Highlights of the noon briefing by Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General (excerpt on Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory) 7 June 2024

07 June 2024

(Excerpt)

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SECRETARY-GENERAL TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT

On Monday, the Secretary-General is expected to be in Jordan, where he will attend a High-Level Conference on Gaza that will take place on Tuesday. The “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Aid for Gaza” conference will be held at the invitation of His Majesty King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, and the Secretary-General.

The conference seeks a collective coordinated response to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Heads of state and government, and heads of international humanitarian and relief agencies are expected to participate, and while at the conference, the Secretary-General is expected to hold several bilateral meetings with officials.

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ISRAEL

The annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in due to go to the security council on 14 June, which is next Friday.

As per usual practice, an advance copy will be delivered to security council members on that day.

The report will be officially published on 18 June, with a press conference by Virginia Gamba, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, happening that day.

It will then be discussed in an open meeting on 26 June.

This report is an initiative of Member States – of the Security Council – who have tasked Secretaries-General to report annually on this based on a well-established methodology.

Earlier today, the UN chief of staff, Courtenay Rattray, called the Permanent Representative of Israel, Gilad Erdan. the call was a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annex. It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks.

Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call and the partial release of that recording on twitter, is shocking and unacceptable.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that escalating hostilities are crippling the provision of health care across Gaza, with supply shortages and reduced bed capacity reported widely.

UN Partners working on the health response warn that the few hospitals that are still partially functioning in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of casualties from ongoing airstrikes. The situation is especially severe at Al Aqsa hospital, with one of the facility’s two generators now out of service.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1,200 patients – an average of 50 each day – have been unable to leave Gaza to receive treatment abroad, as of 30 May.

WHO estimates that at least 14,000 patients need medical evacuation outside Gaza, with this number expected to increase due to shrinking hospital bed capacity.
Meanwhile, UNICEF reports that the ongoing conflict and restrictions in Gaza are preventing families from meeting their children’s food needs. Nine of every 10 children in Gaza are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. That’s according to data that UNICEF collected between December and April.

The Secretary-General condemned the Israeli airstrike on an UNRWA school in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, sheltering some 6,000 IDPs, in which more than 30 people were reportedly killed, including 14 children. UN premises are inviolable, including during armed conflict, and must be protected by all parties.

And in a social media post yesterday, Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths stressed that the rules of war must be respected, and civilians must be protected.

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