Video Player is loading.
Advertisement
Current Time 0:00
Duration -:-
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -:-
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
        Gaza imminent threat of famine: OCHA - WHO - OHCHR
        /
        3:43
        /
        MP4
        /
        273.9 MB

        Edited News | OCHA , WHO , OHCHR

        Gaza imminent threat of famine: OCHA - WHO - OHCHR

        GAZA: Flood of aid needed to avert imminent famine

        Mass casualties are looming in parts of Gaza because of dire food shortages in the Strip that surpass famine thresholds - unless a ceasefire urgently allows for a substantial influx of food aid, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.

        “All coping mechanisms have been exhausted. And, mind you, the coping mechanisms we have seen the past weeks, even months, are people eating birds’ seeds, animal fodder, wild grass and wheat. So, they have consumed that already, we are beyond that, there's literally nothing left,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a UN press briefing on Tuesday in Geneva.

        The latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report warns that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with famine a very likely scenario anytime between now and May 2024 .

        “These are also not projections whereby they say this is probably going to happen by the end of May. They say it is most likely happening within a period that started two days ago, mid-March,” Mr. Laerke specified. “So, famine…what they are saying, clearly, is that the famine threshold may already be the case in northern Gaza.”

        “Looking ahead for a famine projection with 1.1 million at risk, and you look at the crude death rate, then you are looking at more than 200 people dying from starvation per day,” the OCHA spokesperson added.

        Intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations – as well as heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups – continue to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, particularly in Deir Al Balah and near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north.

        “I and my colleagues have rarely seen anything develop into a situation like that we are briefing about today, this fast, this brutally,” Mr. Laerke said, reflecting on 20 years of humanitarian work by the UN and partners around the world. “One asks the question: where did humanity go?”

        According to the World Health Organization (WHO), less than 1 percent (0.8%) of children under 5 years of age were acutely malnourished in Gaza prior to the last 5 months of conflict. However, the Interphase Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, released earlier this week, shows that, as of February, that acute malnutrition is now affecting between12.4 and 16.5 percent of the population in the northern areas.

        “What the doctors and medical staff are telling us is more and more they're seeing the effects of starvation,” said WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harrison.

        “They're seeing newborn babies simply dying because they're too low birth weight, they're seeing the pregnant women who are coming in are also underweight and suffering, the complication that occur if you are trying to carry a pregnancy and you lack the nutrition,” she said.

        WHO and partners are currently supporting children with severe acute malnutrition and medical complications, who are at the highest risk of imminent death, through a nutrition stabilization center in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

        “None of the things we are seeing existed before these hostilities began and it's going to take a flood of aid to reverse it, but it can be reversed, as of now, if the hostilities stop,” Dr. Harrison said. “And I would ask those who say that there's some sort of military objective that they think they need to achieve, I would ask them to look into the face of a child in Gaza and explain to her why their military objective is more important than her life,” she added,

        The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, together with the way it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime.

        “We've watched malnourished children suffering. We know of amputations without anaesthesia. Children, as the High Commissioner said, are heading south, unaccompanied. Could you imagine the fear? Can you imagine the desperation? It's war crimes that have been committed - and they must stop,” said spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.

        Mr. Laurence stressed that Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation under international humanitarian law to ensure the provision of food and medical care to the population, commensurate with their needs, and to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations to deliver that assistance.

        -ends-


        Audio Files 1
        Download Gaza imminent threat of famine: OCHA - WHO - OHCHR (Edited Story)
        Download

        Similar Stories

        ITU 160th Anniversary - 17 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News , B-roll | ITU

        ITU 160th Anniversary - 17 May 2025 ENG FRA

        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.

        Gaza humanitarian update – WHO, OCHA 16 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO , OCHA

        Gaza humanitarian update – WHO, OCHA 16 May 2025 ENG FRA

        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.

        UN Human Rights raises human rights concerns about deportations from the United States of America

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

        UN Human Rights raises human rights concerns about deportations from the United States of America ENG FRA

        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.   

        Gaza health update - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO

        Gaza health update - WHO ENG FRA

        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.

        Gaza aid update - UNICEF, UNRWA, WHO 09 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA

        Gaza aid update - UNICEF, UNRWA, WHO 09 May 2025 ENG FRA

        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.

        Gaza humanitarian blockade  OCHA - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OCHA , WHO

        Gaza humanitarian blockade OCHA - WHO ENG FRA

        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.

         

        Gaza two months blockade - OCHA 02 MAY 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News , B-roll | OCHA

        Gaza two months blockade - OCHA 02 MAY 2025 ENG FRA

        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/

        Gaza humanitarian update - UNRWA

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNRWA

        Gaza humanitarian update - UNRWA ENG FRA

        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.

        Ukraine attacks - UNHCR 25 April 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNHCR

        Ukraine attacks - UNHCR 25 April 2025 ENG FRA

        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. 

         

        Ethiopia update - WFP

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WFP

        Ethiopia update - WFP ENG FRA

        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. 

        Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

        Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon ENG FRA

        Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.

        Sudan crisis update IOM - UN Women - UNDP

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP

        Sudan crisis update IOM - UN Women - UNDP ENG FRA

        Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’

        In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.