Tag: Middle East

As humanitarians continued to echo the UN Secretary-General’s urgent calls on Israel to open a safe aid delivery corridor, Gaza will soon run out of basic supplies, according to UN agencies on the ground, who raised alarms about a looming unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Shortly after the outbreak of violence on 7 October, Israel shut all borders with Gaza, and the UN has been unable to replenish its stocks of lifesaving aid since then. As supplies in the enclave shrank against the backdrop of daily bombardment, UN agencies, partners, and nations have rushed to dispatch aid.

Here’s what’s in the convoy:

Bare essentials

Over the weekend, Egypt’s El Arish International Airport, which normally serves Palestinians travelling to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, became a hive of humanitarian activity.

Hundreds of tonnes of essential goods, from ready-to-eat food to latex gloves for emergency surgeries, landed in aircraft dispatched by UN agencies, partners, and nations, including Jordan, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates, at the airport, located 45 km (28 miles) from Gaza’s border.

The much-needed donations were unloaded and transferred into border-bound trucks. Added to the convoy was Egypt’s contribution of 100 trucks carrying 1,000 tonnes of aid.

They include UN agency deliveries of pallets of tents, blankets, and a range of medicines.

In addition, the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, reported plans to provide 300,000 people with emergency kits containing essential items, and the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, had at the ready supplies to promote women’s hygiene, including 3,000 dignity kits.

Near the aid convoy, media reports observed rows of ambulances and emergency health workers waiting to tend to injured Gazans.

Medical supplies

A planeload of medical supplies was dispatched by the World Health Organization (WHO) to replenish its pre-positioned stocks in Gaza, which have dwindled to dangerously low levels. In the past days, the UN health agency sent two shipments from its logistics hub in Dubai.

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 – WHO Director-General

One landed in Beirut, Lebanon, carrying surgical and trauma medicines and supplies to tend to 800 to 1,000 injured patients, serving ever-growing needs as clashes escalate along its border with Israel.

That followed the weekend delivery of 78 cubic metres of emergency aid to El Arish Airport, enough supplies to help more than 300,000 Palestinians. To help to secure access through the Rafah border area, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met last week with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who agreed to its request.

The ready-to-be-delivered shipment contains basic health essentials alongside emergency supplies. These include enough trauma medicines and health supplies to treat 1,200 wounded patients and 1,500 patients suffering from heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems as well as trauma “pouches” ready to treat 235 wounded people.

Food

Also grappling with shortages, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has sent supplies to replenish its almost exhausted stocks.

Early Monday morning, a WFP-chartered aircraft landed at El Arish Airport, delivering 22 tonnes of humanitarian relief, including 15 tonnes of fortified biscuits and two mobile storage units to address the shortages in Gaza, according to the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS).

The UN food agency launched an emergency operation to get food, water, and other essential supplies to Gaza and the West Bank, and is also awaiting five trucks carrying, among other things,100 tonnes of food parcels.

Water and fuel

For the fifth consecutive day, the enclave had no electricity and residents have “severely limited access to clean drinking water”, according to the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which operates in Gaza and the West Bank.

What is really key is to lift the siege; the UN should be allowed to bring in much-needed supplies. – UNRWA spokesperson

To prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring aid supplies to the Strip, an advance team has been sent to Egypt, the latest UNRWA situation report said.

Fuel is “absolutely critical” for the desalination plant and water pumping stations, according to UNRWA. Fuel deliveries are also waiting to fill fast shrinking supplies that have been used to power emergency generators, including in hospitals, throughout Gaza.

At the same time, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Egypt dispatched trucks to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, its partner on the ground, to expand UNICEF support in Gaza, with such essential items as water, mobile latrines, and dignity kits to address the immediate needs of 150,000 people.

Meanwhile, OCHA is advancing plans at its service hub in Rafah with a supply chain from local markets and agency stocks, including fuel, bottled water, hygiene kits, and water storage bladder tanks. The agency was also reviewing and checking the feasibility of water trucking operations.

As the siege continues, UNRWA has been unable to bring in any supplies since 7 October, said agency spokesperson Juliette Touma. Amid Israel’s evacuation order over the weekend, UNRWA had relocated its centre of operations to southern Gaza, nearer to the Rafah border crossing.

“What is really key is to lift the siege,” she said. “The UN should be allowed to bring in much-needed supplies.”

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

The development follows an announcement by UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, just before midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, that UN representatives in Gaza had been “informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military” that everyone living north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours.

‘Death sentence’ for many

Some 1.1 million people would be expected to leave northern Gaza, Mr. Dujarric said, adding that the same order applied to all UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities, including schools, health centres and clinics.

The UN considers it “impossible” for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences and appeals for the order to be rescinded, Mr. Dujarric said.

Echoing that message, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) joined the call for Israel to rescind the relocation order, which amounted to a “death sentence” for many, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.

He told journalists in Geneva, in line with the assessment of health authorities there, that it would be “impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from the north of Gaza”.

The UN also reiterated its calls for the immediate release of hostages held in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly Saturday attack on Israel, and for the protection of civilians and urgent aid access to the sealed-off enclave, as UN chief António Guterres and his envoys continued their diplomatic efforts.

‘Pushing people into the abyss’

UN humanitarians joined their voices to these calls on Friday, urging the parties to save civilian lives.

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths, tweeted that “the noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening“, asking how such a huge number of people could possible move across a “densely populated warzone” in just 24 hours.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), warned that the relocation order “will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into abyss”. He said that over 423,000 people across the enclave have already been displaced, of whom more than 270,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters.

UNRWA tweeted later on Friday that Gaza was “fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse. There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war.”

Briefing reporters in Geneva, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder regretted that the humanitarian situation has now reached “lethal lows”.

He highlighted that the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on the planet and people, including hundreds of thousands of children, who are finding themselves “with nowhere safe to go”.

OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke also underscored the impossibility of a relocation, asking, “in the middle of a war zone where people are already at the end of the rope, how is that going to happen?”

Aid ‘locked out’

He also insisted on the urgency of humanitarian access to Gaza as all supplies were rapidly depleting.

“We’re pretty much locked out,” he said.

On Thursday, the UN launched a flash appeal for $294 million for 77 humanitarian partners to address the most urgent needs of 1.26 million people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“This is a response to an escalation that has put civilians in a situation in which they should never be,” Mr. Laerke said about the appeal. “The most urgent priority is now to de-escalate,” he added.

Health system at ‘breaking point’

WHO’s Mr. Jašarević insisted that the health system in Gaza is at a “breaking point”. The two major hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip, the Indonesian Hospital and Shifa Hospital, have already exceeded their combined 760-bed capacity and the hospitals in the south of Gaza were also “overflowing”.

Six of the seven main hospitals in Gaza are only partially functioning, he added.

‘Death sentence’ for the vulnerable

He stressed that moving vulnerable patients such as those critically injured and adults, children and newborns depending on life support in intensive care, would be a “death sentence”.

“Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel,” he said.

Mr. Jašarević painted a very grim picture of the reality in Gaza’s health facilities, saying that health workers on the ground described dead bodies “piling up” as there is no more space in the morgues, and ambulances and doctors have to make a “horrific choice” as to who to save and who to leave behind.

Attacks on healthcare

He added that as of Thursday 34 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip had been confirmed since the beginning of the current offensive resulting in the deaths of 11 health care workers on duty. The Gaza Emergency Operation Centre, supported by WHO, has sustained heavy damages, he said.

He also cited reports of an attack by Hamas on Ashkelon hospital in Israel over the past weekend, in which one paramedic was killed.

Release hostages, protect civilians

UN human rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani insisted yet again that civilians “must never be used as bargaining chips”. She called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages and their humane treatment.

OHCHR urged Palestinian armed groups to “halt the use of inherently indiscriminate projectiles, which violate international humanitarian law, as well as attacks directed against civilians”. The UN office also urged Israel to ensure full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law “in any and all military operations”.

OHCHR said that rhetoric from Israeli high-level officials “raises concerns that a message is being sent to the members of the Israeli Defense Forces that international humanitarian law has become optional rather than compulsory”.

UNICEF’s James Elder also insisted that in this dire situation, “compassion – and international law – must prevail”.

Rise in hate speech

Addressing the ever-stronger echoes of the conflict across the world, Ms. Shamdasani said that UN rights chief Volker Türk deplored the fact that in many countries, there has been a “proliferation of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate speech”.

Appealing to leaders to stem such hate speech and incitements to violence, the OHCHR spokesperson that faced with this desperate situation, the world should unite.

“This is a time for the international community to come together in solidarity, advocating for the protection of all civilians, no matter where, no matter what,” she insisted.

The UN Security Council is due to meet in New York on Friday afternoon behind closed doors, to address the situation in Gaza.

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.

More to follow on this story

As the conflict intensified amid escalating violence, a complete blockade of food, water, and vital services was put in place by Israel as reports emerged of Israeli ground operations in Gaza, which is home to more than two million people.

While UN offices in Gaza sustained “significant damage” from nearby airstrikes on Monday night, agencies were striving to help the affected population there and elsewhere, including the West Bank, home to 871,000 registered refugees.

The UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNWRA, currently has 13,000 national and international staff, most of them refugees themselves, in Gaza and nearly 4,000 in the West Bank.

In addition, hundreds of employees continued working for other UN agencies.

Along the restive Israel-Lebanon border, the UN peacekeeping mission there, UNIFIL, is operating with 9,400 ground troops, 900 civilian staff, and 850 naval personnel on its Maritime Task Force.

Here is a snapshot of how the UN is helping on the ground:

1. Protection

Heavy airstrikes since Saturday had displaced nearly 190,000 people in Gaza, so the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, is sheltering 137,500 men, women, and children in 83 of its 288 schools, according to the agency’s latest situation report. As of Tuesday, 18 UNRWA facilities sustained collateral and direct damage from airstrikes, with injuries and deaths reported.

2. De-escalation

Top UN officials, including the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), were engaging with parties to the conflict and key stakeholders, including the United States, Qatar, and the European Union, to de-escalate the conflict.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, continued to monitor the unfolding “volatile” security situation along the Israel-Lebanon border, issuing guidance for civilians and updates via social media.

“We have fully engaged our liaison and coordination mechanisms at all levels, to help avoid misunderstandings between Lebanon and Israel that could lead to an escalation of the conflict,” UNIFIL said. “This is our main focus at the moment, and we are working 24/7 to accomplish it.”

3. Emergency services

Israel’s announced blockade of food, water, fuel, and electricity in Gaza on Monday came as UN agencies warned of food scarcity and a looming crisis. Mobile toilets and showers are being deployed to UNRWA shelters, as needed. Palestinians in Gaza now only have electricity for three to four hours per day, hindering the ability of health facilities to function and treat those injured, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency, OCHA.

4. Food

The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNRWA were coordinating the distribution of bread to displaced people in the shelters in Gaza. “Nearly half a million people, or 112,000 families, have not been able to get their food rations this week since UNRWA food distribution centres are closed,” UNRWA said.

As of Tuesday, WFPstarted distributing fresh bread, canned food, and ready-to-eat foods to around 100,000 people at UNRWA shelters, with plans to reach more than 800,000 affected people in Gaza and the West Bank.

5. Health

Emergency healthcare services were being offered through the toll-free hotline continued across Gaza. The UN’s country-based pooled funds (CBPF) and its partners released life-saving trauma and emergency drugs and medical supplies to enable the health system in Gaza to respond to rising needs. A total of 125 health staff are working in rotating shifts at UNRWA health centres, with 15 out of 22 clinics providing primary healthcare services from 9 am to 12 pm to patients with urgent referred appointments received through a free-toll hotline.

Relief and social services helplines were operational as of Tuesday, and psychosocial support and psychological first aid were being provided remotely. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had psychosocial support experts ready to provide assistance to those who needed it in Gaza and in the West Bank. “The community is appealing to UNRWA to open the closed health centres due to the high demand for services,” the agency said.

6. Humanitarian corridors

Access for humanitarian staff and supplies into Gaza was cut this week and the intensity of the hostilities was limiting the ability of staff to deliver aid, according to Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO), other UN agencies, and partners continued to work towards establish a corridor to reach people with critical supplies in Gaza.