United Nations | Gaza: "widespread suffering persists, humanitarian situation worsens" - OCHA briefing | UN @unitednations | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Security Council briefing by Lisa Doughten, Director, Financing and Partnerships Division, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in both Gaza and the West Bank.
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The past year has brought unimaginable suffering. It has been one year since the horrendous attack by Hamas and other armed groups in Israel. And rockets continue to be fired indiscriminately into Israel.
Few times in recent history have we witnessed suffering and destruction of the size, scale, and scope that we see in Gaza. In the past year, this Council has been briefed repeatedly on the horror unfolding in Gaza, at least monthly on average.
Once again, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. Unfortunately, much of what I am about to say mirrors what we reported a month ago. Widespread suffering persists while the humanitarian situation worsens.
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Nearly every one of the more than 2 million people in Gaza receives some form of aid or service provision from UNRWA, along with nearly one million Palestine refugees in the West Bank. If approved, such legislation would be diametrically opposed to the UN Charter and in violation of Israel’s obligations under international law.
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Evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, but the exact opposite is happening. As we have said so many times, there is no safe place in Gaza.
Three of the ten partially functional hospitals in the north have been ordered to evacuate all patients without providing alternatives for relocating them. We have not been able to get fuel to other hospitals in the north.
There has been no electricity since October last year. Without electricity, or fuel for the generators, everything shuts down: medical facilities, water, sanitation, and other essential services.
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Humanitarian partners report that women and children are hard-hit by the trauma of this war.
Each day, according to UNRWA,10 children are losing one or both of their legs. Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history. Women are three times more likely to miscarry, and three times more likely to die from childbirth.
And, yet humanitarians are not giving up.
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Urgent diplomatic efforts are needed to de-escalate the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to prevent a wider regional descent into bloodshed.
Member States must take steps to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a path towards sustainable peace.
These atrocities must end.
Security Council briefing by Lisa Doughten, Director, Financing and Partnerships Division, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in both Gaza and the West Bank.
---
The past year has brought unimaginable suffering. It has been one year since the horrendous attack by Hamas and other armed groups in Israel. And rockets continue to be fired indiscriminately into Israel.
Few times in recent history have we witnessed suffering and destruction of the size, scale, and scope that we see in Gaza. In the past year, this Council has been briefed repeatedly on the horror unfolding in Gaza, at least monthly on average.
Once again, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. Unfortunately, much of what I am about to say mirrors what we reported a month ago. Widespread suffering persists while the humanitarian situation worsens.
---
Nearly every one of the more than 2 million people in Gaza receives some form of aid or service provision from UNRWA, along with nearly one million Palestine refugees in the West Bank. If approved, such legislation would be diametrically opposed to the UN Charter and in violation of Israel’s obligations under international law.
---
Evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, but the exact opposite is happening. As we have said so many times, there is no safe place in Gaza.
Three of the ten partially functional hospitals in the north have been ordered to evacuate all patients without providing alternatives for relocating them. We have not been able to get fuel to other hospitals in the north.
There has been no electricity since October last year. Without electricity, or fuel for the generators, everything shuts down: medical facilities, water, sanitation, and other essential services.
---
Humanitarian partners report that women and children are hard-hit by the trauma of this war.
Each day, according to UNRWA,10 children are losing one or both of their legs. Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history. Women are three times more likely to miscarry, and three times more likely to die from childbirth.
And, yet humanitarians are not giving up.
---
Urgent diplomatic efforts are needed to de-escalate the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to prevent a wider regional descent into bloodshed.
Member States must take steps to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a path towards sustainable peace.
These atrocities must end.
