightmare – and we have no way to wake up from it”. He highlighted the dire conditions in UNRWA-designated shelters which are almost three times over capacity.
“In the room the size of a classroom 70 people sleep, eat, drink and take care of their families”, he said, and there are eight toilets for 25,000 people.
‘Terrible choices’
Speaking from Jerusalem, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, stressed that “all humanitarian assistance and humanitarian issues have to be unconditional”.
The 224 hostages held in Gaza need to be released “immediately and unconditionally”, she said, reiterating calls from the UN chief António Guterres.
Humanitarian aid also has to be able to reach people in Gaza “unconditionally”, she said.
Ms. Hastings highlighted the “terrible choices” which the aid community is confronted with, given the very small trickle of aid that has been coming in, the fuel shortage and the security situation.
She deplored the need for humanitarians to decide “which communities do you send the items to, which bakeries, which desalination plant should be turned on or off, which hospital do you send medication to”.
Services collapse due to fuel crisis
Ms. Hastings said that in normal times more than 780 trucks with fuel would have crossed into Gaza since 7 October. In the absence of deliveries UNRWA has been relying on a sole fuel pump situated close to the Rafah border but access has been “sporadic” and supplies were dwindling very fast.
Forced to ration fuel, bakeries in the Strip will only be able to bake bread for a million people for another 11 days, Ms. Hastings warned, while UNRWA warned that some are already going hungry.
WFP’s Samer Abdeljaber said that only two WFP-contracted bakeries are working, compared to 23 at the start of the operation.
Fuel is also critical for to power water desalination plants so that they can produce drinking water, and pumping stations.
Ms. Hastings flagged that with sanitation backed up, raw sewage is being pumped into the sea in Gaza but once fuel runs out, “whether it’s tomorrow or Monday”, sewage pumping will become impossible and wastewater will be “overflowing in the streets”.
Babies in incubators at risk
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, UN health agency (WHO) representative in the occupied Palestinian territory told journalists that a minimum of 94,000 litres of fuel per day are needed to “keep critical functions running” at 12 major hospitals in Gaza.
Two in three hospitals in the enclave are “partially functional” Dr. Peeperkorn said. He underscored that power and medical supplies shortages were putting at risk 1,000 kidney patients in need of dialysis, 130 premature babies in incubators, 2,000 cancer patients and scores of others on ventilators in intensive care units.
Aid ‘a drop in the ocean’
Humanitarians stressed that the lack of fuel is also compromising the ability of aid trucks entering through the Rafah crossing to distribute the supplies across Gaza.
Ms. Hastings underscored the difficulty in getting aid to the north, which is under evacuation orders, but has seen displaced people move back from the south due to airstrikes and “untenable” living conditions there.
She also reiterated that the 74 aid trucks which have been allowed in through Rafah since 21 October, with another eight or so expected today, were very little compared to the 450 trucks entering Gaza daily prior to the crisis – “a drop in the ocean”, according to WHO’s Dr. Peeperkorn.
WFP’s Samer Abdeljaber said that his agency has only been able to bring in under two per cent of the food required. WFP has delivered fresh bread and canned tuna to half a million people in shelters in Gaza but “for every person receiving assistance, six more are in need”.
Some 39 WFP trucks are at or near the Egyptian border with Gaza awaiting entry, Mr. Abdeljaber said, and other agencies have also pre-positioned supplies there.
If sustained access and fuel are granted, the agency plans to bring life-saving food to more than one million people within the next two months, he said.
Presidential Candidate, Businessman and Pastor Ryan Binkley Calls on the United States to Stand With the Jewish People, No Matter “What It Costs”
DALLAS, October 23, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– Republican presidential candidate Ryan Binkley is calling on the United States to defeat the Hamas terrorist group responsible for the brutal attacks on Israel, as his church joins many other organizations sending money and humanitarian relief to the country.
“We stand with and pray for Israel, our friend and ally,” said Binkley, co-founder and CEO of mergers and acquisitions firm Generational Group. “Let’s make sure there’s love, there’s food, there’s shelter, whatever is needed. And let’s do what we can do right now. Let’s not walk away.”
Binkley and his wife, Ellie, are co-founders and lead pastors of Create Church. The Binkley family and their church have donated to four key religious organizations that are either directing emergency aid to those who have lost loved ones or supporting the war effort: United Nations for Israel, Maoz Israel, Firm Israel and Chabad of Dallas.
“It’s embedded in our hearts. As Christians, we just want to see peace in that region,” Binkley said. “It is the birthplace of Christ. It’s where Christ died. It’s where he is resurrected. It’s prophesied that’s where he will return.”
Binkley’s unwavering support for Israel is based on the origins of Christianity in the Bible and the modern place it holds as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East with tolerance for all faiths.
“They are one of the only countries in the Middle East where you can practice all religions openly and without punishment,” said Binkley, who has visited Israel twice, including a recent spiritual trip in November 2022. “When Israel became a nation, the first show of support was President Truman and the United States of America. This month, as thousands of rockets were fired towards Israeli towns, our hearts were heavy. We are standing with Israel.”
Create Church held a prayer session as Christians nationwide joined together to pray for the war to be resolved. Binkley and his wife co-founded Create Church to care for all members of the community through teaching God’s word, urban missions and more.
“Hopefully, at the end of this, there will be lasting peace, for Palestinians, for Muslims, for Jews, for Christians,” Binkley said. “That would be my prayer, that there would be an awakening of the heart to allow evil to leave and let love conquer this.”
Binkley has called for a humanitarian solution for Palestinian refugees and accountability for those responsible for the mass tragedy and devastation.
“I don’t care what it costs; it’s not time for the United States to leave them alone and let terrorism spread throughout the Middle East,” Binkley said. “While the Hamas terrorist organization conducted this horrific attack, we must also hold their sponsor, Iran, fully accountable.”
Echoing that message, UN health agency (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a new appeal on Monday for “sustained safe passage” for medical essentials and fuel to keep health facilities open.
“Lives depend on these decisions,” he insisted on social platform X.
Latest media reports citing the Gaza Ministry of Health indicate that the number of people killed in Gaza since 7 October has risen to 5,087.
Women and children have made up more than 62 per cent of the fatalities, while more than 15,273 people have been injured.
In its latest humanitarian update on the Gaza-Israel crisis UN humanitarian aid coordination office, OCHA, said that more than 1,000 have been reported missing and “are presumed to be trapped or dead under the rubble”.
Israel: Threefold rise in deaths
According to Israeli official sources quoted by OCHA, some 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, the vast majority in the Hamas attacks on 7 October which triggered the latest conflict.
OCHA said that the reported fatality toll is “over threefold the cumulative number of Israelis killed” since it began recording casualties in 2005.
At least 212 Israeli and foreign nationals are being held captive in Gaza, the Israeli authorities have said. Two hostages were released last Friday. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly called upon Hamas to release hostages immediately and unconditionally.
Trickle of aid
According to media reports a new aid convoy entered Gaza from Egypt on Monday through the Rafah border crossing. This was the third such delivery after the crossing opened on Saturday for the first time since the start of the conflict, following intense diplomatic efforts.
A total of 34 trucks with aid provided by the UN and the Egyptian Red Crescent entered the enclave over the weekend. The UN has stressed that to respond to soaring humanitarian needs, at least 100 aid trucks per day are required.
Desperate need for fuel
The development comes as UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) warned on Sunday that it was set to run out of fuel within three days, putting the humanitarian response in Gaza at risk.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said that without fuel, “there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries” and that “no fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza”.
Education void
Meanwhile, OCHA said that more than 625,000 children in Gaza have been deprived of education for at least 12 days, and 206 schools have been damaged. At least 29 of them are UNRWA-run establishments.
UNRWA reported on Sunday that 29 of its staff members have been killed in Gaza since 7 October – half of them teachers.
In the occupied West Bank, the escalation has also resulted in restrictions on the access to education. OCHA said that all the schools inside the territory were closed from 7 to 9 October, affecting some 782,000 students. As of last week, over 230 schools which cater to some 50,000 students had not reopened.
The 20-truck convoy that passed through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt carried life-saving supplies provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the UN, including enough water for 22,000 people but only for one day.
The items were approved to cross and be received by the Palestinian Red Crescent, with UN support.
“I am confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies – including food, water, medicine and fuel – to the people of Gaza, in a safe, dependable, unconditional and unimpeded manner,” Mr. Griffiths said in a statement published on his official account on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Catastrophic’ humanitarian situation
The delivery on Saturday follows days of deep and intense negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that the aid operation resumes as quickly as possible and with the right conditions.
Mr. Griffiths said the already precarious humanitarian situation in Gaza “has reached catastrophic levels” since the hostilities began, and it is critical that aid reaches people in need wherever they are across Gaza, and at the right scale.
“The people of Gaza have endured decades of suffering. The international community cannot continue to fail them,” he said.
‘Lifeline’ amid shortages
The Rafah crossing is the sole one open with Gaza, and hundreds of trucks have been waiting to enter Gaza, where essential items are running out.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) also announced that medical supplies from the agency had crossed the border “but the needs are far higher.”
Posting on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the need for safe passage of additional convoys, protection of all humanitarian workers, and sustained access for health aid.
In a statement, WHO said that hospitals inside Gaza have already reached breaking point due to shortages and depletion of medicines and medical supplies, which are a “lifeline” for injured persons or those battling chronic and other illnesses.
Food on the move
The World Food Programme (WFP) said three trucks carrying 60 metric tonnes of emergency food were in the convoy. The supplies included canned tuna, wheat flour, pasta, canned beans and canned tomato paste.
“This food is desperately needed as the conditions inside Gaza are truly catastrophic,” said WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain. Highlighting the need for continuous safe access, she said the 20 trucks were “an important first step, but this convoy has to be the first of many.”
WFP has another 930 metric tonnes of emergency food items at or near the Rafah border, ready to go whenever access is allowed again. These stocks are needed to replenish the agency’s rapidly dwindling supplies inside Gaza.
Since the start of the crisis, WFP has provided assistance to some 520,000 people and is expanding operations to support 1.1 million in the next two months. This assistance includes fresh bread delivered daily to people clustered in UN shelters in areas where access is allowed.
WFP supplies flour to contracted bakeries, which produce bread for distribution. However, lack of power and fuel have forced many bakeries to stop working, and one was even hit on Wednesday.
‘A matter of life or death’
Over 44,000 bottles of drinking water were also on the convoy, or just enough for 22,000 people for one day, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.
“With one million children in Gaza now facing a critical protection and humanitarian crisis, the delivery of water is a matter of life or death. Every minute counts,” said Catherine Russell, the agency’s Executive Director.
The shipment represents a drop in the ocean of immense needs in Gaza, where large parts of critical infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, have been reduced to rubble.
UNICEF said water capacity is at five per cent of normal levels, and Gaza’s nearly 2.3 million residents are now surviving on three litres of water per person per day.
Protect every child
Roughly one million people have been displaced, around half of them children, many of whom are now in overcrowded shelters where limited access to water, sanitation and hygiene are putting young lives at risk of disease outbreaks.
Ms. Russell upheld the need to protect children and for humanitarians to have safe access to reach them and their families.
“Above all, all parties must unconditionally protect every child from harm and afford them the special protection to which they are entitled, in accordance with obligations under international humanitarian law,” she said.
UNICEF has prepositioned additional emergency supplies for up to 250,000 people at the Rafah crossing that can be brought into Gaza in a matter of hours, and more aid is on the way.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi convened leaders from the region and around the world in efforts to de-escalate hostilities following the Hamas incursion into Israel on 7 October, and Israel’s bombing of Gaza and complete siege of the enclave.
The Summit took place one day after the UN chief travelled to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt’s north Sinai, the sole border crossing open with Gaza.
“There I saw a paradox — a humanitarian catastrophe playing out in real time,” he said.
Mr. Guterres noted that hundreds of trucks “teeming with food and other essential supplies” were on the Egyptian side while across the border, two million people in Gaza were going without water, food, fuel, electricity and medicine.
On Saturday, a convoy carrying desperately needed items crossed into Gaza.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid wait to cross into Gaza from Egypt through Rafah.
UN working nonstop
“Those trucks need to move as quickly as possible in a massive, sustained and safe way from Egypt into Gaza,” said Mr. Guterres, adding that the UN is working nonstop with all parties towards a continuous delivery of aid at the scale that is needed.
The Secretary-General stressed that the near-term goals must be clear, repeating his call for immediate, unrestricted and sustained humanitarian aid to Gaza, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages by Hamas, and a humanitarian ceasefire now.
He said that the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long, but nothing can justify the reprehensible assault by Hamas that terrorized Israeli civilians. At the same time, these abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Time for action
He emphasised the need to uphold international humanitarian law, which includes protecting civilians and not attacking hospitals, schools and UN premises currently sheltering half a million people.
He also called for not losing sight of “the only realistic foundation for a true peace and stability”, namely a two-State solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“The time has come for action,” he said. “Action to end this godawful nightmare. Action to build a future worthy of the dreams of the children of Palestine, Israel, the region and our world.”
Release all hostages
Earlier on Saturday, the UN chief expressed gratitude for the assistance of the Emir of Qatar for his efforts to secure the release of two Americans who had been held hostage in Gaza, his Spokesperson said in a statement.
Mr. Guterres renewed his call for an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and again appealed for unhindered and sustained humanitarian access in Gaza, full respect for international law and the protection of civilians, and international action to avoid the conflict from expanding to the wider region.
“Let me be clear: protecting civilians in times of conflict is not an aspiration or an ideal; it is an obligation and a commitment to our shared humanity,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.
Relentless air strikes and bombardments, coupled with evacuation orders from Israel, have displaced nearly one million people in Gaza, he said. Many civilians have been killed and injured.
Overcrowded shelters
Some 500,000 people are currently sheltering in UNRWA facilities, and those in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah have become overcrowded. Many have taken refuge in UNRWA buildings that were not set up to be shelters where the living conditions are just untenable.
Mr. Lazzarini said that since the war began on 7 October, UNRWA has been regularly providing the coordinates of all its facilities across the Gaza Strip to all relevant parties. Nevertheless, at least 35 have been impacted so far, and some were directly hit.
17 colleagues killed
“We are devastated to receive continuous reports of civilians killed in Gaza, including at UNRWA,” he said.
“To date, 17 of our colleagues have been confirmed killed in this vicious war. Very sadly, the actual numbers are likely to be higher. Some of our staff were killed with their families while sleeping in their beds at home.”
Duty to protect
Mr. Lazzarini recalled “the non-negotiable legal obligations” of warring parties to protect civilians at all times, and to refrain from attacks on civilian facilities “including schools, hospitals, places of worship, and civilians’ homes, including those of UNRWA staff.”
He echoed the UN Secretary-General calls on all parties to reach an urgent humanitarian ceasefire, saying “this is the only way out of this mayhem; any other way will plunge Gaza – and the world – deeper into fathomless, dark depths.”
“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” they said.
The statement was issued by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
‘Far from enough’
A humanitarian convoy entered Gaza on Saturday morning via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt – the first since hostilities erupted two weeks ago.
The 20 trucks carried lifesaving items from the UN and the Egyptian Red Crescent, including tins of tuna and tomato paste, pasta, drinking water and medical supplies. Hundreds more trucks are awaiting at the border.
This “first, but limited shipment” will provide “an urgently needed lifeline to some of the hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, who have been cut off from water, food, medicine, fuel and other essentials,” the UN agencies said, “but it is only a small beginning and far from enough.”
‘Time is running out’
Their statement highlighted the immense needs in the wake of the Israel-Gaza crisis, which began on 7 October after Hamas militants launched deadly attacks in Israel, killing scores and seizing more than 100 hostages.
Israel responded with air strikes and bombardment, a complete siege of Gaza, and ordered civilians to evacuate the northern part of the enclave.
More than 1.6 million people in Gaza are in critical need of humanitarian aid. Children make up nearly half the population are among the most vulnerable, along with pregnant women and elderly persons.
Furthermore, two weeks of constant bombings have left much of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza damaged or destroy, including shelters, health facilities, water, sanitation, and electrical systems.
The agencies warned that “time is running out before mortality rates could skyrocket due to disease outbreaks and lack of healthcare capacity.”
‘Alarming’ child death rate
Gaza’s hospitals are “overwhelmed with casualties” and people are facing mounting challenges accessing essential food supplies, they said. Health facilities no longer have fuel and are running on small amounts, which are expected to run out in the next day or so. Meanwhile, water production capacity is at five per cent of normal levels.
“Pre-positioned humanitarian supplies have already been depleted. Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate and being denied their right to protection, food, water and health care,” they said.
Prior to the conflict, nearly one-third of the population of Palestine was food insecure. Today shops are running low on stocks, bakeries are closing, while tens of thousands are displaced and unable to cook or safely purchase food.
Save lives, prevent suffering
The UN agencies called for a humanitarian ceasefire, along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza to allow aid workers to reach civilians in need, save lives and prevent further human suffering.
“Flows of humanitarian aid must be at scale and sustained, and allow all Gazans to preserve their dignity,” they said.
They appealed for safe and sustained access to water, food, health – including sexual and reproductive health – as well as fuel, and for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including health facilities.
“We call for the protection of humanitarian workers in Gaza who are risking their lives in the service of others,” they added. “And we call for the utmost respect of international humanitarian law by all parties.”
The 20 trucks carried food, water and medical supplies – items that are desperately needed, along with fuel – as stocks in Gaza dwindle, amid fears of increased deaths due to disease outbreaks and lack of healthcare.
While welcoming the development, agencies such as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have insisted that this cannot be the only convoy, and aid delivery must be continuous and sustained.
‘A drop in the ocean’
Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said the agency’s contribution to the convoy – two trucks filled with 40,000 litres of bottled water – was but “a drop in the ocean”, given the immense needs in Gaza, including for a humanitarian ceasefire.
‘We also call on the parties to the conflict to avoid any targeting of health and education facilities, which allows us to deliver the aid safely to the health facilities and everywhere that they are needed,” he said.
Mr. Hopkins spoke to UN News several hours after the convoy passed through the Rafah crossing in southern Egypt, where hundreds more trucks are waiting should the border open up again.
He paid tribute to the dedicated UNICEF team on the ground who continue to serve under fire, and discussed the prospects for additional aid convoys.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Jeremy Hopkins: Today, we were able to include two UNICEF trucks in the convoy with drinking water, 40,000 litres. It’s a drop in the ocean – literally, almost – and that will allow us to reach about 27,000 people with one day’s supply of drinking water. So, a very, very small amount went through today, which reinforces the urgent need to have a sustained humanitarian corridor that is open for supplies. And of course, we hope that there will be additional border posts opening so that the necessary supplies can get in.
UN News: Do you have any information about the next delivery and what that depends on? Do you also have additional emergency supplies in place once the next delivery is granted the green light?
Jeremy Hopkins: So, we have quite a good pipeline of water and water systems equipment, medicine and health systems equipment, and a number of other specialized items for child protection and childcare. We have, I think, 12 trucks loaded on stand-by at the border that can be crossed over in a matter of hours the next time it opens. And we have a pipeline sort of coming in by plane and by truck from Cairo and from international destinations with more medical supplies, more water, water systems supplies. Because we know that the priorities in Gaza right now are water, food, medicine and fuel, and so we are prioritizing our pipeline accordingly. We have one million bottles of drinking water in the pipeline ready, just for example, so we have big quantities of the necessary materials. We just need the corridor to be open on a sustained, continuous basis.
UN News: Is there any information about the next delivery?
Jeremy Hopkins: We know that the authorities and the different parties are continuing to discuss how to manage this border in a more sustainable way, and we have every hope that they will do so. I think the details will become clearer as they become clear.
UN News
UNICEF Representative in Egypt Jeremy Hopkins
UN News: We now have 20 trucks inside Gaza. What are the arrangements and preparations inside the Gaza Strip to deliver the lifesaving supplies?
Jeremy Hopkins: I want to first recognize that we have a very dedicated team of UNICEF State of Palestine staff in Gaza who have been working day and night under terrible, terrible conditions to deliver assistance. So assistance has been ongoing since the beginning and, of course, prior to this particular terrible, terrible round of conflict. I know that our colleagues in Gaza have been repositioning the health centres with pre-positioned medical supplies, keeping some of the water systems running. I know we are down to five per cent of the normal capacity, but there are some water systems running. The only desalination plant that is still going is done so with UNICEF’s support. So, our colleagues – and I want to pay tribute to them – are doing a fantastic job in Gaza.
What we know about the evolving needs is there are one million people displaced. We know that at least 300,000 children are displaced. That means they have no home right now or they are not at home, and that means that the humanitarian needs are extremely urgent. For example, according to international standards, each person should have 15 litres of water to live in health and dignity – that’s drinking and washing and cooking and everything else. Right now, it’s down to little less than three litres of water per person in Gaza. We have these kind of needs and we know how to respond. We simply need the corridor to be opened so that we can respond.
UN News: You said that what entered today is ‘just a drop in the ocean’. Do you know exactly how long the supplies that arrived into Gaza today can cover the needs of people there?
Jeremy Hopkins: What went in today cannot cover the needs at all. It’s a very tiny, tiny proportion of what is needed. We need to have instead of 20 trucks a day at least 100, 200 trucks going in per day – that of course depends on what is on the trucks, but approximately speaking – with food, water, medicine and fuel. That is a necessary condition for us to be able to respond to the humanitarian lifesaving requirements and needs right now.
UN News: Since there is no ceasefire right now, what are the challenges to delivering and moving supplies across Gaza?
Jeremy Hopkins: It is going to be challenging. We need to deliver, and we have a humanitarian imperative which is driving us. At the same time, we do call for a cessation of hostilities immediately. Of course, that is the only way that we can actually deliver safely. But at the same time, we also call on the parties to the conflict to avoid any targeting of health and education facilities, which allows us to deliver the aid safely to the health facilities and everywhere that they are needed. And we also remind the parties that health staff need to be protected in order to carry out their mandate.
Speaking in Beijing, Mr. Guterres said that a ceasefire would “provide sufficient time and space” to realize two essential appeals which he made earlier this week: to Hamas, for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held in Gaza, and to Israel, to immediately allow aid to enter the sealed-off enclave in the throes of a devastating humanitarian crisis.
“The region is on the precipice,” he warned.
The call came a day after hundreds were killed in a strike at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, which Mr. Guterres strongly condemned, stressing that hospitals and all medical personnel are protected under international law.
Both sides have blamed each other, with Gaza’s de facto authorities accusing the Israeli military, who in turn held misfired rockets launched by Islamic Jihad militants towards Israel responsible.
The UN Security Council is set to meet at 10am local time on Wednesday morning in New York to discuss the crisis and vote on a second resolution calling for action to de-escalate, with diplomatic tensions rising in the wake of the deadly hospital blast.
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel where he was met by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Biden pledged support for Israel and said he was “deeply saddened and outraged” by the lethal explosion at the hospital in Gaza City.
‘Unprecedented catastrophe’
The head of the UN Palestine refugee agency, Philippe Lazzarini addressed an emergency meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and said “an unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes.”
“Gaza is being strangled and the world seems to have lost its humanity“, he added. “Every hour we receive more and more desperate calls for help from people across the Gaza Strip. Thousands of civilians were killed over the last 12 days, including women and children.”
Aid stuck at the border
Trucks carrying lifesaving aid remained lined up at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. In a post on social platform X on Wednesday, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus deplored that WHO supplies have been “stuck” at the border for four days.
“Every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives,” he said.
Relentless diplomatic efforts by senior UN officials in favour of humanitarian access were set to continue, with the organization’s relief chief Martin Griffiths on the ground in Cairo, where he will be joined by Secretary-General Guterres on Thursday.
Mr. Griffiths wrote on X on Wednesday that providing aid to the people of Gaza is “a matter of life or death”.
“Doing so in a “sustained, unimpeded, predictable manner” is a “humanitarian imperative,” he added.
‘Too many lives in the balance’
Food, water, critical medicines and health supplies are running out fast in the enclave, where over a quarter of the population has been displaced since the start of the conflict. WHO said on Tuesday that out of 35 hospitals there, four are not functioning “due to severe damage and targeting”. Only eight of the 22 primary healthcare centres run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) are partially functional.
Mr. Guterres underscored that aid is desperately needed to respond to the “most basic needs” of the people of Gaza, the “overwhelming majority” of whom are women and children.
“Too many lives – and the fate of the entire region – hang in the balance,” he said.
While 12 of the Council’s 15 members voted in favour of the Brazilian-led text, one (United States) voted against, and two (Russia, and the United Kingdom) abstained.
A ‘no’ vote from any one of the five permanent members of the Council stops action on any measure put before it. The body’s permanent members are China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Russian amendments
Prior to the vote, two amendments proposed by Russia, calling for an immediate, durable and full ceasefire, and to stop attacks against civilians were rejected by the Security Council.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said “the time for diplomatic metaphors is long gone.” Anyone who did not support Russia’s draft resolution on this issue bears responsibility for what happens, he said. The current draft “has no clear call for a ceasefire” and “will not help to stop the bloodshed”.
He said Russia’s amendments proposed a call to end indiscriminate attacks on civilians and infrastructure in Gaza and the condemnation of the imposition of the blockade on the enclave; and adding a new point for a call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
“If these are not included in the current draft, it would not help to address the human situation in Gaza and polarize positions of the international community,” he said.
US rejection
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield explained her country’s veto in the Council chamber saying “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defence.”
“Israel has the inherent sight of self-defence as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter,” she added, noting that the right was reaffirmed by the Council in previous resolutions on terrorist attacks, “this resolution should have done the same.”
She said that though the US could not support the resolution, it will continue to work closely with all Council members on the crisis, “just as we will continue to reiterate the need to protect civilians, including members of the media, humanitarian workers, and UN officials.”
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield also noted the US is also engaged in on the ground diplomacy, with the visit of President Joseph Biden, and other senior officials.
“Yes, resolutions are important, and yes, this Council must speak out. But the actions we take, must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy that can save lives,” she said.
The past 10 days of conflict have claimed the lives of 4,200 people, forced more than one million individuals to flee their homes following an order from the Israeli authorities and left large areas in the Gaza Strip “reduced to rubble”, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“We have grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, “with military operations showing no signs of abating, a continued siege on Gaza affecting water supply, food, medicines and other basic needs and daily indications of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
Secure corridors
In southern Gaza where a humanitarian emergency is already playing out, UN relief agencies reiterated their call for a secure and reliable humanitarian corridor to deliver stockpiled aid into the Occupied Territory.
Both Egypt and Israel have faced multiple calls from the UN and international community to protect non-combatants impacted by the war.
“We call for unimpeded access, safe passage for desperately needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza,” said Abeer Etefa, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Communications Lead for the Middle East and North Africa. Some 300 tonnes of food “are either at or on the way to the Egyptian border in Rafah”, said Ms. Etefa. “That’s enough to feed around a quarter million people for one week.”
According to the UN human rights office, “a large number” of women and children are among the dead in Gaza, as well as at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical staff and 14 UN colleagues.
Tombs of rubble
“It remains unclear how many more bodies may be buried in the rubble – with many families missing loved ones, terrified about their uncertain fate,” Ms. Shamdasani said, speaking in Geneva.
Echoing urgent warnings from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA about the desperate situation in Gaza amid heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, humanitarians echoed deep concern that healthcare facilities had been targeted – raising concerns about medical care for the injured, including pregnant women and those with chronic health issues.
Additionally, civilians attempting to relocate to southern Gaza have been struck and killed by explosive weapons, demanding urgent and independent investigation, OHCHR says.
The world body has called for an immediate humanitarian pause to facilitate aid delivery and prevent further suffering.
Strict compliance with the laws of war and the protection of civilians is essential to prevent further loss of life in this dire crisis, Ms Shamdasani said.
“History is watching,” Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told UN News in Geneva, highlighting the desperate situation facing around one million Gazans uprooted in the last week, after the Israeli military warned of an imminent offensive following the deadly 7 October attacks on Israel by militant group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza strip since 2006.
“Aid access is our overwhelming priority. And we are in deep discussions hourly with the Israelis, with the Egyptians, with the Gazans about how to do that,” Mr. Griffiths said, adding that he was optimistic about hearing “some good news” soon that a solution could be found to the political impasse which has prevented aid convoys crossing from Egypt’s Rafah into southern Gaza.
The top UN aid official was speaking before heading to the Middle East, “trying to help, working with diplomats from all countries” to secure aid access and de-escalate the tinderbox situation, which UN Secretary-General described on Sunday as being on the “verge of the abyss”.
International responsibility
“It’s all Member States who have obligations…not just those in the region” to defuse the worst Israeli-Palestinian conflagration in decades, Mr. Griffiths continued. “The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Arab world all have obligations” to ensure that the lives of civilians are protected and the rules of war observed.
“Don’t attack civilian infrastructure, protect civilians when they move,” the UN official insisted. “Make sure they get the aid they need and make sure that there are corridors which allow them some respite from the relentless attacks that are happening upon them.”
Hostage crisis
Among the key issues facing diplomats is securing the release of a reported 199 Israeli hostages, seized during the Hamas raid, the UN emergency relief chief continued.
“This war was started by taking those hostages. Of course, there’s a history between Palestinian people and the Israeli people, and I’m not denying any of that. But that act alone lit a fire, which can only be put out with the release of those hostages.”
Amid ongoing airstrikes in Gaza and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict – especially on the northern border with Lebanon – Mr. Griffiths reiterated the need for humanity to prevail.
“History is watching to see if the consequences of this war are going to be generationally bad or if there are going to be ways in which swiftly that can be rebuilt, some kind of comity or neighbourliness between those two tragic peoples. …(Those are) the messages I’ll be taking to the region about biased in favour of one or the other, that biased in favour of humanity.”
Toll mounts
Since the start of the war, which has claimed the lives of some 1,300 Israeli citizens and injured 3,200 more, a reported 2,750 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 7,500 wounded.
Fourteen staff from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, have also been killed. “They were teachers, engineers, guards and psychologists, an engineer and a gynecologist,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told journalists on Sunday.
Medical aid to Lebanon
The World Health Organization (WHO) has rushed critical medical supplies to Lebanon in order to be ready to respond to any potential health crisis there.
Two shipments arrived in Beirut on Monday from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, and include enough surgical and trauma medicines and supplies to meet the needs of 800 to 1000 injured patients. The Lebanese Ministry of Health is in the process of identifying the referral hospitals that will receive these vital supplies.
Lebanon’s health system has been crippled as a result of an economic crisis, the Beirut port blast that occurred in August 2020, and the additional burden of the Syrian refugee crisis. There are severe shortages of specialized medical doctors and health workers, and medicines and medical equipment.
Since violence escalated between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last Saturday, there have also been reports of clashes on the border between Israel and south Lebanon, resulting in casualties among civilians.
Latest updates from UNRWA:
Over one million people – almost half the total population of Gaza – have been displaced. Some 600,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are in the Middle Area, Khan Yunis and Rafah, of those, nearly 400,000 are in UNRWA facilities – much exceeding our capacity to assist in any meaningful way, including with space in our shelters, food, water or psychological support.
Despite the Israeli Forces’ evacuation order, an unknown number of IDPs remain in UNRWA schools in Gaza city and the North. UNRWA is no longer able to assist or protect them. Over 160,000 IDPs were sheltering in 57 UNRWA premises.
The number of killed is increasing. There are not enough body-bags for the dead in Gaza.
There is some water available in local shops, but rations are still down to one litre of water per person per day for the UNRWA teams in the Rafah logistics base (to cover drinking and all other needs).
People across Gaza have severely limited access to clean drinking water. As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, triggering serious concerns over the spread of waterborne diseases.
After five days, Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse.
UNRWA has sent an advance team to Egypt to prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Strip.
As of Sunday only eight UNRWA health centres were operational across Gaza providing primary health-care services, with estimated supplies of less than one month.
There are a total of 3,500 hospital beds in Gaza. Evacuation orders apply to 23 hospitals in Gaza and north Gaza, adding up to 2,000 beds.
Up to 9,000 people have been reportedly killed, more than 5.6 million driven from their homes and 25 million people need aid, because of the conflict that erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other armed groups.
In a statement marking the grim milestone, Martin Griffiths, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affair, noted that for half a year, civilians – particularly in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – “have known no respite from bloodshed and terror”, with horrific reports of rape and sexual violence emerging continuously.
Basic services crumbling
With the number of ethnic clashes increasing, access of aid workers to the people in need is hindered due to lack of security and bureaucratic barriers, explained the Under-Secretary-General.
“At least 45 aid workers have been killed or detained since 15 April – almost all of them are national staff,” he lamented.
However, even in those areas that humanitarians can access, they are “hamstrung by underfunding”. Only 33 per cent of the $2.6 billion required to help those in need in Sudan in 2023 has been received.
The healthcare situation in Sudan is dire: as more than 70 per cent of health care facilities in conflict areas are out of service, cholera is already stalking the country, with more than 1,000 suspected cases.
Basic services are crumbling. The conflict has kept 19 million children are out of school, significantly setting back their education and the country’s future.
‘This cannot go on’
As communities are torn apart, vulnerable people have no access to life-saving aid. Humanitarian needs are mounting in the neighbouring countries where millions have fled.
“This cannot go on,” the UN relief chief said, appealing to the conflict parties. He urged them to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law and to recommit to dialogue at the highest levels to end this conflict.
He stressed that the time had come for them to honour the commitments made in Jeddah to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid.
“The international community cannot desert the people of Sudan,” underscored Mr. Griffiths requesting also the donors to step up their support.
The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired.
“UNRWA shelters in Gaza and northern Gaza are no longer safe. This is unprecedented,” said the statement.
The agency reminded that according to the rules of warfare, civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and United Nations premises cannot be a target.
“UNRWA is sparing no efforts to advocate with parties to the conflicts to meet their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including those seeking refuge in UNRWA shelters,” the agency emphasized.
UNRWA pointed out that many of the vulnerable, particularly pregnant women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities simply will be unable to flee south.
“They have no choice and must be protected at all times.”
Taps run dry
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that with water supplies running dry due to Israel cutting off all utilities to Gaza, “it has become a matter of life and death”.
“It is a must. Fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for two million people”, he said.
More than 1,300 people were killed in Israel after Hamas fighters raided settlements close to Gaza last Saturday. In response, more than 2,200 have been killed during Israel’s aerial offensive on Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it would be “impossible” for civilians in Gaza to comply with the evacuation order without devastating humanitarian consequences.
The UN chief called on the world to unite in support of the fundamental principle of protecting civilians, and “finding a lasting solution to this unending cycle of death and destruction.”
‘Agonising choice’ for hospital workers amid Israeli order to evacuate
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday strongly condemned Israel’s repeated order for 22 hospitals in northern Gaza to be evacuated, describing it as a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.
With around 2,000 desperately ill patients inside their wards, WHO said the forced evacuation of both patients and health workers “will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.”
The statement said the lives of those in intensive care or who rely on life support – including newborns in incubators and those needing hemodialysis – now hang in the balance.
“Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds”, said WHO.
WHO
A boy picks through his belongings in the remains of his destroyed home in Gaza.
‘Tantamount to a death sentence’
“Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.”
Those running the hospitals now face an agonizing choice, the agency said: either abandon the critically ill, put their own lives at risk by staying amid the bombing, or endanger patients’ lives “while remaining on site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives “while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them.”
The agency said that overwhelmingly, staff have chosen to stay behind rather than risk lives by moving those who are critically ill.
WHO airlifts vital health supplies
A plane carrying life-saving health supplies from the WHO logistics hub in Dubai landed in Egypt on Saturday to aid civilians in Gaza – as soon as access across the border into the enclave can be established.
WHO
Health supplies for Gaza are dispatched from the WHO logistics hub in Dubai.
The shipment includes trauma medicines, healthcare essentials, and equipment sufficient to treat around 1,200 who have suffered injuries during the bombing raids and around 1,500 chronically ill patients.
The cargo also includes basic health supplies to meet the needs of 300,000 others, including pregnant women.
With hospitals in Gaza either completely out of action, or simply overwhelmed, the supplies will help save the lives of the wounded wherever they can find shelter, WHO said.
Access essential
WHO said it was critical for the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border to be reopened. “While the Egyptian side of the crossing is accessible, the Israeli side remains closed”, said the statement.
“Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.”
WHO said it would be working with the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies to ship the supplies across the border into Gaza, as soon as practicable.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday who endorsed the request to facilitate medical aid across the border into Gaza.
‘I fear the worst is yet to come’: UN relief chief
Following a week of “utter anguish and devastation” for civilians in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the UN relief chief on Saturday said he fears “the worst is yet to come.”
“In Israel, families are reeling from the horror of last Saturday’s attack”, said Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths. “More than a thousand people have been killed and many more have been injured. Over 100 people are held captive.
“In Gaza, families have been bombed while inching their way south along congested, damaged roads, following an evacuation order that left hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for safety but with nowhere to go.”
The past week has been a test for humanity, and humanity is failing – Martin Griffiths
He warned that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, “already critical, is fast becoming untenable.”
The OCHA chief warned that violence is on the rise in the occupied West Bank, with a surge in civilian deaths and injuries leaving families “facing ever greater movement restrictions.”
“And in Lebanon, the risk of the conflict spilling into the country is a major concern.”
He called for all civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian workers, to be protected by all combatants.
Mr. Griffiths echoed the UN chief’s appeal saying all countries with influence must exert it to ensure respect for the rules of war and to avoid any further escalation and spillover.
“The past week has been a test for humanity, and humanity is failing.”
UN independent expert warns of ‘mass ethnic cleansing’
An independent UN-appointed human rights expert warned on Saturday that Gaza’s civilian population was now in grave danger of “mass ethnic cleansing” on the international community to urgently mediate a ceasefire.
“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel has reached fever pitch,” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.
She called on the UN and Member States to intensify efforts to mediate an immediate ceasefire between the parties, before “a point of no return” is reached.
The UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert reminded the international community of its responsibility to prevent and protect populations from atrocity crimes.
‘Both deserve to live in peace’
“Time is of the essence. Palestinians and Israelis both deserve to live in peace, equality of rights, dignity and freedom,” Ms. Albanese said. “Any continued military operations by Israel have gone well beyond the limits of international law. The international community must stop these egregious violations of international law now, before tragic history is repeated.”
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts work on a voluntary basis, they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Lebanon frontier: Peacekeepers warn of further ‘tragedies’ following journalist’s death
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Saturday extended its heartfelt condolences to the family of a Reuter’s news agency video journalist who was killed in the south of the country, covering the exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militia.
In a statement, UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed there had been firing across the Blue Line, the unofficial frontier between the two countries, with Israeli forces striking a position on Friday close to the village of Alma As Shab.
According to Reuters, Issam Al Abdullah, a Lebanese videographer, was killed during the exchange of fire and six other journalists were injured.
UNIFIL wished the injured media workers a swift recovery and stressed that it could not say exactly how the group had been hit.
An 11-year-old boy stands at the entrance to his home in Gaza City.
Stop the escalation
“If the situation continues to escalate, we will most likely see more such tragedies. Any civilian loss of life is a tragedy and should be prevented at all times.
“This is why we urge everyone to cease fire and allow us, as peacekeepers, to help find solutions”, the statement added. “No one wants to see more people hurt or killed.”
According to news reports, Israeli authorities have pledged to investigate the incident.
OCHA cited Israeli media, which reported that as of Monday evening, more than 1,000 Israelis, including foreign nationals, were killed and at least 2,806 people were injured, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 830 Palestinians have been killed and 4,250 injured.
Over a tenth of the population in Gaza, more than 260,000 people, have been displaced since the start of the current conflict on 7 October and the numbers are rising fast.
More than 175,000 people are sheltering in schools operated by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, which has some 13,000 staff in the enclave.
Nine UNRWA staff killed
UNRWA on Wednesday reported that the death toll among its employees had risen to nine. The agency has repeatedly stressed the importance of protecting civilians, including in conflict.
UNRWA is a lifeline for most of the roughly two million Palestine refugees in Gaza, providing essential services such as education and healthcare. The conflict has forced the closure of its 14 food distribution centres as well as a reduction in operations.
Speaking on Tuesday, UNRWA Director of Communications told UN News that many staff are still working.
“We have people who are responding to the needs of the people in the shelters. They’re giving them mattresses, a place to sleep, clean water, some food, in cooperation with the UN World Food Programme (WFP),” she said.
A ‘devastating’ situation
WFP and other UN agencies have been calling for humanitarian corridors and safe and unobstructed passage for their staff.
In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, WFP began distributing fresh bread, canned food and ready-to-eat food to roughly 100,000 people in UNRWA shelters. The goal is to reach over 800,000 people which will require $17.3 million for immediate response and nearly $45 million over the next six months.
“The situation is devastating,” Samer Abdeljaber, Palestine Country Director, said on Wednesday.
“We are on the ground doing everything we can to be sure the people in need – the ones who fled their homes, the ones living in shelters – are getting the food and help they need to survive.”
WFP will be rolling out assistance through electronic vouchers so people can buy food from shops that are still open.
“We are doing everything we can but very soon the food supplies and basic needs in Gaza are going to run out,” he said.
“We need the humanitarian corridor to be able to support the people who are affected and their numbers are rising every day. We need safe and unimpeded access.”
Political engagement continues
Meanwhile, senior UN officials, including the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, continue engagement with parties to the conflict and key stakeholders.
Mr. Wennesland held “productive meetings” on Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and other senior officials, according to a post on his official account on X, formerly Twitter.
He said the priority is to avoid further loss of civilian lives and provide access for humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We call upon the international community to urgently support refugees and their hosts,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “International support is crucial to sustain this welcome and to enable us to respond to immediate needs and to also build upon the resilience of this population.”
Following the escalation of hostilities at the end of September, more than 100,000 refugees arrived in Armenia in less than a week.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, with UN entities and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, is appealing for emergency funds to provide urgent humanitarian aid and protection to refugees and those hosting them in Armenia, in support of the Government-led response.
‘Remarkable’ local welcome
“Local host communities have generously opened their doors and displayed tremendous solidarity with refugees,” Mr. Grandi said. “The local response, led by national authorities, volunteers and civil society, has also been equally remarkable.”
The Armenia emergency refugee response plan brings together 60 partners, including 43 national NGOs, and covers relief efforts for a six-month period, until the end of March 2024.
The joint plan aims to support some 231,000 people including 136,000 refugees and 95,000 members of local host communities. The plan also takes into account the upcoming, harsh winter months.
Meeting critical needs
Among new arrivals, are some 30,000 children and many vulnerable people, including pregnant women, those with disabilities, and others with chronic health conditions. More than half of the refugees are older people and children.
Many fled with just the few possessions they were able to grab and arrived distressed, exhausted, and apprehensive about the future. They now require critical support, according to UN agencies.
Having to absorb more than 100,000 refugees in a matter of days, there is immense pressure on the host community in Armenia and on existing national services. Refugee arrivals represent over 3.4 per cent of the country’s population and are in addition to a pre-existing refugee, asylum seeker, and stateless population of some 35,000 people.
WHO
Refugees from the Karabakh region have fled to Goris, Armenia, where authorities are assisting them.
Emergency protection
The response plan will support and complement the Government response, with an emphasis on emergency protection and assistance, while at the same time focusing on inclusion, resilience, and solutions from the start, reaching both refugees and the host communities, according to UNHCR.
The plan covers multiple sectors, notably protection, with a focus on gender-based violence, child protection, education, food security, nutrition, health, resilience, shelter, and non-food items. A longer-term focus will aim to ensure inclusion and the strengthening of national public services.
More than 170 people were killed and over 200 more injured, many with grievous burns and in a critical condition, in an explosion at a crowded fuel depot along the route taken by those entering Armenia last Monday.
‘Heart-breaking’ scenes
WHO Special Envoy Robb Butler, who visited a burns treatment centre in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, described the suffering as “heart-breaking”.
“Every single bed in this 80-bed hospital is occupied with a survivor from the explosion in Karabakh. Health workers here are working hard to treat and rehabilitate them, but this is a small country with limited capacity, and the needs are immense.”
The UN health agency, for its part, is bringing in burns kits as well as mobilizing international support to deploy burns specialist to support the needs there. It is also gauging how it can best support rehabilitation for the survivors in the medium and longer term.
Addressing needs
Alongside support to the victims of the fire, WHO is providing refugees with vital health services, including mental health and psychosocial support.
It is setting up modular prefabricated clinics, and is supporting the Armenian Government integrate health workers, including about 300 doctors and 1,200 nurses – who arrived as of Saturday from the Karabakh region – into primary healthcare centres and hospitals in Armenia. It is also sending medicines for non-communicable diseases, which will cover three months of treatments for up to 50,000 persons.
According to latest estimates, about 100,000 people have crossed into Armenia. Working with the authorities and partners, UN teams on the ground are supporting the arrivals.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has established a children’s’ safe space in Goris, serving nearly 300 children every day along with their parents. It offers a space for children to play, a breastfeeding space for mothers, and paediatric support to help with acute concerns.
The World Food Programme (WFP), UN’s emergency food relief agency is providing people with hot meals, food parcels and food cards, while the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is supporting the Government with technical equipment, including laptops and tablets, to facilitate registration.
It also provided essential relief items such as foldable beds and mattresses for refugees.
The U.S. Senate on Saturday night, with mere hours left before a midnight deadline for a federal government shutdown, voted to advance a short-term stopgap funding measure.
The 45-day continuing resolution, which funds the government at existing 2023 levels, includes disaster relief funds but no Ukraine aid. A debate over continued help for Ukraine after Russia’s illegal invasion is what pushed the Senate vote so close to the deadline. The Senate approved the temporary funding by a vote of 88 to 9, exceeding the necessary 60 votes.
Earlier Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican, pushed the 45-day funding bill through his chamber. But he may have put his future leadership role again in jeopardy as his far-right flank had spoken out against a short-term solution to avoid the shutdown.
Politico, writing Saturday, had suggested that the bipartisan nature of the House’s passage, by a 335-91 vote, made Senate approval more likely, a last-minute shift that surprised much of Washington’s Capitol Hill watchers.
Saturday’s passage in the Senate ended a weeks-long House debate over government funding that appeared to be headed toward a shutdown. The Senate eventually dropped its own stopgap bill to pass the House version that was introduced only Saturday morning.
House Republicans had joined with Democrats Friday night to defeat another stopgap version proposed by McCarthy that would have slashed spending and imposed stricter new immigration controls.
“We’re going to do our job,” McCarthy said earlier Saturday. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep government open.”
The House is now scheduled to work the first two weeks of October and will take votes between Oct. 2-5 and again Oct. 10-13 as they work on long-term appropriations bills. It had been scheduled time off.
The House approach did leave out the Biden administration’s fresh ask for more aid to Ukraine. It does include disaster relief, the extension of a federal flood insurance program that had implications for real estate closings and it granted vital FAA reauthorization.
“Knowing what transpired through the summer — the disasters in Florida, the horrendous fire in Hawaii and also disasters in California and Vermont — we will put the supplemental portion that the president asks for in disaster there, too,” McCarthy said after a closed-door Republican meeting earlier Saturday.
Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican of Ohio, told the Washington Post Saturday night after the vote that a fight over aid to Ukraine is still looming. “My sense is my colleagues in the House are much more skeptical of limitless Ukraine funding than my colleagues in the Senate,” Vance told the publication. “And what that means is any Ukraine funding package is going to be dead on arrival in the House.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Republican of Florida, who has led a charge against the speaker, had vowed to force a vote on removing McCarthy if a “clean” short-term funding measure came to the floor. He indicated on Saturday, according to Politico, that he would need to consult with his allies about the status of a forced ouster vote if the bridge funding moved forward.
A more permanent funding solution is needed to keep everything from the Social Security COLA boost to national parks, passport issuance and food aid safe. Stock markets SPX,
which have risen during recent short-lived government closures, were mindful that this latest shutdown could impede the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation with its interest-rate lever. What’s more, without a deal in place, federal workers will face furloughs and more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops will work without pay.
