Action by UN System and Intergovernmental Organizations Relevant to the Question of Palestine (January 2024 Monthly Bulletin)

 

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The Bulletin can be found in the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL) on the Internet at: https://www.un.org/unispal/data-collection/monthly-bulletin/ 

Disclaimer: The texts cited in this Monthly Bulletin have been reproduced in their original form. The Division for Palestinian Rights is consequently not responsible for the views, positions or discrepancies contained in these texts.

January 2024

Volume XLIX, Bulletin No. XIII

 

Contents

1. UN Secretary-General reports on implementation of Security Council resolution 2712 (2023)
2. 32 UN human rights experts welcome start of ICJ genocide hearings and reiterate call for ceasefire
3. UNICEF reiterates children in Gaza still at the sharp end of unrelenting war
4. WHO underscores Gaza health system is hanging by a thread
5. UN human rights experts say Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food
6. UN Women calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access for Gaza
7. UN Human Rights Office in OPT pleads for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and for all hostages to be released
8. UNFPA calls for scale-up of humanitarian aid and improved access to sexual and reproductive health care for the women and girls of Gaza
9. UN Secretary-General briefs Security Council ministerial meeting after 100 days of Gaza war
10. Palestinian Rights Committee addresses the Security Council ministerial level meeting
11. UN Humanitarian Coordinator stresses that humanitarians are struggling to provide displaced people with basic services
12. ICJ orders Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide
13. UNRWA Commissioner-General addresses serious allegations against UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip
14. UN Secretary-General on UNRWA allegations
15. 36 UN human rights experts on Gaza: ICJ ruling offers hope for protection of civilians enduring apocalyptic conditions
16. UN Secretary-General addresses Palestinian Rights Committee
17. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator briefs the Security Council

 

 

I. UN Secretary-General reports on implementation of Security Council resolution 2712 (2023)

On 5 January, the following letter from António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General was addressed to the President of the Security Council

I have the honour to refer to Security Council resolution 2720 (2023), in which the Council requested that I report in writing, within five working days of the adoption of that resolution, on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2712 (2023).

Resolution 2712 (2023) was adopted in the context of the widespread death and destruction unleashed by the conflict in Gaza and Israel. Sadly, devastating levels of death and destruction continue.

According to Israeli authorities, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed in Israel in the abhorrent acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas and other groups on 7 October 2023, during which some 250 Israelis and foreign nationals, including around 65 women and 34 children, were abducted and taken to Gaza. Numerous accounts of sexual violence have also been reported. Thousands of others have been injured in Israel.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, since the start of the current Israeli military operations, more than 22,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been injured and many have gone missing. More than two thirds of those killed and injured in Gaza are reported to be children and women.

In its resolution 2712 (2023), the Council “demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children”. I continue to have grave concerns about the possible commission of serious violations of international law. The number of deaths and injuries documented since 7 October is staggering. Furthermore, an estimated 85 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza are currently displaced. Families are repeatedly told to evacuate to other locations for their own safety, but nowhere is dependably safe in Gaza, and nowhere can their essential needs be met.

The scale of death and destruction, especially in northern Gaza, is characteristic of the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in densely populated areas. To date, over 60 per cent of homes in Gaza are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed.

At the same time, the indiscriminate launching of rockets by Hamas and other groups towards population centres in Israel has continued, along with allegations that civilians, hospitals and other civilian objects are being used in an attempt to shield fighters and military objectives.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that nearly 1.9 million civilians are sheltering in, or in the vicinity of, UNRWA installations in Gaza. Under international law, UNRWA installations, like all United Nations facilities, are inviolable, including in times of armed conflict. UNRWA shares the coordinates of all its facilities across the Gaza Strip with all parties to the conflict. Yet the agency has reported 193 incidents affecting 125 of its installations. Reportedly, a total of 308 internally displaced people sheltering in UNRWA premises have been killed and nearly 1,095 have been injured.

It is with profound sadness that I must also report that, as of today, 144 members of our United Nations family, 142 of whom were UNRWA staff, have been killed in Gaza. This is the largest loss of life during a single conflict in the history of our Organization.

Since the start of the current Israeli military operations in Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 294 attacks that have affected health care, resulting in the killing of some 600 people and affecting 94 hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as 76 ambulances.

The rules of war are clear: civilians, including United Nations personnel, must be respected and protected. Constant care must be taken in the conduct of military operations to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects. Civilian objects must be respected and protected. Hospitals and other medical facilities enjoy specific protection under international humanitarian law. I am gravely concerned about the apparent disregard for these crucial binding legal obligations by all parties to the conflict. International humanitarian law must be respected by all parties to the conflict at all times. The failure of one party to a conflict to abide by international humanitarian law does not absolve the other party from its obligation to do so.

In its resolution 2712 (2023), the Council calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” to enable “full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for … humanitarian agencies”. On 22 November, Israel and Hamas, with the assistance of the Governments of Qatar, Egypt and the United States of America, reached an arrangement to pause hostilities on 24 November. This truce was extended multiple times, until 1 December, when hostilities resumed. Since then, no further pauses have been agreed.

While it lasted, the pause in hostilities enabled a welcome increase in the delivery of basic supplies into and across Gaza, primarily by the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and United Nations agencies. The resumption of hostilities has once again significantly impeded deliveries of humanitarian aid. Despite formidable challenges, humanitarian partners are working to expand the reach of relief efforts and deliver assistance to as many people as possible.

Humanitarian convoys are being dispatched daily to Rafah, the west of Khan Yunis, the Deir El-Balah camp and Nusayrat, where displaced people and host communities are seeking safety and shelter. In these areas, humanitarians are working to deliver aid to UNRWA facilities, as well as to ad hoc displacement sites that have emerged in open spaces. Delivery of assistance north of Wadi Gaza, where an estimated 300,000 people remain, is extremely difficult owing to active fighting, the presence of Israeli ground forces and the heavily damaged road network. Since the end of the humanitarian pause on 1 December, 12 humanitarian convoys have reached the area north of Wadi Gaza, delivering vital and life-saving health supplies. Each of these convoys encountered major challenges, ranging from the impact of small arms fire to the detention of aid workers at crossing checkpoints controlled by IDF.

To date, a total of 6,099 truckloads of humanitarian aid have been delivered to the Gaza Strip, including 5,197 through Rafah and 902 through the Karem Abu Salim/Kerem Shalom crossing, which Israel opened to deliveries from Egypt on 17 December.

Despite these efforts, the level of aid to Palestinians in Gaza is completely inadequate to meet the needs of more than 2 million people. As I have previously noted, measuring the effectiveness of the humanitarian response solely by the number of truckloads of aid entering Gaza is misleading. An effective aid operation requires security, safeguards for humanitarian personnel, logistical capacity and the resumption of commercial activity. It requires electricity and steady communications. All of these remain absent.

I welcome the agreement reached on the entry of fuel into Gaza in support of the humanitarian response. However, although the total volume of fuel allowed has increased, it is still insufficient to sustain basic operations. At present, the United Nations is the only entity allowed to receive and allocate fuel, under strict conditions set by the Israeli authorities, and delivery, especially to the north, remains extremely challenging. It is critical that commercial fuel distribution resumes, to alleviate the current unsustainable task of the United Nations to arrange and coordinate resupply for hospitals, telecommunications companies, financial institutions, and water and sanitation infrastructure.

Civilians in Gaza need a continuous flow of life-saving humanitarian aid and fuel into and across the area. In its absence, aid convoys are increasingly confronted by desperate civilians who forcibly take the assistance they need, heightening risks to aid workers, damaging trucks and hampering delivery to key destinations. The law and order necessary to ensure safe, smooth operations is absent in much of Gaza. This is a necessary prerequisite for humanitarians to be able to work.

Even if scaled up, the humanitarian sector cannot substitute for the near complete lack of commercial imports of essential items. The commercial sector has been decimated, leaving the United Nations and humanitarian partners alone in providing basic necessities that should be available from markets. Israel has a responsibility for ensuring, to the fullest extent of the means available to it, the food and medical supplies of the population, as well as the provision of clothing, bedding, means of shelter and other supplies essential to its survival. This cannot be achieved without an immediate and massive increase in the commercial supply of essential goods.

In its resolution 2712 (2023), the Council calls for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups”. Following an arrangement on 22 November between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, the International Committee of the Red Cross has facilitated the release and transfer of over 100 hostages. This is welcome. However, I reiterate that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must be treated humanely, and the International Committee of the Red Cross must be allowed to visit. I am deeply concerned by reports that several hostages have been killed or subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment while in captivity. The arrangement reached on 22 November also led to the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, most of them women and children, from Israeli jails.

In its resolution 2712 (2023), the Council calls for “all parties to refrain from depriving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip of basic services and humanitarian assistance indispensable to their survival, consistent with international humanitarian law”. 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 or destroyed roads and fuel shortages also hamper humanitarian operations, as do frequent disruptions to telecommunications.

Hunger and thirst are rampant, and widespread famine looms, according to the World Food Programme. More than half a million people – a quarter of the population – are facing what experts classify as catastrophic levels of hunger. WHO indicates that just 13 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are still functioning, but only partially. They are overwhelmed with trauma cases and operating in unsafe conditions, filled with tens of thousands of people seeking safety. The hospitals are desperately short of supplies and only able to provide a modicum of comfort through the heroic efforts of health workers who have seen colleagues die and who live with the reality that their own death may be imminent.

A public health catastrophe is rapidly evolving in Gaza. Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters. Sanitary conditions are appalling, with few toilets and sewage flooding. As winter takes hold, infectious disease outbreaks will spike. WHO reports that Gaza is already experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks.

Children, pregnant women, older persons and those with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, children recently displaced to southern Gaza are not able to access 90 per cent of their normal water use. Concerns of waterborne diseases, such as cholera and chronic diarrhoea, are heightened by the lack of safe water. WHO reports that diarrhoea cases among children aged under 5 are 25 times what they were before the current fighting. Around 180 Palestinian women are estimated to be giving birth every day in these extremely difficult conditions.

To facilitate implementation of resolution 2712 (2023) and as required by law, Gaza needs an immediate and sustained increase in humanitarian aid, especially food, water, fuel, blankets, medicines and health-care supplies. Israel must fully restore water and electricity services. The private sector must also be able to bring in fuel and critical basic commodities to replenish depleted shops in Gaza and facilitate cash-based assistance programmes.

In its resolution 2712 (2023), the Council “underscores the importance of coordination, humanitarian notification, and deconfliction mechanisms, to protect all medical and humanitarian staff, vehicles including ambulances, humanitarian sites, and critical infrastructure, including UN facilities”.

The humanitarian notification system, implemented by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNRWA and the access support unit, was established in 2019 to provide a shared framework by which humanitarian agencies inform parties to the conflict of static humanitarian locations and humanitarian aid movements to ensure humanitarian access to affected populations. To date, a total of 996 humanitarian sites have been notified, including 87 since 7 October, as well as hundreds of humanitarian movements, including nearly 800 since the current fighting began. The framework has exceptionally enabled a limited number of movements to areas in which a high number of kinetic operations are ongoing during the current hostilities, including in the north, via an endorsed coordination mechanism in which IDF is an active participant, providing cleared routes and assurances of security. Given the magnitude of the current hostilities and the scope of civilian casualties, this mechanism has preserved a small degree of humanitarian access. However, as noted above, the parties to the conflict must ensure that civilians are protected, hospitals can function and humanitarians can remain in Gaza and provide aid to highly vulnerable populations in increasingly insecure locations.

At least 130 notified sites, including the 125 UNRWA facilities mentioned above, have been affected since the start of the current round of fighting, and staff involved in coordinated aid missions have seen their work hampered by small arms fire, detentions and delays. Incidents harming structures notified under the humanitarian notification system have resulted in damage to critical infrastructure as well as civilian deaths, injuries and multiple displacements.

I take this opportunity to highlight that, on 26 December, I appointed Sigrid Kaag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza pursuant to Security Council resolution 2720 (2023). In this role, she will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify the humanitarian nature of all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through States not party to the conflict. She will also establish a United Nations mechanism to accelerate humanitarian relief consignments into Gaza through such States, consulting all relevant parties.

To ensure streamlined operations, Ms. Kaag will report to me through the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. She will also work in close coordination with the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, who leads the coordination efforts for humanitarian, development and recovery activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the Commissioner-General of UNRWA. Ms. Kaag will be supported by the United Nations Office for Project Services.

In closing, on the basis of the information received to date, and consistent with my previous updates to the Council, resolution 2712 (2023) is far from being implemented and progress remains woefully insufficient.

In line with that resolution, I wrote to the Council outlining options to effectively monitor its implementation. As noted, effective monitoring is heavily predicated on conditions on the ground being conducive to such monitoring, including with respect to security, functioning communication networks, facilitation of movement and access to and from relevant areas, and other operational factors. These factors remain largely absent.

After more than 80 days of intense fighting, the people of Gaza have reached a breaking point of deprivation and despair. This must end. We need civilians and the life-sustaining infrastructure they rely on to be protected. We need the remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally. We need consistent, safe humanitarian access, at scale. We need to ensure that there is no additional spillover to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the region or beyond. We need the fighting to stop.

(Signed) António Guterres

II. 32 UN human rights experts welcome start of ICJ genocide hearings and reiterate call for ceasefire

On 11 January Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Ms. Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Ms. Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Mr. Livingstone Sewanyana, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Mr. Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ms. Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Ms Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Ms Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Ms Cecilia M. Bailliet, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Mr. Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Ms Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Jose Francisco Calí Tzay, Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples., Mr. Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, Ms. Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Chair), Ms. Claudia Flores, Ms. Ivana Krstić, Ms. Haina Lu, and Ms. Laura Nyirinkindi, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, Mr. Carlos Salazar Couto (Chair-Rapporteur), Ms. Sorcha MacLeod, Ms. Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito, Mr. Chris M. A. Kwaja, Mr. Ravindran Daniel, Working Group on the use of mercenaries, Mr. Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Ms Ashwini K.P. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Ms. Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Ms. Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Mr. David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; and Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children issued a statement reflected in the following press release.

UN human rights experts today welcomed the start of hearings before the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) of a case brought by South Africa concerning allegations that Israel is committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people. The experts emphasized that any decision the Court reaches on provisional measures must be respected and implemented by the parties to the dispute, as required by the ICJ Statute.

South Africa on 29 December 2023 asked the ICJ to urgently issue provisional measures ordering Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza and to protect residents from acts of genocide, alleging breaches by Israel of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”). The Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. The hearings concerning the request for provisional measures will be held on 11 and 12 January at The Hague, in The Netherlands. South Africa’s filing also alleges that Israel is inciting genocide and has failed to prevent genocide.

“ICJ decisions are final, binding, and not subject to appeal. Adherence to any order the Court may make by the parties involved is imperative for protecting the rights of Palestinians and reinforcing the primacy of international law,” the experts said.

“We commend South Africa for bringing this case to the ICJ at a time when the rights of Palestinians in Gaza are being violated with impunity. We call on all States to cooperate with the Court as it interprets the Genocide Convention and to respect the role of the ICJ as an independent court of law.”

The experts also welcomed the statements of support by many States for South Africa’s action in bringing the case to the Court, as well as the principled stand taken by individuals and organizations worldwide that have expressed support for the submission of the case by South Africa.

The experts noted that this is not the first such case. In 2019, for example, The Gambia brought a case against Myanmar under the Genocide Convention to the ICJ, and asked for the Court to issue provisional measures calling for a halt to atrocities against the Rohingya people. The Court issued provisional measures in that case, which is still pending determination before the ICJ.

Both South Africa and Israel have ratified the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as have 151 other States.

“South Africa’s case has broader implications for all States – not only those that have ratified the Convention – as all are obligated both to refrain from committing genocide, and to prevent and punish it wherever it occurs. All States must act together to prevent, halt, and punish genocide,” the experts said.

“The ICJ has in the past made clear that obligations under the Genocide Convention are of an erga omnes nature, meaning that any and all countries have a stake in preventing genocide wherever it is at risk of occurring. This plainly means that uninvolved countries have standing to bring a case like South Africa’s to the ICJ,” the experts explained.

In its application to the Court, South Africa cited numerous statements by UN Special Procedures mandate holders, including the experts’ repeated calls for international action to prevent genocide in Gaza. The mandate holders’ statements reference evidence of genocidal incitement by Israeli Government officials, including a stated intent to “destroy the Palestinian people under occupation”, and calls for a “second Nakba” in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. These comments by Israeli officials have been made amidst the extensive use by Israel of powerful, often unguided weaponry in Gaza with inherently indiscriminate impacts, severe restrictions on the entry of lifesaving humanitarian aid, and attacks on health care services, all of which have resulted in a devastating death toll, including large numbers of women and children, the forcible transfer of more than half of Gaza’s population, and extensive destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure.

Recalling the alarming magnitude and intensity of the bombardments, the experts also reiterated their demand, issued in December 2023 along with other Special Procedure mandate holders, for an immediate ceasefire and a halt to displacement, domicide, and attacks on health infrastructure. The experts further called for immediate action to ensure the unimpeded delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, especially for the sick or injured, persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women, and children.

III. UNICEF reiterates children in Gaza still at the sharp end of unrelenting war

On 12 January, UNICEF Special Representative Lucia Elmi briefed the press at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.  The briefing is reflected in the following summary.

After almost 100 days of violence, killing, bombardment and captivity for children in Gaza, all the suffering has been too much.

With every passing day, children and families in the Gaza Strip face increased risk of death from the sky, disease from lack of safe water, and deprivation from lack of food. And for the two remaining Israeli children still held hostage in Gaza, their nightmare that began on 7 October continues.

And the situation continues to deteriorate rapidly. UNICEF last week spoke of the ‘triple threat’ stalking children in the Gaza Strip: conflict, disease, and malnutrition. We are doing everything we can, but we are faced with a formidable challenge to address these issues.

Children in Gaza are running out of time, while most of the lifesaving humanitarian aid they desperately need remains stranded between insufficient access corridors and protracted layers of inspections. Mounting needs and a constrained response is a formula for a disaster of epic proportions.

Thousands of children have already died and thousands more will quickly follow if we don’t immediately fix three urgent bottlenecks:

One, safety: Nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip. The intense bombardment and ongoing conflict in densely populated urban areas threatens the lives of civilians and humanitarian aid workers.

The bombardment is also impeding the delivery of desperately needed assistance. When I was in Gaza last week, we tried for 6 days to get fuel and medical supplies to the North and for 6 days movement restrictions prevented us from travelling. My colleagues in Gaza endured this same challenge for weeks before my arrival. Families in the north desperately need this fuel to operate water and sanitation infrastructure. They are still waiting.

Two, logistics: We still aren’t getting sufficient aid in – yesterday just 139 (73 via Rafah and 66 via KS) trucks entered. The inspection process remains slow and unpredictable. And some of the materials we desperately need remain restricted, with no clear justification. These include generators to power water facilities and hospitals, and plastic pipes to repair badly damaged water infrastructure.

In addition, once aid gets in, there are significant challenges to distributing it across the Gaza Strip, particularly to the North and recently also the middle area.

Frequent communications blackouts make it extremely challenging to coordinate the distribution of aid, and let people know how to access it, and when.

The congestion in the south due to the massive displacement and the intense needs mean continued incidents of people in despair stopping trucks and trying to get their hands on whatever they can.

Shortages of fuel and trucks inside the Strip, and major damage to roads, make travel slower and less frequent.

Three, commercial: Humanitarian aid alone is not sufficient. The volume of commercial goods for sale in the Gaza Strip needs to increase, and increase fast. What is needed is at least 300 trucks of private commercial goods going in on a daily basis. This will help people purchase essential goods, relieve community tension, and stimulate the cash assistance programs offered by UNICEF and others.

But we are seeing very little change, and frankly, the consequences are being measured, daily, in the loss of children’s lives.

An immediate and long-lasting ceasefire is the only way to end the killing and injuring of children and their families and enable the urgent delivery of desperately needed aid. But while we continue advocating and pushing for that to happen, we urgently need:

• All access crossings into the Gaza Strip to open;
• Approval and inspection processes for aid to be faster and more efficient, and predictable;
• The resumption of commercial/private sector activities;
• The immediate entry of increased quantity of fuel that can go across the Gaza Strip;
• Reliable and uninterrupted telecommunication channels;
• Greater trucking and transportation capacity inside the Gaza Strip;
• Civilian infrastructure like schools and hospitals must be protected;
• And, access to the north of the Gaza Strip, to allow us to reach vulnerable children and families that are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

Finally, the two abducted Israeli children must be unconditionally and safely released.

This violence must stop now.

IV.  WHO underscores Gaza health system is hanging by a thread

On 15 January, Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, Director of the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean made the following remarks at a press briefing, excerpted below.

We are now at the 100-day mark since the hostilities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory escalated.

In this short period of time, Gazans – previously waking up every day in their beds to get ready to go to school or work, have family dinners together, and make plans for the future – have lost their closest loved ones, homes and belongings, livelihoods, and most basic human rights.

Almost 85% of the entire population of Gaza — 1.9 million people – are now displaced and living in overcrowded shelters with extremely limited sanitation services, without food or water, in freezing temperatures, and facing increasing hunger and disease, in addition to risk of injury or death from the bombardments.

The health system is hanging by a thread, desperately trying to maintain functionality amid overwhelming challenges and threats of attack. With only 15 of 36 hospitals functioning – and all of these only partially functioning – many injured patients are being treated on the floors of overcrowded health facilities. Many of those who could be saved are dying due to lack of specialized doctors, fuel and electricity, medicine, food, and clean water.

As a result of restrictions and delays in the delivery of fuel, medicines, and other aid, the unimaginable suffering and risk of death and illness for people in Gaza continues to climb.

For 100 days, we have called for increased flows of humanitarian aid into Gaza and unhindered access to that aid. We have also called on both side to cease the hostilities, which are also triggering a disturbing spillover into Lebanon and Yemen. As of 10 January, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health has reported 138 deaths and 617 injuries in Lebanon as a result of the cross-border armed conflict; the most recent attack on health care on 11 January resulted in two paramedics killed and an ambulance destroyed. We are also closely monitoring the situation in the Red Sea and Yemen.

People in our Region – some of the most vulnerable people in the world — cannot afford to be further deprived of their most basic right to life, and access to life-saving health care. And health systems – already desperately trying to cling to functionality amid overwhelming challenges – cannot afford to be further tested.

Later this afternoon, WHO is launching its global appeal for health emergencies for 2024, covering emergencies across all WHO regions.

We are launching this appeal at a time when health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region is under threat like never before. In the second half of 2023, our Region was ravaged by six new emergencies, including major a cholera outbreak in Sudan on the back of escalating conflict, floods in Libya, major earthquakes in Morocco and Afghanistan, and the ongoing tragedy unfolding in the occupied Palestinian territory, one of the most challenging humanitarian and public health crises in the Region’s modern history.

Today, 140 million people in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are in need of humanitarian assistance – totaling almost 20% of the Region’s population and around 40% of all people in need globally –. In 2024, WHO requires almost US$706 million to respond to major emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

V.  UN human rights experts say Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food

On 16 January, Mr. Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Ms. Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Ms. Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Ms. Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Ms. Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences; and Mr. Pedro Arrojo Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation issued a statement reflected in the following press release.

Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege, according to UN human rights experts.

“Currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent. Pregnant women are not receiving adequate nutrition and healthcare, putting their lives at risk. In addition all children under five – 335,000 – are at high risk of severe malnutrition as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase, a whole generation is now in danger of suffering from stunting,” said the experts. Stunting occurs when young children’s growth is hampered due to lack of adequate nourishment and causes irreparable physical and cognitive impairments. This will undermine the learning capacity of an entire generation.

Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Since 9 October, Israel declared and imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies, this against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid.

While the majority of aid distribution is concentrated in the southern governorates, since 1 January, only 21 per cent (5 out of 24) of planned deliveries of aid containing food and other lifesaving supplies reached their destination north of Wadi Gaza. The experts are particularly alarmed about conditions in northern Gaza, where the population faces prolonged food shortages and extremely restricted access to essential resources. In southern Gaza, a large concentration of individuals resides in inadequate shelters or areas devoid of basic amenities, escalating the brutal situation.

“It is unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly. Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”

Israel is destroying and blocking access to farmland and the sea. Recent reports allege that since Israeli military’s ground offensive started on 27 October, approximately 22% of agricultural land, including orchards, greenhouses, and farmland in northern Gaza, has been razed by Israeli forces. Israel has reportedly destroyed approximately 70% of Gaza’s fishing fleet. Even with little humanitarian aid that has been allowed to enter, people still lack food and fuel to cook. Most bakeries are not operational, due to the lack of fuel, water, and wheat flour along with structural damage. Livestock are starving and unable to provide food or be a source of food. Meanwhile, access to safe water continues to diminish while the healthcare system has collapsed due to the wide-spread destruction of hospitals, significantly heightening the spread of communicable diseases.

Israel has also destroyed more than 60% of Palestinian homes in Gaza, directly affecting the ability to cook any food, and causing domicide through the mass destruction of dwellings, making the territory uninhabitable. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that nearly 85% of Gaza’s population — representing 1.9 million people — is internally displaced, including many who have been displaced multiple times, as families are forced to move repeatedly in search of safety.

“We have raised the alarm of the risk of genocide several times reminding all governments they have a duty to prevent genocide. Not only is Israel killing and causing irreparable harm against Palestinian civilians with its indiscriminate bombardments, it is also knowingly and intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure,” said the experts. “Aid needs to be delivered to Gazans immediately and without any hindrance to prevent starvation.”

“Our alarm for the unfolding genocide does not only refer to the ongoing bombardment of Gaza but also concerns the slow suffering and death caused by Israel’s long-standing occupation, blockade and current civic destruction, since genocide advances through an ongoing process and is not a singular event.”

“The clear path to achieving peace, safety, and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians lies in the realization of Palestinian self-determination. This can only be achieved through an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of the Israeli occupation.”

VI.  UN Women calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access for Gaza

On 19 January, Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director made the following statement.

It is now more than 100 days since the horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7 October and the horrors that have followed, especially in Gaza.

Since then, we have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. Without change, these last 100 days will be mere prelude to the next 100.

We have heard shocking accounts of unconscionable sexual violence during the attacks that have led to calls such as UN Women’s for accountability, justice, and support for all those affected.

We unequivocally condemn all acts of sexual and gender-based violence wherever, whenever, and against whomever they are perpetrated. I call again for accountability for all those affected by the 7 October attacks.

Those 100 days have also seen unparalleled destruction rained on the people of Gaza. For them there is no place of safety, no rest or respite. Women and girls make up the majority of those killed, wounded, and displaced. Our Gender Alert estimates that some 1 million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, two mothers killed every hour, while around 10,000 children have lost their fathers. There is a cruel inversion of the situation before 7 October. In the past 15 years, 67 per cent of all civilians killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were men. Less than 14 per cent were women and girls. That percentage has reversed. Today, 70 per cent of those killed are women and children. These are people, not numbers, and we are failing them. That failure, and the generational trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people over these 100 days and counting, will haunt us all for generations to come.

However much we mourn the situation of the women and girls of Gaza today, we will mourn further tomorrow without unrestricted humanitarian assistance and an end to the destruction and killing. These women and girls are deprived of safety, medicine, health care, and shelter. They face imminent starvation and famine. Most of all they are deprived of hope and justice. I call again for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access for all those in Gaza including the provision of vital assistance and services to all women and girls.

It is also more than 100 days that the families of those held hostage in Gaza, some of whom I have met, have waited in unimaginable pain for those they love to return to them. Their courage in the face of suffering and their commitment to peace is humbling. I call again for all hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally.

This is a time for peace. We owe this to all Israeli and Palestinian women and girls. This is not their conflict. They must no longer pay its price.

VII.  UN Human Rights Office in OPT pleads for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and for all hostages to be released

On 19 January, Ajith Sunghay, Head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Occupied Palestinian Territory issued the following statement.

We are reaching yet another staggering milestone in Gaza – nearly 25,000 people reported killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Seventy per cent of them women and children. Another 61,500 – at least – have been injured. Several thousands more are under the rubble, many presumed dead.

I’ve been in Gaza since Monday – so far only in Rafah. I will share with you what I have witnessed and observed.

People continue to arrive in Rafah from various places in their thousands, in desperate situations, setting up makeshift shelters with any material they can get their hands on. I’ve seen men and children digging for bricks to be able to hold in place tents made with plastic bags. This is a massive human rights crisis. And a major, human-made, humanitarian disaster. Gaza needs urgent scaling up of humanitarian aid, including of the protection response.

It is a pressure cooker environment here, in the midst of utter chaos, given the terrible humanitarian situation, shortages, and pervasive fear and anger. The communications blackout has continued for a sixth consecutive day, adding to the confusion and fear, and preventing Gazans from accessing services and information on areas to evacuate.

Heavy bombardment of Middle Gaza and Khan Younis is clearly visible and audible from Rafah – especially at night, I hear bombing, sometimes several times an hour. Night-time is clearly the most terrifying time for the people, even in Rafah. And I also think of the over 100 civilians held hostage in Gaza, unseen, who most certainly hear the same sounds and feel the same fear.

During my time here, I have managed to meet a number of released detainees. These are men who were detained by Israeli Security Forces in unknown locations for between 30 to 55 days. They described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill-treatment, and to what may amount to torture. They reported being blindfolded for long periods – some of them for several consecutive days. One man said he had access to a shower only once during his 55 days in detention. There are reports of men who were subsequently released – but only in diapers, without any adequate clothing in this cold weather.

What they told me was consistent with reports our Office has been gathering of the detention of Palestinians on a broad scale, including many civilians, held in secrecy, often subject to ill-treatment, with no access to their families, lawyers or effective judicial protection. The families of detainees – believed to number in the thousands – have not been provided with information on the fate or location of their loved ones.

Israel must take urgent steps to ensure that all those arrested or detained are treated in line with international human rights and international humanitarian law norms and standards, notably with full respect for their due process rights.

Unless Israel can demonstrate imperative security grounds for each person remaining in detention, they must be charged or released. Israeli authorities must ensure that families have access to information about their loved ones. All instances of ill-treatment or torture of people arrested or detained must be fully and transparently investigated, and, if found to have taken place, action must be taken to ensure accountability and to prevent recurrence. Victims and their families have the right to truth, justice, and reparations.

I have to end with a resounding plea from Gaza, above all, for an immediate ceasefire, for human rights and humanitarian reasons, and for all hostages to be released. These horrors must not become normalized.

VIII. UNFPA calls for scale-up of humanitarian aid and improved access to sexual and reproductive health care for the women and girls of Gaza

On 20 January, the United Nations Population Fund issued the following statement.

After more than 100 days of conflict, Gaza is unrecognizable. The numbers tell a shocking story, with an unprecedented 2.2 million people in need of aid, and 1.9 million people displaced. Over 24,000 civilians have been killed, 70% of whom are women and children. Many thousands more have been injured, and many are still unaccounted for under the rubble. Of those who have survived, disease, hunger and dehydration threaten whatever little hope they have. The health system is on life support.

Amid these horrific conditions, 180 women are giving birth each day. A recent UNFPA mission to the Emirati Hospital –a facility that has been taking on a majority of the maternity cases –revealed how little maternal health care is available today to the pregnant women of Gaza. Staff are operating far beyond their capacity with limited space, and women recovering from cesarean births are discharged within a day. UNFPA reproductive health kits and medical equipment are being put to use the moment they arrive to ensure clean, safe births.

UNFPA has been able to deliver enough supplies to support over half of the approximately 18,000 births that have taken place in the last 100 days. Far too many births are taking place in unsafe, unclean conditions as women are unable to access hospitals and are forced to give birth in shelters. We cannot let this continue.

We are also concerned about the 690,000 women and girls in Gaza who require menstrual hygiene supplies and who have extremely limited access to those essential products and to water and toilets. As well as being unable to manage their menstrual cycle in privacy and with dignity, they are at risk of reproductive and urinary tract infections. Since hostilities began, UNFPA has distributed thousands of dignity and hygiene kits. Last week, we delivered enough menstrual hygiene kits to meet the needs of over 5,280 women for four months – a drop in an ocean of need.

UNFPA joins the United Nations Secretary-General and the international humanitarian community in calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Gaza’s health care system desperately needs more support, and aid must be allowed to reach all parts of Gaza at a far greater pace and at the scale required to meet the enormous needs.

We call for the protection of civilians and the infrastructure they rely on – including hospitals, shelters and schools, and for international humanitarian law and international human rights law to be upheld by all parties.

UNFPA once again calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages, and for accounts of sexual violence during the brutal attacks on Israel on 7 October to be rigorously investigated and prosecuted.

After more than 100 days of devastation, women and girls urgently need peace and humanity to prevail.

IX.  UN Secretary-General briefs Security Council ministerial meeting after 100 days of Gaza war

On 23 January, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, made the following statement.  

Over 100 days have passed since more than 1,200 Israelis and others were killed in the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas against Israel, with over 250 people taken hostage. For all those affected, these have been 100 days of heartache and anguish. Nothing can justify deliberate killing, injuring, kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence against them – or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards civilian targets.

I once again demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.  In the interim they must be treated humanely and allowed to receive visits and assistance from the Red Cross.

Last week in Davos, I had another moving meeting with families of hostages and in this case, even some former hostages themselves. Since the beginning, I have maintained close contact with Qatari and Egyptian authorities on the efforts for their release. And yesterday, I received from the Israeli mission a list of many of the remaining hostages. It was also reported yesterday that Israel is proposing a two-month pause in hostilities in exchange for a phased release of all remaining hostages. I will continue, in my limited capacity, to pursue all efforts to contribute to their release.

The past 100 days have been heartbreaking and catastrophic for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. More than 25,000 people, mainly women and children, have reportedly been killed in operations launched by Israeli forces.  More than 60,000 others have been reportedly injured.

In recent days, the military offensive has intensified in Khan Yunis with many additional causalities. The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history. Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is appalling. With winter bearing down, 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza face inhumane, squalid conditions, struggling to simply make it through another day without proper shelter, heating, sanitary facilities, food, and drinking water.

Everyone in Gaza is hungry – with a quarter of Gaza’s population – more than half a million people – grappling with catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Meanwhile, nearly one and a half million people are now crammed inside Rafah Governorate.

Disease is spreading as the health system collapses. Only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partly functional. That means the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments; they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera. Without functioning hospitals, and with minimal opportunities for patients to exit Gaza, thousands suffering from chronic diseases like cancer and kidney failure are at risk of dying. A functioning medical evacuation system is urgently needed.

In the face of colossal human suffering and enormous obstacles, our United Nations humanitarian operations are striving to deliver. Tragically, 153 of our colleagues have been killed – a source of bottomless grief for us all.

At the same time, the women and men of the United Nations alongside our partners in Gaza are working heroically every day to reach people in need. Many have lost loved ones and left behind shattered homes. They have been distributing ready-to-eat meals and other food items to shelters. They are supporting the very few bakeries that are still functioning. They are delivering medicines, medical supplies, bottled water and trucked water, hygiene kits and cleaning kits, tents, tarpaulin sheets, and blankets. But in quantities that are far from enough.

In the south, food distributions are helping to bring down prices – and 250,000 Palestinians in Gaza were able to buy bread at a subsidized price.

I welcome the agreement, facilitated by Qatar and France, of an operation to deliver additional medicines and healthcare supplies to civilians in Gaza, and to hostages held in Gaza. I also welcome Israel’s announcement that it will allow a United Nations assessment mission to the north – but that mission is on hold because of renewed fighting.

Under-Secretary-General Sigrid Kaag started her work as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza on 8 January, in line with Security Council resolution 2720. She visited Gaza today and will update you next week on her overall efforts. I ask all parties to the conflict to cooperate with her, as demanded by the Security Council.

Let’s face it. Despite all the efforts I described, no effective humanitarian aid operation can function under the conditions that have been forced on Palestinians in Gaza and those doing everything possible to help them.

The quantity of aid is highly insufficient in light of needs. It is fantasy to think that 2.2 million people can survive on aid alone. Basic commodities from the private sector must enter in meaningful quantities — as they did for many years before the current fighting.This is essential to address rising needs and avert both a complete breakdown and ever-mounting death toll.

For our part, we are determined to do much more to scale up the distribution of food items, tents and shelter materials, medicines, clean water and spare parts to repair critical sanitation infrastructure.

Humanitarian delivery is not an exercise of counting trucks.  It is about ensuring the right volume and quality of assistance reaches people in need, in line with Security Council resolution 2720. To be able to do our work, a set of operational requirements must be met. We need safety. We are operating in a war zone.  The current humanitarian notification mechanisms do not offer any real confidence for operations and planning humanitarian responses. A number of serious incidents have shown how these essential mechanisms need to be substantially improved. Safety also entails reliable and cleared roads inside Gaza, and unimpeded crossings at checkpoints. We need to be equipped to do our job.

This includes telecommunications equipment, so convoys can communicate with each other; armoured vehicles and protective gear, given the ongoing hostilities and the widespread contamination with explosive remnants of war; far greater logistical capacity; spare parts for infrastructure such as desalination plants, and other critical humanitarian items.

We are grateful to Member States for their funding support. We are finally seeing a few signs of progress in the authorization of entry permits for certain goods – and some measures to reduce screening and crossing times. But we still face a cumbersome process of verifications and multiple unjustified rejections of desperately needed items. We need more crossing points into Gaza to reduce congestion and avoid chokepoints.

The provision of aid to Gaza via the Ashdod port in Israel must also resume. A first shipment of flour reached Gaza from Ashdod but much more is required. We need access to the north. In the first two weeks of January, out of 29 planned humanitarian missions to deliver lifesaving supplies north of Wadi Gaza, only 7 were accomplished, fully or partially. The majority of missions were denied access by Israel. After over 100 days of operations in the north, insecurity and fighting has continued. And we need visas. Dozens of humanitarians have been waiting for months to receive their visas from the Government of Israel.

I call for rapid, safe, unhindered, expanded and sustained humanitarian access throughout Gaza. I repeat my call for an end to all violations of International Humanitarian Law. The use of human shields is unacceptable — as are the unprecedented levels of devastation and civilian killings. I am also deeply troubled by reports of Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians detained during military operations.

I renew my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. This will ensure sufficient aid gets to where it is needed, facilitate the release of hostages, and help lower tensions around the Middle East. War and misery in Gaza are fueling turmoil far beyond.

We are seeing dangerous developments across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where tensions are off the charts – with a dramatic increase in casualties. Dozens of Palestinians are being arrested daily. Over 6,000 Palestinians were detained since 7 October, with many subsequently released.

Settler violence is also another major concern. The demolition and seizure of Palestinian-owned houses and other structures continues. The Palestinian economy is in crisis.

Israel’s withholding of a significant portion of Palestinian tax revenues, the continued prohibition on nearly all Palestinian workers entering Israel since 7 October, and severe movement and access restrictions across the West Bank are all contributing to soaring unemployment and poverty. I hope that ongoing negotiations will allow for the full payment of employees of the Palestinian Authority.

The risks of broader regional escalation are now becoming a reality. Turning to the north, daily exchanges of fire across the Blue Line, including strikes on civilian areas, have killed 6 Israelis and 25 Lebanese civilians and driven tens of thousands from their homes on both sides. The risk of miscalculation is dangerously high.

I urge all parties to refrain from aggressive rhetoric, and to immediately end activities that could further inflame tensions. My Special Coordinators and I continue our extensive outreach to all key stakeholders to reduce regional tensions and I welcome the efforts of the United States and several European and Arab governments for a negotiated de-escalation.

The situation in the Red Sea is also deeply worrying. Houthi attacks are disrupting global trade. These have been followed by airstrikes by the United States and the United Kingdom on Houthi positions in Yemen.

De-escalation is essential – and all attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea must cease immediately. Meanwhile, there are almost daily attacks on facilities hosting US and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria. In response, the United States has launched airstrikes targeting individuals and groups suspected of these actions.

And in Syria, airstrikes that Iran and Syria have attributed to Israel, have targeted officials of Hamas and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. I urge all parties to step back from the brink and to consider the horrendous human cost of a regional conflict. Beyond the need for immediate de-escalation, each situation demands the implementation of a clear political roadmap that would contribute to long-term regional stability.

In Syria, that is a UN-facilitated political solution in line with Security Council resolution 2254 that meets the needs of all Syrians. Along the Blue Line, we need full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701. And in Yemen, the establishment of a UN roadmap to implement the commitments made by the parties and prepare for a Yemeni-owned, inclusive political process under UN auspices.

A lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come through a two-State solution. Israelis must see their legitimate needs for security materialized, and Palestinians must see their legitimate aspirations for a fully independent, viable and sovereign State realized, in line with United Nations resolutions, international law and previous agreements.

Israel’s occupation must end.

Last week’s clear and repeated rejection of the two-State solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable. And this was despite the strongest appeals from even the friends of Israel, including those sitting around this table.

This refusal, and the denial of the right to statehood to the Palestinian people, would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security. It would exacerbate polarization and embolden extremists everywhere.

The right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent state must be recognized by all. And any refusal to accept the two-State solution by any party must be firmly rejected.

What is the alternative?  How would a one-State solution look with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity. This would be inconceivable. The two-State solution is the only way to address the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The role of the international community is clear. We must unite to support Israelis and Palestinians to take determined actions to advance a meaningful peace process. Over recent decades, the two-state solution has been traduced, undermined and left for dead many times. However, it remains the only way to achieve durable and equitable peace in Israel, in Palestine, and in the region.

As the events of the past three months have tragically reminded us, it is also the only way to avoid endless cycles of fear, hatred and violence. This terrible time for Israelis and Palestinians must spur both parties, and the international community, to act with courage and determination to achieve a just and lasting peace.

X.  Palestinian Rights Committee  addresses the Security Council ministerial level meeting

On 23 January, Helena Kuzee, Deputy Permanent Representative of Namibia made the following statement on behalf of the Chair of Palestinian Rights Committee before the Security Council: 

The somber [Secretary-General’s] briefing and tragic figures we heard are an urgent call to overcome the prevailing inertia and push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It is the fundamental requirement for saving human lives, protecting civilians and ensuring their sustenance and welfare, and salvaging the prospects for peace.

The Gaza Strip has been subject to one of the most intense bombardments in modern history, reflected in over 25,000 Palestinians killed – most of whom were women and children, more than 61,000 people injured, the denial of access to food, water, fuel and other essential supplies that have caused starvation, spread of disease, extraordinary levels of want, and vast destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and other vital civilian infrastructure.

The Committee echoes the overwhelming demand of the international community for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for the unconditional release of all hostages and detainees. We call for the full adherence by all parties to their obligations under international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, and to all relevant resolutions, including General Assembly resolutions ES-10/21 and ES10/22 and Security Council Resolutions (2712) and (2720) of 2023.

Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks have consistently breached the distinction between civilians and combatants as well as between civilian and military objects. Israel has also consistently breached its obligations as the occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Prisoners must be provided humane and dignified treatment. However, disturbing reports and images of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners continue to emerge. Thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been detained in just over three months’ time.

Journalists and media professionals must not be targets for attacks or reprisals. Their family members must not become extended targets to coerce these professionals into silence.

Throughout Gaza, freedom of movement and access to humanitarian relief remain severely limited despite the clear provisions of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. The weaponization of starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited under international law; this practice has been decried by the UN and must be halted.

As the Secretary-General has repeatedly underscored, nowhere and no one is safe in Gaza. So-called “Safety Zones”, where civilians were forced to flee, are further subjected to Israeli attacks.

More than 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza have been forcibly displaced. This was a forced mass displacement of an occupied people, most of whom are 1948 Nakba refugees. The majority are sheltering in 155 UNRWA schools and facilities that continue to come under Israeli attack.

Repeated calls by Israeli ministers to forcibly transfer the Palestinian civilian population out of Gaza are abhorrent and must be prevented, as such transfer would constitute a war crime.

The escalating violence by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, is turning this year into the deadliest on record for children not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with 344 Palestinians killed since 7 October, including 88 children.

Israel’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Gaza are the latest episode in its 16-year blockade, 56 years of occupation, and 76 years of the Nakba. Israeli ministers openly discuss their wish and actions to make Gaza unlivable for Palestinians.

For this reason, several Member States, including from our Committee, have referred the situation in Palestine to the International Criminal Court, urging accountability for the crimes being perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

We commend South Africa, a proud member of our Committee, on its application instituting proceedings at the International Court of Justice against Israel, asking for immediate provisional measures to prevent violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza.

There is no time for semantics nor room for paralysis; we must not succumb to exceptionalism, double standards or “international omertá”.

The Committee reiterates its calls for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, prioritizing the protection of Palestinians. We emphasize the need for urgent humanitarian assistance, and for immediate efforts to realize a durable and just solution in the Middle East. This involves ending occupation and respecting the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including self-determination and independence, and the right of return for refugees, as per international law and UN resolutions.

The time is now to pursue without hesitation the two-State solution on the pre-1967 borders, the longstanding international consensus for a just solution.

The Committee seconds the call for an international peace conference and a multilateral negotiating process aimed at resolving the question of Palestine in all its aspects.

And to paraphrase Nelson Mandela, our collective pledge of “leaving no-one behind” is incomplete without the freedom of Palestine.

For this reason, the Committee further demands the admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations to allow it to take its rightful place in the international community.

XI.  UN Humanitarian Coordinator stresses that humanitarians are struggling to provide displaced people with basic services

On 25 January, James McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory updated journalist on his visit to Gaza.

Humanitarians are facing “massive issues” trying to provide shelter for displaced people seeking safety in the south.

Nine people were killed and 75 injured on Wednesday in a direct hit on a training centre turned shelter in southern Gaza run by UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinians, according to initial reports.

Teams from the agency and the World Health Organization (WHO) were trying to reach the Khan Younis Training Centre, said Tom White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in the Gaza Strip, in a post on the social media platform X.

Some 30,000 people are sheltering at the site and the death toll could be higher, said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner General, who also took to the platform to lament “another horrific day in Gaza”.

“The compound is a clearly marked ‘UN facility’ and its coordinates were shared with Israeli authorities, as we do for all our facilities,” he said, adding “once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war”.

The incident was indicative of the recent intense fighting around Khan Younis, said Jamie McGoldrick, interim UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking during a press briefing from Jerusalem.

Mr. McGoldrick updated journalists on his visit to Gaza on Tuesday, where he said humanitarians are struggling to provide displaced people with basic services such as food, medical support, shelter, water and sanitation.

“As a result of that, the people themselves are really struggling to get through this, and the shock is actually starting to wane now, and people start to see…a resignation that this is what we’re going to have to face for some significant time.”

While in Gaza, Mr. McGoldrick visited the southern city of Rafah, located on the border with Egypt, and a crossing point for aid into the enclave.

Rafah normally has a population of around 280,000, which has swelled to an estimated 1.2 to 1.4 million as people fleeing fighting elsewhere pack into the city, setting up makeshift shelters and tents in the streets.

The squalid and unsanitary conditions have led to outbreaks of respiratory infections and hepatitis A, both of which had been eradicated in Gaza. Meningitis and other illnesses are also emerging.

The conflict in Gaza has displaced over 75 per cent of the population, with nearly 1.7 million people now living in UNRWA and public emergency shelters as well as informal sites.

He said humanitarians are facing “massive issues” trying to provide shelter for displaced people seeking safety in the south. Some have moved from Rafah to the coastal town of Al-Mawasi, which is poorly supported or serviced by aid agencies, given the overwhelming numbers in need.

Currently, around 250 trucks come through the Rafah border “on a good day” when in the past, roughly 500 trucks from the private sector would bring in basic commodities daily.

Mr. McGoldrick said the UN and partners are doing their best in the face of massive challenges, many of which are outside their control, and he emphasized the need for “minimum operating requirements” so they can work better.

“We need more supplies to come in from the private sector. We need to be able to scale up our pipelines and the key lifesaving commodities, but also from the authorities, the Israeli side, we need to get them to give us communications equipment,” he said.

Humanitarian workers are being sent into very hostile areas, “and they have no radios, they have no communications that work for them to be able to be seen to be safe,” he said, adding that they also do not have enough armoured vehicles.

Furthermore, many of the goods humanitarians are trying to bring into Gaza to support water and sanitation “seem to be prohibited by the Israelis”, he said.

“They see them as something that could be used for other things such as pumps, such as generators, such as spare parts, pipes for water sanitation, solar panels and some medical equipment, which is key to our ability to address the humanitarian crisis that’s there in front of us,” he said.

Some of the medical materials include basic drugs for treating chronic illnesses such as insulin pens for children.

Humanitarians are also facing difficulties with bringing in enough shelter material, including tarpaulins, blankets and non-food items.

Mr. McGoldrick said more fuel also needs to get to the north to supply generators inside hospitals there, such as Al-Shifa, “because they’re working in some cases without anaesthetic, without electricity, to serve patients who are also ill and been wounded”.

He added that there is no real medical or casualty evacuation system in place to transport badly wounded people out of Gaza.

“We’re not able to get people out farther afield to the neighbouring countries in order to get this very sophisticated surgery, and that’s something we’ve been trying to work with the Israelis on,” he said.

XII.  ICJ orders Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide

On 26 January, the International Court of Justice delivers its Order, excerpted below, on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip. The press release of the ICJ’s order

…

(1) By fifteen votes to two,

The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular:

(a) killing members of the group;

(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and

(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judge ad hoc Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde; Judge ad hoc Barak;

(2) By fifteen votes to two,

The State of Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above;

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judge ad hoc Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde; Judge ad hoc Barak;

(3) By sixteen votes to one,

The State of Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip;

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judges ad hoc Barak, Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde;

(4) By sixteen votes to one,

The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judges ad hoc Barak, Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde;

(5) By fifteen votes to two,

The State of Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip;

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judge ad hoc Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde; Judge ad hoc Barak;

(6) By fifteen votes to two,

The State of Israel shall submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this Order within one month as from the date of this Order.

IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Xue, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant; Judge ad hoc Moseneke;

AGAINST: Judge Sebutinde; Judge ad hoc Barak.”

/…

XIII. UNRWA Commissioner-General addresses serious allegations against UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip

On 26 January, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General made the following statement.

“The Israeli Authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7 October.

“To protect the Agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.  Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

“UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families.

“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the Agency has been providing since the war began. Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world”.

XIV.  UN Secretary-General on UNRWA allegations

On 28 January, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General issued the following statement.

The United Nations is taking swift action following the extremely serious allegations against several UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff members. An investigation by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was immediately activated.

Of the 12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified.

Any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution. The Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation.

UNRWA had also previously announced a full, independent review of the organization on 17 January.

Meanwhile, 2 million civilians in Gaza depend on critical aid from UNRWA for daily survival but UNRWA’s current funding will not allow it to meet all requirements to support them in February. While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations.

The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences. But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.

XV.  36 UN human rights experts on Gaza: ICJ ruling offers hope for protection of civilians enduring apocalyptic conditions

On 31 January, Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Cecilia M. Bailliet, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity; Aua Baldé (Chair-Rapporteur), Gabriella Citroni (Vice-Chair), Angkhana Neelapaijit, Grażyna Baranowska, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Perez, Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances; Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Ashwini K.P. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Barbara G. Reynolds (Chair), Dominique Day, Bina D’Costa, Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Chair), Claudia Flores, Ivana Krstić, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi, Working group on discrimination against women and girls; Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Ms Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of freedom of opinion and expression; Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Livingstone Sewanyana, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Robert McCorquodale (Chair-Rapporteur), Fernanda Hopenhaym (Vice-Chair), Pichamon Yeophantong, Damilola Olawuyi, Elzbieta Karska, Working Group on business and human rights; Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association; and Ms. Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons issued a statement reflected in the following press release.

The landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) offers the first concrete hope to protect civilians in Gaza enduring apocalyptic humanitarian conditions, destruction, mass killing, wounding and irreparable trauma, UN experts said today.

“The ruling is a significant milestone in the decades-long struggle for justice by the Palestinian people,” the experts said.

The ICJ found it plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide and issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, ensuring aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza, and preserving evidence of crimes committed in Gaza.

“We echo the sense of urgency demonstrated by the Court in its short, two-week deliberation, as hundreds of Palestinians, primarily women and children, are being killed by Israeli forces every day, resulting in a death toll of 26,751 people in Gaza over the past three months. This amounts to over 1% of the population.

“The court order is urgently needed to protect the very existence of the Palestinian people from potentially genocidal actions the Court has ordered Israel to halt and prevent,” the experts said. “Given the dire situation on the ground and the careful wording of the Court, we believe that the most effective way to implement the provisional measures is through an immediate ceasefire.”

In the ICJ proceedings, South Africa contended that Israel is violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention with its military assault on Gaza, which began on 8 October, after the attack by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups in Israel, which killed 1,200 people and wounded many more. 240 people were also taken hostage in the attack.

During oral hearings earlier this month, Israel sought to have the case dismissed by the ICJ judges—a motion that was rejected last Friday (26 January).

“We see the decision as dismissing Israel’s justification of its actions as self-defence in compliance with international humanitarian law,” the experts said. “The Court found that Israel cannot continue to bombard, displace, and starve the population of Gaza, while allowing its officials to dehumanise Palestinians through statements that may amount to genocidal incitement.”

According to the experts, the period since 7 October marks one of the grimmest in the histories of both Palestine and Israel.

The 7 October attack, which the experts firmly condemned as war crimes, sent shockwaves across the world. In Israel, families continue to mourn the dead and heal the wounds of terror they experienced on 7 October. Reiterating that all parties to the conflict, including Hamas, remain bound by international humanitarian law, the ICJ called for the release of the hostages. “Their fate remains unknown, an agony for families longing for their safe return,” the experts said.

“In the spiralling violence that followed, marked by ineffective or absent international pressure, and politicisation of UN fora, the ICJ’s order tilts the balance toward a global order based on justice and international law,” the experts said. “This is the only basis for lasting peace and stability between Palestinians and Israelis.”

“We call on Israel to adhere to the ICJ order. The burden now shifts to Israel, to show that it has effectively eliminated the risk of genocide that the Court found to be plausible. By the time Israel reports to the Court in one month, Palestinians must have access to food, water, healthcare, and safety, that have long been denied to them,” they said.

In light of the urgency of the situation and the real risk of irreparable harm to the people in Gaza, the experts also urged states parties to the Genocide Convention to abide by their obligations to prevent genocide, taking all measures in their power to ensure implementation of the ICJ’s provisional measures. The experts also stressed the critical role that civil society plays to give effect to this ruling.

XVI. UN Secretary-General addresses Palestinian Rights Committee

On 31 January, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General presided over the election of the Chair of the Palestinian Rights Committee, Amb. Cheikh Niang of Senegal and made the following statement. The Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations and the Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York briefed the Committee on current developments. The Committee adopted its programme of work for 2024.

Mr. Chair, Ambassador Cheikh Niang, congratulations on your election to the Bureau.

The Committee’s mandate and advocacy are crucial amidst the unresolved Question of Palestine and the enormous violence and suffering, particularly since the horrific 7 October attack by Hamas in Israel and Israel’s ensuing military operations in Gaza.

The death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss, and grief in Gaza over the past 120 days are a scar on our shared humanity and conscience.

And I once again condemn the horrifying attacks by Hamas and other groups that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis and others – and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

There is no justification for the intentional killing, injuring, torture or kidnapping of civilians, using sexual violence against them, or launching rockets towards civilian targets.

But at the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.

The ongoing conflict and relentless bombardment by Israeli forces across Gaza have resulted in killings of civilians and destruction at a pace and scale unlike anything we have witnessed in recent years.

I am horrified by incessant military strikes that have killed and maimed civilians and protected personnel, and that have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure.

Over 26,750 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza alone – more than two-thirds women and children.

Over 70 per cent of civilian infrastructure — including homes, hospitals, schools, water, and sanitation facilities in Gaza — have been destroyed or severely damaged.

1.7 million people have been displaced, and not knowing if they will have homes to return to.

No party to an armed conflict is above international law.

International humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, must be upheld at all times.

And the binding decisions of the International Court of Justice must be complied with.

I also want to add that the United Nations immediately acted following the very serious allegations against UNRWA staff members.

I was personally horrified by these accusations.

And yesterday, I met with donors to listen to their concerns and to outline the steps we are taking to address them.

I underscored the importance of keeping UNRWA’s vital work going to meet the dire needs of civilians in Gaza, and to ensure its continuity of services to Palestine refugees in the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza.

I appeal to all Member States to guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s life-saving work.

Excellencies,

The humanitarian system in Gaza is collapsing.

I am extremely concerned by the inhumane conditions faced by Gaza’s 2.2 million people, as they struggle to survive without any of the basics.

Everyone in Gaza is hungry, while half a million grapple with catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

I call for a rapid, safe, unhindered, expanded and sustained humanitarian access throughout Gaza.

This is particularly crucial in the north, where most missions have been denied access by Israel, amid continued insecurity and fighting.

We also need more crossing points into Gaza to reduce congestion and avoid chokepoints.

I ask all parties to continue their active engagement with UN actors on the ground and to work closely with newly appointed Under-Secretary-General Sigrid Kaag — the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza — to scale up humanitarian aid to Gaza.

I count on full cooperation to ensure continuous humanitarian access.

And I repeat my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Excellencies,

As we seek to address mounting needs in Gaza, we also remain focused on the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

I am extremely alarmed by the high levels of settler violence in the occupied West Bank.  Palestinian attacks against Israelis also continue.

All of this violence must stop, and the perpetrators held accountable.

Intensive Israeli operations go on, including in Area A of the occupied West Bank, leading to deadly armed exchanges.

Dozens of Palestinians have been arrested, with many detained without charge, including children.

The violence has not been limited to the occupied territory.

Rising hostilities across the Blue Line and attacks in Syria, Iraq and the Red Sea risk triggering a broader escalation risking regional stability.

I call for urgent steps to de-escalate the situation and spare the region from more violence before it is too late.

Excellencies,

The conflict must end with tangible progress towards a two-State solution – an end to the occupation and the establishment of a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, of which Gaza is an integral part.

Only the two-State solution – based on the 1967 lines, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States, in line with UN resolutions, international law and prior agreements — can ensure the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as well as a just and lasting peace and stability in the region.

The international community must not waver in its commitment.

Let us work together to advance a meaningful peace process that will put an end to the tragic cycles of fear, hatred and violence and build a more peaceful and hopeful future for Palestinians and Israelis.

Thank you.

XVII.  Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator briefs the Security Council

On 31 January, Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator made the following statement.

As prepared for delivery

Mr. President,

Thank you for this opportunity to update the Council today. Each day that passes only deepens the misery and suffering of people in Gaza.

The number of people killed in Gaza has reportedly now surpassed 26,000, and the number of injured reportedly more than 65,000, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The vast majority are women and children. Just 14 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are functional, and those only partially. They face severe shortages of medical staff and supplies.

Fierce fighting has continued in the vicinity of the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals in Khan Younis, jeopardizing the safety of medical staff, the wounded and the sick, as well as the thousands of internally displaced persons seeking refuge there. This intense fighting around Khan Younis continues to drive thousands of people into Rafah, which is already hosting over half of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million people.

Across Gaza, over 60 per cent of housing units are reportedly destroyed or damaged. We now estimate that some 75 per cent of the total population are displaced. Their living conditions are abominable and worsening by the day. Heavy rains are flooding the makeshift tent camps, forcing children, parents and the elderly to sleep in the mud. Food insecurity continues to mount. And clean water is almost completely inaccessible. With little public health support available, preventable diseases are rife, and will continue to spread.

Mr. President,

As I mentioned in my briefing to the Council a couple of weeks ago, the further spread of hostilities southwards – along with the increasing deprivation and desperation of people there – can only be expected to increase the pressure for mass displacement into neighbouring countries. Some Palestinians in Gaza have already been able to leave through Egypt.

In the meantime, there are also seriously injured or sick patients unable to receive care in Gaza and for whom medical evacuations should be swiftly facilitated.

This is in line with international humanitarian law, which in certain circumstances encourages arrangements for the evacuation of the wounded and sick, persons with disabilities, older persons, children and pregnant women.

I want to emphasize once again that any persons displaced from Gaza must be guaranteed the right to voluntarily return, as international law demands.

Mr. President,

I know the Council heard yesterday from Under-Secretary-General Kaag, the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator, regarding her efforts to expedite the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The ability of the humanitarian community to reach the people of Gaza with relief remains grossly inadequate. This is not for want of trying.

Despite the hazardous conditions on the ground, we are distributing food items to shelters and supporting the remaining bakeries. We are delivering medicines and medical supplies and helping to relocate patients. And we are delivering water, hygiene kits and cleaning kits, tents, tarpaulin sheets, and blankets. But all in quantities that are far from adequate. If the people of Gaza are to receive anything approaching the amount of humanitarian assistance they need and deserve, urgent steps must be taken.

First, we need to be able to deliver and distribute supplies safely. This means we need significantly improved security assurances. Second, we need to establish a predictable flow of supplies. Finally, we need rapid and unimpeded access.

Humanitarian supplies must be able to enter Gaza via multiple points, from Egypt and Israel. This would help clear bottlenecks and speed up delivery of supplies. We continue to face the frequent rejection for entry of much needed items into Gaza by Israel, for unclear, inconsistent and often unspecified reasons. We must also have access to civilians in need across Gaza. At present, our access to Khan Younis, the Middle Area and North Gaza is largely absent.

Jamie McGoldrick, Deputy Special Coordinator/Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim, is leading efforts to scale up operations in critical areas. His efforts depend on security assurances and the facilitation of both entry and movement of personnel and critical supplies. And we will of course be working closely with Under-Secretary-General Kaag on efforts to expedite the entry of assistance into Gaza.

Mr. President,

The breadth of the humanitarian community – including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent — is collaborating to ensure that aid reaches people in need to the greatest extent possible.

At the heart of what we have been able to do has been UNRWA.

UNRWA has provided shelter. It has provided food and water. It has provided medical assistance. All this, even as its own staff are being killed, injured and displaced. I am appalled that some UNRWA employees were allegedly involved in the attack in Israel on 7 October. These allegations must be addressed. UNRWA has taken swift action, and an investigation is underway. But UNRWA’s lifesaving services to over three-quarters of Gaza’s residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals. Likewise, UNRWA’s support for Palestinians in need in the West Bank, where we have significant concerns over the worsening situation, as well as in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, must also be safeguarded.

To put it bluntly and simply: Our humanitarian response for the Occupied Palestinian Territory is dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational. UNRWA is playing an indispensable role in terms of distribution, warehousing, logistics and human resources, with 3,000 staff responding to the current crisis. Decisions to withhold funds from UNRWA must be revoked.

Mr. President,

In closing, I reiterate my demand for compliance with international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and the infrastructure they depend on. Hospitals, medical personnel and patients must be protected. Food sources, water infrastructure, homes and shelters must be protected.

I reiterate my call for the immediate release of all hostages and their humane treatment. And I reiterate my call for a ceasefire. I urge this Council to do everything in its power to bring this tragedy to an end.

Thank you.