Response To Jenin Crisis - UNRWA
/
1:53
/
MP4
/
140.7 MB

Edited News | UNITED NATIONS , UNOG

Response To Jenin Crisis - UNRWA

Jenin: Significant damage and loss of life after Israel’s military operation, says UNRWA

The latest escalation of violence at the Jenin refugee camp in the Occupied West Bank has resulted in the loss of life and significant damage to infrastructure, said Tamara Alrifai, Director of the Department of External Relations and Communications of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Friday.

“The Israeli military operation on the 4th and 5th of July in Jenin was the most intense in over two decades with 12 Palestinians killed, including four children and 140 injured, some in critical conditions,” said Ms. Alrifai when briefing journalists at the United Nations in Geneva.

Jenin is one of 19 camps for Palestine refugees across the West Bank, housing refugees who fled or were forced to leave their home in 1948. In the absence of a political solution, they have since then become “refugees”. Nearly 23,000 people live in Jenin’s densely populated camp.

“The Jenin camp for Palestine refugees sustained significant damage this week”, said UNRWA’s communication director. “The streets are full of rubble, electricity and water are cut in most parts of the camp. There are some 900 houses that have been damaged, some of them unlivable. My colleagues at UNRWA in Jenin are still assessing the scope of the damage today.”

Quoting her UNRWA colleagues working in the Jenin camp, Ms. Alrifai said that the cemetery "is full in such a densely populated camp, people don’t know what to do”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated at a press briefing last night that “Israel’s airstrikes and ground operations in a crowded refugee camp were the worst violence in the West Bank in many years.”

He called on “Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, including the duty to exercise restraint and use only proportional force, and the duty to minimize damage and injury and respect and preserve human life. The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with the conduct of law enforcement operations.”

During the Israeli military operation, nearly 500 families left the camp to stay with family and friends.

UNRWA’s health centre, the only one in the camp, was severely damaged. The UN Agency for Palestine refugees has set up a temporary health point.

The priority for UNRWA is to restore basic services in the camp and support those families whose homes were damaged with emergency cash assistance and to re-open the four UNRWA schools which provide education for 1,700 children.

“The children in Jenin have undergone severe trauma as a result of the recent military operation and the violence”, said Ms. Alrifai. “Since the beginning of the year, they have witnessed horror, noting that the situation in the northern part of the West Bank in and around Jenin and Nablus has been extremely violent in 2023. So reopening schools is a top priority for UNRWA both for educational and psychological reasons.”

UNRWA is calling on donors to step in, especially as the Agency faces huge financial challenges made far worse by the recent crisis in Jenin.

-ends-

  1. Exterior medium shot: UN Palais with flags
  2. Wide shot: attendees and moderator at the press conference, screen with speakers
  3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tamara Alrifai, Director of Department of External Relations and Communications, UNRWA: “The Israeli military operation on the 4th and 5th of July in Jenin was the most intense in over two decades with 12 Palestinians killed, including four children and 140 injured, some in critical conditions.”
  4. Medium shot: attendees at the press conference
  5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tamara Alrifai, Director of Department of External Relations and Communications, UNRWA: “It’s a statement from my colleague reporting back to us, saying: ‘The cemetery is full. In such a densely populated camp, the cemetery is already full. People don’t know what to do’.”
  6. Medium shot: attendees at the press conference, screen with speaker in the background
  7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tamara Alrifai, Director of Department of External Relations and Communications, UNRWA: “The Jenin camp for Palestine refugees sustained significant damage this week. The streets are full of rubble; electricity and water are cut in most parts of the camp. There are some 900 houses that have been damaged, some of them unlivable. My colleagues at UNRWA in Jenin are still assessing the scope of the damage today.”
  8. Medium shot: attendees at the press conference
  9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tamara Alrifai, Director of Department of External Relations and Communications, UNRWA: “The children in Jenin have undergone severe trauma as a result of the recent military operation and the violence. Since the beginning of the year, they have witnessed horror, noting that the situation in the northern part of the West Bank in and around Jenin and Nablus has been extremely violent in 2023. So reopening schools is a top priority for UNRWA both for educational and psychological reasons.”
  10. Medium shot: attendees at the press conference, screen with speakers in the background
  11. Medium shot: attendees at the press conference

Similar Stories

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Sudan attacks

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Sudan attacks ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on deadly attacks by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan 

Gaza City famine – UN OCHA, WFP, WHO, OHCHR 22 August 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS , WFP , WHO

Gaza City famine – UN OCHA, WFP, WHO, OHCHR 22 August 2025 ENG FRA

Gaza: Famine “irrefutably” confirmed, UN humanitarians unite in plea for aid access

Famine has been confirmed in Gaza Governorate by the world’s top authority on food security and will spread further within the Strip unless fighting stops and much more aid is allowed in, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the eighth anniversary of military assault on the Rohingya in Myanmar

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on famine in Gaza

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on famine in Gaza ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the declared famine in Gaza Governorate

 

World Humanitarian Day Commemoration - 19 August 2025

3

36

1

2

Edited News , Statements , Images , Conferences | HRC , OCHA , UNOG

World Humanitarian Day Commemoration - 19 August 2025 ENG FRA

A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on treatment of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi inside an Israeli jail

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on treatment of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi inside an Israeli jail ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva: 

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Gaza

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Gaza ENG FRA

In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

Gaza aid blockages OHCHR - OCHA

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA

Gaza aid blockages OHCHR - OCHA ENG FRA

Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee

The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Gaza health update - WHO

1

1

1

Edited News | WHO

Gaza health update - WHO ENG FRA

Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO 

As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.

 

Sudan update UNHCR - WHO - UNMAS

1

1

1

Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS

Sudan update UNHCR - WHO - UNMAS ENG FRA

Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.

UNEP Press conference: Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2)- 05 August 2025

2

2

1

2

Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP

UNEP Press conference: Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2)- 05 August 2025 ENG FRA

Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.

Gaza aid update OCHA - UNICEF

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF

Gaza aid update OCHA - UNICEF ENG FRA

Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA

Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.