PRESS BRIEFING BY THE UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by representatives and spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, and the World Meteorological Organization.
Conflict in Gaza
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), stated that the seventh situation report by UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had been published the previous evening, containing data as of 16 October at 6 pm local time.
Abeer Etefa, World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Communications Lead for the Middle East and North Africa, speaking from Cairo, said that the current stocks of food commodities in Gaza were sufficient for only two weeks. Food shops had reserves for approximately five days; there were difficulties with replenishing those shops from warehouses. Only one mill was currently working in the Gaza Strip, informed Ms. Etefa, and people were lining up for hours to get bread, with only five bakeries currently operational. Some 25 percent of the stocks in the shops or warehouses were believed to be lost, left behind, or spoiled because of the lack of electricity. WFP had reached 220,000 people who were staying in UN-designated shelters. About 180,000 people were assisted daily; WFP’s food supplies inside Gaza were running low, but more food supplies were being stocked up on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border; over 300,000 tons of food were now either at the border or on their way to Rafah – enough to feed 250,000 people over a week. WFP was hoping to provide lifesaving food supplies to a total of 800,000 people both inside Gaza and West Bank; USD 74 million was urgently needed to continue the operation for next three months.
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stated that, with a staggering 4,200 people killed, over one million people displaced in just ten days, and large areas in the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble, the OHCHR had grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days. Military operations showed no signs of abating; the continued siege on Gaza was affecting water supply, food, medicine and other basic needs, and there were daily indications of violations of the laws of war and international human rights law. The death toll included many women and children, as well as at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical staff, and 14 UN staff.
OHCHR urged the Israeli forces to avoid targeting civilians and civilian objects or conducting area bombardments, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and to take precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. OHCHR echoed the UN call for a humanitarian pause to enable aid delivery and to prevent further suffering and deaths of the already much beleaguered civilian population of Gaza. Urgent immediate, unimpeded humanitarian access needed to be ensured.
Ms. Shamdasani said that the latest reports indicated that around 199 Israeli were held hostages by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. OHCHR once again urged Palestinian armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all civilian hostages, and to halt the use of inherently indiscriminate projectiles against Israel. Full statement is available here.
Itayi Viriri, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), stated that IOM fully supported calls by the UN Secretary General and the rest of the UN family for an immediate end to the escalating violence to avert a humanitarian catastrophe with the potential to reshape the region for years to come. All civilians, including humanitarian actors, had to be protected, and all parties had to uphold international law obligations and ensure safe passage for civilians seeking safety and shelter. All forms of collective punishment, including sieges and depravation of goods essential for survival, were a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Such measures needed to be lifted immediately.
Safe access and humanitarian corridors were urgently needed to provide lifesaving aid and assistance to people in Gaza. So far, IOM had received requests for evacuations of 450 third-country nationals from Gaza and Israel; the number was constantly growing. IOM needed an unimpeded access in order to help those third-country nationals leave Gaza.
Responding to questions from the media, Ms. Vellucci, for UNIS, said that the UN regretted the killing of Issam Abdallah, a Lebanese journalist, and expressed condolences to his family; the Secretary-General paid tribute to journalists reporting from the dangerous areas, many of whom were paying the ultimate price to bring the truth to the world. Ms. Etefa, for the WFP, reiterated that a lot of food, water, and medical supplies were available and waiting a mere few kilometers from the Rafah border crossing. The Egyptian side said that the security situation at the border did not, for the time being, allow the border to open and the humanitarian trucks to come in. She said that everyone was still very hopeful that the supplies would be eventually let in. Ms. Etefa said that she was not aware of any looting incidents of the WFP warehouses in the Gaza Strip.
Ms. Shamdasani, for the OHCHR, stated that the OHCHR did not have specifics on the children killed by Hamas during their incursion; there had to be an investigation into each allegation of all violations of the international humanitarian law. There should be no collective punishment of an entire population for the acts conducted by militants. OHCHR was deeply distressed by the killing of the Lebanese journalist, who was just one of at least 11 journalists killed in the past days.
Also answering questions, Ms. Shamdasani for the OHCHR, stressed that the international humanitarian law – the law of war – was an obligation for all parties; breaches by one party did not absolve the other party of its obligation to respect the law. OHCHR said that human rights defenders in Gaza were struggling to collect and disseminate information about what was happening, not least because of the strikes and electricity restrictions. United Nations needed to be very careful, in the fog of war, of making any definitive statements before sufficient verified information was collected. Ms. Shamdasani said that the work of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory was independent from the OHCHR; the lack of accountability over the many years had led to vicious circles of vengeance and bloodshed. All parties had the obligation to spare the civilian populations and take all precautions possible to minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, stressed Ms. Shamdasani. Hamas, as the de facto authorities in Gaza, also had the responsibility to ensure humanitarian access to the population under their control.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), responding to a question on reports that some Palestinians from Gaza, working in Israel, had been detained or not been allowed to return to Gaza and some who had been deported to the West Bank by Israel, said that OCHA had no information about the grounds on which those people had been detained. The UN Emergency Coordinator was traveling to the region, where he would visit Egypt and Israel, and, conditions permitting, also hoped to go to OPT. OCHA’s concern was primarily for the very vulnerable civilians in the Gaza Strip, including the sick, the elderly, and the children. The Palestinian Ministry of Health had so far reported 2,808 fatalities and 10,850 injuries in Gaza, as well as 58 fatalities and 1,176 injuries in the West Bank. In Israel, as reported by the Israeli authorities, there had been 1,300 fatalities and over 4,000 injuries.
Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), answering a question, said that the WHO currently did not have information on the use of white phosphorus weapons. In Gaza City and northern Gaza, four hospitals were no longer functioning because of the sustained damage. WHO was particularly concerned about patients in critical care, such as those on life support or dialysis, who could not be safely moved south. Respiratory diseases were also circulating more quickly in the current situation. Ms. Harris emphasized that hospitals had to be safe places and not under attack; that way, pregnant women and new mothers would be protected as well. Mr. Laerke, for OCHA, said that there was a catastrophic level of need inside Gaza, and aid was available on the Egyptian side. The passage had to open for that aid to go in.
Aftermath of the earthquakes in Herat, Afghanistan
Daniel Endres, Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for Afghanistan, speaking from Kabul, said that the area north of Herat had been stricken by three strong earthquakes on 7, 11, and 15 October. Some 66,000 people had been affected, with the figures going up; about 1,500 people had died, and over 2,000 had been injured. Most deaths had occurred during the first earthquake. The region had not been used to earthquakes, so many dwellings had been made of mud, which had then easily collapsed. UN had established that at least 3,700 homes had been destroyed, with many more thousands severely or moderately damaged. Damage to infrastructure was also significant, and many people did not have access to clean water now, increasing the risk of diseases. Humanitarian actors were in the race against time to reach the affected populations before the winter set in. Most people in the affected areas stayed outside of their homes at night, where temperatures were already dropping. Mr. Endres had visited Herat several times since the earthquake and witnessed that a lot had already been done by the local communities and the de facto authorities. There had been a good response by the countries in the region, including Iran, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and the United Arab Emirates. He stressed that the main challenge would come in the next 12 months, with reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure, such as dwellings and water.
Kate Carey, Deputy Head of Office at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), speaking from Kabul, said that the Herat Response Plan had been launched the previous night, requiring approximately USD 93.6 million to support 114,00 earthquake-affected people in Herat. There were 500 villages in the Herat Province, of which some 280 had been severely or moderately affected, and they were a priority for the humanitarian response. Assistance was urgently required to address the critical, time-sensitive needs of the most vulnerable populations throughout the winter months in earthquake-affected areas. Several Member States and donors had stepped up in the recent week, informed Ms. Carey.
Answering questions from the media, Mr. Enders said that the de facto authorities had committed their own resources to help those affected by the earthquakes. UN was not restricted in its activities in the area. Female victims were being treated by female medical personnel, he explained. Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that the WHO had sent to Afghanistan a dedicated team of midwives and female doctors that would be able to work with women and children.
Responding to a question on the killing of two Swedish nationals in Brussels, Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), referred to the recent statements by the Secretary-General, in which he appealed against hate speech and incitement.
Protection of people displaced in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Valentin Tapsoba, Director of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Regional Bureau for Southern Africa, UNHCR, sounded the alarm as escalating violence and pervasive human rights abuses in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo triggered a fresh wave of displacement, both within and outside of the country. Despite a recent ceasefire agreement in North Kivu province, UNHCR protection monitors had reported that over 90,000 people across the Rutshuru and Masisi territories had been forced to flee their homes during the first weeks of October. Displaced families urgently needed food, clean water, and shelter, but humanitarian access to affected populations was severely restricted due to ongoing conflicts. South Kivu province, which was on the periphery of the primary conflict, had become home to 260,000 internally displaced people.
The 2023 Regional Refugee Response Plan for the DRC situation, which brought together 69 humanitarian and development partners in collaboration with Governments and UNHCR, was currently funded at only 16 per cent of the required USD 605 million. UNHCR urgently called on the international community to step up efforts towards lasting peace for the DRC as well as resources needed to alleviate the suffering of displaced people in eastern DRC, and Congolese seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.
More information can be found here.
Killings and property destruction in Darfur
Eujin Byun, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that the escalation in fatalities and severe human rights violations against innocent civilians in Darfur, including refugees and internally displaced people, was worsening six months into the deadly conflict in Sudan. According to UNHCR’s newly released protection brief, nearly 4,000 civilians had been killed and 8,400 injured in Darfur, between 15 April and the end of August, with the majority believed to have been targeted mainly due to their ethnicity, particularly in West Darfur. Tragically, displaced children, including refugees, had been caught in the crossfire, killed or maimed as their schools were impacted by shelling. Those who had reached safe locations were battling acute psychological distress. Civilian property had not been spared. At least 29 cities, towns and villages had been destroyed across Darfur after extensive looting and burning. Indiscriminate shooting and heavy shelling in camps and gathering sites sheltering displaced people had resulted in hundreds of casualties.
Funding shortfalls were still making it difficult to respond to the needs of people, both within Sudan and in the neighbouring countries. The Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan, which aimed to reach 17 million people inside the country, was only one third funded, and the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, which called for USD 1 billion to meet the needs of 1.8 million people in Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, was only 29 per cent funded.
UNHCR statement is available here.
Announcements
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), informed that the World Climate Research Programme would hold its big Open Science Conference from 23 to 27 October, with 1,200 scientists talking about the state of the climate and all related issues. Those interested to follow the conference, which happened once every ten years, should register online.
An airborne dust bulletin would be issued the following week, informed Ms. Nullis.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was reviewing France today.
The Human Rights Committee was concluding this morning the review of Kuwait and would begin in the afternoon the review of the United States.
Today was the International Day to Eradicate Extreme Poverty, the theme of which was decent work and social protection. The Secretary-General’s message was available here.
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