The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
This is a modal window.
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNICEF , UNITED NATIONS , WHO
Escalation in Middle East : UNRWA, OHCHR, OCHA, UNICEF, WHO
Israel/ Palestine: UN urges parties to spare civilian lives
Four days after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched thousands of indiscriminate rockets into central Israel, prompting the bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, UN humanitarians urged all parties on Tuesday to cease fighting immediately and abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.
“As of last night, Israeli reports indicate that more than 900 Israelis, including foreign nationals, have been killed. At least 2,616 people have been injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Israel”, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 687 Palestinians have been killed and 3,800 others injured.”
Displacement has escalated dramatically across the Gaza Strip - one of two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank - reaching more than 187,500 since Saturday, said OCHA. Most have taken shelter in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) which has provided humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza strip since 1949.
According to initial reports, UNRWA offices were damaged. “Last night, a building that houses the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City sustained significant damage as a result of airstrikes nearby,” said Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s Director of External Relations and Communications speaking from Amman. “This brings the recorded number of buildings from UNRWA that sustained damage to 18, including a school for the visually impaired in Gaza and our headquarters in Gaza City, were damaged.”
Ms. Alrifai added that in “approximately 80 UNRWA schools, we are now housing more than 137,000 residents of Gaza who left their homes in fear of their homes being attacked or destroyed”.
“We are extremely concerned about our ability as UNRWA, to respond to these huge needs, both because of the ongoing situation, security or lack thereof, but also because UNRWA even prior to this conflict was already stretched to its financial limits and its resource limits.”
The ongoing surge of conflict-related violence continues to take a horrendous toll on children and their families in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Any delay in bringing an end to the conflict will inevitably result in more devastating consequences for children, it said.
“According to reports, hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian children have been killed and many more injured in the last 72 hours,” said UNICEF’s spokesperson James Elder. “The killing and maiming of children is a grave violation and willful killing is a serious breach of International Humanitarian Law. We again, like all colleagues here, call on all parties not to target children and take all necessary actions to ensure their protection during these hostilities.”
Adding that there “are reports of the abduction of Israeli children to the Gaza Strip”, Mr Elder said that “the abduction of children by any party to the conflict constitutes a grave violation and hostage-taking is prohibited by international humanitarian law in all circumstances. UNICEF calls for the immediate and safe release of all hostages.”
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) also urged an immediately end to attacks on civilians and attacks that kill and maim civilians disproportionately.
OHCHR spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said that “we are deeply shocked and appalled by allegations of summary execution of civilians and in some instances, horrifying mass killings by members of Palestinian armed groups.”
Alarmed about measures to cut electricity food, water and fuel from entering Gaza which will add another layer of suffering to the existing catastrophe faced by families in Gaza, Ms. Shamdasani insisted that “the imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law. Any restriction on the movement of people and goods to implement a siege must be justified by military necessity or it may amount to collective punishment.”
According to OCHA, the Israeli decision to cut off water affects 610,000 people who face very limited access to drinking water already.
“The current situation is an armed conflict, that's clear. In an armed conflict, all sides have the obligation to respect international humanitarian law,” Ms. Shamdasani said. “This includes Hamas, the Israeli side, all armed groups that are involved have the obligation to respect international humanitarian law. And this of course, this conflict is taking place in the wider context of an occupation by Israel of Gaza. So there are other obligations.”
OHCHR also stressed that it is important that everyone deprived of their liberty in the Occupied Palestine Territory and Israel is treated humanely.
“On the treatment of the people who were abducted and killed by Hamas, as we said, this is horrific, this is a clear violation of international law. The desecration of bodies is sick and disgusting and horrific, and we've been deeply distressed by these images. We have seen bodies being paraded as trophies, we have seen the desecration of bodies.”
In the Gaza Strip, the UN and its partners are on the ground delivering immediate humanitarian support, including medical supplies, fuel as well as mental health and psychosocial support.
Echoing the enormous humanitarian concerns, the UN health agency WHO said that “a humanitarian corridor is needed to reach people with critical medical supplies, and WHO will work with partners on this.”
WHO’s spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told journalists in Geneva that, “the pre-positioned supplies, which were in seven major hospitals in the Gaza strip, have now been used up”.
Mr. Jasarevic informed that “as of four o’clock in the afternoon yesterday, 13 health attacks have been confirmed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the current escalation of the violence which resulted in six health workers being killed, four health workers being injured, nine ambulances affected and eight health facilities affected.”
-ends-
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA
Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians
Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery
The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.