GAZA
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, has warned that Gaza is a public health disaster in the making, with infectious diseases spreading fast in overcrowded shelters. In a social media post, Mr. Griffiths said hospitals are barely functioning and unable to provide care to hundreds of people injured by the ongoing fighting.
As intense Israeli bombardments continue across most of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization says Gaza has 13 partially functioning hospitals, 2 minimally functioning ones, and 21 that are not functioning at all. Nine of them are in the south, where they are operating at three times their capacity, while facing critical supply and fuel shortages. In the north, four hospitals are providing maternity, trauma and emergency care services, despite a lack of staff and medical supplies, as well as fuel, food and drinking water.
Meanwhile, only eight of 22 health centres run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) south of Wadi Gaza are still operating. Nearly 100 UNRWA medical teams continue to treat internally displaced people at shelters.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the intensity of the fighting in Gaza continues to impede ongoing efforts to provide health care and other life-saving assistance to civilians. Insecurity, blocked roads, and fuel shortages also hamper humanitarian operations, as do frequent disruptions to telecommunications.
SYRIA
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs remains concerned over the impact on civilians of ongoing hostilities in northwest and northeast Syria.
On Monday, shelling and airstrikes hit residential areas in Idleb and western Aleppo in northwest Syria, killing at least six people, including a mother, father and their three children.
On the same day, in northeast Syria, strikes hit several residential areas and civilian facilities in Qamishli City, Tell Refaat, Alin Al-Arab and other areas in Al Hasakah and Aleppo governorates. According to local sources, at least 12 civilians were killed. Strikes in Ain Al-Arab have reportedly damaged a health clinic, putting it out of service.
Health partners are warning of overstretched resources this winter, as cases of respiratory infections increase to the highest levels witnessed in northwest Syria in five years, with children under the age of five particularly affected. The UN and humanitarian partners continue to support civilians and local health facilities, but additional donor support is urgently needed. At the end of 2023, the annual Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria is just 36 per cent funded, with $2 billion received of the required $5.4 billion.
LEBANON
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) today condemned an attack on one of its patrols, in which one peacekeeper was injured. The patrol was attacked on 27 December by a group of people near Taybeh village, Marjayoun District, South Lebanon. The windows of the patrol vehicle were smashed, resulting in the injury of the peacekeeper. UNIFIL calls on the Lebanese authorities to ensure accountability for the incident and ensure that UNIFIL has unrestricted freedom of movement within its area of operations and the safety and security of the peacekeepers. The Mission’s operations in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) are more critical than ever at this time.
Noting the continued exchanges of fire across the Blue Line, UNIFIL again urges all actors to cease hostilities immediately.
SUDAN
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the spread of the conflict in Sudan is hampering efforts to reach civilians in need, including those newly displaced by fierce fighting in Al-Jazirah State earlier this month.
Over the past two weeks, as many as 300,000 people have fled areas in and around the state capital, Wad Medani. As they arrive in other states – including Gedaref, Kassala, Red Sea, Sennar and White Nile – and cross over the border into South Sudan, humanitarian organizations are working to provide assistance. However, there is an urgent need for additional resources, including shelter, food and other basic items, as available stocks are low and the ability to move supplies remains extremely challenging.
In Gedaref State, an estimated 15,000 people have sought shelter with host communities. Humanitarian partners there are scaling up efforts to provide food, water, sanitation, hygiene and health support, as well as protection services, to displaced people as they arrive.
For its part, the World Food Programme (WFP) today strongly condemned the looting of food supplies from its premises in Al-Jazirah State last weekend after elements of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke into the warehouse and office, following their takeover of Wad Medani. WFP warehouse contained more than 2,500 metric tons of life-saving food, including pulses, sorghum, vegetable oil and nutrition supplements.
Sudan is one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarians to operate. Almost 25 million people are estimated to need humanitarian relief in 2024, the majority of them in conflict hotspots – including Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – which are increasingly difficult for aid agencies to reach.
MALI
The UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) today ended its presence in the Timbuktu region, following the departure of its last personnel by air and land convoy.
In a ceremony presided over by Bakoun Kante, the Governor of Timbuktu, and Anton Antchev, the Director of the Mission Liquidation Coordination Team and Officer-in-Charge of the MINUSMA Liquidation Entity, the Timbuktu MINUSMA camp was transferred, in a fully functional state, to the Transitional Government of Mali.
The departure from Timbuktu marks the closure of the first of three MINUSMA liquidation sites. Since July, the Mission has withdrawn almost 1,867 military and 173 police personnel, as well as 226 civilian personnel from Timbuktu, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2690 (2023). The property of troop- and police-contributing countries, as well as United Nations property, has been disposed of in full compliance with United Nations Financial Rules and Regulations.
While the United Nations usually allows around 18 months for the liquidation of a multidimensional peacekeeping mission, the MINUSMA Liquidation Entity will strive to shorten this timeframe.
NIGERIA
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he is deeply alarmed by the series of attacks by gunmen on multiple rural communities in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria, on Christmas Eve, that left at least 150 people dead and many injured.
He called on the Nigerian authorities to investigate this incident promptly, thoroughly and independently, consistent with international human rights law, and to hold those responsible to account in fair trials.
He also said the Government should also take meaningful steps to address the underlying root causes and to ensure non-recurrence of this devastating violence.
ETHIOPIA
The UN Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission today issued a report calling on the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that ongoing efforts to address the country’s legacy of human rights violations and abuses are grounded in applicable international human rights law. The report also calls for consistent focus on the rights and needs of victims and their families.
The report’s findings point to broad consensus among participants on the need to implement all components of transitional justice, equally. These encompass criminal accountability, truth-seeking, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence, including effective remedies for victims, legal reforms and reconciliation.
According to the report, the peaceful resolution of ongoing conflicts and violence and durable solutions for internally displaced people, especially their safe, voluntary and dignified return to their homes, were also seen as a priority for Ethiopia’s path towards peace, accountability and reconciliation.
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT
Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Andrew Paul Saberton of the United Kingdom as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as Deputy Executive Director (Management) of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Mr. Saberton succeeds Ib Petersen of Denmark, to whom the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UNFPA are grateful for his dedicated service.
Mr. Saberton has served as the Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director (Management) ad interim since November 2023 and as UNFPA Comptroller and Director for the Division of Management Services since September 2016. With over three decades of extensive experience in management, he has overseen UNFPA’s global operations, driving change initiatives to ensure UNFPA is more fit-for-purpose and impactful throughout times of crisis, austerity and financial growth.
Previously, he was the Chief of the Finance Branch (2011-2016) and Chief of the Accounts Section (2009-2011) at UNFPA.
