“After 100 days of violence, killing, bombardment and captivity for children in Gaza, the suffering has been too much,“ said UNICEF

UN humanitarians appealed on Friday for more frequent and faster access to deliver urgent medical supplies, food and water across the Gaza Strip, particularly to the north and to the middle area after nearly 100 days since Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched their horrific attack on southern Israel in which over 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. Over the past 14 weeks Israel has pursued a massive and destructive military response in the Palestinian enclave.

“After almost 100 days of violence, killing, bombardment and captivity for all children in Gaza, all the suffering has been too much,” said Lucia Elmi, UNICEF Special representative to the State of Palestine when briefing reporters at the UN in Geneva via video from Jerusalem. “With every passing day, children and families in the Gaza Strip face increased risk of deaths from the sky, from the lack of safe water and from the lack of food and malnutrition.”

Ms. Elmi raised particular concerns about the continuous denials and severe restrictions on access, which are hampering the response of aid teams to the critical needs in Gaza.

“The inspection process continues to remain slow and unpredictable and some of the material we desperately need remains restricted with no clear justification. It does include generators to power water facilities in hospital and plastic pipes to repair the so badly damaged water infrastructure,” reported the UNICEF Representative.

Overall, according to the latest report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the rate of access denials seen in January 2024 so far presents a significant deterioration when compared to those of December 2023, where more than 70 per cent of planned UN missions to the north were undertaken, where needs are estimated to be the highest and most severe.

“There are checkpoints that we can simply not go through and because of the current situations, the Israelis have systematically, or quite systematically, refused,” said Andrea De Domenico, OCHA’s Head in the occupied Palestinian territory, speaking from Jerusalem. “I think that yesterday we had three missions that were partially approved, meaning that they have selectively allowed us to do some part of what we were planning to do. But the previous days, we had three operations approved out of 21 requested.”

Once UN staff gets to cross the checkpoints, they discover the dire condition in which the people live, said Mr. de Domenico.

“There were a series of corpses that were not collected, that had been left there and nobody had the possibility to go and collect them and to take care of them as we should. And once you cross with any type of assistance, you know, a couple of kilometers, desperate people will come and simply stop their trucks and take out whatever they can from that out of desperation,” he said.

Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN human rights office described “it's a desperate scenario in northern Gaza, where people face dire shortages of food, water and other basic necessities. Access to humanitarian aid remains extremely difficult, despite repeated pleas by the UN to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to facilitate movement of humanitarian aid convoys.”

She added that “the situation in southern Gaza is becoming untenable, with over 1.3 million internally displaced people crammed into Rafah, which before the current escalation of hostilities had 300,000 inhabitants.”

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 7 October 2023 and 11 January 2024, at least 23,469 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 59,604 Palestinians were reportedly injured. Some 70 per cent of the fatalities are women and children, according to the MoH.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the UN health organisation WHO reported on a positive note that “yesterday, Al-Shifa (hospital) was the first time reached again with some material and this included 9,300 liters of fuel and medical supplies to cover 1,000 trauma and hundred kidney dialysis patients.” He added that “we should not forget there's not only the war traumas or the war injuries, there's all these immense other needs like dialysis, something which have been pushed aside. And al-Shifa in the north being the only center for these people and those couldn't even flee or run away.”

On Friday, the UN human rights office of the United Nations said that Israel, in its offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, had consistently fallen short of complying with international humanitarian law.

“We've repeatedly highlighted Israel's recurring failures to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, distinction, proportionality, and precautions in carrying out attacks,” said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). “The High Commissioner has stressed that breaches of these obligations risk exposure to liability for war crimes and has also warned of the risks of other atrocity crimes.”

Quoting Mr. Volker Türk, Ms. Throssell said that “there must be an immediate ceasefire on human rights and humanitarian grounds, a ceasefire to end the appalling suffering and loss of life and to allow the prompt and effective delivery of humanitarian aid to a population facing shocking levels of hunger and disease. This is more urgent than ever.”

-ends-

STORY: Gaza update - OCHA - UNICEF - WHO - OHCHR

TRT: 3 min 52s

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 12 January 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva with snow
2. Wide shot: speakers at the press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Lucia Elmi, UNICEF Special representative to the State of Palestine (from Jerusalem): “After almost 100 days of violence, killing, bombardment and captivity for all children in Gaza all the suffering has been too much. With every passing day, children and families in the Gaza Strip face increased risk of deaths from the sky, from the lack of safe water and from the deprivation, from the lack of food and malnutrition.”
4. Medium shot, person walking toward the UN building with snow
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Lucia Elmi, UNICEF Special representative to the State of Palestine (from Jerusalem): “The inspection process continues to remain slow and unpredictable and some of the material we desperately need remains restricted with no clear justification. It does include generators to power water facilities in hospital and plastic pipes to repair the so badly damaged water infrastructure.”
6. Medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva with snow
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Andrea De Domenico, Head of Office for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory (from Jerusalem): “There are checkpoints that we can simply not go through and because of the current situations, the Israelis have systematically, or quite systematically, refused. I think that yesterday we had three missions that were partially approved, meaning that they have selectively allowed us to do some part of what we were planning to do. But the previous days, we had three operations approved out of 21 requested.”
8. Medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva with snow
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Andrea De Domenico, Head of Office for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory (from Jerusalem): “There were a series of corpses that were not collected, that had been left there and nobody had the possibility to go and collect them and to take care of them as we should. And once you cross with any type of assistance, so you do, you know, couple of kilometers, desperate people will come and simply stop their trucks and take out whatever they can from that out of desperation.”
10. Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva in snow landscape
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, Spokesperson for the WHO: “Al-Shifa (hospital) was the first time reached again with some material and this included 9,300 liters of fuel and medical supplies to cover 1,000 trauma and hundred kidney dialysis patients. So, we should not forget there's not only the war traumas or the war injuries, there's all these immense other needs like dialysis, something which have been pushed aside. And al-Shifa in the north being the only center for these people and those couldn't even flee or run away.”
12. Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva with snow
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “It's a desperate scenario in northern Gaza, where people face dire shortages of food, water and other basic necessities. Access to humanitarian aid remains extremely difficult, despite repeated pleas by the UN to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to facilitate movement of humanitarian aid convoys. The situation in southern Gaza is becoming untenable, with over 1.3 million internally displaced people crammed into Rafah, which before the current escalation of hostilities had 300,000 inhabitants.”
14. Exterior close up shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva with snow
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “There must be an immediate ceasefire on human rights and humanitarian grounds, a ceasefire to end the appalling suffering and loss of life and to allow the prompt and effective delivery of humanitarian aid to a population facing shocking levels of hunger and disease. This is more urgent than ever.”
16. Wide shot, sculptures at the UN Ariana Park covered in snow
17. SOUNDBITE (English) – Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We've repeatedly highlighted Israel's recurring failures to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, distinction, proportionality, and precautions in carrying out attacks. The High Commissioner has stressed that breaches of these obligations risk exposure to liability for war crimes and has also warned of the risks of other atrocity crimes.”
18. Drone shot of UN Geneva