Disease outbreaks and displacements in Gaza and West Bank, Highlights of the noon briefing by Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General – 07 August 2024

07 August 2024

(Excerpt)

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

Good afternoon, everyone. In Gaza today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that relentless hostilities and recurrent evacuation orders are driving a seemingly endless cycle of displacement and making it increasingly difficult for people to access the humanitarian assistance they need to survive after 10 months of war.

To give you just one example: when malnourished children in Gaza have to flee suddenly, it is extremely challenging for humanitarian partners to monitor and follow up with the necessary services and for displaced families to carry the malnutrition prevention and treatment supplies they need.

Repeated displacement – coupled with insecurity, access constraints, and other challenges – also continue to hamper the early detection of children and women in need of nutrition services. These factors also constrain partners’ ability to scale up their operational presence and store life-saving supplies.

The UN and our humanitarian partners in Gaza remain committed to delivering critical assistance to people across the Strip wherever and whenever possible.

Our partners working on the shelter response in Gaza continue to monitor the movement and needs of newly displaced people in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis and provide support. Since 22 July, they have provided hundreds of tents to families displaced in southern, central and northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, between 22 July and this past Sunday, 48 of our partners working on the health response in Gaza reached more than a quarter-million people across the Strip. There are also more than a dozen emergency medical teams supporting local health-care workers, including three in northern Gaza.

However, ongoing hostilities and the constant bombardment of Gaza have caused numerous mass casualty incidents in recent weeks that have stretched humanitarian organizations’ ability to respond to trauma and emergency cases.

Poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions – coupled with overcrowding – is also driving disease outbreaks.

Today, the World Health Organization said it is working with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health on a range of measures, including polio vaccination campaigns, following the detection of a variant of poliovirus type 2 in environmental samples in Gaza. Although no clinical cases have been detected, the risk to children is high – and we must move rapidly to prevent and contain the spread of the virus.

Turning to the West Bank, OCHA’s latest report says the killing and displacement of Palestinians – and the demolition of their homes and destruction of the public infrastructure they rely on – continue unabated. Between 30 July and 5 August, 16 Palestinians – including two children – were killed by Israeli forces, nine of them by airstrikes. Another 56 people were injured. During that same period, Israeli settlers also perpetrated more than two dozen attacks against Palestinians, causing injuries and damage to property. The full report is available online.

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