Tag Archives: teams

Downpours stymy aid teams following deadly landslide in war-torn Sudan

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The death toll has not yet been verified as ongoing downpours and rugged terrain are making it extremely difficult to reach the impacted communities, according to the UN migration agency, IOM.

To date, an estimated 150 people were displaced from Tarseen and neighbouring villages, with families now sheltering in nearby communities.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, and partners have put a rapid response plan into operation. On Thursday, teams comprising nearly a dozen local and international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies went to the site, travelling part of the way by donkey because of the rugged terrain.

Their mission focused on confirming the number of people affected and assessing and responding to urgent needs, OCHA said.

Transporting critical supplies

Teams also transported critical supplies for up to 750 people, including medical kits, nutrition support, food rations, non-food items and other essential materials.

Mobile health clinics and emergency medical teams were also deployed to provide immediate care on the ground.

The response aims to support the survivors in Tarseen and neighbouring villages affected by the disaster.

“The assessment’s findings will guide the scale-up of assistance, with UN agencies preparing to send more supplies to meet additional needs,” Mr. Dujarric said.

Flooding, escalating violence in North Darfur

Meanwhile, OCHA warned that the situation in El Fasher in North Darfur is worsening, amid escalating violence and now flooding. Local sources report that heavy artillery fire has killed dozens of civilians in recent days.

At the same time, humanitarian access continues to be impeded, and women and girls face grave protection risks, including from sexual violence.

Compounding the crisis in the area, heavy rains and flooding displaced 350 people in Korma Town on Monday, with latrines destroyed at the displacement site. Families have sought shelter with host communities.

Famine and cholera

In recent days, flooding in the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps for displaced people close to El Fasher impacted 4,300 residents, destroyed 900 tents and damaged 2,300 houses, according to UN partners on the ground.

“These incidents further deepen the horrific situation in a place that knows famine, and it has been fired upon and been abused,” the UN Spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, cholera continues to surge, with aid partners reporting nearly 8,000 cases in North Darfur and more than 3,800 cases in South Darfur since May, he said.

The outbreak has been heightened by the severe malnutrition, which has doubled in North Darfur over the past year, leaving children particularly vulnerable.

Sudan has been embroiled in war between rival militaries since April 2023.

“We and our partners are supporting the response to the outbreak by providing clean water, health services and conducting cholera vaccination campaigns, despite the serious logistical challenges,” Mr. Dujarric said.

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Afghanistan quake: Aid teams still scrambling to reach survivors

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The magnitude six quake has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the “hundreds of thousands”, according to the UN’s top aid official in the country, Indrika Ratwatte.

Speaking from Kabul, Mr. Ratwatte said that mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the affected mountainous provinces.

“When the walls collapse, the roof is what basically falls on individuals, kills them or suffocates them,” he said. “Since this happened in the night, everybody was sleeping,” the senior UN aid official explained, indicating that many more people may be trapped under the debris.

Massive loss of homes, livestock

Hundreds of thousands could be impacted, “as in houses destroyed, injured, casualties, livestock lost and any livelihood systems that they had”, Mr. Ratwatte explained.

In the first critical 24 hours after the earthquake hit, access was “very limited”, owing to landslides and rockfalls triggered by the tremors.

“This has posed a huge challenge to us as we deploy right now,” Mr. Ratwatte said, stressing that 20 emergency assessment teams have been mobilized alongside 15 mobile teams “which will enhance the humanitarian flights from Kabul to Jalalabad”, capital of the affected Nangarhar province.

The UN Humanitarian Air Service has scheduled additional flights connecting Kabul and Jalalabad for personnel and cargo to scale up the response.

The aid official also said that the UN and others are trying to set up or repair damaged mobile networks as there is “zero connectivity” with some affected communities, “and even to bring in helicopters and land,” another challenge for the de facto authorities.

“It’s not easy to get to these areas and keep shuttling injured individuals,” he said.

Disease danger

Mr. Ratwatte underscored the importance of protection work, “including psychosocial support for individuals who lost family and loved ones”. He also stressed that it was urgent to dispose of bodies and dead livestock to prevent waterborne diseases, “which can happen very, very fast”.

One of the first responders in the affected areas was the Afghan Red Crescent. Joy Singhal, Acting Head of Delegation for Afghanistan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that more people could have been saved if road access were easier.

“Our staff and volunteers sometimes have to [walk] for about four to five hours to reach some of those remote villages,” he said. Once they reach their destination “they have to walk back and bring those affected and wounded people into the city centre…the two hospitals there are overwhelmed.”

Disaster, time after time

Afghanistan has long faced what the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Ratwatte called “systemic humanitarian challenges”. Half of its population – or some 22.5 million people – need assistance, while food insecurity has been aggravated by recent drought. Sweeping funding cuts to humanitarian programmes since the beginning of the year have meant that “hundreds” of aid facilities have had to close.

“The earthquake comes at a time where vulnerable communities are going to be super-exposed to additional stresses,” Mr. Ratwatte said.

Another major challenge is the return in 2025 of 2.4 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, whom communities in the country have been “struggling to integrate”, said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch.

“More than half of these are deportations, people who have been put on buses and other forms of transport and left at the borders to go home, and it has already put a further restraint on our ability to support,” Mr. Baloch said.

Deported regardless 

He also stressed that the majority of returnees are heading precisely to the earthquake-affected areas. In another “worrying” development, Sunday marked “the end of grace period for registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan” and UNHCR is preparing for “significantly more returns” in the coming days.

“These people already with very little resources are now returned to a disaster zone,” Mr. Baloch said.

“We are at breaking point in terms of response to the multiple humanitarian shocks in the country,” the UN’s Mr. Ratwatte insisted.

The $2.4 billion humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan for 2025 is only 28 per cent funded, “and here we have an emergency on top of the crisis situation”, he concluded.

Gaza: As last fuel supplies run out, aid teams warn of catastrophe

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Speaking from Gaza City in the north of occupied territory, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that water pumps had stopped at one site for displaced people there on Wednesday “because there’s no fuel”.

“We are really – unless the situation changes – hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn’t retrieved immediately,” she told UN News.

In its latest update on the emergency, OCHA said that without the immediate entry of fuel or access to reserves, 80 per cent of Gaza’s critical care units essential for births and medical emergencies will shut down.

More killed seeking aid

The development comes as Gaza’s authorities reported that 15 people had been killed near an aid distribution hub in the centre of the Strip on Thursday.

On Tuesday, unverified videos of another incident circulating on social media showed dead bodies lying in the street near a relief facility in the southern city of Khan Younis, reportedly following artillery fire.

Finding food is a daily challenge for increasingly desperate Gazans who are “simply waiting for food and hoping to find something in order not to watch their children starve in front of their eyes”, Ms. Cherevko explained.

She added: “I spoke with a woman a couple of days ago where she told me that she went with a friend of hers who is nine months pregnant in hopes of finding some food.

Of course, they didn’t manage because they were too afraid to enter areas where there could be incidents like the ones that have been reported over the past few days.”

Search for shelter

Back in Gaza City, OCHA’s Ms. Cherenko said that conditions in shelters in Gaza are now “absolutely horrific” and increasingly crowded – “there are people coming from the north constantly,” the veteran aid worker added, while others are also moving back northwards, likely to be closer to the entry points for aid convoys.

The amount of aid entering Gaza today remains extremely limited and far below the 600 trucks a day that used to reach the enclave before the war began in October 2023. In its latest update, OCHA reported that “starvation and a growing likelihood of famine” are ever-present in the enclave. An estimated 55,000 pregnant women now face miscarriage, stillbirth and undernourished newborns as a result of the food shortages.

Smoke from explosions rises from the Shujaia neighborhood of Gaza City.

Starvation diet

“With the very limited volume of aid that is entering, everyone continues to face starvation and people are constantly risking their lives to try to find something,” Ms. Cherevko continued.

“You eat or [you’re] left with the choice of starving to death.”

After more than 20 months of war, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, 82 per cent of Gaza’s territory is either an Israeli militarized zone or affected by evacuation orders.

Three months since hostilities re-escalated on 18 March, more than 680,000 people have been newly displaced. “With no safe place to go, many people have sought refuge in every available space, including overcrowded displacement sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, streets and open areas,” OCHA said.

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DR Congo crisis: Aid teams appeal for support to help displaced communities left with nothing

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Since the beginning of the year, Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have swept across eastern DRC, taking key cities including Goma and Bukavu. The violence has displaced more than one million people in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

Speaking from the village of Sake in North Kivu, UNDP Resident Representative Damien Mama described meeting a woman whose house had been destroyed after she fled the advancing fighters in January.

Cut off from livelihoods

“You know, with five children, you can imagine what this represents,” Mr. Mama said. “She was telling me that [her family] were given food and temporary shelter; but what she needs is to go back to her farm to continue farming, to continue her activities, and also have her home rebuilt.”

All those newly displaced by the M23 rebel advance are in addition to the five million people already living in displacement camps in eastern DRC.

Health workers have repeatedly warned that the crowded and unsanitary conditions provide ideal conditions for the spread of diseases including mpox, cholera and measles.

Given the scale of need it is urgent that small businesses get the help they need to get up and running again “providing income-generating activities for the women and the youth creating jobs”, the UNDP official insisted.

“The economy has suffered a lot,” he explained. “The banks have closed, businesses have been destroyed, and many are now operating under 30 per cent of their capacity, which is a major blow to their businesses.”

Support for women and girls

At the same time, the UN agency remains committed to helping the many women and girls impacted by alarming levels of sexual violence.

This echoes an alert issued last month by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), that during the most intense phase of this year’s conflict, a child was raped every half an hour.

In the next five months, UNDP intends to support the creation of 1,000 jobs and restore basic infrastructure, benefiting about 15,000 people.

To do this, the UN agency will need $25 million.

“We have so far secured $14 million thanks to [South] Korea, Canada, UK as well as Sweden; and our call will be to encourage other countries and donors to provide us with [the] $11 million gap.”

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Gaza: UN relief chief welcomes growing support for aid teams to resume vital work

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“We value the support of more and more Member States who are joining our call: Let us work,” Mr. Fletcher said, his comments coinciding with the announcement that the US and Israeli-backed aid hub in southern Gaza operating independently of the UN had been suspended on Wednesday.

“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” Mr. Fletcher said.

New Security Council resolution

The development comes ahead of a Security Council meeting on Gaza on Wednesday seeking agreement on a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages taken during Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.

The resolution push is the result of lobbying by the body’s 10 non-permanent Members. It remains to be seen if it will garner the support of the US and the four other countries that hold just five permanent seats on the 15-Member body: China, France, the UK and Russia. Any one of them could veto it.

Meanwhile in Gaza, local authorities on Wednesday claimed that at least 12 people including children had been killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the southern city of Khan Younis.

In his appeal, Mr. Fletcher noted that medical teams had confirmed treating “hundreds of trauma cases” in recent days after footage showed chaotic scenes of Palestinians rushing to take food from the US and Israeli-run aid hubs in southern Gaza.

“Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire,” Mr. Fletcher continued.

He insisted: “Open the crossings – all of them. Let in lifesaving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in. Ensure our convoys aren’t held up by delays and denials.”

UN aid teams plead for access amid reports Gazans shot collecting food

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Unverified footage from Rafah where the privately-run but Israeli military-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is based showed scenes of panic with crowds of people rushing in different directions, while others carried away boxes of supplies.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that it had received information that at least 47 people had been hurt on Tuesday trying to collect aid.

Those numbers could increase as information on the incident is still being gathered, said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking to journalists in Geneva on Wednesday.

“From January to March 2024, our office has documented 26 incidents where the Israel Defense Forces fired shots while people were collecting humanitarian aid, causing casualties at Al Kuwaiti roundabout and Al Naburasi roundabout,” Mr. Sunghay told UN News.

Renewed appeal for aid access

Meanwhile, UN aid teams have continued to appeal to Israel for access to Gaza to deliver and distribute thousands of tonnes of food, medicine and other basic items waiting just outside Gaza.

Jens Laerke from the UN agency OCHA insisted that the its staff have “everything needed to get aid to civilians safely: the people, the networks and the trust” of Gazans.

“Right now, nearly 180,000 pallets of food and other life-saving aid stand ready to enter Gaza, the hungriest place on earth,” he told UN News.

“The supplies have already been paid for by the world’s donors. It is cleared for customs, approved and ready to move. We can get the aid in – immediately, at scale and for as long as necessary.”

50,000 kids killed or injured

In a related development, UNICEF announced that the war in Gaza has killed or injured more than 50,000 children in less than 600 days.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said that since the ceasefire ended on 18 March, approximately 1,300 children have been killed and 3,700 injured alone.

That number is enough children to fill more than 1,600 classrooms, Ms. Ingram told UN News: “Every one of these children is in life. A child with a family, with hopes for the future,” she said. “And yet we continue to count their deaths and live stream their suffering to the world. This must end immediately. 

She added: “The children of Gaza desperately need protection from these ongoing bombardments, as well as food, water, medicine and other basic supplies that they need to survive. The blockade must end. Aid must flow freely and at scale, and more than anything else, we need a ceasefire we need collective action to stop these atrocities and to protect children.”

The UNICEF official’s comments follow an attack on a home last weekend that reportedly killed nine out of 10 siblings of one family, the Al-Najars; all the victims were 12 years old or younger.

Aid teams highlight growing anxiety in Gaza after food is looted

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“Fifteen World Food Programme trucks were looted late last night in Southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries,” the UN agency said. “These trucks were transporting critical food supplies for hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance.”

The development is a blow to continuing efforts to help Gaza’s most vulnerable people after Israel allowed a limited number of aid trucks into Gaza earlier this week, following an 11-week total blockade.

Today, Gazans face “hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming”, WFP said, noting that the uncertainty “is contributing to rising insecurity”.

“We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire,” it insisted.

More to come on this developing story…

All eyes on Gaza as aid teams retrieve first lifesaving relief in months

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“Today will be crucial. Truckloads of lifesaving aid finally on move again,” said top UN aid relief coordinator Tom Fletcher.

Hours earlier and in a major development, 198 trucks entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of the enclave, carrying nutrition supplies, medicines and wheat flour.

Announcing the news online, Mr. Fletcher reported that humanitarian organizations then retrieved “about 90 truckloads of goods” in a nighttime operation to prepare them for distribution.

But significant challenges remain “in loading and dispatching goods” Mr. Fletcher continued, citing security and looting concerns, “delays in coordination approvals and inappropriate routes being provided by Israeli forces that are not viable for the movement of cargo”.

No commercial or humanitarian supplies have been allowed into Gaza since 2 March, deepening an already catastrophic hunger crisis and sparking widespread condemnation from the international community.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) at least 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the local health authorities. The number is likely an underestimate and is expected to increase if the aid blockade continues.  

In their latest report, respected and UN-partnered food insecurity experts warned that nearly 71 000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months unless Gazans can access sufficient food and healthcare support.

Working through the night

Video footage published online Thursday by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) showed aid crews hurrying to offload sacks of flour from trucks at a floodlit warehouse.

Elsewhere in the storage hangar, other images showed large quantities of dough being made in an industrial mixer.

“Our teams are working non-stop to get bakeries running again,” the agency said, referring to the 25 facilities it had to close on 31 March when wheat flour and fuel ran out. 

“But it’s nowhere near enough to support everyone in need. We need more trucks, more food, in now,” the UN agency warned.

After 19 months of constant Israeli bombardment which continues today, one in five Gazans faces starvation, food insecurity experts have warned.

And reiterating the urgent need for more lifesaving supplies to enter the shattered enclave, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, stressed that much more aid will be needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

No fuel allowed in

No hygiene products or fuel have been allowed into the enclave by the Israeli authorities, the UN agency noted.

“The UN and its partners have been engaging with the Israeli authorities to identify the best possible route from Kerem Shalom onward into Gaza to ensure the flow of aid is not disrupted or suspended,” OCHA explained in its latest update. “Partners are in touch with community leaders in Gaza to mitigate the risk of looting and ensure that the supplies entering Gaza reach the people who rely on them.”

Meanwhile, Gazans continue to contend with daily bombardment and shelling across the Strip, with dozens reported killed on Tuesday.

A day later, OCHA noted that the health authorities on an urgent request for blood donors to treat the sick and injured.

“Amid the hostilities, large numbers of people continue to be displaced – once again fleeing for their lives amid intense bombing of their communities and with no safe place to seek shelter or supplies,” the UN agency said.

It reported that a full 80 per cent of Gaza is either subject to displacement orders or located in Israeli-militarized zones which require aid teams to coordinate their movements with the Israeli authorities.

“Partners report that over the past few days, almost half of people newly displaced have fled with none of their belongings,” OCHA said. “The ongoing displacement of Gaza’s population is putting immense pressure on humanitarian teams, especially when there is no food or other basic supplies to offer.” 

More to come on this developing story…

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Champions for Change: World football teams up with UN development goals

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The Football for the Goals Forum brought UN leaders and some of the top voices in the world’s most popular sport to UN Headquarters in New York for the inaugural Champions for Change: Football and the UN Unite for the SDGs event.

The UN has long recognised the role of sport in advancing the SDGs – promoting peace, gender equality, health, and climate action – as affirmed in a General Assembly Resolution on Sport adopted in December 2022.

With unparalleled global reach, football holds a unique position to drive progress on these goals. Launched in July 2022, Football for the Goals is a UN initiative engaging the international football community to advocate for the SDGs.

Wednesday’s forum aimed to mobilise the football community for action across key SDG areas.

The kick off

After introductions from football executives, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, UN communications chief Melissa Fleming, and the Qatari Representative to the UN, the opening panel – Bolstering Community Engagement with the SDGs – outlined the origins of Football for the Goals and explored how the football community can deepen its contribution to the SDGs.

This was followed by a brief discussion on the football sector’s commitment to climate sustainability.

The programme then shifted to some of the Forum’s most substantive panels, exploring how football both reflects global inequalities – between the Global South and North, and between men and women – and has the potential to help address them.

North-South divide

Júlia Pimenta of Street Child United highlighted that football organisations in the Global South, which serve the children who need support most, often lack adequate funding and must compete with well-resourced programmes in the Global North.

Sarah Van Vooren of Atoot in Nepal similarly noted that grassroots organisations connecting football and sustainable development, frequently lack the resources needed to reach their full potential.

When these organisations are properly supported, they can provide safe, educational environments for children – often with life-changing results.

Panellists emphasised that funding such initiatives is key to advancing SDGs related to education and reducing inequality.

© UNICEF/Truong Viet Hung

Young girls play football at school in Soc Trang Province, Viet Nam.

Levelling the gender playing field

Jayathma Wickramanayake, a policy advisor on sports partnerships at UN Women, noted that the gender equality agency is responsible for most of the targets under SDG 5 related to closing the gender gap.

She emphasised that progress has been slow – and in some areas, it’s even regressing – largely due to the persistence of rigid social norms, attitudes, and behaviours.

These norms often manifest in the sports world through unequal pay and incidents of sexual harassment. However, Ms. Wickramanayake and other panellists highlighted how sport can be a powerful tool to challenge stereotypes and empower women and girls to succeed – both on and off the pitch.

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Gaza: UN aid teams reject Israel’s ‘deliberate attempt to weaponize aid’

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“It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid and we have warned against that for a very long time. Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr. Laerke referred to a verbal brief delivered by Israeli authorities on Monday, in which they offered to deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the military, once the Government reopens crossings into Gaza.

The proposal came as part of Israel’s plans to expand its military offensive against Hamas, including the “capture” of the Gaza Strip and a reported comment by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Palestinian territory will be “entirely destroyed”.

Attempted ‘shut down’ of UN aid system

“Israeli officials have sought to shut down the existing aid system run by 15 UN agencies and 200 NGOs and partners,” Mr. Laerke maintained.

The Israeli cabinet’s vow to escalate the war will force Gaza’s more than two million people to move to the south of the Strip once again.

After 19 months of conflict, the entire enclave has suffered the impact of the months-long border blockade.

The Israeli decision to cut off the entry of humanitarian supplies to the enclave is reportedly to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken in Hamas-led terror attacks on 7 October 2023 that sparked the war.

Humanitarians have condemned the border closures stating the policy violates international law and risks fuelling famine.

Today in Gaza, UN partners working in the food sectors have distributed all they had and have no more to give. Mr. Laerke reported testimonies of colleagues on the ground who observed “people rummaging through garbage, trying to find something edible. That is the harsh, brutal, inhuman reality of the situation.”

Grave health impact

Since the beginning of 2025, nearly 10,000 children with global acute malnutrition have been admitted for outpatient and inpatient treatment, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). That number includes 1,397 with severe acute malnutrition.

“Once you get to that stage, without treatment, you will die,” warned Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the UN health agency.

The WHO official noted that fewer children are being treated in partially functioning hospitals than expected, most probably because they cannot access care.

According to WHO data, one in five children does not complete their treatment because of the displacement and chaotic situation they face.

The lack of water and sewage infrastructure is also causing a worrying spike in acute watery diarrhoea. Skin diseases are also on the rise because people simply do not have enough water to wash themselves.

Meanwhile, Mr. Laerke continued to call on all combatants and those involved in mediation to continue pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.

“It is a horrible crime of war to take hostages and use them as some kind of bargaining chip,” he said. “On the other hand, you [cannot also] withhold aid to civilians as a bargaining chip on the other side of the board game.”