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	Alarming reports of gender-based violence by UN News, OHCHR, Medecins Sans Frontieres, agencies   Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict remarks at the Security Council open debate on “Preventing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence through demilitarization and gender-responsive arms control”. (Extract):   "We meet today to consider the 15th annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at a time when gender equality gains are being rolled back, even as militarization is being bankrolled at unprecedented levels; at a time when the world’s resources are being used to feed the flames of conflict, while women and children starve; at a time when military spending has soared to over 2.2 trillion USD, while humanitarian aid budgets have been slashed; and at a time when weapons continue to flow into the hands of perpetrators, while the vast majority of victims remain empty-handed in terms of reparations and redress.   We meet at a time when the pursuit of peace and gender equality has once again become a radical act. The essential, existential task we face is to silence the guns and amplify the voices of women as a critical constituency for peace.   Yet, right now, in the Sudan and Haiti, women and girls are being brutalized and terrorized by sexual violence committed at gunpoint. In Afghanistan, the systematic assault on, and erasure of, women and their rights is destroying lives and livelihoods. Two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of displaced and refugee women and girls face a heightened risk of being preyed upon by traffickers.   In the Middle East, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the ongoing bloodshed, displacement, trauma and terror: they are among the many victims of the 7th of October attacks on Israel by Hamas, and they comprise more than half of the victims of the relentless bombing of Gaza, which has shattered the healthcare system, leaving pregnant women, and others in desperate need with nowhere to turn.   The report before us today provides a global snapshot of incidents, patterns and trends of conflict-related sexual violence across 21 situations of concern. It records 3,688 UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence committed in the course of 2023, reflecting a dramatic increase of 50 per cent as compared with the previous year. This spike in recorded cases is particularly alarming in a global context where humanitarian access remains severely restricted and constrained.   In 2023, women and girls accounted for 95 per cent of the verified cases. In 32 per cent of these cases, the victims were children, with the vast majority being girls (98 per cent). Twenty-one cases were found to target LGBTQI persons on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.   While the report conveys the severity and brutality of UN-sourced and verified incidents, it does not purport to reflect the global scale or prevalence of this chronically underreported, historically hidden crime.   We know that for every survivor who comes forward, many others are silenced by social pressures, stigma, insecurity, the paucity of services, and the limited prospects for justice.   In terms of global trends, the report documents how sexual violence has curtailed women’s access to livelihoods and girls’ access to education, amid record levels of internal and cross-border displacement. Women and girls face heightened levels of sexual violence in displacement settings, as returnees, refugees and migrants.   For instance, in eastern DRC, the climate of interlinked physical and food insecurity has driven many displaced women and girls into prostitution out of sheer economic desperation.   In Ethiopia, reports surfaced of sexual exploitation in exchange for food, as well as continued sexual enslavement in Tigray, in proximity to the compounds and barracks of arms bearers.   Moreover, in many contexts, women with children born of wartime rape are often accused of affiliation with the enemy, excluded from community networks, and plunged into poverty.   By contrast, sexual violence perpetrated with impunity remains profitable in the political economy of war. Conflict-driven trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation continues to generate profits for armed and violent extremist groups.   In Haiti, armed groups and criminal gangs continue to generate revenue through kidnapping, using the threat of sexual violence to extort ever-higher ransoms.   Sexual violence remains part of the repertoire of political repression, used to intimidate and punish opponents, and as a tactic to silence women actively participating in public and political life, notably in Libya and Yemen.   The report further records a discernible trend of digital threats in Myanmar, where online harassment and hate speech specifically targeted women associated with the resistance movement, and included the release of sexually explicit images and incitement to violence.   This year’s report highlights an unprecedented level of lethal violence used to silence survivors in the wake of sexual assault. In 2023, reports of rape victims being subsequently killed by their assailants surfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, demonstrating the need to strengthen forensic capabilities, investigations, and accountability processes that ensure the protection of victims and witnesses.   Frontline service providers and women human rights defenders were not spared. Armed actors threatened healthcare workers in Sudan, and reprisals against human rights defenders were reported in South Sudan, the DRC and elsewhere.   Across time and space, we see that the availability of weapons directly facilitates these attacks. Between 70 and 90 per cent of conflict-related sexual violence incidents involve the use of a weapon, in particular firearms, according to United Nations research.   In eastern DRC, the threat of rape at gunpoint remains a horrific daily reality that overshadows the lives of women and girls, impeding their essential livelihood and sustenance activities. During one incursion into a village, fighters from an armed militia gang-raped 11 women, looted their belongings, and set fire to their homes. Four of the women were mutilated and killed. The seven survivors were taken to a health center, but left without medical treatment, as the clinic had been burnt and raided;   In the Central African Republic, women and girls tending farms and fields face the persistent risk of rape by roving armed actors in the area;   In Haiti, women and girls travelling to work or school face the risk of collective rape by gang members armed with weapons largely trafficked from abroad.   The accelerated withdrawals of peace operations from Mali and the Sudan have brought issues of transition and exit to the fore. Weapons management strategies are a critical part of preventing the occurrence and recurrence of conflict-related sexual violence in such settings.   In 2023, I visited the border area between Sudan and South Sudan, where women and girls have been targeted for rape, gang rape and abduction on the basis of their ethnicity, with the perpetrators emboldened by entrenched impunity.   Since the resurgence of conflict in the Sudan, I have engaged with both parties listed in the Annex to the annual report, namely the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). These parties are required to take specific measures to prevent and address sexual violence. Moreover, all States must abide by the sanctions imposed by this Council, notably the arms embargo on Darfur, as part of efforts to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable peace.   The report before us today lists 58 parties that are credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of sexual violence in situations on this Council’s agenda, the vast majority of them being non-State actors.   Over 70 per cent of listed parties are “persistent perpetrators”, meaning they have appeared on the list for five or more years without taking the requisite remedial or corrective action. It is critical to ensure coherence between the list of implicated parties and the measures imposed by UN sanctions regimes.   We must use these tools to stop the flow of weapons into the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence. There could be no more direct and effective way to disarm the weapon of rape and, ultimately, to prevent and eradicate these crimes.   In terms of access to justice, far too many perpetrators of wartime sexual violence still walk free, while women and girls walk in fear. Left unchecked, these crimes set back both the cause of gender equality and the cause of peace.   Today we know more than ever before about the factors that either enable or restrain the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence. We know that illicit weapons cast a long shadow over the lives of innocent civilians, while emboldening those who seek to spread fear and pursue criminal aims.   Today’s debate brings into focus the need to better align the CRSV and arms control agendas, as part of prevention and risk mitigation. We cannot condemn the perpetrators of sexual violence in our speeches, while continuing to fund and arm them through our supply chains.   For decades, we have heard survivors of conflict-related sexual violence say: “that man had the gun, and he had the power”. Recently, we documented the case of a 19-year-old Haitian woman in Cité Soleil, accosted by masked men who put a gun to her neck, dragged her into a field, and raped and beat her, while pressuring her to confess an association with men she did not even know.   In 2023, the UN documented the case of a 60-year-old woman in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, who was gang-raped at gunpoint by three soldiers while hiding in a field near her home. A frontline service-provider in Unity State, South Sudan, reported to my Office: “the youth are now accustomed to carrying weapons wherever they go…those who have weapons are the ones threatening people and perpetrating sexual violence, making disarmament a key step in prevention”.   Indeed, we cannot address sexual violence without shifting power dynamics. Starting today, we need women in the room, weapons under regulation and embargo, money for human rights defenders on the table, and change on the ground.   This includes supporting the courageous civil society activists who speak truth to power wielded at gunpoint, never allowing threats to silence them.   Women in the war-torn corners of our world need to see hope on the political horizon. Our words, deeds and decisions in this Chamber and beyond must give them cause for hope and must contribute to peace with justice, peace with gender equality, peace with dignity and development, peace that endures".   http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/remarks-of-srsg-pramila-patten-at-the-security-council-open-debate-on-preventing-conflict-related-sexual-violence-through-demilitarization-and-gender-responsive-arms-control-new-yor/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/statement/srsg-pattens-opening-remarks-at-the-international-conference-of-prosecutors-on-accountability-for-conflict-related-sexual-violence-the-hague-26-march-2024/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/in-their-own-words-voices-of-survivors-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence-and-service-providers/ http://www.msf.org/msf-has-and-continues-treat-more-two-victims-sexual-violence-hour-drc http://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/10/22/nx-s1-5157737/rape-sexual-assault-democratic-republic-congo http://www.refugeesinternational.org/i-have-been-raped-twice-in-just-the-last-year-pay-attention-to-the-fighting-in-congo/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/report-thematic-briefing-cedaw-challenges-survivors-conflict-related-sexual-violence-realise-their-right-reparation-october-2024-briefing-paper   25 April 2024 (UN News)   The international community must take immediate action to end the wave of sexual violence being carried out against women and girls in Sudan, two senior UN officials said on Thursday.   Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten together with Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya, said that more than a year into the battle for control of the country between rival militaries, the “barbaric acts” being committed “echo the horrors witnessed in Darfur two decades ago”.   They urged UN Security Council members who met this week to debate Ms. Patten’s latest report on sexual violence to send “an unequivocal message: under international humanitarian law, civilians in Sudan must be protected and must never be subjected to acts of sexual violence, which constitute war crimes.”   The disturbing reports show how women and girls are being disproportionately impacted. Allegations of rape, forced marriages, sexual slavery, and trafficking of women and girls – especially in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – continue to be recorded with millions of civilians at risk as they flee conflict areas in search of shelter, inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries.   The two top women officials noted that the true scale of the crisis remains unseen, “a result of severe underreporting due to stigma, fear of reprisals, and a lack of confidence in national institutions.” Without more financial and political support for frontline responders, access to life-saving services will only continue to shrink, they warned.   http://www.unocha.org/news/sudan-un-leaders-call-urgent-action-against-scourge-sexual-violence-amid-ongoing-conflict http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/women-and-girls-mired-sudan-crisis-suffer-surge-sexual-violence http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/09/gender-alert-women-and-girls-of-sudan-fortitude-amid-the-flame-of-war http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/sudan-experts-call-immediate-support-survivors-gender-based-violence-and-end http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2024/04/speech-until-we-make-it-clear-there-are-consequences-for-rape-real-dire-consequences-we-will-never-turn-the-tide-of-it   Nov. 2023   Sudan: Alarming reports of women and girls abducted and forced to marry, held for ransom. (OHCHR)   We are deeply alarmed by reports that women and girls are being abducted and held in inhuman, degrading slave-like conditions in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur, where they are allegedly forcibly married and held for ransom. Credible information from survivors, witnesses and other sources suggests more than 20 women and girls have been taken, but the number could be considerably higher.   Some sources have reported seeing women and girls in chains on pick-up trucks and in cars.   Initial allegations arose early in the conflict in the Khartoum area, which has remained largely under the control of the Rapid Support Forces. One of the reports indicated that women and girls had been abducted and detained at a location in the city’s Al-Riyadh district, from as early as 24 April.   Since then, we have continued to receive reports of abductions, with an increasing number of cases being reported in the Darfur region, particularly North, Central and South Darfur, and in the Kordofan region.   These shocking reports come amid a persistent climb in cases of sexual violence in the country since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces six months ago.   According to our documentation, at least 105 people have been subjected to sexual violence since the hostilities began on 15 April 2023.   As of 2 November, our Joint Human Rights Office in Sudan had received credible reports of more than 50 incidents of sexual violence linked to the hostilities, impacting at least 105 victims - 86 women, one man and 18 children. Twenty-three of the incidents involved rape, 26 were of gang rape and three were of attempted rape.   At least 70 percent of the confirmed incidents of sexual violence recorded - 37 incidents in total – are attributed to men in RSF uniforms, eight to armed men affiliated with the RSF, two to men in unidentified uniform, and one to the Sudan Armed Forces. The remaining cases involved as yet unidentified men.   We restate High Commissioner Volker Türk’s calls on senior officials of both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – as well as armed groups affiliated with them - to unequivocally condemn these vile acts and issue – urgently – clear instructions to their subordinates demanding zero tolerance of sexual violence.   They must also ensure the abducted women and girls are promptly released, and provided with the necessary support, including medical and psychosocial care, and that all alleged cases are fully and promptly investigated, with those found responsible held accountable and brought to justice.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/11/sudan-alarming-reports-women-and-girls-abducted-and-forced-marry-held http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/un-experts-alarmed-reported-widespread-use-rape-and-sexual-violence-against http://www.care.org/news-and-stories/news/care-us-on-international-day-of-human-solidarity/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2023/07/press-release-sudan-top-un-officials-sound-alarm-at-spoke-in-violence-against-women-and-girls http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2023/06/26/woman-documenting-sexual-violence-Sudan-conflict http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/violent-conflict-sudan-impacted-nearly-every-aspect-womens-lives/ http://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule93   Oct. 2023   Sexual violence in Central African Republic is a “public health emergency”. (MSF)   Between 2018 and 2022, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) treated more than 19,500 survivors of sexual violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), nearly 60 per cent of the total number of people who received treatment for sexual violence in the country over that period. The number of people MSF treated in 2022 for sexual violence tripled compared to the number our teams treated in 2018.   These striking figures comes as MSF releases a new report on sexual violence in CAR, urging the government and humanitarian organisations to take action to address the crisis, including providing expanded medical and psychological support to survivors.   “Sexual violence in CAR is a taboo public health emergency and cannot be solely addressed as an armed conflict-related problem”, says Khaled Fekih, MSF country director in CAR. “Despite some positive developments over the past five years, many survivors of sexual violence don’t report their cases and don’t seek treatment.”   “We know the number of patients seen is still just the tip of the iceberg,” Fekih continues. “More concrete actions are needed by both the CAR government and other national and international humanitarian organisations to change this situation.”   In the report “Invisible Wounds”, MSF analyses quantitative data from a dozen projects and emergency interventions we support or run in CAR. While an increasing number of survivors of sexual violence (95 per cent of whom are women) have had access to assistance over the last five years, many gaps in treatment remain.   These include basic and comprehensive medical care, initial psychosocial support, and sophisticated psychiatric care for complicated cases. Survivors also lack access to protection as well as socio-economic and legal support.   “Patients face many barriers to seeking care in a timely manner, including fear, lack of transportation means or resources, and ineffective care pathways,” says Liliana Palacios, MSF health adviser. “In some locations, MSF received patients who had travelled 130 kilometres, which can mean very long hours or even days of travel because of the poor state of road networks in CAR.”   “At times, patients sought care only years after suffering the aggression,” says Palacios.   Sexual violence in CAR goes far beyond the long-running conflict. MSF’s five-year analysis found a minority of assailants were armed (approximatively 20 per cent) and the vast majority of them were well-known to the survivor (approximatively 70 per cent).   Unfortunately, very few perpetrators are convicted because of flagrant impunity, while survivors face acute stigmatisation and other significant obstacles to continue normal life in their community. To help them reintegrate into society and not be penalised when they seek help, survivors of sexual violence need access to legal support and socio-economic assistance.   “A much stronger collective and holistic approach is needed to do more, faster and better,” says Fekih. “It must be a survivor-centred approach based on confidentiality, empathy, and respect.”   http://www.msf.org/sexual-violence-central-african-republic-public-health-emergency http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/international-community-must-walk-talk-safety-and-security-women-and-girls-times http://www.globalsurvivorsfund.org/latest/articles http://www.mukwegefoundation.org/news/   Oct. 2024   Women killed in armed conflicts doubled in 2023 compared to 2022. (UN Women)   The effects of war and conflict on women and girls are worsening. In 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to 2022. Four out of every ten people who died as a result of conflict in 2023 were women. UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence increased by 50 per cent.   These increases in deaths during war and in violence against women are taking place against a backdrop of increasing blatant disregard of international law designed to protect women and children during war. For example, women in war zones are also increasingly suffering from restricted access to healthcare. Every day, 500 women and girls in conflict-affected countries die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. By the end of 2023, 180 women were giving birth every day in war-torn Gaza—most without necessities or medical care.   This is the dire picture painted by the latest annual report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Women, Peace, and Security, led by UN Women. The report comes 24 years after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1325, which called for all parties to conflicts to ensure the safety of women and girls, and for women’s full involvement in peace processes.   “Women continue to pay the price of the wars of men,” said UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous. “This is happening in the context of a larger war on women. The deliberate targeting of women’s rights is not unique to conflict-affected countries but is even more lethal in those settings. We are witnessing the weaponization of gender equality on many fronts, if we do not stand up and demand change, the consequences will be felt for decades, and peace will remain elusive” she added.   Despite commitments to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in peace and security matters made over many years, political and military power and decision-making around conflicts continue to be overwhelmingly dominated by men. Women made up only 9.6 per cent of negotiators in peace processes in 2023, even though studies show that when women are involved, peace agreements last longer and are better implemented.   In Yemen, for example, women-led negotiations resulted in safe access to a water source for civilians. In Sudan, 49 women-led organizations are pushing for a more inclusive peace process. These efforts are largely unsupported or unrecognized in formal peace negotiations.   One of the key challenges in realizing women, peace and security commitments identified in the report is the severe lack of funding. In 2023, global military expenditures reached a record $2.44 trillion. In contrast, funding for organizations and movements supporting women's rights continues to fall short, averaging just 0.3 per cent of total aid annually—especially in conflict-affected areas. Investments in gender-based violence prevention and response make up less than one per cent of all humanitarian spending.   In 2025, the world will reach a series of anniversaries of significant global actions that were intended to promote gender equality and human rights for everybody, most notably the 30th commemoration of the Beijing Platform for Action, the most visionary blueprint on women’s rights ever adopted by 189 countries. The report concludes that only through bold political action and increased funding, will women’s equal and meaningful participation in peace and security become a reality: a reality that is essential for achieving lasting peace for all.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/10/war-on-women-women-killed-in-armed-conflicts-double-in-2023 http://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/8-actions-to-advance-womens-role-in-peace-and-security   Oct. 2023   Report of the United Nations Secretary-General on women and peace and security:   Nearly a quarter of a century after the adoption by the UN Security Council of its resolution 1325 (2000), women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in building peace should be the norm, not an aspiration or an afterthought, but the data show that this is far from being a reality.   In peace processes, negotiating parties continue to regularly exclude women, and impunity for atrocities against women and girls is still prevalent.   Women continue to face entrenched barriers to direct participation in peace and political processes, and women’s organizations struggle to find resources, while military spending continues to grow every year.   This remains the case even though there is ample evidence that women’s participation contributes to more robust democracies and longer-lasting peace.   A growing share of the world’s population lives under autocratic rule, after many years of democratic backsliding. Misogyny is a common thread in the rise of authoritarianism and in the spread of conflict and violent extremism.   The number of people in need of humanitarian aid increased by 25 per cent over the past year, and the world is undergoing the largest global food crisis in modern history.   Much of this increase is driven by nearly 200 armed conflicts and situations of organized violence, as well as by the climate crisis and the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.   In this difficult context, the number of women and girls living in conflict affected countries reached 614 million in 2022, 50 per cent higher than the number in 2017.   In early 2022, the number of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution surpassed 100 million, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 117.2 million people will be forcibly displaced or stateless by the end of 2023.   As these negative trends turn back the clock on women’s rights, they also turn back the clock of history, setting back both gender equality and global peace.   When fighting broke out in the Sudan in April 2023, widespread sexual violence terrorized the women and girls of Darfur and elsewhere in the country, mirroring violence witnessed in Darfur two decades ago. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have issued more than 50 edicts to suppress women’s and girls’ rights, in a return to the oppression of the 1990s.   The UN Secretary-General report on women, peace, and security is issued annually coinciding with the UN Security Council Open Debate on resolution 1325, which calls for all parties to conflicts to ensure the safety of women and girls, and for women’s full involvement in peace processes.   The report is informed by data and analysis provided by entities of the United Nations system, including peace operations and country teams, inputs from Member States, regional organizations and civil society, and analysis from other globally recognized data sources.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/report-secretary-general-women-and-peace-and-security-s2023725-enarruzh http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142797 http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/speech/2023/10/speech-a-call-for-urgent-transformative-action-executive-director-briefing-to-un-security-council-open-debate-on-women-peace-and-security http://www.passblue.com/2023/10/26/why-are-women-experts-still-excluded-from-peace-talks-across-the-globe/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/world-mostly-dominated-men-turmoil/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/10/violent-conflict-sudan-impacted-nearly-every-aspect-womens-lives/   http://www.prio.org/news/3476 http://www.globalsurvivorsfund.org/latest/articles/ http://www.mukwegefoundation.org/news/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/in-focus/2023/10/in-focus-the-women-peace-and-security-debate http://wphfund.org/2023/11/08/global-new-wphf-study-highlights-central-role-of-local-womens-organizations-in-conflict-prevention-provides-key-recommendations-to-scale-up-support-for-their-impact-on-the-front-lines/ http://wps.unwomen.org/index.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a78131-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-defenders Visit the related web page
	Át the UN over 150 Countries call for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza by UN News, OCHA, UNICEF, agencies Mid East   The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on 7 October, launching thousands of rockets into Israel, with hundreds of gunmen breaching security fences and attacking civilians in communities near the Gaza Strip.   Over 1,200 people were killed and 240 people were taken to Gaza as hostages, including women and children.   The Israeli military declared “a state of war,” and began striking targets in the Gaza Strip, including residential buildings and health care facilities.   More than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and over 100,000 injured, the majority women and children in air and artillery strikes according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1.9 million people have been displaced, as parts of Gaza have been reduced to rubble.   http://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel http://news.un.org/en/focus-topic/middle-east http://www.ochaopt.org/updates http://reliefweb.int/country/pse http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements http://www.unrwa.org/ http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support   2 Dec. 2024   Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory:   An overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Gaza is taking place, where the suffering of civilians is unimaginable. As the Secretary-General has stressed, conditions in Gaza are unfit for human survival.   Civilians cannot meet even the most basic human needs—water, shelter, food and healthcare. People are dying and essentials – including through humanitarian aid – are denied. These conditions directly violate international humanitarian law.   The international community has moral and legal obligations to use all its influence to address and reverse the situation. Member States have leverage to stop violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. The protection of civilians is paramount. The situation can and must be changed.   As Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, it is my duty to draw your attention to what people have been experiencing each day in Gaza for nearly 14 months.   Every civilian in Gaza—man, woman, and child—lives in the shadow of death. If not killed by bombs or bullets, they risk dying from the lack of food, water, and medical care. Women are dying in childbirth at three times the rate compared to levels before October 2023.   Nearly all of Gaza’s residents have been displaced – many multiple times. Most are living in temporary shelters, exposed to harsh winter rain and cold. Their physical and mental health is severely impacted.   Preparations for winter have been affected by ongoing impediments to the movement of supplies into Gaza, including by insecurity, restricted access, hostilities, unexploded ordnance, and fuel shortages.   For more than 50 days, people in North Gaza have been under siege. North Gaza has effectively been inaccessible to the UN. Our requests for access have been repeatedly and systematically denied by Israeli forces with devastating consequences: families are trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded cannot reach hospitals, and basic supplies—water, food, medical care—have run out. Others have been forced to flee to areas that are no safer, facing the same brutal conditions.   The food crisis worsens by the day across the Gaza Strip, with severe hunger surging in central and southern Gaza. More than one million people have not received their monthly food rations since July. Access to clear water remains very limited, and the dire sanitation conditions persist in Gaza.   The healthcare system has been decimated. Hospitals and critical medical supplies have been destroyed in the bombing. Worse still, people in some parts of northern Gaza have asked the UN to stop providing assistance out of fear of themselves becoming a target.   At the same time, the violence in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, has sharply escalated, with grave consequences for civilians.   Despite extraordinary challenges, humanitarian workers persist in their efforts to deliver vital aid. In just two weeks in November, nearly half a million people received critical health services.   UNRWA provides vital services to nearly 2 million people in Gaza and one million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank. UNRWA has a vast humanitarian infrastructure across Gaza but also the West Bank, including schools, medical facilities, and deep ties to local communities. This must be allowed to continue.   Gaza is one of the most dangerous and challenging places on earth to deliver humanitarian aid. Alongside the destruction of basic infrastructure, we are witnessing the destruction of Palestinian life. People are dying, families are torn apart, and basic human dignity is stripped away daily. Stopping this suffering requires above all a ceasefire.   It also requires full and unwavering respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances, without condition. Humanitarian workers must have safe, rapid, unimpeded and sustained access to all people in need across Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.   All of this is indispensable to alleviate the suffering, rebuild lives, and restore dignity to the people of Palestine. Immediate and decisive action is needed.   http://www.unocha.org/news/year-start-gazas-humanitarian-catastrophe-ocha-calls-urgent-action http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/statement-un-special-coordinator-middle-east-peace-process-tor-wennesland-beit-lahia-northern-gaza-jerusalem-29-october-2024 http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/tor-wennesland-un-special-coordinator-middle-east-peace-process-briefing-security-council-situation-middle-east-29-october-2024   7 Oct. 2024   It has been a year of unimaginable suffering, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today as it marked one year since Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched the deadliest attack in Israel’s history – a horrific event that foreshadowed the devastation brought on by the Israeli response.   The toll is staggering:   According to Israeli sources, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, including children, and nearly 5,500 have been injured.   Scores of hostages remain in Gaza, reportedly subjected to inhuman treatment, including sexual violence, exposed to hostilities and denied access to humanitarian assistance or visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross.   Entire Israeli communities have been displaced, living under the constant threat of indiscriminate rocket fire.   In Gaza, where Palestinians have already been reeling from the impact of a 17-year-old air, sea and land blockade and repeated cycles of hostilities, Israeli military operations have resulted in a catastrophe. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 41,600 Palestinians have reportedly been killed, many of them women and children, and 96,600 injured. Thousands more are missing and believed to be trapped under the rubble.   Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, many of them multiple times, with no safe place to go.   Thousands of Palestinians are arbitrarily detained, reportedly subjected to torture and other inhuman treatment and with no information on their whereabouts.   Civilians face extreme deprivation, with limited or no access to health care, food, electricity or humanitarian aid. Children have missed out on an entire year of education. Schools sheltering displaced families have been repeatedly shelled, health-care workers and hospitals have been systematically attacked, and aid convoys have been continually blocked and even shot at.   In the West Bank, the use of lethal force by Israeli forces, along with rampant settler violence and house demolitions, have led to a sharp rise in fatalities, widespread destruction and forced displacement.   “No statistics or words can fully convey the extent of the physical, mental and societal devastation that has taken place,” said Joyce Msuya, the Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.   “But we know what must happen: The hostages must be released and treated humanely. Civilians must be protected and their essential needs met. Palestinians arbitrarily detained must be released. Humanitarian workers must be safeguarded and their work facilitated. Perpetrators must be held accountable for any serious violations of international humanitarian law. And the assault on Gaza must stop.”   The past year has seen Israel blocking humanitarian access into and within Gaza, crippling aid operations. As a result, a weakened population is left to battle disease, hunger and death.   More than 300 aid workers, the vast majority from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), have been killed in Gaza – more than in any other single crisis, making Gaza the most dangerous place for aid workers.   Despite the immense risks – including violence, looting of supplies, and access challenges – humanitarian agencies continue to deliver aid when and where they can. More than 560,000 children were vaccinated against polio during the first phase of an emergency vaccination campaign – an example of what can be achieved when aid workers can reach people in need. But such examples are few.   “It has been 12 months of unrelenting tragedy – this must end,” said Ms. Msuya. “Member States must wield their influence to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and human rights and compliance with the rulings of the International Court of Justice. They must also work to end impunity. An immediate ceasefire and durable peace are long overdue.”   http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/one-year-unimaginable-suffering-7-october-attack-enarhe http://reliefweb.int/country/pse http://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-10-07/secretary-generals-message-mark-one-year-the-attacks-of-7-october-2023-scroll-down-for-arabic-chinese-french-hebrew-russian-and-spanish http://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/year-loss-and-pain-icrc-appeals-human-dignity-and-urgent-action-ease-suffering http://www.nrc.no/news/2024/october/israel-gaza-conflict-only-ceasefire-can-end-suffering-for-civilians-after-catastrophic-year/ http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-these   22 Aug 2024   Mass evacuations in Gaza choke survival and severely constrain aid operations - Statement by Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory   Successive mass evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces amid hostilities have displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s residents since October 2023, often multiple times, exposing them to harm and depriving them of the essentials to survive. During August alone, the Israeli forces have issued 12 evacuation orders – on average, once every two days – forcing as many as 250,000 people to move yet again.   Just yesterday, tens of thousands of civilians in four neighbourhoods in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis were instructed to leave. Humanitarian staff of several UN agencies and NGOs were also affected, along with their families. Humanitarian workers play a critical role in supporting other displaced Palestinians.   If evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, the fact is that they are leading to the exact opposite. They are forcing families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them, into an ever-shrinking area that is overcrowded, polluted, with limited services and – like the rest of Gaza – unsafe. People are being deprived of access to services essential for their survival, including medical facilities, shelters, water wells and humanitarian supplies.   The water supply in Deir al Balah has decreased by at least 70 per cent due to the shutdown of pumps and desalination plants located within evacuation zones. A severe chlorine shortage for water disinfection, with reserves expected to last only one more month, is fueling disease, skin infections, hepatitis A and now polio.   Civilians are exhausted and terrified, running from one destroyed place to another, with no end in sight. This cannot continue. International humanitarian law demands that the parties protect civilians and meet their essential needs. The way forward is as clear as it is urgent: protect civilians, release the hostages, facilitate humanitarian access, agree on a ceasefire.   http://www.ochaopt.org/content/mass-evacuations-gaza-choke-survival-and-severely-constrain-aid-operations http://www.rescue.org/press-release/gaza-irc-warns-return-polio-warning-sign-widespread-public-health-crisis http://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-doing-what-it-can-deliver-gaza-aid-evacuation-orders-cause-extreme-2024-08-27/ http://www.passblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Gaza-Humanitarian-Access-Snapshot-4-2.pdf http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-temporarily-suspend-staff-movement-across-gaza-following-security-incident-targeted-wfp http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/08/comment-un-human-rights-spokesperson-ravina-shamdasani-west-bank-violence http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153716   10 Aug. 2024 (AP, agencies)   An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others including women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities. A witness said the strike happened during morning prayers at a mosque in the school building. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas fighters at the Tabeen school in central Gaza City.   Fadel Naeem, director of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that it received 70 bodies along with the body parts of at least 10 others. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that another 47 people were wounded.   The strike hit without warning before sunrise as people prayed, according to witnesses. The school was housing some 6,000 displaced people seeking shelter from the ongoing conflict.   It was the latest of what the U.N. human rights office called “systematic attacks on schools” by Israel, with at least 21 strikes since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children. “For many families, schools are the last resort to find some shelter,” it said after Saturday’s attack.   The U.N. reported that as of July 6, 477 out of 564 schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged in the war, adding that Israel has a duty under international law to provide safe shelter for the displaced.   10 Aug 2024   UN Human Rights Office condemns Israeli Defense Force’s Strike on Al Tabae’en School in Gaza City. (OHCHR)   The UN Human Rights Office condemns the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities.   This latest strike is at least the 21st strike on a school, each serving as a shelter, that the UN Human Rights Office has recorded since 4 July. These strikes have resulted in at least 274 fatalities, including women and children.   Despite IDF statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm, the repeated strikes on IDP shelters in areas to which the populations have been forced to move, and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians, suggest a failure to strictly comply with obligations required by International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.   Furthermore, these systematic attacks on schools came in the context where more than 90 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced while the Israeli military continues detonating residential buildings and restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance.   Internally displaced people face indescribable horror after 10 months of hostilities, including multiple forced displacements, the rapid spread of diseases, and ongoing denial of access to the basic necessities of life. For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter and possible access to food and water.   In most of the incidents, the Israeli military asserts that the schools were used by Palestinian armed groups and that they took measures to reduce civilian harm. While the co-location by armed groups of military objectives with civilians or the use of the presence of civilians with the objective of shielding a military objective from attack constitute violations of IHL, it does not negate Israel’s obligation to comply strictly with IHL, including the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution when carrying out military operations. Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged to provide the population it has forcibly displaced with basic humanitarian needs, including safe shelter.   Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,790 Palestinians and wounded more than 92,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others.   More than 1.9 million of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly to escape the ongoing Israeli military offensive.   http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-un-human-rights-office-condemns-israeli-defense-forces-strike-al-tabaeen-school-gaza-city http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153041   UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. (12/8/2024):   "75 years ago today, the Geneva Conventions were put in place to protect civilians in times of wars. They are the universal “Rules of War” meant to limit the devastating impact of wars and conflicts on humanity. The one set of rules we “all agree on”, but do we?   In the past 10 months, these rules have been blatantly broken day in, day out in Gaza by the Israeli Forces as well as the Palestinian armed groups including Hamas.   More concerning, Member States- party to the Geneva Conventions - have failed in their responsibilities to respect the conventions and ensure that parties to the conflict respect them under all circumstances.   Our shared values enshrined in the Conventions are at stake as is our shared humanity. It is time to re-instate those values and re-commit to the Conventions. They are the compass of international humanitarian law.   The basics still apply: Civilians, women, children, detainees must be protected. Schools, hospitals, people’s homes, humanitarian and UN staff, facilities & operations must be protected".   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153101 http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/remarks-unrwa-chief-staff-mr-ben-majekodunmi-world-humanitarian-day http://odi.org/en/insights/think-change-episode-52-the-rules-of-war-are-changing-how-can-humanitarians-be-better-protected/   14 July 2024   Nowhere is safe in Gaza: Statement by CARE’s Gaza Response Director, Francis Hughes on yesterday's attacks in Al-Mawassi, southern Gaza:   "We are horrified by yesterday’s airstrikes targeting Al-Mawassi area in Khan Younis, which have reportedly killed at least 90 and injured about 300 people, including many women and children. The Israeli military has designated the area a “safe zone” where displaced civilians have set up tents and makeshift shelters. However, as humanitarians on the ground in Gaza we know that nowhere is safe in Gaza.   Most of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed by the conflict, with civilians disproportionally bearing the brunt of this conflict. Civilians in Gaza are constantly living under the threat of bombs, disease, starvation and displacement. Since the start of the conflict, pregnant women are now three times more likely to miscarry. And if they carry their baby to full term, they are now three times more likely to die in childbirth.   Al-Mawassi is a 16km strip of coastal land in Khan Younis, hosting an estimated population of around one million displaced civilians, who have been following evacuation orders for the past nine months - a staggering 43 percent of the pre-conflict Gaza population. The conditions in this area are deplorable, meaning that makeshift shelters are built on top of each other and there is nowhere else for them to go. Food, water, sanitation are also impossible to deliver due to the many access constraints imposed on humanitarians in Gaza. Indiscriminate targeting of settlements means more death, destruction and displacement for thousands of people.   We again urge all parties to this conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, including respecting the principles of humanity, proportionality, distinction, and military necessity at all times. Civilians must be protected and humanitarian workers must be given safe and unhindered access to reach populations in need. An immediate and sustained ceasefire must be agreed."   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he was “shocked and saddened by the loss of lives”. UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that reports indicated the attack had taken place in a densely populated area “designated as a humanitarian zone sheltering displaced people.”   “This underscores that nowhere is safe in Gaza”, he stressed. “The Secretary-General condemns the killing of civilians, including women and children.”   The Secretary-General underlined once again that there must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, with all hostages released “immediately and unconditionally.”   Soldiers fighting in a densely populated, urban area need to take "every precaution to distinguish between civilian and combatant," Michael Lynk, a law professor at Canada's Western University, told reporters.   "Most leading human rights organizations that have examined both the Israeli claims and the facts on the ground have concluded that Israel has been indiscriminate in its use of military force, resulting in these thousands of civilian deaths," the professor said.   "International law is very clear that, during a combat zone, the attacking armies have to distinguish very clearly between combatants and civilians as your target," said Lynk, who is a former UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories.   Israel often insists it is targeting Hamas militants during the offensive in Gaza, but there have been tens of thousands of civilian deaths and injuries.   http://www.care-international.org/news/nowhere-safe-gaza-attacks-al-mawassi-kill-dozens-people-and-leave-hundreds-more-injured http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1152081 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1151921 http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-humanitarian-snapshot-15-july-2024 http://www.msf.org/no-end-sight-repeated-trauma-displacement-people-gaza http://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel http://www.ochaopt.org/updates   5 Apr. 2024 (UN News)   Marking six months of war since the “abhorrent” Hamas-led terror attacks of 7 October, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told journalists at UN Headquarters that nothing could justify the horror unleashed by Palestinian militants that day.   “I once again utterly condemn the use of sexual violence, torture injuring and kidnapping of civilians, the firing of rockets towards civilian targets and the use of human shields”, he said, calling again for the unconditional release of all hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip. Having met many of the family members of those held captive “I carry their anguish, uncertainty and deep pain with me every day”, added Mr. Guterres.   But the past six months of Israel’s military campaign has also brought “relentless death and destruction to Palestinians”, with over 32,000 reported killed, the vast majority women and children.   “Lives are shattered. Respect for international law is in tatters”, he said. The resulting humanitarian disaster is unprecedented, with more than a million “facing catastrophic hunger.”   Children are dying due to lack of food and water: “This is incomprehensible and entirely avoidable”, the UN chief declared, repeating that nothing can justify such collective punishment.   Mr. Guterres said he was deeply troubled by reports that the Israeli military has been using AI to help identify targets during its relentless bombing of densely populated areas of Gaza.   “No part of life and death decisions which impact entire families should ever be delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms”, he said. AI should not be used to wage war “on an industrial level, blurring accountability.”   Branding the war “the deadliest of conflicts”, he highlighted that 196 humanitarians including over 175 UN staffers have been killed, the vast majority serving with Palestine relief agency UNRWA.   And following the appalling killing of the seven staffers with World Central Kitchen, the main problem is not who made the mistakes but “the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again”, the Secretary-General said. “Fixing these failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable changes on the ground.”   He noted last week’s Security Council resolution calling for hostages releases, civilian protection and unimpeded aid delivery. “All those demands must be implemented. Failure would unforgivable”, he said, noting the the threat of mass starvation in Gaza. “Dramatic humanitarian conditions require a quantum leap in the delivery of life-saving aid – a true paradigm shift.”   The violations committed since 7 October in Israel and Gaza, as well as the destruction and suffering of civilians in Gaza are unprecedented, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said, warning that the risk of further atrocity crimes is high.   OHCHR underlined the need to ensure aid deliveries and the protection of humanitarian workers, noting that attacks against them may amount to war crimes.   The airstrikes that killed the World Central Kitchen personnel underline the horrific conditions under which humanitarians are operating in Gaza, said Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.   Following the attacks, World Central Kitchen and other NGOs suspended aid delivery and distributions in Gaza, “increasing the already real risk of more deaths from famine and disease at larger scale.”   Mr. Laurence recalled that international law requires all warring parties to respect and protect humanitarian personnel and ensure their safety, security, and freedom of movement.   As the occupying power, Israel has the additional obligation to ensure, to the fullest extent possible, that the basic needs of Gaza’s population are met. This means the authorities must either ensure that people can access food and medical care or facilitate the work of humanitarians delivering this assistance.   “Attacking people or objects involved in humanitarian assistance may amount to a war crime,” he said.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1149176 http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-ground-operation-rafah-will-be-nothing-short-tragedy-beyond-words http://www.theparentscircle.org/en/pcff-activities_eng/memorial-ceremony_eng/   * 1.1 million people in Gaza are projected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity between March and July 2024, up from 378,000 in December 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis released on 18 March:   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147656 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147916 http://www.who.int/news/item/18-03-2024-famine-in-gaza-is-imminent--with-immediate-and-long-term-health-consequences http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/gaza-halt-war-now-save-children-dying-imminent-famine-un-committee-warns http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/acute-malnutrition-has-doubled-one-month-north-gaza-strip-unicef http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/03/fears-over-gaza-catastrophe-brutal-conflict-enters-sixth-month http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-civilians-gaza-extreme-peril-while-world http://www.icrc.org/en/document/statement-gaza-and-israel-president-icrc   7 Feb. 2024   Statement by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   With the Gaza hostilities entering their fifth month, hope is dwindling for the millions of people affected and the humanitarians striving to assist them.   More than half of Gaza’s population is now crammed in Rafah, a town of originally 250,000 people right on Egypt’s doorstep. Their living conditions are abysmal — they lack the basic necessities to survive, stalked by hunger, disease and death.   As the war encroaches further into Rafah, I am extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of families which have endured the unthinkable in search of safety.   More than 27,500 people in Gaza have already been killed over the past four months, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Further fighting in Rafah risks claiming the lives of even more people. It also risks further hampering a humanitarian operation already limited by insecurity, damaged infrastructure and access restrictions. To put it simply: This war must stop.   http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-crisis-enters-fifth-month-further-fighting-rafah-risks-claiming-more-lives-and http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-civilians-gaza-extreme-peril-while-world http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/joint-statement-conflict-induced-hunger-gaza http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/childrens-lives-threatened-rising-malnutrition-gaza-strip http://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-rafah-gaza http://www.msf.org/gaza-lack-clean-water-brings-disease-and-suffering http://www.savethechildren.net/news/majority-gaza-s-children-now-trapped-land-area-less-fifth-enclave-s-total-land-mass-israeli   12 Jan. 2024   UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Martin Griffiths' briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory:   For nearly 100 days, what has been unfolding in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a war conducted with almost no regard for the impact on civilians.   In Gaza, the situation remains horrific as relentless Israeli military operations continue. We can see this in the tens of thousands of people killed and injured, the vast majority women and children. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 23,000 people have now been killed and more than 58,000 injured since 7 October.   We can see it in the forced displacement of 1.9 million civilians, a staggering 85 per cent of the total population, traumatized and forced to flee again and again as the bombs and missiles rain down. And we can see it in the appalling conditions on ground: shelters overflowing, and food and water running out, with the risk of famine growing by the day.   The health system is in a state of collapse. Women are unable to give birth safely. Children cannot get vaccinated. The sick and injured cannot get treatment. Infectious diseases are on the rise. And people have been seeking shelter and refuge in hospital yards. Now winter has arrived in Gaza, bringing with it bitter cold, exacerbating the struggle to survive.   This makes it all the more deplorable that facilities critical to the survival of the civilian population have come under relentless attack. 134 UNRWA facilities have been hit and 148 UN personnel and NGO staff have been killed in Gaza. Humanitarian sites have been struck on numerous occasions, despite their identification and notification to the Israeli Defense Forces. In the last few days alone, two NGO premises have been hit.   Orders for evacuation are unrelenting. As ground operations move southwards, aerial bombardments have intensified in areas where civilians were told to relocate for their safety.   More and more people are being crammed into an ever-smaller sliver of land, only to find yet more violence and deprivation, inadequate shelter and a near absence of the most basic services. There is no safe place in Gaza. Dignified human life is a near impossibility.   Rafah, where the pre-crisis population was around just 280,000 people, is now home to 1 million displaced persons. And more continue to arrive every day. Multiple families are crowded into single apartments with no running water or working toilets. Tents are pitched and improvised shelters are built wherever possible, including sidewalks, squares and in the middle of streets.   Our efforts to send humanitarian convoys to the North have been met with delays, denials, and the imposition of impossible conditions. The lack of respect for the humanitarian notification system puts every movement of aid workers in danger, as do the wholly insufficient quantities of armoured vehicles and the limited communications equipment that we have been allowed to bring in.   Colleagues who have managed to make it to the North in recent days describe scenes of utter horror: Corpses left lying in the road. People with evident signs of starvation stopping trucks in search of anything they can get to survive. And even if people were able to return home, many no longer have homes to go to.   Providing humanitarian assistance across Gaza is almost impossible. Our access to Khan Younis and the Middle Area is largely absent. In the South, an expansion of the offensive into Rafah would seriously challenge already overstretched humanitarian operations that require extraordinary measures just to deliver the most meager assistance.   Humanitarian supplies alone will not be able to sustain more than 2 million people. We cannot replace Gaza’s commercial sector. Commercial goods must be let in, at scale. A growing list of rejected items means we are unable to bring into Gaza supplies to rehabilitate life-sustaining infrastructure. The system for medical evacuation of patients to Egypt is also woefully inadequate in the face of the massive needs.   While Gaza is the epicentre of this crisis, let us not forget the 1,200 people killed, thousands injured, and hundreds taken in the brutal attack by Hamas and other armed groups on Israel on 7 October, and the accounts of abhorrent sexual violence. Rocket-fire continues into populated areas of Israel, causing more civilian casualties and trauma.   The families of the hostages have been waiting for the release of their loved ones for nearly 100 days, or at least for some information about their well-being. Unfortunately, since November no hostages have been released and no information has been shared with their families and loved ones.   More than 100,000 people have been displaced within Israel as a result of the 7 October attack by Hamas and other armed groups and due to ongoing rocket fire from armed groups in Gaza and Lebanon.   I remain extremely concerned by the risk of a further regional spread of this conflict. We are already seeing increasing tension and hostilities in the West Bank, where there have been continued Israeli raids against Palestinian towns and alarming increases in settler violence, resulting in death, displacement, and the demolition of homes.   And we are all aware of the increase in tensions and military activity in Lebanon, the Red Sea and Yemen. We cannot allow this to metastasize further – the consequences of a wider conflagration would be unimaginable.   What we have seen since 7 October is a stain on our collective conscience. Unless we act, it will become an indelible mark on our humanity. People will continue to suffer and die from the rockets, the bombs, the missiles and the bullets; and in increasing numbers from starvation, disease and exposure. We cannot let this happen.   I reiterate my call for far greater compliance with international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and the infrastructure they depend on; the provision of essentials for survival; the facilitation of humanitarian assistance at the scale required; and the humane treatment and immediate release of all hostages. I reiterate my call for a ceasefire. For urgent action to bring this war to an end.   http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-tells-security-council-take-urgent-action-end-war-gaza http://unocha.exposure.co/gaza-children-under-attack http://www.ochaopt.org/   22 Dec. 2023   UN Secretary-General's press conference on the situation in the Middle East:   "Over the last weeks and days, there has been no significant change in the way the war has been unfolding in Gaza. There is no effective protection of civilians. Intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations continue. More than 20,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed, the vast majority women and children. Meanwhile, Hamas and other Palestinian factions continue to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel.   Some 1.9 million people – 85 percent of Gaza’s population – have been forced from their homes. The health system is on its knees. Hospitals in the south are dealing with at least three times their capacity. In the north, they are barely operational.   According to the World Food Programme, widespread famine looms. More than half a million people – a quarter of the population – are facing what experts classify as catastrophic levels of hunger. Four out of five of the hungriest people anywhere in the world are in Gaza. And clean water is at a trickle. UNICEF found that displaced children in the south have access to just ten percent of the water they need.   Israel began its military operation in response to the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October. Nothing can possibly justify those attacks, or the brutal abduction of some 250 hostages. I repeat my call for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally. And nothing can justify the continued firing of rockets from Gaza at civilian targets in Israel, or the use of civilians as human shields.   But at the same time, these violations of international humanitarian law can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and they do not free Israel from its own legal obligations under International Law.   Many people are measuring the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation in Gaza based on the number of trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, the UN and our partners that are allowed to unload aid across the border. This is a mistake. The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza. An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security; staff who can work in safety; logistical capacity; and the resumption of commercial activity. These elements do not exist.   A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing suffering.   As the conflict intensifies and the horror grows, we will not give up. But at the same time, it is imperative that the international community speak with one voice: for peace, for the protection of civilians, for an end to the immense suffering."   The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, expressing deep concern at the dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, its grave impact on the civilian population, with the resolution underlining the urgent need for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered distribution of humanitarian aid into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip.   Reaffirms the obligations of all parties under international humanitarian law, including with regard to respecting and protecting civilians and taking constant care to spare civilian objects, including such objects critical to the delivery of essential services to the civilian population.   Demands all parties to the conflict comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, with regard to the conduct of hostilities and the protection of civilians and civilian objects, humanitarian access, the protection of humanitarian personnel and their freedom of movement, and the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies, among others, of the population.   Recalls that civilian and humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, medical facilities, schools, places of worship, and facilities of the UN, as well as humanitarian personnel, and medical personnel, and their means of transport, must be respected and protected, according to international humanitarian law.   Underlines the obligations of the parties to the conflict to allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip, and in this regard calls for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156749/ http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-risk-famine-gaza-strip http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/barely-drop-drink-children-gaza-strip-do-not-access-90-cent-their-normal-water-use http://www.wfp.org/stories/humanitarian-operations-risk-conflict-strangles-gaza http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/catastrophic-hunger-crisis-declared-in-gaza-by-international-food-security-and-nutrition-experts/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145227 http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-war-gaza-must-end http://news.un.org/en/tags/gaza http://www.icrc.org/en/unga78-annual-statement-ihl   12 Dec. 2023   The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 153 member states voted in favour, 10 against and there were 23 abstentions.   "Expressing grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population, and emphasizing that the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law:   Demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire; Reiterates its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians; Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access".   http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/guterres-urges-security-council-act-over-israel-palestine-crisis-threat-international-peace-and-security http://www.wfp.org/news/statement-world-food-programme-growing-humanitarian-catastrophe-gaza http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/aqaba-process-joint-statement-gazas-humanitarian-situation   http://www.unocha.org/news/gaza-reiterating-call-humanitarian-ceasefire-un-relief-chief-stresses-need-maintain-progress http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-resumption-fighting-gaza http://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-nightmare-civilians-once-again-hostilities-resume http://www.ochaopt.org/ Visit the related web page
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