May 22, 2024<\/p>\n
(Excerpt<\/em>)<\/p>\n The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n **Occupied Palestinian Territory<\/u><\/p>\n Good afternoon to all of you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with an update on Gaza.\u00a0 Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) say that civilians displaced by escalating hostilities and evacuation orders in Gaza lack shelter, they lack food, they lack water and other supplies and services essential for human survival.<\/p>\n This comes amid reports of the ongoing Israeli bombardment, as well as heavy fighting and ground incursions, particularly in eastern Rafah in the south and Jabalya in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n Since 6 May, nearly 815,000 people have been displaced from Rafah, with about 100,000 others displaced in the north.<\/p>\n Over the past 10 days, nearly 150,000 people have registered with UNRWA [the UN Relief and Works Agency] in Khan Younis \u2014 they\u2019ve registered to receive services from UNRWA \u2014 with a 36\u00a0per\u00a0cent increase in the number of people at UNRWA facilities there.<\/p>\n The agency says that families are living among rubble in damaged schools, and they lack tents, essential services as well as vital supplies.<\/p>\n Yesterday, supply shortages and insecurity forced UNRWA to suspend food distribution in Rafah.<\/p>\n Every effort is being made to establish additional kitchens in Khan Younis, in Deir al Balah and Gaza City and scale up the distribution of hot meals.\u00a0 However, our partners working to get food to people in need warn that supplies for hot meals might soon be exhausted.\u00a0 Persistent shortages \u2014 including of cooking gas, which is essential \u2014 are hindering efforts to keep community kitchens and bakeries running.<\/p>\n UNRWA says the agency is working with communities in Khan Younis to provide water, sanitation and waste collection support.\u00a0 However, the challenges are immense, including scarce water, fuel and sanitary resources.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as hostilities continue in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) says Kamal Adwan hospital \u2014 the largest partially functional hospital in the north \u2014 was reportedly hit four times yesterday.\u00a0In a social media post, the Director-General of WHO [Dr.\u00a0Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus] noted that efforts were under way to evacuate 20 health staff and more than a dozen patients who were still inside the facility.<\/p>\n And turning in the West Bank, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that 16 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since 14\u00a0May, including nine in Jenin and four in Tulkarm governorate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n **Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>: \u00a0Benno?<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So I thought that I had a chance.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 You heard, I guess, about Norway, Ireland and Spain recognized Palestine as a State.\u00a0 Do you have any comment about that?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I mean, these are sovereign decisions by Member States.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s been getting a lot of coverage, because obviously they\u2019re European countries.\u00a0 For our part, the Secretary-General will continue to work towards a two-State solution for two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, and to honour the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So the legal action of these three countries now aside, do you hope that actions like this could change the trajectory of the conflict so they can find a common ground for ceasefire in the region?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Listen, I will leave it to others to predict what these actions will take.\u00a0For our part, we are very focused on the parties finding the will and the courage to come to an agreement on a ceasefire, so we can get the humanitarian aid in, so we can\u2026 the hostages can be released without any condition.\u00a0 Then we can get back on track towards a political agreement.\u00a0 Edie?<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you, Steph.\u00a0 First, has any more aid that came off the US pier made it to the WFP warehouse?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 My understanding from our WFP colleagues is that there may have been some activity late yesterday.\u00a0 They\u2019re just trying to harvest the information from the field, and it takes a little bit of time before it gets here.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Secondly, on Gaza, is there any update on fuel and whether it\u2019s getting in or how dire the situation is?\u00a0 I know you mentioned cooking.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah, no great updates on fuel.\u00a0 Rafah remains closed since 5\u00a0May.\u00a0 The last trucks that went in for us were 80 trucks on 4\u00a0May.\u00a0 Kerem Shalom, there have been some trucks going in, but no fuel that I know of.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 First, a follow-up on the floating dock.\u00a0 I just kind of want to know, is WFP the only operator so far to get things from the floating dock to Gaza warehouses?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 They are for the UN system.\u00a0 They run the logistics, right?\u00a0 So they hire the trucks that go in and they pick up the aid.\u00a0 So that\u2019s their job.\u00a0 They do it on behalf of the UN, the UN system.\u00a0 Whether there are other non-UN entities that are operating, that\u2019s a question for those non-UN entities.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So for UN, so far there are 25 trucks plus what the activities, what happened yesterday.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah, we\u2019ve been reporting, sharing the data as we\u2026<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But you\u2019re not aware or you\u2019re not familiar with the information with other people who\u2026 other non-UN people?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 For the UN, it is only WFP that is running this on behalf of the UN humanitarian system, as they are the logistics lead.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 And on the land crossing, it seems the Israeli COGAT, they said there are hundreds of trucks passing through Kerem Shalom into Gaza.\u00a0 So if that was the case, why the UN would encounter difficulties to do that, not the other partners?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I can\u2019t speak for other partners.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 But for UN?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I mean, I feel I\u2019ve been asked this question a lot of times.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried to answer it in words that I hope\u2026 and concepts everybody can grasp.\u00a0 I\u2019m not disputing the fact that the Israeli authorities have moved in aid and trucks through the Kareem Shalom crossing.\u00a0 From the Palestinian side, from the Gaza side, it is complicated for many reasons, including the fact that there is not enough security, that there is an active conflict going on in Gaza for us to pick up the aid and distribute it.\u00a0 We also have problems with having enough trucks, having enough fuel.\u00a0 So I\u2019m not debating the fact of what COGAT is saying; what I\u2019m saying to you, it is only half of the story.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So then it seems the accusation of COGAT\u2019s is somehow right, that UN didn\u2019t do that much of the job?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying\u2026 \u00a0That\u2019s not at all what I said.\u00a0 I\u2019m not debating the facts that they have transferred the aid.\u00a0 What I\u2019m saying, there\u2019s another side.\u00a0 There are two parts.\u00a0 There\u2019s Karem Shalom, Karem Salam on the Palestinian side.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 The situations are not the same on the different sides of the crossing.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>: \u00a0Okay, one last question.\u00a0 Yesterday, you asked me to ask the Office of Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide directly on why she\u2019s not mentioning Gaza yet on during her briefing in the Security Council.\u00a0 I did reach out.\u00a0 She and her office did not return.\u00a0 So can you help me ask why?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I can always help you.\u00a0 I will try to help you.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Please do.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Benny, how can I help you?<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Bold move.\u00a0 Steph, first of all, why do you find it so hard to say that on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom, there\u2019s Hamas is shooting?\u00a0 You should you keep saying\u2026<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, I\u2019m not finding it hard.\u00a0 I\u2019m just saying it is\u2026<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 The Israelis are not shooting at it because the Israelis are facilitating.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Benny, we have talked about this before.\u00a0 It is also the lack of security.\u00a0 We\u2019ve talked about our gas.\u00a0 We have been very transparent about the challenges.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Why can\u2019t you say that Hamas is shooting at it?\u00a0 Anyway, there\u2019s a new research that was done at Hebrew University by food scientists, and they just published a paper.\u00a0 And according to that paper, based on their research with COGAT and with the UN, they found that from January to April, 124 trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid enter Gaza each day, on an average.\u00a0 That adds up, they say, to 3211 calories worth of nutrition per Gazan per day.\u00a0 The World Health Organization\u2019s standard for calorie consumption is 2900 per day for a man, average man, and 2200 for an average woman.\u00a0 So that if that is true, that doesn\u2019t add up quite to the verge of famine, which the UN keeps saying there is.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think two points, again, relating to the question that Dezhi brought up.\u00a0The fact that things are delivered at the crossings does not mean that we have the ability and the capacity, due to all the reasons that we\u2019ve been talking about for quite some time, to distribute the aid.\u00a0 That\u2019s one.\u00a0The IPC, the body that is in charge for the United Nations of tracking hunger, tracking famine, and I think you\u2019ve heard Cindy McCain of the World Food Programme (WFP) being extremely eloquent on this, is really the tip of the spear in terms of the study of hunger and famine.\u00a0 We stand by what they say, we stand by their numbers, but we\u2019re always happy to take a look at other studies, and I haven\u2019t seen the one from Hebrew University.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But if indeed there\u2019s enough, at least trucks coming in with enough food for an average\u2026 if that is the case, does that show you that a country is using famine as a weapon of war?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s not, I mean, it is also measured by what we see, right?\u00a0Seeing hungry people, seeing hungry children, people not being able to eat, that is really the most important metric, as opposed to the number of trucks.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Again, on the question of the recognition of Palestine by the three States, Israel has recalled the three ambassadors.\u00a0 But beyond that, the Ministry of Finance has kept the taxes, revenues that they say they will not go to the Palestinian Authority for the time being.\u00a0 So how do you judge this measure?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 On the bilateral issues, we have no comment.\u00a0 On the issue of financing, it is very important that the tax revenue that is owed to the Palestinian Authority be paid to the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Thanks, Steph.\u00a0 You said 815,000 displaced from Rafah now are the latest numbers.\u00a0 Do you know, do you have some numbers on how many civilians remain in Rafah, by any chance?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Not more than what I\u2019ve shared with you, but we can check.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 On the floating dock or floating pier, how would the Secretary-General characterize how it\u2019s functioning so far in days?\u00a0 I think we\u2019re on day six or seven now.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Obviously, even a small amount of trucks that we\u2019re able to get in is good, because it\u2019s an addition, but it is clearly not the replacement to the roads, to the land routes, which we\u2019ve been talking about for quite some time.\u00a0So every manner, every way through which aid can arrive into Gaza is welcome, but the best, the most efficient and the most, the one that makes the most sense financially is through the land.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 And in an interview with the Associated Press, at least one person from the WFP hinted that at the current rate, the floating dock could potentially not be successful.\u00a0 Does the Secretary-General echo those concerns or not?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I would leave it\u2026 \u00a0You know, WFP is in the lead on this.\u00a0 They are closer to the ground.\u00a0 We will let them make the assessment.\u00a0 Let me go to Prensa Latina on screen.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you, Steph.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go back to Gaza.\u00a0 So my question is about OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services).\u00a0 Do you have any update?\u00a0 As I remember, they are going to Israel.<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, the contacts continue with Israeli authorities.\u00a0 But I have no update to share with you at this point.\u00a0 Madame?<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So just today, the Israeli military lifted, is actually allowing Israelis to go back to settlements around Jenin.\u00a0 These were settlements that were evacuated in 2005.\u00a0 And there has been reporting that this also comes within some calls within Israel as a response to the announcement by Ireland, Norway and Spain.\u00a0I mean, what\u2019s the SG\u2019s position on this?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 First of all, our position on settlements, on the legality of settlements under international law remains constant and the same.\u00a0 We feel that any policy that encourages more settlements or more settlers moves us further away from achieving the two-State solution.\u00a0 Stefano.\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll go to round two.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So, two quick questions that really are quick.\u00a0 So one is about 120,000 that were dislocated from Rafah.\u00a0Is it your impression that they mostly moved or all of them moved to the tent city, Mawasi?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, some of them move further, further north.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Right, but is it a large number that moved to Mawasi?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I don\u2019t.\u00a0 We only have the numbers in terms of people who register with the UN for help.\u00a0 We don\u2019t run the Mawasi tents.\u00a0 So I can\u2019t.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have\u2026 \u00a0It\u2019s a simple question, but I don\u2019t have a simple answer.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 The second simple question is, did you see a video today that was issued by the US from the pier in which the US intercepted a mortar that flew over the pier?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I did not see that video, but I will look at it.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 I mean, are we concerned that could be a problem?<\/p>\n Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Of course we\u2019re concerned that it\u2019s still an active combat zone.\u00a0 That\u2019s our concern.\u00a0 On that note, I wanted to wish you a happy weekend, but it\u2019s so early for that.\u00a0 Goodbye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 22, 2024 (Excerpt) The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General. **Occupied Palestinian Territory Good afternoon to all of you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with an update on Gaza.\u00a0 Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) say that civilians displaced by escalating […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2573,2565],"document-source":[5352],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1945,2005,1741,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-296222","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-category-press-briefing","document-source-secretary-general","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296224,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/296222\/revisions\/296224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=296222"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=296222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}