Over 600,000 children in Gaza are deprived of formal education, alarming reports of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees – Highlights of the noon briefing by Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General – 09 September 2024

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Occupied Palestinian Territory

In Gaza, today would have marked the start of the new school year there. However, after 11 months of hostilities, more than 600,000 students are being deprived of access to formal education for another year.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, says no official schooling is available in any of its 200 schools, with many serving as shelters for displaced Palestinians. The agency says its teams are still providing recreational activities and psychosocial support in some of its schools.

Children in Gaza continue to suffer the worst effects of the humanitarian crisis there, including the risk of disease outbreaks. The UN and its partners continue our efforts to protect children against the poliovirus, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reporting that partners concluded the second phase of the vaccination campaign yesterday in southern Gaza.

More than 256,000 children in Khan Younis and Rafah were reached over a period of four days during the second phase of the vaccination campaign.

The initial round of the campaign is now almost 70 per cent complete – with more than 446,000 children vaccinated out of the 640,000 targeted during this first round of vaccinations – with the second round expected to start in four weeks’ time.

The last phase of this first round is set to begin tomorrow in northern Gaza. However, a new evacuation order issued for parts of the north includes areas where local pauses had been agreed for polio vaccination. About 5,000 displaced people sheltering in seven collective centres, mostly schools, are among those affected by this order – that’s according to initial assessments by our humanitarian partners.

OCHA warns that repeated evacuation orders are deepening the humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. As of today, more than 55 evacuation orders remain in effect, covering up to 86 per cent of the Strip. These directives – coupled with active hostilities, attacks on aid convoys, the destruction of key roads, the presence of unexploded ordnance, and a lack of public order and safety – are impeding aid operations in Gaza.

Access delays and denials also continue to significantly constrain humanitarian access. OCHA reports that the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that were denied access by the Israeli authorities nearly doubled in August compared to July – with 105 missions and movements denied last month, versus 53 the previous month.

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Sexual Violence in Conflict

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, expressed her deep concern about recently published reports by the United Nations, including the Human Rights Office, describing a dramatic deterioration in conditions of detention for Palestinian men, women and children under Israeli custody since the 7 October attacks and the escalation of hostilities in Gaza.

These very disturbing reports of sexual violence and other inhuman and degrading treatment could amount to sexualized torture, perpetrated against Palestinian men and women, she said.

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