Tag Archives: gaza

World News in Brief: Türk slams relentless Russian attacks, Gaza update, Cyclone Gezani hits Madagascar

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His reaction followed overnight attacks on energy infrastructure in Kyiv, Dnipro and the key port city of Odesa.

Nearly 8,800 multistorey buildings in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa are without heating.

In Kharkiv, temperatures are forecast to drop to minus 10°C or 14°F on Thursday evening, said Viktoriia Andrievska from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

“Without heating or electricity, homes will turn freezing, basic services will stop, for example, the lifts will stop working, and people, especially older residents and families with children, will struggle to stay warm and safe,” she said.

Illegal strikes

In his statement, the UN human rights chief emphasised the lasting impact of “large-scale” attacks by Russia on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which he stressed are prohibited under international law.

“Millions of households struggle with only a few hours of electricity each day,” Mr. Türk said, noting that unheated schools have been forced to shut and medical care has been impacted too.

International efforts to end the war in Ukraine continue, meanwhile, with Moscow announcing on Thursday that it expected the “next round” of talks “to take place shortly”, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.

Gaza: Another UN worker is killed, says UNRWA

Another UN worker has been killed in Gaza, despite a ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military.

According to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, a staff member was killed during Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday, reportedly after an attack by Hamas militants in Rafah.

UNRWA said that the Israeli strikes in Gaza City and shelling in Khan Younis killed at least four Palestinians, including their colleague, as he was hit while out walking on Salah Eddin Street in central Gaza.

Nearly 400 staffers killed

Since the war began, 391 UNRWA staff and partners have been killed.

In other Gaza news, Israeli forces have demolished a United Nations school in Jabalia in northern Gaza, it has been confirmed.

According to UNRWA, the school was one of a number of facilities it has behind the so-called “Yellow Line” of concrete blocks that separates the Israel Defense Forces from the people of Gaza.

Between January and February, eight UNRWA schools in the militarised area have been reportedly demolished by Israeli forces, the UN agency said.

Cyclone Gezani displaces thousands in northeastern Madagascar

Tropical Cyclone Gezani has killed at least 31 people and displaced thousands after making landfall in Madagascar on 10 February, bringing winds exceeding 195 km/h, heavy flooding and widespread destruction across eastern and central regions.

According to local authorities, four people remain missing and 35 have been injured. Preliminary reports indicate that more than 250,000 people have been affected, with nearly 7,000 displaced. 

Over 65,000 homes have been flooded, damaged or destroyed, and around 600 classrooms have been partially or completely rendered unusable.

UN emergency teams deployed

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has deployed emergency teams to Toamasina to support authorities as displaced families shelter in 28 evacuation centres across 16 districts. A national state of emergency has been declared.

“The scale of devastation…has left families struggling to cope with urgent needs and heavy losses,” said IOM Chief of Mission Roger Charles Evina.

The Government is leading search-and-rescue operations and delivering emergency shelter and food assistance, including the distribution of 800 metric tonnes of rice, with support from UN agencies and partners.

A $3 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund will assist more than 90,000 people as additional donor funding supports early response efforts.

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, warned that the cyclone could also affect central and southern Mozambique in the coming days.

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Gaza radio station re-opens, bringing voices from the rubble

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While 23 local radio stations were operating in Gaza before the conflict erupted, they were all destroyed and ceased broadcasting, he told UN News.

“Today, we are the only radio station broadcasting on FM from within Gaza after this widespread destruction,” he said. “We hope that other local radio stations will resume broadcasting, thus allowing competition in providing media services to the people of the Gaza Strip.”

Ahead of World Radio Day, observed on 13 February, the resumption of broadcasting comes at a time when Gaza’s media infrastructure still faces significant challenges amid local and international calls to support journalism as part of broader recovery and reconstruction efforts in the sector.

A journalist works in the damaged office of Zaman 90.60 FM radio station in Gaza City.

Digging through the rubble

After a hiatus of nearly two years due to the war, some local radio stations in the Gaza Strip are transmitting again, in a move showing gradual efforts to revive the media landscape in the war-ravaged Strip – much of which has suffered widespread destruction of infrastructure and civilian institutions from Israeli attacks.

Zaman FM operates in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, where Israeli attacks triggered a famine and left mountains of debris in the streets.

The cracked walls of the station’s building tell a story of immense destruction and the scene inside is unlike any other radio studio in the world. 

Employees dig through the rubble to keep the station broadcasting, working with minimal technical resources while behind them, awareness posters warn people of the dangers of dilapidated buildings.

On-air messages of hope

Local radio remains vital in Gaza as humanitarian crises persist, power outages continue and access to other media remains limited. This makes radio one of the most effective ways of getting key messages out to the public, along with health guidance and information about other services.

Gaza is in dire need of professional local radio stations capable of broadcasting awareness messages and guidance bulletins in light of the spread of diseases, the deterioration of the education system and the disruption of many basic services, said Mr. Al-Sharafi, director of the radio station and host of the morning programme, An Hour of Time.

“We need to deliver information to the population and guide them to the services that have stopped and are gradually being resumed,” he said, “especially in light of the difficult health conditions and the spread of epidemics.”

Amid the destruction all around, Mr. Al-Sharafi sits behind his dust-covered microphone and does just that. 

He sends morning greetings to Gaza residents and provides them with important information and updates, bringing some much-needed hope to the airwaves across a devastated landscape that has only just begun to recover.

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World News in Brief: School shooting in Canada, cholera outbreak in DR Congo, evacuations in Gaza

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António Guterres was “saddened to learn of the tragic shooting in Tumble Ridge, British Columbia,” his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the daily news briefing.

“[Mr. Guterres] extends his deepest condolences to those affected and his sympathies to the Government and people of Canada,” Mr. Dujarric added.

Two crime scenes

According to media reports, the dead included at least three female students, two male students and a teacher. Two additional people were found dead at a nearby home, who local police have reportedly identified as the suspect’s mother and stepbrother.

The suspect – who was born male but was transitioning and identified as female, according to police – was found at the school having died from an apparent self-inflicted wound.

Two of the several dozen injured were airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Tumbler Ridge, located in the Canadian Rockies more than 1,000 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, is a small community near the Alberta border. The secondary school serves around 175 students from Grades seven to 12.

DR Congo: UN urges urgent scale-up as cholera outbreak worsens

The UN relief coordination office, OCHA, has warned that the spiralling cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo demands an immediate scale-up of the response.

It is reportedly the country’s worst outbreak in 25 years. Since the start of 2026, more than 1,300 suspected cases and 35 deaths have been recorded.

Last year, over 71,800 suspected cases were reported, with more than 2,000 deaths.

Humanitarian support

Humanitarian partners, alongside the Government and the UN, continue to provide support, but major gaps remain. Water, sanitation and hygiene services are critically underfunded, health workers are overstretched, supplies are running low and access to treatment facilities remains difficult.

On Monday, $750,000 was allocated from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help health partners rapidly expand life-saving assistance and curb transmission.

OCHA stressed that more flexible funding is urgently needed to bolster health services and contain the outbreak.

Gaza: UN scales up evacuations and education support

In Gaza, UN teams supported the medical evacuation of 18 patients and 26 companions through the Rafah Crossing on Tuesday.

Teams also received 41 additional returnees at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where a reception area is being operated to assist those arriving.

Since Rafah reopened in early February, just over 220 people in each direction have been facilitated through the crossing, according to UN Spokesperson Dujarric.

“I reiterate that we would like to see more people having the opportunity to move voluntarily and safely, in both directions, especially to access services that they need,” he said on Wednesday.

Hoping to expand aid operation

“We also hope to see the movement of cargo enabled through Rafah, to increase the volume of humanitarian supplies entering, and further expand the scale up of the humanitarian response.”

Humanitarian partners working to provide educational support have delivered stationery and toys in recent days to improve learning conditions for thousands of children.

Four new temporary learning spaces were established last week, bringing the total across Gaza to about 450, serving more than 5,500 students.

Between 29 January and 4 February, child protection partners provided winter assistance, psychosocial support and safe spaces to more than 6,500 children and caregivers, including warm clothing for nearly 3,800 children.

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UN warns civilians remain at risk as airstrikes continue across Gaza

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UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing in New York that the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, had received additional reports of airstrikes, bombing, shelling – including from at sea – and shootings in residential areas.

The violence, he said, “puts civilians in danger and adds to the immense hardship they have endured over the past 28 months.”

He added that civilians are protected under international humanitarian law wherever they are, “even if they cross military demarcation lines or are near them…civilians must always be protected and during military operations and constant care must be taken to spare them.”

Health centre reopens

Amid the ongoing hostilities, UN agencies reported limited but important progress in restoring essential services.

The UN ‘s Palestine refugee relief agency (UNRWA) said it has reopened the Bureij Health Centre in Deir al Balah after months of closure. The facility is now providing primary healthcare, maternal health services, laboratory testing and dental care.

However, thousands of patients remain without access to treatment and recovery, as critical services are still unavailable in Gaza.

“Their top priority is to scale up local services, including by rehabilitating damaged facilities and expanding critical care. This requires more medical supplies, including items that are not easily approved for entry by Israeli authorities, such as X-ray machines and laboratory equipment,” Mr. Dujarric said.

Shelter, protection needs remain acute

UN shelter partners said that by last week they had provided more than 5,600 families with emergency shelter assistance in just over one week, including nearly 5,000 tarpaulins and more than 12,000 bedding items.

Last month alone, similar assistance – including nearly 8,000 tents – reached more than 85,000 families. However, durable solutions are urgently needed, which requires permission from Israeli authorities to bring in machinery and construction materials to repair damaged structures, partner organizations said.

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World News in Brief: UN condemns attack on civilians in Nigeria, updates from Gaza and West Bank, relief flights to resume in Yemen

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In a statement issued by his spokesperson, António Guterres conveyed his “heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and Government of Nigeria,” and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

“The Secretary-General reiterates the solidarity of the United Nations with the Government and people of Nigeria in their efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremism and stresses the importance of bringing the perpetrators to justice,” the statement said.

Death toll may rise

According to media reports, armed groups attacked two rural villages in Kwara state on 3 February, with the death toll expected to rise as bodies continue to be discovered.

Many victims were reportedly shot at close range, while homes and shops were set ablaze, forcing residents to flee into nearby bushland.

The attack was the deadliest recorded in the area in recent months, amid a sharp rise in violence across Nigeria’s northwest and north-central regions, where armed groups have increasingly targeted civilians.

The worsening security situation has also contributed to a deepening humanitarian crisis, with large-scale displacement and growing hunger and malnutrition across affected areas.

Civilians deaths and injuries continue due to Gaza attacks

Despite the shaky ceasefire, dozens of civilian deaths and injuries continued to be reported in Gaza over the past 24 hours, as well as ongoing displacement in the West Bank, according to UN agencies.

Many people remained inaccessible to emergency teams, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists, citing reports from the UN aid coordination office OCHA.

He reiterated that all parties must comply with international humanitarian law, including the obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Mr. Dujarric said UN teams overnight received 25 additional returnees crossing through Rafah, who were transported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

There, UN partners continue operating a reception area providing medical, psychological and protection support.

He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners supported the medical evacuation of 15 patients and 31 companions from Gaza to Egypt over the past two days.

Record spike in West Bank attacks

Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have seen a massive spike since 2021, with more than 50 Israeli settler attacks recorded between 20 January and 2 February.

The attacks resulted in casualties, property damage or both.

According to OCHA, since the beginning of 2026, more than 900 Palestinians have been forced out of their homes or communities, mostly due to settler violence and access restrictions, followed by demolitions.

OCHA said it is carrying out preliminary assessments of damage and needs following these incidents, to inform the humanitarian response.

Yemen: Aid flights set to resume to Houthi-controlled capital

The UN has confirmed that its aid flights to Yemen’s opposition-held capital will resume, after being blocked for more than a month.

UN Humanitarian Air Service flights are a vital provider of relief amid overwhelming needs across Houthi-held areas, including the capital city, Sana’a, and other locations across Yemen, which has been at war since 2014.

Boost to aid delivery

Julien Harneis, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, said in a statement that the agreement reached earlier this week will allow NGOs to enter and exit Sana’a, which is a prerequisite to providing assistance for millions of people in need in Houthi-controlled areas.

Years of conflict between separatists and the internationally recognised government have left more than 19.5 million people needing humanitarian assistance and more than 4.8 ‎million internally displaced.

Funding is only available to meet around 25 per cent of needs, meaning that millions ‎are not getting lifesaving assistance, including health care, shelter, water, sanitation ‎and hygiene.

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Potential turning point for Gaza as peace plan enters second phase: UN envoy

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Ramiz Alakbarov warned that risks of violence escalating again remain high, while the situation in the occupied West Bank continues to deteriorate.

The Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said he was addressing ambassadors “at a moment of both profound opportunity and considerable risk,” pointing to cautious diplomatic progress on Gaza alongside deepening instability elsewhere.

“In front of us we see a potential turning point for Gaza, a genuine chance for a better future,” Mr. Alakbarov said. “But many uncertainties remain.”

He heralded the second phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Comprehensive Plan as “a critical step in consolidating the ceasefire in Gaza,” alongside the establishment of new transitional bodies, including the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and the Office of the High Representative for Gaza.

Deputy Special Coordinator Alakbarov briefs the Security Council members via video link.

Monumental task ahead

Mr. Alakbarov said he had just returned from Cairo, where he met members of the National Committee to discuss how the UN could support efforts to restore essential public services, facilitate humanitarian aid and begin planning for reconstruction, in line with Security Council resolution 2803.

He cautioned that the task ahead is “monumental” and will require close coordination among all stakeholders, considering existing systems and capacities.

The UN envoy welcomed the recovery of the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza, expressing condolences to the family of Ran Gvili and said he hoped that with all hostages returned, “the process of healing for the families and all those affected may begin.”

He also said Israel’s announcement that the Rafah crossing would open for pedestrian movement in both directions was encouraging, while stressing that demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip and effective security arrangements remain essential for the next phase to succeed.

Mr. Gvili was among more than 250 Israeli and foreign nationals abducted by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during their 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which more than 1,250 people were also killed.

The ensuing Israeli military offensive in Gaza resulted in widespread devastation and a massive loss of Palestinian life, with tens of thousands reported killed and countless others wounded, many suffering life-long injuries.

Gazans want a better, stable future

Despite continued hardship, Mr. Alakbarov said his recent visit to Gaza underscored the determination of its people.

“The people in Gaza are ready and eager to lead the way to a better, more stable future,” he told the Council, describing students taking exams under extreme conditions, farmers finding ways to plant despite shortages, and small business owners adapting to a devastated market.

At the same time, he emphasised that humanitarian needs remain severe. Nearly the entire population of Gaza still requires assistance, with more than 1.5 million displaced people exposed to winter rains and cold temperatures.

Mr. Alakbarov warned that humanitarian operations are still unable to function at scale, citing insecurity, access restrictions and delays at crossings.

Occupied West Bank unravelling

Turning to the occupied West Bank, the senior UN official said the situation is “unravelling,” marked by ongoing violence, settlement expansion, demolitions and displacement.

These trends, he warned, are undermining prospects for peace and could jeopardise progress on implementing the second phase of the ceasefire plan.

“The implementation of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan is critical,” Mr. Alakbarov said, urging the Council to act collectively.

He reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to supporting Palestinians and Israelis in advancing toward a two-State solution, in line with international law and UN resolutions.

Click here for in-depth coverage of this meeting, including national and regional positions.

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Gaza ceasefire improves aid access, but children still face deadly conditions

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That’s the assessment of two senior officials from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), speaking on Monday to journalists in New York following a week-long visit to the enclave and the occupied West Bank.

The two agencies have brought more than 10,000 trucks of aid into Gaza since the 10 October truce between Israel and Hamas, representing some 80 per cent of all humanitarian cargo.

Three months later, “the food security situation has improved and famine has been reversed,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations.

Carl Skau, WFP Deputy Executive Director, added that most families he met “were eating at least once a day” – sometimes twice.

Commercial goods have reappeared in Gaza’s markets, including vegetables, fruits, chicken and eggs. Recreational kits to help children heal from the stress and trauma of two years of war are now in their hands.

‘These gains matter’

UNICEF and partners have provided more than 1.6 million people with clean drinking water and distributed blankets and winter clothes to 700,000.  They have also restored essential life-saving paediatric intensive care services at embattled Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The second round of a Gaza-wide “catch-up campaign” for routine childhood vaccinations is currently underway, while another 72 UNICEF-supported nutrition facilities have been established, bringing the total to 196.

“These gains matter,” said Mr. Chaiban. “They show what is possible when the fighting pauses, political commitments are sustained and humanitarian access opens.”

Hot meals and school snacks

WFP has also scaled up massively over the past 100 days, said Mr. Skau, speaking from Rome. Teams have reached more than a million people every month with full rations for the first time since the war began.

They are “serving 400,000 hot meals every day and delivering school snacks to some 230,000 children in 250 temporary learning centres,” in addition to operating hundreds of distribution points and some 20 warehouses.

Other humanitarian organizations are bringing in tents, blankets, mattresses and other essentials thanks to WFP’s shared logistics services.

The agency is also helping to facilitate more regular aid convoys and is expanding common storage facilities so that more aid can be positioned closer to the population. It has also ramped up cash support to roughly 60,000 households.

Although more aid is entering Gaza, quantities are not yet sufficient to meet the immense needs. Furthermore, “the situation also remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children,” said Mr. Chaiban.

“More than 100 children have been reported killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October.    Despite the progress with food security,100,000 children remain acutely malnourished and require long term care.  1.3 million people, many of them children, are in urgent need of proper shelter.”

Families are shivering in fabric tents and bombed-out buildings amid freezing temperatures that have killed at least 10 children this winter season.

Mr. Sklau met a young woman with a 10-day-old baby who “was sitting on a wet mattress in this cold tent on the beach,” describing their plight as “just absolutely brutal.”

Hopes for a brighter future

Yet hope blossoms in the Gaza Strip. UNICEF and partners are supporting over 250,000 children to resume learning – a critical element to mental health and psychosocial support for more than 700,000 students who have been out of school for two years.

Mr. Skau recalled a conversation with young girls at a temporary learning space who “were happy to be back learning and eating more regularly,” he said.  “They could see a future again as nurses or engineers or restaurant owners, and they seemed impressively confident and determined to build a future for themselves.”

Humanitarians need essential items – such as water and sanitation provision, as well as educational supplies – to be allowed to enter Gaza which can help jump start recovery and reconstruction.

Mr. Chaiban said WFP and UNICEF are ready to scale up operations.

“The children of Gaza and the State of Palestine including the West Bank, which is also experiencing a wave of violence do not need sympathy. They need decisions now that give them warmth, safety, food, education, and a future,” he said.   “We have an opportunity, a window, to change the trajectory for these children. We can’t waste it.”

Gaza reconstruction talks must not distract from massive needs, say UN aid agencies

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Briefing journalists, Juliette Touma, Director of Communications at UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services highlighted that although the 3 October ceasefire agreement had brought some respite to families, “people continue to be killed, day in, day out”.

“It’s absolutely critical to unlock the congestion…at crossing points and to reopen critical lifelines like the Jordan corridor,” said Touma.

She said that Gaza’s highly vulnerable people simply “cannot wait” for a reconstruction plan to take shape – one of the stated aims of the US-led Board of Peace. “They need supplies at the same time, it’s not just the services,” she stressed.

UNRWA commitment

Echoing those concerns, the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, underscored its key and longstanding role in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza. This mission was entrusted to UNRWA by UN Member States at the global body’s General Assembly in December 1949.

“We are the largest United Nations agency operating in the Gaza Strip,” said Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA Senior Communications Manager. “We must be able to continue doing our work; that’s crystal clear.”

Board of Peace

While it has yet to be made clear exactly how the UN will support Board of Peace launched by President Trump at Davos on Thursday, last November’s Security Council resolution 2803 that welcomed its creation highlighted the importance of working with “cooperating organizations” including the United Nations.

“We are very strongly committed to do whatever we can to ensure the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803,” said Alessandra Vellucci, Director, UN Information Service, Geneva. “There is a role for the UN there about the UN leading on humanitarian aid delivery, which we have been doing for such a long time and we will continue to do the best of our capacities.”

Since Sunday, humanitarian partners providing emergency shelter assistance have reached over 13,000 households in Gaza, distributing hundreds of tents and thousands of tarpaulins, aid coordination office, OCHA, said in its latest update.

Gaza distribution obstacles remain

The UN office noted that “capacity and funding constraints” have limited support to only around 40 per cent of the existing 970 displacement sites across the Strip.

Healthcare needs remain enormous across Gaza, too, where providers such as UNRWA try to help around 15,000 patients a day, despite numerous challenges.

“We had 22 clinics operating across the Gaza Strip before the start of the war, we’re now down to half a dozen,” said Mr. Fowler. “And we have mobile health teams that operate, but in incredibly complicated circumstances.”

A number of UNRWA facilities are located behind the so-called Yellow Line – a series of concrete blocks installed by the Israeli authorities which separates Gazans from the Israel Defense Forces – envisaged in the three-step Gaza peace plan.

“That makes it incredibly difficult to do our work and so many of our locations have been heavily damaged or indeed completely destroyed,” Mr. Fowler continued. “On top of that, we remain banned by the Israeli authorities from bringing in any of our own supplies.”

UNRWA premises ‘stormed’

Turning to the destruction of UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, Mr. Fowler described how visiting diplomats had been caught up in the dramatic events when Israeli forces “stormed and demolished” buildings in the compound and fired tear gas. “This is a United Nations compound, so this is an attack on the United Nations,” he told journalists.

Highlighting concerns that the UNRWA-supported Kalandia Training Centre could be shut down “within days”, Mr. Fowler explained that it principally helped lower-income families to earn the skills they needed to earn a living: “If the centre were to be forcibly closed – and we do fear that this could happen within days – there is no educational alternative for these students.”

The UN agency remains deeply worried about developments in the occupied West Bank, one year since the Israeli forces launched operation Iron Wall. “This led to the mass displacement of people from three camps in the north of the West Bank,” Mr. Fletcher explained, in reference to Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee settlements.

“The camps are progressively being demolished by the Israeli military. So therefore, changing the facts on the ground, changing the topography and the demography of these large communities,” Mr. Fowler insisted.

UN aid push continues across Gaza despite Israeli airstrikes

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“Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that their partners continue their scale-up efforts, despite reported Israeli airstrikes across the Strip,” he said, noting that some strikes hit areas near the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ – a buffer zone marked by the Israeli military inside Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement.

“We stress again that all parties must refrain from any activities that put civilians, including aid workers, at risk.”

Despite the insecurity, UN operations have managed to move significant volumes of relief into the enclave. According to the UN’s so-called 2720 delivery mechanism authorised by the Security Council, more than 24,000 metric tonnes of aid – including food, medicine, nutritional supplements and shelter materials – have been collected from Gaza’s crossings since the truce began several weeks ago.

Looting subsides

Encouragingly, looting and interception of aid have sharply declined. Between 10 and 28 October, only five per cent of supplies were intercepted, compared with around 80 per cent in the months before the ceasefire.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also delivered over 840 pallets of life-saving medical supplies, including insulin, surgical kits and essential medicines, and is supporting nutrition services to treat some 2,500 children.

But Mr. Dujarric warned that Gaza’s health system remains “under immense strain”, with the local Ministry of Health reporting that more than 1,700 health workers have been killed since the start of the war.

On education, agencies are working to restore “minimum teaching and learning conditions” for over 630,000 school-aged children who have missed more than two years of classes.

Over 90 classrooms have been rehabilitated, though Israeli restrictions on educational materials continue to hamper efforts.

“We continue to call for all crossing points to be open and more UN agencies and organizations authorized to bring in aid supplies into Gaza,” Mr. Dujarric said.

Fragile window to resume food production

Despite catastrophic destruction across Gaza’s farmlands, the current ceasefire has created a fragile but vital window to revive food production, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and satellite agency UNOSAT said on Thursday.

New satellite analysis shows nearly 87 per cent of cropland, 80 per cent of greenhouses and almost 87 per cent of irrigation wells have been damaged since the start of the conflict. But the pause in fighting has opened access to 37 per cent of affected farmland – some 600 hectares of which remain undamaged – allowing farmers to begin rehabilitating their land.

“The ceasefire has opened a window of opportunity,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol. “Urgent support is needed to restore agricultural land and infrastructure, enable farmers to resume fresh food production, and rebuild fisheries and livestock so families can feed themselves again.”

FAO stressed that rebuilding food systems now could help stabilise livelihoods and prevent deeper hunger in Gaza.

However, its $75 million appeal to support recovery remains only 10 per cent funded, highlighting the need for swift international backing to seize this brief moment of hope amid widespread devastation.

UN Condemns ‘Deadly Escalation’ of Fight in Gaza City

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The situation “is having an appalling impact on civilians enduring suffering and starvation,” he told journalists in New York.

“The United Nations condemns the deadly escalation of the Israeli military offensive which took place over the weekend across Gaza City, with scores of people reportedly killed or injured,” he said.

“We reiterate our call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel and full respect for international law.” 

70,000 more uprooted

In a post on X on Sunday, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said that 10 of its buildings in Gaza City had been hit in the past four days alone, including seven schools and two clinics which were being used as shelters.

Almost 70,000 displaced people have headed south in the past few days, while UN partners counted 150,000 movements from north to south this past month.

Partners further reported that one third of malnutrition treatment facilities in Gaza City have shut down due to forced displacement orders, while the Ministry of Health today reported 425 deaths overall due to malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, about a third of which were children.

A call for ‘unimpeded humanitarian access’

Over the past few days, UN partners have managed to distribute 40,000 additional meals each day. As of Saturday, 558,000 daily meals were prepared and distributed by 20 UN partners to 116 kitchens.

“However, health services continue to be heavily constrained, since clinics have suspended their services due to insecurity and displacement orders,” warned Mr. Dujarric, adding that in Deir Al-Balah, only a few ambulances remain in order and are able to serve the thousands of people in need.

Additionally, 77 per cent of the road networks in Gaza have been damaged and according to UN aid coordination office OCHA, humanitarian aid continues to be obstructed.

On Sunday, only four of the 17 missions that the UN coordinated with the Israeli authorities were facilitated. Seven missions were denied, one of which was meant to deliver water tanks to the north, while another four were impeded in the field, and two were cancelled by the organisers.

Nevertheless, three humanitarian missions were accomplished, including the collection of fuel and food cargo from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing.

“Our humanitarian colleagues continue to call for unimpeded humanitarian access,” stressed Mr. Dujarric. “Aid should flow at scale through multiple crossings into and within Gaza, including the north.”

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Gaza: International community must ‘match words with action’ now

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Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office OCHA, warned that history will not judge the international community “based on the speeches that we made” but rather on actions.

Speaking from Deir Al-Balah, she delivered a blunt message: “When Gaza burned, and children starved, and hospitals collapsed – did you act?”

Gaza City ‘death sentence’

She said this past Tuesday, Gaza City “was handed a death sentence”, with hundreds of thousands of battered civilians ordered to flee to an already overcrowded area where “even small animals have to search for spaces to squeeze between to move around.”

Across the Strip, the situation is dire.  A friend texted her on Thursday saying that they tried to find space in the south, but there was none.

“His 8-year-old cousin was killed instantly in an Israeli strike together with several other children last week while waiting for some bread to be baked,” she told journalists at UN Headquarters.

The friend’s daughter, who recently turned two, has known nothing but war, she added.

Death, despair and destruction 

“The unmistakable smell of death is everywhere – a grisly reminder that the ruins lining the streets hide the remains of mothers, fathers, children,” Ms. Cherevko continued.

“Humans who used to laugh, cry, dream. Their lives cut short by the war’s killing machines, many to never be found again.”

As humanitarians drove back into Gaza on Thursday, distraught people crowded around their convoy “pleading for this horror to stop,” she said. 

“Dignity and hope have been stripped away, with every killing of a loved one, with every strike on a civilian lifeline, with every denial of access.”

She said that “the race against time, against death, against the spread of famine, feels as if we as humanitarians are running through quicksand. Even more so as humanitarian convoys are too often denied, delayed or obstructed by the Israeli authorities.” 

Humanity shines through

She noted that even amid hardship “humanity shines”, pointing to “the Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedics working around the clock, often without pay, medicine or electricity.” 

This also includes aid workers from UN agencies, the Red Crescent and other organizations “delivering food, medicine and clean water under fire”, as well as ordinary people who share the little they have with strangers. 

“In every act of care – a refusal to let cruelty define the future. Proof that even in the darkest times, the human spirit endures,” she said.

Hope and action

Ms. Cherevko shared that she is often asked if she has any hope left. 

“Hope may be all we have left, so we must nurture it,” she said.  “But hope alone won’t keep people alive. Urgent decisions are needed that must pave the way to a lasting peace before it’s too late.”

She stressed that “the people of Gaza are not asking for charity. They are asking for their right to live in safety, in dignity, in peace,” adding that “our humanity – yours, mine, all of ours – demands that we act now.”

She concluded her remarks by insisting that “today, and every day, is a new chance for the international community to match words with action. Don’t miss it as it might be the last.” 

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Gaza City: Daily bombardment, more displacement amid escalating military offensive

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UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said people are once again on the move after Israel placed the entire city under displacement orders. Aid partners recorded more than 25,000 displacements between Sunday through Wednesday.

Some critical services have already been suspended while some humanitarian facilities have suffered severe damage, disrupting operations and the delivery of essential services.

Aid partners suspend activities

“Our partners working on health, report that some of them have had to suspend activities at primary healthcare centres, while partners working on nutrition say that 12 out of 49 outpatient therapeutic sites have halted services amid the ongoing airstrikes in Gaza City,” he said,

At least two community kitchens have also suspended operations, and three others have had to relocate within the city.

Furthermore, UN partners working on education are concerned that 95 temporary learning sites in northern Gaza serving about 25,000 children may be at imminent risk of closure due to displacement orders and ongoing insecurity.

Child malnutrition worsens

UN child rights agency UNICEF has also warned that child malnutrition in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen at an alarming rate. 

The percentage of children identified as acutely malnourished increased to 13.5 per cent in August, from 8.3 per cent in July – or 12,800 boys and girls.

Mr. Dujarric said UNICEF has been working to scale up the entry of essential nutrition supplies and distribute them, alongside nutrition partners, at about 140 sites across the Gaza Strip.

“While stocks of ready-to-use therapeutic food have recently increased, the current quantities of other critical nutrition supplies for infants and pregnant and breastfeeding women are wholly insufficient,” he said.

Meanwhile, almost half of all functioning hospitals are located in Gaza City, including half of all intensive care unit beds for the entire Gaza Strip, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

With the Israeli offensive already underway, the Gaza Strip cannot afford to lose any of these remaining facilities, the UN agency said.

Impediments to aid delivery continue

These developments are happening as delays and impediments to humanitarian movements inside Gaza continue.

Missions still take long hours to complete, even when they are approved in advance by the Israeli authorities, meaning that teams have no choice but to wait on roads that are often dangerous or congested.

Additionally, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recently observed an increase in denials of the participation of Palestinian staff in missions, including both drivers and personnel.

Mr. Dujarric noted that denials are often communicated at the last minute, resulting in operational delays as alternatives must be quickly identified.

“What we need is full facilitation of the work and movement of humanitarian actors into and throughout the Gaza Strip. This must include unimpeded access to the north and to the south alike,” he said, adding that “every delay can cost lives.” 

Gaza: Ceasefire urgently needed as civilians left with ‘no safe place’ to go

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“We are witnessing a dangerous escalation in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have stepped up their operations and ordered everyone to move south,” said the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Nearly one million people are now left with no safe or viable options – neither the north nor the south offers safety.”

The warning comes two weeks after famine was confirmed in Gaza Governorate.

Starving and exhausted

According to latest figures from the World Health Organization-led Health Cluster, 361 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition since the war began nearly two years ago, including 130 children.

Over half a million people are in living with catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death.

Civilians who try to leave northern Gaza face dangerous and barely passable roads, overcrowded shelters, and prohibitive transport costs – sums that most families simply cannot afford.

“Survivors in Gaza are exhausted,” aid agencies said, underscoring that both civilians and the health infrastructure they rely on “must never be targeted.”

Hospitals overwhelmed

Hospitals are overwhelmed and collapsing under the strain.

Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli facilities in Gaza City are operating at nearly three-times capacity, with mass casualty incidents averaging eight per day.

If a wider Israeli offensive proceeds, the Gaza Strip could lose half its remaining hospital beds, the health agencies warned.

Aid restrictions continue

The Humanitarian Country Team also noted ongoing Israeli impediments on aid, stating that “current levels of humanitarian support are wholly insufficient.”

Fuel, water, and supply routes must remain open and uninterrupted, agencies said, warning of “devastating consequences” if access is further obstructed.

“To families in Gaza: the humanitarian community will remain in Gaza City for as long as we can and will remain across the Strip, doing all we can to bring aid and deliver lifesaving services,” they said.

“To the international community: Act. Call for an immediate ceasefire. Uphold international humanitarian law, including the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained. This catastrophe is human-made, and responsibility rests with us all.”

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World News in Brief: UN chief condemns Russian attacks on Ukraine, Gaza crisis continues, protecting civilians in DR Congo

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Secretary-General António Guterres said it marked a “further escalation” of the conflict.

Authorities reported more than 80 civilian casualties, including a national non-governmental organization (NGO) worker and her two-month-old son in Kyiv.

Other affected cities included Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih and Kherson. Energy infrastructure was also hit, causing temporary power and water outages ahead of winter, with repair crews working to restore services.

“Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law. They are unacceptable and must end immediately,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Monday at the regular news briefing in New York.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire as a first step towards a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in Ukraine, one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions,” he added.

Meanwhile, humanitarian support continues. On 5 September, UN agencies and partners delivered medical kits and hygiene supplies to roughly 1,000 people in several Donetsk villages, marking the tenth convoy to the region this year.

People seek food at a community kitchen in western Gaza City.

Gaza: Civilian toll continues to climb

Civilians in Gaza continue to face mounting deaths, displacement and famine as hostilities continue, with UN agencies warning that the window to prevent widespread starvation is closing.

According to local health authorities, some 67 people were killed and 320 injured in the past 24 hours, Mr. Dujarric said, adding that since the end of the ceasefire in mid-March nearly 12,000 people have died amid repeated displacement and attacks.

“We continue to condemn all killings of civilians,” he said.

The humanitarian situation remains dire. The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, noted urgent needs for food, water and shelter.

“Our colleagues remind us that over 80 per cent of Gaza is either under displacement orders or within militarized areas,” Mr. Dujarric added.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that over 100 people, a quarter of them children, have died from malnutrition since famine was confirmed in Gaza governorate.

Humanitarian operations remain heavily constrained.

Only 11 of 24 coordinated missions were facilitated on Sunday, including fuel collection at crossings, while others were denied or cancelled. Humanitarians were able to distribute water in northern Gaza and collect food shipments from Kerem Shalom, Karem Abu Salem and Zikim crossings.

UN peacekeepers in DR Congo continue to protect population against ‘grave danger’

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to be protected against “grave danger” by United Nations peacekeepers, according to the head of UN Peace Operations.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix was speaking at the end of a mission to the DRC, where he visited the troubled Ituri and North Kivu regions.

Mr. Lacroix emphasised that hundreds of thousands of Congolese people, including displaced people, rely on the UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO for daily protection, particularly in the areas of Fataki and Beni, in North Kivu, where joint operations with the Congolese armed forces continue against armed groups.

USG Lacroix on the role of MONUSCO

Dire situation continues

The security situation in the eastern DRC remains dire, despite diplomatic efforts to bring lasting peace to the country.

The DRC is currently facing one of the most acute humanitarian emergencies in the world, with food insecurity on the rise and 5.9 million Congolese currently internally displaced.

“People are protected here by our MONUSCO colleagues, and they are provided with humanitarian support and protection”, said Mr. Lacroix adding that the UN remains committed to supporting government efforts towards peace and stability in the country.

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Window to prevent famine spreading in Gaza is ‘closing fast’, UN warns

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Tom Fletcher’s statement amid what he described as “a massive military offensive” by Israeli forces against Palestinians in Gaza City, and the failure of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas militants.

By the end of September famine will likely have spread into Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, he said, unless there is a huge influx of humanitarian aid: “Death, destruction, starvation and displacement of Palestinian civilians are the result of choices that defy international law and ignore the international community.”

The horror can be stopped, he continued, if aid is allowed in at scale.

Mr. Fletcher called again for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilians, the release of all hostages held inside Gaza by Hamas and other militants and the release of arbitrarily detained Palestinians.

He also insisted on the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional measures which call for prevention of genocidal acts and the immediate and effective delivery of urgent basic services to Gaza’s civilian population.

No money, nowhere to go

Ahead of a second airstrike on a Gaza City high rise apartment block on Saturday in as many days which Israeli forces claimed was being used by Hamas – which the militant group denied – Israel reportedly dropped leaflets warning residents to relocate to the south.

UN News’s correspondent spoke to families trying to survive in the city amid Israel’s ongoing offensive, who are facing an impossible choice over staying or fleeing.

Abu Amer Al-Sharif, A Palestinian in Gaza City.

Abu Amer al-Sharif said, “we are at a loss,” sitting in front of what remains of his house in the city that used to be home to over one million people.

They had salvaged some belongings – but moving again seemed a daunting task.

“You know the financial burden, including transportation costs and rent for new housing. There are no salaries from the authorities and people have no income. Families are required to pay thousands of dollars for the places they move to, in addition to transportation costs. On top of that, our property is damaged,” Abu Amer said.

‘I live on the rubble’

In the same neighborhood, Hossam Madi stands amid the rubble of his home, breaking up furniture to sell as firewood.

“We don’t have enough money to move to the southern Gaza Strip,” he said bluntly.

Hossam Madi, a resident of Sheikh Radwan in northern Gaza City removes some of his belongings from his destroyed home.

“I break wood to sell it to buy a kilo of flour for breakfast or lunch. We have nothing. Look at our house, look what happened to it. I am living on the rubble, and now I will take my things and move to western Gaza.”

Saqr Abu Sultan said he wasn’t sure where they were headed, loading his family’s belongings onto a three-wheeled cart in preparation for leaving the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

“The situation is chaotic now. We’re trying to evacuate, but we don’t know where to go, despite the constant talk of safe areas,” he said.

Abu Amer Al-Sharif and his family in Gaza City remove their belongings and household items from their home, preparing for yet another displacement..

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Amid escalating attacks in Gaza, UN rights chief calls on US to withdraw sanctions against Palestinian rights groups

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The measures announced on Thursday target Al-Haq group, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, in relation to their support of the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, following other sanctions imposed by the US Government in June on renowned Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) Addameer.

“For decades now, these NGOs have been performing vital human rights work, particularly on accountability for human rights violations,” that is “all the more important when international humanitarian and human rights laws are being violated systematically in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem”.

Mr. Türk urged the US to immediately withdraw its sanctions “as well as the ones imposed earlier on the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and on multiple Judges and Prosecutors of the ICC.”

He added that the sanctions will have a “chilling effect” not only on civil society in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, but potentially worldwide.

Attacks, famine spread across Gaza

The ongoing Israeli offensive to take full control of Gaza City further intensified on Friday, increasing civilian casualties and attacking facilities on which they depend to survive, the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said during a press briefing at UN Headquarters.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces attacked a high-rise building that they say was used to launch attacks against them, damaging tents sheltering displaced people nearby, according to initial information collected by the UN aid coordination office (OCHA).

“Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that in the north, people are simply exhausted; they can’t afford to move south, not only because displacement sites are overcrowded, but also because transport can cost up to $1,000,” Mr. Dujarric said, announcing that nearly 41,000 people have been displaced from Gaza City since 14 August.

‘Catastrophe Israel could have prevented’: WHO chief

Reminding that the offensive is running alongside the spread of famine, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “a catastrophe that Israel could have prevented and could stop at any time.”

Starvation ‘will not make Israel safer’

“Starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime that can never be tolerated. Doing so in one conflict risks legitimising its use in future conflicts.”

Since the conflict began in October 2023, at least 370 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 300 just in the past two months, according to the UN health agency, which said the lack of food and clean water and cramped living conditions are leaving people with weakened immune systems.

It’s also exposing the population to more disease, with more than 100 cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, including 11 deaths, reported in the last month.

“The most intolerable part of this man-made disaster is that it could be stopped right now,” he said.

“People are starving to death while the food that could save them sits on trucks a short distance away. And for what? The starvation of the people of Gaza will not make Israel safer, nor will it facilitate the release of the hostages.”

While WHO is doing the best it can to alleviate suffering in Gaza, supporting medical evacuations of over 7,640 patients, more than 15,000 others need urgent specialised care, including 3,800 children.

More than 700 people have died while waiting for evacuations, Tedros said, calling for countries to “open their arms to these critically ill patients” and on Israel to allow people to be treated in the nearby West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“Above all, we call on the Government of Israel to end this inhumane war,” he said. “If it will not, I call on its allies to use their influence to stop it.”

The ‘unthinkable’ is underway in Gaza City, UNICEF warns

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Tess Ingram, Communication Manager for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, recently spent nine days there, describing it as “a city of fear, flight and funerals.”   

“The last refuge for families in the northern Gaza Strip is fast becoming a place where childhood cannot survive,” she said, speaking from the enclave to journalists in New York.

Children ‘fighting for survival’

Nearly a million people remain in Gaza City, where the collapse of essential services is leaving its youngest and most vulnerable residents “fighting for survival” as famine spreads and aid barely trickles in.

Only 44 out of 92 UNICEF-supported outpatient nutrition treatment centres are still functional, which means thousands of malnourished children lack access to these critical lifelines.

Meanwhile, hospitals “are on their knees”.  Only 11 are still partly functioning and only five have neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs.

“The 40 incubators between them are running at up to 200 per cent capacity, meaning there are as many as 80 babies fighting for life in overcrowded machines, utterly dependent on generators and medical supplies that may run dry at any moment,” she said.

‘Small bodies shredded by shrapnel’

In Gaza City, Ms. Ingram met displaced families on the run once again, children who have been separated from their parents, and mothers whose children either died from starvation or who fear their offspring will be next.

“I’ve spoken to kids in hospital beds, their small bodies shredded by shrapnel,” she said.  “The unthinkable is not looming. It is already here. The escalation is underway.”

Famine is ‘everywhere’ in Gaza City

Famine was “everywhere I looked in Gaza City”, she said. “Just an hour in a nutrition clinic is enough to erase any questions about whether there is a famine,” she added.

At these clinics, waiting rooms are filled with tearful parents, “children fighting the double punch of disease and malnutrition”, mothers unable to breastfeed, and “babies losing their vision, their hair and their strength to walk.”

Like elsewhere in the enclave, whole families are surviving on one bowl of lentils or rice a day from community kitchens.  Parents often go without so that their children can have something to eat.

A sad reunion

Last week, Ms. Ingram visited a stabilisation centre that treats malnourished children and was shocked to find a woman there called Nesma and her daughter, Jana.  

UNICEF had evacuated the girl for treatment in southern Gaza more than a year ago and she recovered. Jana and her mother then returned to northern Gaza during the ceasefire earlier this year to reunite with the rest of their family 

“Then the blockade on aid, hunger returned, and this time both of Nesma’s children deteriorated.” Her two-year-old daughter Jouri died from malnutrition last month and Jana “is barely hanging on”.

© UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel

A child suffering from malnutrition lies on a bed in the Patient Society Hospital in Gaza City .

‘More children will starve’

Ms. Ingram said children like Jana “are returning to emergency wards or relapsing just weeks after finishing treatment for malnutrition because of the ongoing lack of food, safe water and other essential supplies” in the Gaza Strip.

She affirmed that “without immediate and increased access to food and nutrition treatments, this recurring nightmare will deepen and more children will starve – a fate that is entirely preventable.”

UNICEF continues to respond to the crisis and in the past two weeks provided partners on the ground with enough ready-to-use therapeutic food to support more than 3,000 acutely malnourished children over the six-week course of treatment.

The agency also provided complimentary food to support more than 1,400 infants as well as high energy biscuits for more than 4,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women, among other assistance such as safe drinking water and construction of temporary learning centres.

“Our team is doing everything in their power to help children, but we could do far more, reach every child here, if our operations on the ground were enabled at scale and we were well funded,” she said.

Malnutrition numbers rising

UNICEF is seeking $716 million this year for its response in Gaza, where needs are immense and childhood malnutrition continues to rise. In February, just over 2,000 youngsters were admitted for treatment.  In July, the number climbed to 13,000 and by mid-August had already reached 7,200.

The agency continues to call on Israel to review its rules of engagement to ensure that children are protected, and for Hamas and other armed groups to release all remaining hostages, Ms. Ingram said.

She underlined the need for Israel to allow sufficient aid to enter, while humanitarians must be able to safely reach families where they are.

Her final plea was for the international community, especially States and stakeholders with influence, to use their leverage to end the war now: “because the cost of inaction will be measured in the lives of children buried in the rubble, wasted by hunger and silenced before they even had a chance to speak.” 

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UN rights office worried over escalation in Gaza City, annexation plans for West Bank

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Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR’s Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), told UN News that the escalation has caused extensive destruction to residential buildings in southern parts of North Gaza governorate and in northeastern areas of Gaza City.

This has led to further civilian casualties and forced displacement.  Local health authorities reported that 816 Palestinians were killed between 26 August and 1 September – nearly double the number of fatalities compared to the previous week.

Nowhere to go

Roughly one million Palestinians reportedly remain in northern Gaza, and he said they are being pushed into increasingly smaller areas in the west of the enclave.

“Many are unable to relocate – there are no safe areas and movement is dangerous. Others are still trapped in eastern Gaza City, with humanitarian workers unable to reach them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli military attacks on people seeking aid continued across the Gaza Strip, where humanitarians are still struggling to bring in desperately needed supplies.  

OHCHR has recorded over 2,146 deaths in the vicinity of sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operations in late May, and along convoy routes.

West Bank warning

Mr. Sunghay also pointed to increasing reports of Israeli Government plans to “extend sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank or effectively annex parts of it.

He recalled that last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “very clearly stated” that Israel has already incorporated large parts of the OPT – particularly East Jerusalem and Area C, where most settlements are located – into its territory, concluding that this amounts to annexation.

Israel “has done so, and continues doing so, with the unabated building of settlements and outposts and related infrastructure and with the forcible transfer of thousands of Palestinians from large swathes of the West Bank now controlled by the Israel forces and settlers,” he said.

“It has done so also by reshaping the West Bank with an extensive network of checkpoints, and gates which ensure freedom of action to settlers while segregating Palestinian towns and villages.”

Further expulsion threat

He warned that “any declaration of extension of sovereignty over the West Bank will have further catastrophic consequences on Palestinians” – not only on their right to self-determination but also on daily life. 

It would facilitate a further, massive expansion of settlements and legalization of existing outposts, and allow Israel to take full control of natural resources there without any restrictions.

“Further, Israel’s objectives to formally annex ‘as much as land possible with the least Palestinians in it’ as declared by some of its leaders, would clearly place Palestinians in the annexed areas at imminent risk of expulsion through increased settler violence, deprivation of political rights, expropriation of land and mass home demolitions,” he said.  

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Attacks across Gaza intensify amid fear and hunger: ‘Leave me here,’ injured girl told fleeing family

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A 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who depends on a wheelchair was among crowds fleeing Israeli military aircraft operations east of Rafah in Gaza on 13 October 2023, said committee member Muhannad Salah Al-Azzeh, who presented a report on the occupied Palestinian territories on Wednesday in Geneva. In the melee, she lost her wheelchair.

“She was crawling on the sand and asking her family, telling them ‘you can leave me here’ because she felt that she was slowing them down,” he said.

Indeed, some people are unaware of evacuation orders being given in Gaza due to their disabilities since the start of the nearly two-year-long war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

“This is one of the most serious issues because in regular situations, personal disabilities are excluded in emergencies, more excluded,” he said. “It’s more complicated for them.”

A woman in a wheelchair is carried across rubble.

States fail to protect rights of persons with disabilities

Following extensive interviews with individuals, delegations and organizations working in Gaza and the West Bank, the UN committee submitted a series of recommendations and serious concerns to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The situation in Gaza is a grave concern, Mr. Al-Azzeh stated.

“What we are witnessing there is highly concerning for us,” he warned. “We do believe that all the State parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, they really failed in one way or another to fulfill their obligations to protect and to ensure the minimum protection of persons with disabilities in the emergency situation.”

Citing grim cases reported to the committee since the start of war, he said in one instance, prolonged electricity shutdowns in Rafah left a mother unable to receive evacuation messages on her mobile phone, and she and her children subsequently died in an Israeli strike.

Nine-year-old Noor’s parents, who are deaf, have heavily relied on her to survive Israeli tank shelling and attacks. She has had to learn new signing vocabulary for the language of war, including tanks, armed quadcopters, shrapnel and aircraft, the committee representative said.

There are dozens of examples of people like Abdulrahman Al-Gharbawi, with cerebral palsy and a lower limb disability, he said. 

All nine times the 27-year-old graphic designer’s family has been forcibly displaced since the start of the war, his mother would carry his wheelchair while his father and brother would carry him.

‘Horrific’ situation in Gaza City

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Wednesday that further intensification of the continued offensive on Gaza City, amid ongoing famine, will push civilians – already battered and bereaved – into an even deeper catastrophe that world leaders must act decisively to prevent.

“Partners supporting displacement sites warned that the escalating hostilities in Gaza City are having horrific humanitarian consequences for people living at these sites, many of whom were previously displaced from North Gaza,” the UN agency said. “They say that many households are unable to move due to high costs and a lack of safe space to move to, with older people and those with disabilities especially affected.”

Partners report that between 14 and 31 August, more than 82,000 new displacements have been recorded, including nearly 30,000 movements from north to south, OCHA stated.

Chronic aid delivery obstacles

Meanwhile, humanitarian efforts continue to face chronic obstacles. While a trickle of aid is getting into the war-torn Gaza Strip, steep challenges remain, according to OCHA’s latest situation report.

Between 17 and 30 August, partners continued daily convoys to uplift humanitarian food aid from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, bringing more than 6,900 metric tonnes of wheat flour, food parcels and bulk food supplies into Gaza through the UN-coordinated aid mechanism, OCHA reported.

“However, nearly all of this aid was offloaded by hungry crowds or looted by organized groups along convoy routes, preventing targeted household distributions and delivery to partner warehouses,” the UN agency stated.

Since 20 July, when regular food cargo shipments from Gaza’s crossings resumed, less than 40 per cent of the 2,000 metric tonnes of food supplies required daily to meet basic humanitarian food assistance needs could enter the Strip, OCHA said.

“Daily, civilians continue to be killed and injured by military forces or due to violence erupting among desperate crowds while trying to access aid, including in the militarised zone near checkpoints waiting for aid convoys and at non-humanitarian militarised distribution sites,” the UN agency reported.

‘Two per cent of food aid reached warehouses’

As of 30 August, 99 kitchens supported by 19 partners were preparing and distributing 468,000 meals daily across the Gaza Strip, with 155,000 in the north and 313,000 in central and southern Gaza, according to the OCHA report.

“Partners relied on the two per cent of food aid that safely reached warehouses, coupled with resources secured locally from markets,” the UN agency said.

“While representing an 80 per cent increase compared to the 260,000 daily meals prepared in early August, this remains far below the over one million meals produced in April with the humanitarian and commercial food stocks and cooking gas entered during the ceasefire.”

Families and children seeking food from a community kitchen in western Gaza City in late July. (file)

Famine response

The UN and partners continued integrated famine response efforts come on the heels of the UN-backed global hunger experts’ report finding famine conditions in parts of Gaza last month.

Efforts included scaling up cooked meal provision, promoting small-scale home gardening and community oven initiatives, expanding cash and voucher assistance and strengthening real-time monitoring and analysis systems.

“Intense advocacy continues with the Israeli authorities to increase the volume of humanitarian and commercial goods approved for entry, with a focus on fresh produce and fortified food, nutrition, health and cooking gas,” OCHA said in its report.

© UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel

Access to safe drinking water in the Gaza Strip has been severely compromised due to the ongoing war.

New supplies and critical shortages

For the first time in over five months, concentrated fodder for livestock owners entered Gaza. Approximately 60 metric tonnes were distributed to 600 livestock holders in Deir Al-Balah, OCHA said.

However, despite sustained advocacy, cooking gas has not entered Gaza for more than five months and is no longer available in markets, the UN agency stated.

“Firewood has also become increasingly unaffordable,” according to the agency. “Many people are reduced to using waste and scrap wood as alternative cooking sources, exacerbating health and environmental risks.”

Meanwhile, the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees’ (UNRWA) health facilities continue to serve around 132,000 patients with non-communicable diseases despite facing dire shortages of medical supplies. Insulin stocks will be exhausted within one to two weeks, leaving at least 16,000 diabetic patients without an essential part of their treatment, OCHA reported.

Access to clean water is severely limited. At the same time, hospitals remain lacking in essential supplies and continue to face overcrowding as daily attacks are seeing a rise in the numbers of dead and injured.

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Gaza: With a suitcase for a school bag, classrooms have become shelters

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“We carry a bag of clothes instead of a school bag,” she told UN News.

Diana and other students shared their eagerness to get back in the classroom, speaking from schools that have been converted into shelters for Gaza’s displaced, where most of the 2.3 million Palestinian residents have been forced to move multiple times during the nearly two-year-long war sparked by the Hamas-led terror attacks and Israel’s subsequent offensive.

Nearly 660,000 children remain out of school, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNWRA. In one UNRWA school corridor now transformed into crowded living quarters, Diana explained her ordeal.

“We no longer play or learn,” said Diana, a child displaced with her family from the Shujaiya neighbourhood in Gaza City. “There is no education now. We live inside the school, where we are displaced, eating and sleeping.”

A child from Gaza, who lost her father during the war, said “two years of our lives are gone for nothing.”

Searching for food instead of school supplies

Misk lost her father during the war. She said her tragedy was compounded by the loss of learning.

“Two years of our lives were wasted,” she said. “If it weren’t for the war, I would now be preparing for school, buying pens and school supplies. Now, we search for water and food, running after water and community kitchens.”

She fought back tears as she continued.

“We are children,” she said. “We want to live like other children. My father was killed in the war. What is my fault that I became an orphan at an early age? What is my fault that I was deprived of my family and everything?”

Many displaced people in Gaza have found shelter in UNRWA schools.

‘We were learning and getting diplomas’

Nine-year-old Jana said she wants to go back to studying.

“We live in a school, and we want to go back to studying there,” she said. “We were displaced because of the war and now, there is no food or drink.”

We want to go home and live a normal life. This is not life.

Maya said life before the war “much nicer”.

“Children went to school, learned and received their diplomas,” she said.

Instead of focusing on her homework, Malak searches for plastic and cardboard to use as fire starters for cooking. She hopes the war will end so she can return to school.

“We want the war to end,” she said. “We want to go home. We want to go back to school. We want to do something useful. It’s been so long since we ate healthy food. We want to go home and live a normal life. This is not life.”

Malak hopes the war will end so she can return to school.

Deprivation of education

UNRWA, established in 1949 to serve Palestine refugees, warned that as students have been deprived of education, they are at risk of becoming “a lost generation”.

“The war in Gaza is a war on children and must stop. Children must be protected at all times,” the UN agency said in a statement, noting that “nearly one million children in the Strip are suffering from profound psychological trauma.”

More than 90 per cent of Gaza’s schools have been either destroyed or severely damaged. Repairing and reconstructing them will take significant resources and time, according to a recent UN report.

West Bank: Classes are silent in Jenin camp

Some 46,000 Palestine refugee children are also set to begin a new school year in UNRWA schools across the West Bank.

The schools remain a safe haven for children, providing them with quality education and support amid escalating violence and displacement, said Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA affairs in the West Bank.

“This time last year, I opened the school year with children in Jenin camp,” he said.

“Now, these students have been forcibly displaced from their homes, and UNRWA schools in the camp stand silent.”

Of the more than 30,000 Palestinians displaced in the northern West Bank, more than one third are children from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps.

“In East Jerusalem, for the first time in our history, UNRWA has been prevented from opening its six schools after they were forcibly closed by Israeli authorities in May, affecting some 800 children,” he said.

“Only some of these students have been able to enroll in other schools.”

Violation of children’s right to education

Mr. Friedrich warned that this not only violates the right to education for Palestine refugee children, but also breaches Israel’s obligations as a Member State of the United Nations.

Regardless, UNRWA continues to be the second-largest provider of education in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority, reaching students through schools, training centres and hybrid learning modalities.

“This back-to-school season, we are proud of our students and teachers who continue to show resilience in the face of hardship,” he said. “We wish all children a school year filled with excitement for learning, friendships and curiosity.”

UNRWA said around 660,000 children in Gaza have been deprived of education for the third consecutive year due to the ongoing war.