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The Sustainable Development Goals in Palestine
The UN and its partners in Palestine are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: 17 interconnected Goals which address the major development challenges faced by people in Palestine and around the world. These are the goals the UN is working on in Palestine:
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19 April 2024
UN experts decry ‘systemic obliteration’ of education system
Since the brutal 7 October attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian militants on southern Israel, and the ensuing military assault by Israel, over 5,800 students and teachers have been killed and a further 8,575 have been injured across the enclave.Many others have been arrested, while attacks on places of learning have left more than 625,000 students without any ability to study.UN schools sheltering civilians displaced from their homes have also come under fire, including some inside Israeli military-designated “safe zones”.Hopes and dreams destroyed“With more than 80 per cent of schools in Gaza damaged or destroyed, it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide’,” the experts said.The term “scholasticide” refers to the systemic obliteration of education through the arrest, detention or killing of teachers, students and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure.The experts called on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and to protect educational institutions, teachers, and students.“We remind Israel in particular of its obligations to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26 January,” they said.Devastating long-term impactsThe experts, including UN Special Rapporteurs on the right to education and on the situation in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, also warned of the far-reaching impacts of attacks on education in Gaza.“The persistent, callous attacks on educational infrastructure in Gaza have a devastating long-term impact on the fundamental rights of people to learn and freely express themselves, depriving yet another generation of Palestinians of their future,” the experts said.“When schools are destroyed, so too are hopes and dreams.”Not isolated incidentsIn addition to schools, a further 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques and three churches have also been damaged or destroyed, including the Central Archives of Gaza which catalogued 150 years of history.Israa University, the last remaining university in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli military on 17 January. The experts noted that without a safe place to go to school, women and girls face multifaceted risks, including increased gender-based violence.More than one million Palestinian children in Gaza are now in need of mental health and psychosocial support and will suffer the trauma of this war throughout their lives.“These attacks are not isolated incidents. They present a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the very foundation of Palestinian society,” the experts said.Independent expertsThe human rights experts raising the alarm included several UN special rapporteurs and members of human rights working groups.Appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, they work on a voluntary basis, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
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19 April 2024
US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership
In a vote of 12 in favour to one against, with two abstentions, the Council did not adopt a draft resolution that would have recommended the General Assembly to hold a vote with the broader UN membership to allow Palestine to join as a full UN Member State.The draft resolution is among the shortest in the Council’s history: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”For a draft resolution to pass, the Council must have at least nine members in favour and none of its permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – using their veto power.Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, Palestine had submitted a request to the Secretary-General on 2 April, asking that a 2011 request to become a UN Member State be reconsidered.In 2011, the Security Council considered the request but was not able to find unity in sending a recommendation to the General Assembly, which according to the UN Charter must hold a vote involving its 193 Member States.Earlier this month, the Security Council sent the latest request to its Committee on the Admission of Member States, which met on 8 and 11 April to discuss the matter.Palestine has been a Permanent Observer at the UN since 2012, before which it was an observer in the UN General Assembly.Read our explainer to find out more about Palestine’s status at the UN here.US completely isolated: RussiaRussian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this marked the fifth time the United States has vetoed a Council resolution since the start of the current hostilities in Gaza.The US “once again demonstrated what they really think of the Palestinians”, he said. “For Washington, they do not deserve to have their own State. They are only a barrier on the path towards realising the interests of Israel.”He said at present, an absolute majority of the global community supports Palestine’s application to become a full member of the UN.“Today’s use of the veto by the US delegation is a hopeless attempt to stop the inevitable course of history. The results of the vote, where Washington was practically in complete isolation, speak for themselves,” he said.Reforms needed: USUS Deputy Permanent Representative Robert Wood said Council members have a special responsibility to ensure that their actions further the cause of international peace and security and are consistent with the requirements of the UN Charter.He said the report of the Committee on the Admission of New Members reflected that there was not unanimity among members as to whether the applicant met the criteria for membership, in line with Article IV of the UN Charter.For example, there are unresolved questions as to whether the applicant meets the criteria to be considered a State, he said.“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas, a terrorist organisation, is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza – an integral part of the State envisioned in this resolution,” he said.It is for these reasons, that the US voted “no”, he explained.Mr. Wood said the US continues to strongly support a two-State solution.“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties,” he said.China: UN membership more urgent than ever beforeChinese Ambassador Fu Cong said the decades-long dream of the Palestinian people has been quashed at a time when the admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN is more urgent than ever before.Over the past 13 years, the situation in Palestine has changed, namely settlement expansion, so questioning Palestine’s ability to govern is not acceptable, he said.The establishment of an independent State is an inalienable right that cannot be questioned, he continued. The admission of Palestine as a full member at the UN would indeed help in negotiations with Israel on a two-State solution.The wheels of history are rolling forward, and Palestine and Israel will one day live in peace, side by side, Mr. Fu said, pledging China’s support with a view to seeing that day happen.Palestine upholds right to self-determinationRiyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said his people’s right to self-determination has never once been subject to bargaining or negotiation.It is a natural, historic and legal right “to live in our homeland, Palestine, as an independent State that is free and that is sovereign,” he said.“We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region.”Council members were given the opportunity “to revive the hope that has been lost among our people” and to translate their commitment towards a two-State solution into firm action “that cannot be maneuvered or retracted”, and the majority of Council members “have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic.”Mr. Mansour expressed appreciation to the countries who supported Palestine’s request for UN membership and to those voted in favour of the draft resolution.“The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination,” he said.“We will not stop in our effort. The State of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful.”Israel: ‘Your vote will make peace almost impossible’Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the Palestine Authority is a terror-supporting entity, “paying terrorists to slaughter us”, and Palestinians do not even recognise Israel as a Jewish State.He said Hamas was not mentioned here today because the Palestinian representative here does not represent at least half the Palestinian population.“Regardless of the Palestinians’ failure to meet the necessary criteria for UN membership, most of you sadly decided to reward Palestinian terror with a Palestinian State,” he said. “It’s very sad because your vote will only embolden Palestinian rejectionism even more and make peace almost impossible.”
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18 April 2024
$2.8 billion appeal for three million people in Gaza, West Bank
as they launched a $2.8 billion appeal to provide urgent assistance for millions of people in the devastated enclave, but also in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been targeted by increasing settler violence.The development came amid reports of ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip including Gaza City in the north, Rafah in southern Gaza and central Gaza, where more than dozen people were believed to have died in an apparent missile attack on a refugee camp on Tuesday.Video images reportedly from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah showed injured and dead victims including children after the strike on Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of the enclave.Hunger perilWednesday’s appeal covers assistance to 3.1 million people between now and the end of the year. It envisages helping 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip where food insecurity experts have warned that imminent famine looms in the north after more than six months of intense Israeli bombardment and a ground offensive, launched in response to Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel last October.Street vendor kids “Famine is imminent in the northern governates and projected to occur anytime between now and May 2024; more than half the population of Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of hunger,” OCHA said, adding that markets lack basic food items and rely on informal suppliers offering aid rations. “A concerning trend identified is the rise of reselling humanitarian aid in markets, particularly informal street vendors, many of whom are young children.”Leading the appeal, OCHA noted that the funding request covered the requirements of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which continues to be “the backbone” of the humanitarian response in Gaza and the West Bank.UNRWA’s key role“Two thirds of the population of Gaza - 1.6 million people - are Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA,” OCHA said, adding that nearly one million of the 1.7 million displaced people now shelter across 450 UNRWA and public shelters, or in the vicinity of the UN agency.OCHA added that UNRWA has more than 13,000 staff in Gaza, with more than 3,500 engaged in aid relief. “In times of emergency, (UNRWA’s) support is extended to the broader population,” it said, adding that the UN agency also serves 1.1 million Palestine refugees and other registered persons in the West Bank, of whom 890,000 are refugees. Water plightLack of access to clean water continues to be a major humanitarian concern, OCHA noted, with only one of three water pipelines coming from Israel still operational at only at 47 per cent capacity.There are also fewer than 20 groundwater wells which only work “when fuel is available” and no fully functional wastewater treatment systems, OCHA reported, adding that sewage overflow has happened “in many areas adding to the public health risk across Gaza”. Rafah concernsCiting a recent WASH assessment led by UNICEF, OCHA noted that it had found that within the 75 sites assessed in Rafah - covering a population of approximately 750,000 people - one third had water sources that were unsafe for drinking.This included 68 per cent of the UNRWA collective centres, and average water availability was just three litres per person per day.Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Gaza earlier this month, humanitarians have voiced repeated concerns about a military operation against Hamas’s military wing by Israeli Defense Forces in the city of Rafah which borders Egypt and where more than a million people currently shelter.Needs remain dire in northern Gaza amid ongoing aid obstacles including refusals from Israeli authorities to allow access for humanitarian missions.Tedros concernIn a social media post on Wednesday, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted how Monday’s mission to Gaza City had been “severely delayed, leaving less time” to assess damage and requirements at the devastated Al-Shifa Hospital and Indonesian Hospital.“The removal of dead bodies at Al-Shifa is still ongoing,” Tedros said on X. “The emergency department is being cleaned by health workers and burnt beds have been removed. The safety of the remaining construction still needs a thorough engineering assessment.”The Indonesian Hospital is now empty but efforts are underway to open it again, Tedros said.The Palestinian Medical Relief Society medical point is admitting trauma patients but remains “in dire need of fuel and medical supplies”, which the UN health agency chief pledged to deliver. “The level of destruction of Gaza's hospitals is heartbreaking. We again call for hospitals to be protected, not attacked or militarized.”Latest data from the enclave’s health authorities indicates that at least 33,800 Palestinians have been killed and over 76,500 wounded in Gaza since 7 October. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 and dozens of people are still being held captive in Gaza. Some 259 Israeli soldiers have been killed in ground operations in the enclave with more than 1,570 injured, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.Humanitarian actionWednesday’s appeal replaces a previous call for funds in October 2023 that was updated in November and extended through March 2024. The $2.8 billion figure represents only part of the nearly $4.1 billion that the UN and partners estimate is required to meet the needs of the most vulnerable but it reflects what aid teams believe is implementable over the coming nine months.Later on Wednesday, the UN Security Council was due to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East, with a briefing by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
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17 April 2024
No let up in deadly toll as rights chief demands end to suffering
Highlighting the plight of those in Gaza, UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Monday urged “all States with influence” to halt the “increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis” unfolding there.“Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and to carry out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights maintained, before repeating calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages.West Bank spirallingThe High Commissioner for Human Rights also expressed deep concern about rising violence and “waves of attacks” in recent days against Palestinians in the West Bank “by hundreds of Israeli settlers, often accompanied or supported by Israeli Security Forces (ISF)”. Following the killing of a 14-year-old Israeli boy from a settler family, four Palestinians, including a child, were killed and Palestinian property was destroyed in revenge attacks, Mr. Türk said in a statement.Citing information received by his office, OHCHR, the UN rights chief reported that armed settlers and Israeli forces entered “a number of towns” including Al Mughayyer, Beitin village in Ramallah, Duma and Qusra in Nablus, as well as the Bethlehem and Hebron Governorates. Dozens of Palestinians were reportedly injured in the ensuing violence “and hundreds of homes and other buildings, as well as cars, were torched”, the High Commissioner said, before insisting that “neither Palestinians nor Israelis should take the law into their own hands to exact revenge”.Regional ‘trigger’In a related development in Geneva, the head of a high-level UN-appointed independent rights probe into the Occupied Palestinian Territory spoke of her “serious alarm” at the potential for military escalation between Israel and Iran and the risks of triggering a regional conflict. In a briefing to Arab League States days after Iran launched a massive drone and missile strike against Israel, Navi Pillay highlighted the “unprecedented” scale of war sustained by Israel.
To date, more than 33,200 people have been killed, according to Gaza’s health authority, Ms. Pillay said, with some 40 per cent of schools directly hit in attacks, and 1.7 million people displaced inside the enclave.“The complete siege imposed on Gaza since October 2023 has resulted in an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe with famine and starvation now a reality for its residents,” said the head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The destruction of roads and infrastructure has severely compromised the ability of humanitarian actors to bring in aid to the population.”
To date, more than 33,200 people have been killed, according to Gaza’s health authority, Ms. Pillay said, with some 40 per cent of schools directly hit in attacks, and 1.7 million people displaced inside the enclave.“The complete siege imposed on Gaza since October 2023 has resulted in an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe with famine and starvation now a reality for its residents,” said the head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The destruction of roads and infrastructure has severely compromised the ability of humanitarian actors to bring in aid to the population.”
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15 April 2024
No improvement in aid access to north, insists senior UN aid official
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator overseeing crisis relief in Gaza, pushed back at Israeli claims that more than 1,000 trucks had entered Gaza in the last few days, but only around 800 had been collected on the Palestinian side.The veteran aid official also maintained that the deconfliction system in which humanitarians shared their coordinates with the warring sides was “consistently inaccurate”, but that he had raised these and other operational concerns with the Israeli military at their first meeting earlier this week.“It’s very easy for Israel to say we’ve sent you 1,000 trucks so please deliver them inside Gaza,” he said, in a renewed appeal to the Israeli authorities to recognise that their responsibility as the occupying Power “only ends when…aid reaches the civilians in Gaza”.Security vacuumDescribing long delays at checkpoints and a “security vacuum” inside the enclave that continues to hamper the delivery of aid where it is most needed, the UN official noted that the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) team, whose vehicle was hit by live ammunition on Thursday, had been held “for hours” at a checkpoint on Salah Al Deen Road.So far this month, some 60 hours have been wasted in this way, Mr. McGoldrick insisted. “And then what happens sometimes, it’s too late in the day – because you can only travel in daylight hours – to go north and therefore sometimes the mission is cancelled. And then we get blamed by Israel for cancelling the convoy, cancelling the mission to the north.”Only three roads are open to humanitarian relief in Gaza today: the middle route via Salah Al Deen Road, the coastal Al Rashid Road and the military road on the east side of Gaza. “At no point in time in the last month and more have we had three or even two of those roads working at the same time simultaneously,” the UN aid coordinator maintained, adding that all of the highways were in “very poor condition”.The consequences of “very limited” aid missions into the north of the enclave were already clear, judging by how underweight babies are when they are born, Mr. McGoldrick continued.Life-threatening hungerSpeaking from Jerusalem, he described visiting Kamal Adwan Hospital two weeks ago, where “every single patient” in the children’s ward faced life-threatening hunger. “The last child I saw was in an incubator who was a two-day-old boy, but who wasn't prematurely born – he was born after nine months – but he was 1.2 kg. There are going to be long-term consequences, which will be felt in the development possibility of that child.”Insisting on the need for a direct telephone line to the Israeli military “and the ability to speak to them”, Mr. McGoldrick noted that the targeting of the non-governmental organisation World Central Kitchen convoy two weeks ago was only recent evidence of the frequent dangers faced by aid teams operating in Gaza.“We have to have handheld radios, VHF radios, all the things you have in any normal issue, in a normal crisis. We don't have them,” he said, maintaining that the Israeli authorities had not allowed them for fear that they might be used by Hamas fighters.Evacuation callEchoing concerns about the dire healthcare situation in Gaza, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) called for a structured medical evacuations system to treat patients, instead of the current “ad hoc” arrangement.Damage to Al Shifa Hospital – Gaza’s biggest – during a two-week Israeli military raid had left a “huge crater” in the specialised surgery block, said Thanos Gargavanis, WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer.Speaking from Gaza, Dr Gargavanis said that the hospital had been completely destroyed, including the oxygen plant, laboratory equipment and other critical equipment including a CT scanner and other machines required to provide lifesaving care. “The buildings themselves are burned down, walls are missing; there are holes of shrapnel and fire all along them,” the WHO officer noted, before describing how a recce of the hospital last week found open spaces littered with makeshift graves or with bodies lying either uncovered or with a plastic sheet over them.The WHO and other UN agencies have ensured that the deceased found at Al Shifa can receive a dignified burial, after naming the bodies or making it possible for them to be identified by DNA testing in future.“After this destruction, we feel that we are returning 60 years before when medical imaging was not available, where laboratory tests were not available,” Dr Gargavanis said. “We want to stress again that hospitals should never be militarized.”
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12 April 2024
Ceasefire the only way to end killing and injuring of children in Gaza: UNICEF
Tess Ingram was part of a UNICEF team that was headed to northern Gaza on Tuesday when their vehicle was hit by live ammunition while waiting at a checkpoint. “Luckily, myself and my colleagues, we were all safe. But this just underscores how dangerous it is for humanitarian aid workers in Gaza at the moment: that incidents like this continue to happen when they absolutely shouldn't,” she told UN News, speaking from Rafah in the south.‘Critical mission’ rescheduled The UN has repeatedly warned of looming famine in Gaza, where roughly 70 per cent of the population in the north is going hungry, and as access restrictions persist.Ms. Ingram said the UNICEF team had hoped to proceed to the region “because it was such a critical mission with nutrition products for the children who were malnourished in the north of Gaza, among other things.” However, after waiting at the holding point for at least another two hours, they decided moving forward was no longer feasible as there would not be enough time to conduct all their activities, and returned to Rafah.While another mission is being scheduled for the coming days, she stressed the critical need for more aid corridors and, above all, for the fighting to end. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Tess Ingram: It's tragic to see anybody suffering from malnutrition, which is such a painful condition, let alone in a place where malnutrition was almost non-existent before October. And it's now skyrocketed in the north of Gaza, because of disruptions to food production, but also because of restrictions on aid access to that area. We've really struggled to get up there with aid. And as a result, we know that children are dying of malnutrition there. At least 23 children have reportedly died at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is where we were trying to bring these nutrition treatments on Tuesday. UN News: Is there a particular story that you heard, a particular child that struck you, that that really resonated with you? Tess Ingram: There's a boy that I met, in the middle area at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Dier Al Balah. His name is Omar. He is seven years old. I wasn't able to speak to him because he was in such a terrible condition, so much pain. But I talked to his grandmother, and she was telling me that they had just come down from the north 48 hours earlier, and that in the north they had access to barely any food, and they were relying heavily on grass to sustain them. And you could see how sick Omar is. I really hope that he's okay now. The director of pediatrics at the hospital told me that he hoped that Omar would make a full recovery. But concerningly, he said that 90 percent of the children that they're admitting at the moment have some level of malnutrition, which is just shocking. UN News: Israel said that it has the intention at least to open the Erez crossing into northern Gaza. Has this materialized yet? Were you able to get anything in to relieve the situation? Tess Ingram: No, not yet - and that is such a critical step. We really need that crossing to be open, so that we can increase the volume of aid, but also so that we have direct access straight into the north. And that's important for two reasons. One, it'll allow us to bring aid in faster, and at scale to these children and families in the north who desperately need food and nutrition supplies. But also, it will prevent us, as the UN, having to drive through the whole Gaza Strip with our aid, which is important in such a dangerous place. UN News: So, you've seen these children, you've seen the conditions there. Is there still time to avoid the famine that the UN has been warning about, or are we already too late? Tess Ingram: Look, it's really hard to know. We've said that a famine could happen at any moment between now and May, and I think that still holds in the north of Gaza. For the south, the risk of famine is there. But I think we can still prevent it if we can just flood the Gaza Strip with aid. There is still time to prevent a famine in the middle and south of Gaza. UN News: We've been hearing many calls on the international stage for increased humanitarian access, increased humanitarian aid, in Gaza, but this has been to no avail. What needs to happen to make that happen? Tess Ingram: Well, the best way to make that happen is the ceasefire. It is the only way to end the killing and injuring of children. It is the best way to ensure that we can bring in more aid and to distribute that aid at scale, safely to all of the children and families in Gaza in need. UN News: You visited hospitals in Gaza, and we know that the healthcare system in the Strip is on the verge of collapse. Can you tell us what that means in practical terms, and in real-life terms?Tess Ingram: In real-life terms, what that means is doctors are struggling to provide the care that they want to, and that they’re used to in Gaza. It means that supplies are running out. It means that staff are unable to be paid salaries, and many more of them are having to become volunteers. And that's not sustainable because they have to be able to support their families in such desperate conditions. It means that children are dying without the appropriate medical care, or they're unable to receive treatment that they need. For example, I met a girl at the European Hospital this week. Her name's Juri and she's nine years old. She is from Rafah, here, at the south of the Gaza Strip. And despite this being an area where there hasn't been a ground offensive yet, she was in a building, her grandparents’ house, that was struck. And Juri said the last thing she remembers is playing with birds in a cage at the house, and then waking up in European hospital. And she has so many broken bones - the right side of her face and her arm and her wrist. But on the left side of her body, where she was struck by the impact of the blast, she has enormous open wounds that haven't been able to be treated in Gaza. When I met her, it had been 16 days since the incident. And she was still lying in a hospital bed with very painful, large, open wounds, waiting, hoping that she might be able to be evacuated from Gaza to get the treatment that she needs. But this has to be unacceptable to the world that a nine-year-old girl who was just visiting her grandparents ends up with such a traumatic injury that cannot be treated, and she's still waiting for help. UN News: You spoke about the fact that Rafah currently doesn't have a ground offensive, and there are growing fears, of course, that this incursion is going to happen after the government announced that it actually has a date for that operation. How is UNICEF preparing itself to deal with that? Tess Ingram: We're preparing contingency plans. We're trying to strategize about how we'll continue to do our job. We don't intend to go anywhere. We're going to stay and deliver and make sure that we can continue to provide support to the children and families of Gaza. UN News: With regard to education, the UN notes that 100 per cent of children in Gaza are out of school. Do you think we lost a generation in Gaza? Tess Ingram: Look, 625,000 students haven't had access to education since October. And when I meet kids here, one of the first things they tell me is how much they miss school – miss learning, miss their friends, what their favourite subject used to be. These children want to learn. They want to go back to school. But the longer it goes, the harder it becomes. So, we really need to make sure that these children can go back to school as soon as possible in formal learning, but in the meantime have some sort of temporary learning. And that's what we're trying to set up at the moment as UNICEF. UN News: Of course, with the attention on the immediate catastrophe at hand, longer-term effects can sometimes be overlooked. What are some of those long-term effects that UNICEF is expecting on children in Gaza? Is there anything being done now to address them once the guns fall silent? Tess Ingram: I think something that's often overlooked is the mental health impact of this war. And we know that children are experiencing repeated trauma, which will certainly have long-term impacts. If you think about other conflicts around the world, a child may experience one or two incidences of trauma, but generally, then they're able to flee to safety. But in Gaza, children are trapped and they're not able to leave. And every day they're experiencing some form of trauma - whether that's, an explosion, losing a family member, not knowing whether somebody is okay - living with that fear day in, day out definitely impacts them. And it can have developmental impacts on their bodies as well. So, this is something that we're very concerned about. We're working now to try and mitigate it in the small ways that we can. We can't yet provide counselling because children aren't safe. But what we're doing at the moment is providing recreational activities and psychosocial support in groups so that children can come together and play, or do arts and crafts or drama, or simply counsel each other if they're a bit older, and just for a moment have a sense of community or a sense of childhood. I've seen it, and it's a really nice thing to witness - these children laughing and smiling amid the horror around us. UN News: Many people want to do something about this situation, but they feel helpless. What can they do to support Gazans? Tess Ingram: I think the most important thing that we need to do is to continue advocating for a ceasefire - through whatever channels you are able to - to continue to call for an end to the fighting, because that really is the only way that we're going to be able to end this situation, and end the fear and the death and the destruction for the children of Gaza. But until that happens, the other thing that's really important is support for the humanitarian agencies on the ground. We're all here doing our best to try and help the people of Gaza, and we need the international community's support to continue that work.
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11 April 2024
UN continues to face aid access denials in Gaza
Israeli authorities have not given a clear reason why, said OCHA Spokesperson Jens Laerke, speaking during the regular briefing by UN humanitarian agencies in Geneva. “They very often deny and that is it, and it ends there. We do not get an explanation,” he said. In a widely reported telephone call last Thursday between United States President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel committed to reopen the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza as well as facilitate aid delivery via the nearby port of Ashdod. The White House said it would be watching closely but no date has been set by Israel to act and the concession over expanding routes into Gaza has yet to materialize, according to news reports. Mr. Laerke was asked about the opening of more aid corridors, particularly the Erez crossing, but said as of Monday night, OCHA had not received any information that it had opened. Denials and impediments OCHA issued a report this week which said that restrictions and denials of planned aid movements by Israeli authorities continue to hamper the delivery of life-saving assistance to the shattered enclave.During March, more than half of UN-coordinated food missions to high-risk areas requiring coordination with Israeli authorities were either denied or impeded. Mr. Laerke was responding to journalists’ questions about the number of aid trucks entering Gaza and discrepancies between Israeli and UN figures. The Israeli defense ministry unit that coordinates and facilitates humanitarian aid for Gaza, known as COGAT, counts trucks that it screens and sends across the border while OCHA counts trucks that arrive at its warehouses, and “between those two, there are issues.”Comparison ‘makes little sense’ Trucks screened by COGAT are typically only half full, in line with its requirements, he said. “When we count the trucks on the other side when they have been reloaded…they are full. Already there, the numbers will never match up,” he continued. He explained that counting day to day and comparing numbers “makes little sense” as it does not take into account delays at the crossing and in moving to warehouses. Israeli-imposed restrictions also prohibit Egyptian drivers and trucks from being in the same area at the same time as Palestinian drivers and trucks, so handovers are not smooth. Access to north Gaza Mr. Laerke stressed that moving aid inside Gaza “is another complication”, referring to the impediments and access denials. “Food convoys that should be going particularly to the north, where 70 per cent of people face famine conditions, are more likely, actually three times more likely, to be denied than any other humanitarian convoy with other kinds of material,” he said. He told journalists that aid distribution inside Gaza “is a major issue” due to security and safety reasons, and the breakdown of law and order.“But we also stress that the obligation on the warring parties – and, in particular, I would say on Israel as the occupying power of Gaza - to facilitate and ensure humanitarian access does not stop at the border,” he said.
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09 April 2024
Palestinian request for UN membership moves on to specialized committee
The proposal for the referral, made by Ambassador Vanessa Frazier of Malta, Security Council President for April, received no objections from the body’s 15 members.“Unless I hear a proposal to the contrary, I shall refer to the Committee of Admission of New Members, the request that renewed consideration be given to the application of the observer State of Palestine, during the month of April 2024,” Ms. Frazier said, referring to Rule 59 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedures on new members.Ms. Frazier also proposed that the admissions committee, a subsidiary organ of the Security Council, would meet at 3 PM the same day to consider the application. The Committee meetings are held behind closed doors, unless it decides otherwise.Prior to the formal referral, the Council met privately to discuss the request submitted by Palestine that its earlier request for membership – made on 23 September 2011 – be reconsidered.Palestine is a non-member observer State of the UN, the same status as held by the Holy See.Any application for UN membership is considered by the Security Council, which then forwards it on to the 193-member General Assembly to adopt a resolution for the admission of a Member State. Security Council recommendationAs per its rules of procedure, the Security Council shall decide whether in its judgement the applicant is committed to peace and able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the UN Charter and, accordingly, whether to recommend the applicant State for membership.If the Security Council presents a recommendation, it goes forward to the General Assembly along with a complete record of the deliberations.If the Security Council does not recommend the applicant State for membership or postpones the consideration of the application, it submits a special report plus record of discussions, to the General Assembly.
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Story
08 April 2024
Planning the post-war reconstruction and recovery of Gaza
The destruction wrought across the Gaza Strip by Israel in the six months since the massacre of Israeli and other citizens by Hamas on 7 October 2023 makes for grim reading – over 33,000 people killed and, according to the World Bank, over one million Palestinians are without homes, close to 90 per cent of health facilities have been damaged or wrecked and schools have been destroyed or turned into shelters for the newly homeless. In a statement issued on Saturday marking six months of conflict, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths noted that each day the war claims more civilian victims, after the horror of 7 October and the death and devastation rained down on the people of Gaza since."Rarely has there been such global outrage at the toll of the conflict with seemingly so little done to end it and instead so much impunity", he said.He said the grim milestone should not be just a moment of remembrance and mourning, "it must also spur a collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity."Looking aheadIt’s still unclear how much more destruction and death Gaza will endure before peace settles across the troubled enclave, nor what type of society will emerge from the conflict, but six months after hostilities started UN agencies are already strategizing for the future, however uncertain. Jobs and the economy “Gaza has witnessed an almost complete destruction of economic activity in all sectors.” That’s the damning analysis of Aya Jaafar, an economist at the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO estimates that more than 200,000 jobs have been lost in Gaza, some 90 per cent of the pre-conflict workforce. The UN agency further calculates that income losses there have reached $4.1 million per day, which equates to an 80 per cent decrease in the enclave’s GDP (the amount of money earned from the sale of all goods and services). This includes Palestinians who received salaries for work carried out in Israel but who are now unemployed in Gaza. Construction has typically been one of the most important industries in Gaza, but according to the ILO, activity in the sector is down some 96 per cent. Other key productive areas, including agriculture and the industrial and services sector, have also all but ceased. The few businesses that are still operating are generally small-scale local enterprises, including bakeries, other food-related businesses and some pharmacies. What next? The ILO estimates that perhaps 25 per cent of the people killed in Gaza have been men of working age – generally, women do not work. Ms. Jaafar said the loss of these “breadwinners” will mean that families “will face some economic hardships after the war ends”. This could mean more children in a future Gazan labour market raising concerns about exploitative child labour. In the immediate post-war situation, some emergency employment programmes will be “critical to provide incomes to workers who have lost their jobs” as they seek to support their families, Ms. Jaafar said. It is expected that micro and small enterprises will need emergency grants and wage subsidies as part of the process of restoring activity and to facilitate local economic recovery. Extensive skills development and vocational training will also be required. A key task for any future government of Gaza is to “identify economic strategies that aim not only at improving the economic conditions, but also ensuring that economic growth creates decent jobs”, she added. Investment-heavy ILO programmes which provide employment opportunities for local communities while supporting the reconstruction or rehabilitation of the destroyed infrastructure will also play an important role. Feeding Gaza Access to food has remained a critical concern of humanitarians since the early days of the conflict and, according to FAO’s AbdelHakim Elwaer, “many in the north do face a serious situation of malnutrition, starvation with some of the population classified as being hit with famine.” Before the conflict, Gaza had a thriving agricultural and fisheries sector both for export and local consumption. Indeed Gaza had “partial self-sufficiency of production of fruits and vegetables”, he said. The sector has largely collapsed due to the relentless bombing across the enclave. Almost 50 per cent of agricultural land has been destroyed according to Mr. Elwaer. Much of Gaza’s food needs were met by imports by the private sector, but that supply chain has all but collapsed. Some livestock is still farmed, but animal feed, which some Gazans are now reportedly eating for lack of other food, has been in short supply. FAO reported that it took three months to get approval from the Israeli authorities for a delivery of 500 tonnes of feed.Reactivating local production “The people of Gaza are ready to reactivate local production,” said Mr. Elwaer, “but they require seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.” While small-scale farming may be relatively straightforward to kick start, revitalizing the commercial agricultural sector to its pre-7 October level will be more challenging. “Over 50 per cent of all agriculture assets have been destroyed, so massive investment will be needed,” said Mr. Elwaer. “We need to recover what’s been damaged, rebuild capacity and then hope the private sector will re-engage.” He believes that the recovery will be humanitarian-led for at least two years until there is “some level of stability, trust and confidence” which will allow people to return and revive their businesses. The cost and timetable of reconstruction and recovery It is too early to say how much it will cost to rebuild Gaza as the destruction is continuing. However, according to Rami Alazzeh of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “it will take decades and the will of the international community to fund tens of billions of dollars of investments to reconstruct Gaza.” The World Bank calculates the figure at $18.5 billion, but that only accounts for damage up until the end of January 2024. Housing will be most costly to rebuild (taking up 72 per cent of the overall costs) followed by public service infrastructure such as water, health and education (19 per cent). That figure obviously does not include the costs of keeping people alive with humanitarian assistance over the next several years. And deadly unexploded bombs will also have to be cleared across the enclave which, according to the UN’s Mine Action Service, “will take years”. Weighing some big “ifs” It is not immediately clear if the money for reconstruction will be forthcoming, and there are some other big “ifs.” If reconstruction were to start immediately after hostilities ended and if the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has been in force for 18 years, was ended and if Gaza were able to sustain a 10 per cent growth over the coming years, it would take until 2035, for the enclave “to get back to where it was prior to the 2006 blockade”, according to Mr. Alazzeh. However, in the worst-case scenario, where the economy grows by 0.4 per cent a year, as has been the case in recent years, then Mr. Alazzeh believes it will take Gaza “until 2092, or seven decades, just for it to go back to its economic level of 2022”. Politics will play a role as well, according to the UNCTAD expert. “The cycle of destruction and insufficient reconstruction is not an option for the people in Gaza,” he said. “We need to restore hope in people for the future, and I think that only comes through a comprehensive political plan which includes the two-State solution.”
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08 April 2024
Hope grows for UN mission to ‘flood’ Gaza with food, despite fears of imminent Rafah invasion
That’s according to the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, speaking in-depth to UN News exactly six months since hostilities began with the Hamas-led terror attack. He underlined that the entire UN aid effort is about saving lives “and nothing else.”The veteran humanitarian was speaking as the Israeli defence forces said on Sunday they had withdrawn a division of troops from Gaza to prepare for “future operations” at the end of a week when the Israeli leadership also pledged to increase the volume and flow of aid following pressure from Washington – although it’s unclear when any changes in policy will materialise.Mr. McGoldrick said the combination of political and domestic pressure and growing international condemnation following the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers together with months of UN advocacy, should translate into increased aid for desperate Gazans.“Slowly but surely” Israelis are realizing the extent of the humanitarian crisis, especially in northern Gaza: “Hopefully with all these pipelines opening…We can start to swamp and flood the place with food and other items, we can get ourselves ready with whatever comes next”, he said.The interview has been edited for length and clarity.UN News: We will have to start with the reports emerging about Israel's troop withdrawal from southern Gaza. What's your comment on that?Jamie McGoldrick: I think this phase of the military operation, they must have had it finished in Khan Younis. I think that's where and they are taking the brigades out. What that means is that hopefully that will be a lot more secure in those areas and maybe people can start to go back to where they came from. But it's also a worrying issue in the sense that maybe they're going out to regroup and get ready for the proposed Rafah incursion. UN News: You mentioned that Israel has made several commitments to increase aid to Gaza in response also to the UN's repeated requests. You stated seven commitments. Can you please explain to us the most crucial of those?Jamie McGoldrick: "Well, I think that the most crucial of them is is getting more openings and more pipelines into Gaza. I mean, right now we're very restricted in terms of what we're able to bring in.We have only one major crossing point, which is Kerem Shalom, to Rafah, and that allows us 250 trucks a day. We need to get up to about 500 plus a day. And in order to do that we've been asking since day one for more actual pipelines in from the Jordan pipeline right now, we’re only get 100 trucks a week.We should be getting 30 to 50 trucks a day. And then in the north, Ashdod, the very well-functioning modern port, we are asking for that to be opened up again. And that could again bring us in another 100 trucks a day.So those combined with Kerem Shalom, we would have almost 500 trucks a day, which would then satisfy the needs on the ground. And more importantly, in the north, where there is imminent famine.UN News: From your contacts with the Israeli side. When will these commitments be implemented, and when do you think Gazans will start to feel their impact?Jamie McGoldrick: Well, we hope quickly. We were told that, in our meetings on Friday, that these things were underway and preparations were taking place. And we know there was a meeting yesterday in Jordan with all the parties, US, UN and the Jordanian Armed Forces, to come up with some way of addressing the limited pipeline we currently have.Equally, we're pushing with the Israelis to find out when can we get the Ashdod port opened up for more supplies and directly into Erez, or one of the other northern crossing points, not having to come south.I think that would allow us a very fast and swift increase in the amount of food going in. At the moment, we're only getting about 10 to 20 trucks on any given day to the north, and we need to be having 30 trucks every single day without fail, in order for us to address the serious food insecurity and especially the imminent famine among the most vulnerable groups there. UN News: The commitments vary from planning to intent to assurances, are they enough to implement the quantum leap the UN has called for for aid delivery and also to avert the looming famine in Gaza?Jamie McGoldrick No, I think that what we've got on the table is these developments that have been promised to us. And as you remember, they came off the back of a long advocacy campaign by ourselves and the Country Team to push for these openings, to push for a bigger pipeline, to push for better deconfliction and a better interface with the military, the IDF.And tragically, that's only come as a result of the very serious incident that took place the other day with seven World Central Kitchen people who were killed and also political - a push by President Biden and phone calls to Prime Minister Netanyahu.I think all of those combined around the same time into this one week, and then that allowed us then to start to get some of these, shall we say, some of these concessions we've been asking for some time.And I think there's a meaningfulness there and maybe a significance there that we shouldn't expect them all to come on stream straight away, but we can start to work on them.But more importantly, the public declaration allows us to get them locked in, and then we can go back and push. And right now we've got high level delegations in the region and also in Tel Aviv, who are pushing themselves for a number of issues, including all of these new promises or concessions we've been given.UN News: You mentioned that the Israel in recent days has acknowledged the immense scale of suffering in Gaza and its own ability to facilitate the increase of aid. Is that another argument that the UN actually was standing ready to do everything it can but there were so many constraints? And in your assessment wasn't that clear to the Israeli authorities before the immense suffering and its ability to facilitate?Jamie McGoldrick: I think you have to recognize that there's more than one Israel. I mean, there's, it's not a homogeneous body. You've got the political side of things, which is very much leaning on the right wing now.You've also got a war cabinet made up of people who have very serious war aims after the 7th of October, tragic events. And then you have civil society who are pushing very hard for hostages to be released.And that's the combined parts of Israeli civil society and the politicians. And then you've got the army, the army themselves, the IDF, we've got the coordination liaison administration, and you've got COGAT, which is the body we deal with on a regular basis. So there're many fragmented parts.And so, we have to find a way of convincing them or getting them to understand. And slowly but surely that has happened. And I think it comes as a direct result of the evidence that we've shown that more children than there should have, have died in the north of malnutrition and emaciation.They should understand why we're there and what we're trying to do, and it's only to save lives and nothing elseAnd I've seen myself in Kamal Adwan's hospital two weeks ago the depths and the direness of people's suffering on the children's ward was just something that should not happen in this day and age.And I think that combined with the politics, combined with the push and the advocacy from the highest level, people like President Biden and all of this team that's come into the region for this. And I think a general recognition that progress has not been made and that we've been calling this out for a long time.And I think it's now we are starting see that landing within the different parts of Israel, to understand that they have to do more with us and allow us to do more for the people of Gaza, and they shouldn't be suspicious and mistrustful.They should understand why we're there and what we're trying to do and it's only to save lives and nothing else.
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Press Release
06 April 2024
Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Mr. Jamie McGoldrick
Nearly 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes, many of them multiple times. Half of all people in Gaza are at risk of imminent famine, and child malnutrition has reached levels never before seen in Gaza.The situation is simply catastrophic.In recent days, Israel has acknowledged the immense scale of suffering in Gaza and its ability to facilitate the increase of humanitarian assistance to people in need. This is a welcome development, notably the several commitments that Israel has made in response to our repeated requests:A better functioning coordination cell will be established that links humanitarians directly with the IDF Southern Command.Plans to open Erez Crossing temporarily to move much needed food, water and sanitation items, shelter and health materials from Ashdod port.Plans to increase the number of trucks entering through the Allenby Bridge crossing towards Gaza from 25 to at least 50 per day.Intent to expand operating hours of Kerem Shalom and Nitsana crossings, while anticipating an increase in the number of trucks scanned by an additional 100 trucks per day.Deployment of additional scanner and staff capacity at Kerem Shalom crossing to accelerate the transfer of aid into Gaza.Assurance for approvals to activate 20 bakeries in North Gaza.Approval for the Nahal Oz water line in North Gaza to restart.As I have stated previously, the humanitarian community is prepared to scale-up assistance in Gaza, but this requires better security, greater access, and more reliable facilitation from Israeli authorities.We stand ready to work with all parties to alleviate the suffering of people in Gaza.
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Press Release
03 April 2024
Joint World Bank and UN Report Assesses Damage to Gaza’s Infrastructure
WASHINGTON, March 28, 2024 – The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank Group and the United Nations, with the financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Interim Damage Assessment report used remote data collection sources to measure damage to physical infrastructure in critical sectors incurred between October 2023 and end of January 2024. The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing alone accounts for 73% of the identified cost. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 18%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that will take years to remove. The report also looks at the devastating impact on the people of Gaza. More than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Over a million people have been left without homes and 75% of the population is displaced. The severe cumulative impacts on physical and mental health have hit women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities the hardest, with the youngest children facing life-long consequences to their development. With 84% of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate remaining facilities, people have minimal access to health care, medicine, or life-saving treatments. The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5% of its previous output, with people dependent on limited water rations for survival. The education system has completely collapsed, with 100% of children out of school. The report also points to the impact on power networks as well as solar generated systems and the almost total power blackout since the first week of the conflict. This has had widespread effect on day-to-day life in Gaza. With 92% of primary roads destroyed or damaged and the communications infrastructure seriously impaired, the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to people has become all the more difficult. __________________________________________________________________________________About the Gaza Interim Damage Assessment Report The Gaza Interim Damage Assessment report provides a preliminary estimate of the impact of the on-going conflict in the Gaza Strip up to the end of January 2024. This technical report draws on remote data collection sources and analytics to provide a preliminary estimate of damages to physical structures in Gaza from the conflict. The estimate does not include the economic and social losses nor the financing needs for recovery and reconstruction the cost of which is expected to be multiple times higher based on experience in post-disaster and post-conflict settings. A comprehensive Rapid Damage & Needs Assessment (RDNA) will be completed as soon as the situation allows and in which the total amount of damages, losses and needs are expected to rise exponentially. RDNAs follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple contexts to inform recovery and reconstruction planning.
Media Contacts: World Bank Group In West Bank: Mary Koussa - (972) 2-2366500; mkoussa@worldbank.org In Washington: Serene Jweied - (202) 473-8764; sjweied@worldbank.org United Nations In West Bank: Murad Bakri – (972) 2-5687287; bakri1@un.org
Media Contacts: World Bank Group In West Bank: Mary Koussa - (972) 2-2366500; mkoussa@worldbank.org In Washington: Serene Jweied - (202) 473-8764; sjweied@worldbank.org United Nations In West Bank: Murad Bakri – (972) 2-5687287; bakri1@un.org
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Press Release
08 March 2024
UN Human Rights Chief deplores new moves to expand Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank
“Reports this week that Israel plans to build a further 3,476 settler homes in Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar fly in the face of international law,” Türk said.In a report to the Human Rights Council, Türk said that the establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amount to the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into the territories that it occupies, which amounts to a war crime under international law.The size of existing Israeli settlements has expanded markedly, says the report which covers the period from 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023. About 24,300 housing units within existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank were advanced during this period, the highest on record since monitoring began in 2017. This included approximately 9,670 units in East Jerusalem.The report finds that the policies of the current Israeli Government appear aligned, to an unprecedented extent, with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to steadily integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel.“They also run counter to the views of a broad range of States laid out during hearings just two weeks ago at the International Court of Justice,” the High Commissioner said, referring to the hearings examining the legal consequences of Israeli policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.The establishment and continuing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements are occurring alongside the displacement of Palestinians through Israeli settler and state violence, as well as through forced evictions, non-issuance of building permits, home demolitions and movement restrictions for Palestinians.“The West Bank is already in crisis. Yet, settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian State,” Türk said.The report highlights the dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, particularly since 7 October, 2023, which is accelerating Palestinians’ displacement from their land.Latest UN figures show that, since 7 October, there have been 603 settler attacks against Palestinians. A total of 1,222 Palestinians from 19 herding communities have been displaced as a direct result of settler violence. Since 7 October, the UN Human Rights Office has documented nine Palestinians killed by settlers using firearms. A further 396 have been killed by Israeli security forces, and two killed by either Israeli security forces or settlers.Since 7 October, 592 people, including 282 children, have been displaced in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, after their homes were demolished due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain.The report says that since 7 October, the UN Human Rights Office has documented dozens of cases of settlers wearing full or partial Israeli army uniforms and carrying army rifles, and harassing and attacking Palestinians. These developments have also further blurred the line between settler violence and state violence, including violence with the declared intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land, it states.“Israel’s actions against the Palestinian population must cease immediately. The only way forward is to find a viable political solution that finally ends the occupation, establishes an independent Palestinian state and guarantees the realization of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people,” said Türk.To read the full report, please click here
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Press Release
24 January 2024
UN agencies: End to Conflict is Imperative for a Return to Learning in Palestine
The urgency of this message is underscored by the stark reality that learning has been devastated in the Gaza Strip since the hostilities began in October 2023. Over 625,000 students and 22,564 teachers have been deprived of education and a safe place for over three months, and thousands of learners and education personnel are amongst the more than 25,000 people who have reportedly been killed.
Children and youth, as well as educators, have lost the anchor that is education – all UNRWA schools are closed in the Gaza Strip, depriving the 300,000 children who attended them of their education. The longer they stay out of school, the more difficult it is to catch up, with lasting consequences.
Most UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip have been turned into shelters, hosting over 1.2 million displaced people. Communities and support networks have been fractured, and educational infrastructure damaged or destroyed. 75% of all school buildings across the Gaza Strip have been impacted, while numerous higher education institutions have also sustained damages . At least 340 internally displaced people have been killed while seeking safety in UNRWA shelters and more than 1,100 injured. Attacks on educational premises and UN premises violate international humanitarian law.
While all eyes are on Gaza, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, access to safe education has also been disrupted amid escalating violence in recent months. According to the Education Cluster, at least 782,000 students have been affected by movement restrictions, increased violence, and fear of harassment from Israeli settlers and forces since October. In the West Bank, the UN has recruited addition counsellors and teachers from the vicinity of schools given that many staff are unable to reach their workplace. We have also activated remote learning on days that schools are not operating.
In Gaza, despite the conflict, the United Nations and partners from the Education Cluster have been striving to offer much needed recreational activities for children, as well as psychosocial support in shelters.
Education is a fundamental human right and critical lifeline for the millions of children and young people affected by the war, and it must be sustained even throughout this crisis. Ending the conflict is imperative to enable Palestinian students and educators to begin to rebuild the foundations for a safe return to learning.
A just and sustainable future for Palestine begins with fostering peace and mutual understanding and improving livelihoods through education.
In Gaza, despite the conflict, the United Nations and partners from the Education Cluster have been striving to offer much needed recreational activities for children, as well as psychosocial support in shelters.
Education is a fundamental human right and critical lifeline for the millions of children and young people affected by the war, and it must be sustained even throughout this crisis. Ending the conflict is imperative to enable Palestinian students and educators to begin to rebuild the foundations for a safe return to learning.
A just and sustainable future for Palestine begins with fostering peace and mutual understanding and improving livelihoods through education.
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Press Release
11 January 2024
UN Human Rights Office in Occupied Palestinian Territory warns Israeli strikes are placing civilians at serious risk in Deir Al Balah, Middle Gaza
On 28 and 31 December 2023, and again on 6 and 8 January 2024, the Israeli Defence Forces urged residents of most populated areas of Middle Gaza, such as Al Bureij and Al Nuseirat, to evacuate to known shelters in Deir Al Balah. However, Israeli strikes and ground battles in those areas were ongoing, while strikes on Deir Al Balah itself intensified. The UN Human Rights Office has received reports that during the last ten days, four individual strikes in Deir Al Balah killed more than 40 Palestinians. It is clear – as the UN has repeatedly stressed – that there is no safe place in Gaza.
The operations of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah, the only functioning hospital in Middle Gaza, have also been severely restricted by Israeli strikes and sniper shootings. The hospital was reportedly sheltering thousands of displaced persons in Deir al Balah. The severity of the situation has led many medical staff to take the difficult decision to evacuate the hospital, despite the high need for medical care resulting from the continuing strikes. Today, 10 January, IDF strikes reportedly hit a residential building in front of the hospital, as well as an ambulance vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). The strikes reportedly killed 13 Palestinians. PRCS has stated that four among the fatalities were ambulance crew members.
Hospitals enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law because of their life-saving function for the wounded and sick – they must be respected and protected.
Israel Defense Forces must take immediate measures to protect civilians in line with its obligations under international law. Forcing the relocation of civilians in no way absolves the IDF from its obligations under IHL to protect civilians in carrying out military operations.
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