Gaza humanitarian update OCHA - WHO
/
2:47
/
MP4
/
204.4 MB
Download

Edited News | OCHA , WHO

Gaza humanitarian update OCHA - WHO

Aid surging into Gaza ‘at scale’ but massive needs remain: OCHA, WHO

Aid is surging into Gaza “at scale” in line with the ceasefire agreement that has seen Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released and families reunited, but massive needs remain across the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

On day two of the ceasefire which entered into force on Sunday 19 January, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, welcomed the “surge” in lifesaving humanitarian assistance into the enclave, after 15 months of devastating Israeli bombardment.

Aid trucks began entering Gaza “a few minutes after the deal entered into force on Sunday,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke. “Up to now - these two first days of entry - there [have] been no reports of looting or attacks against aid workers.”

More than 900 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, as the truce held between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, according to the Israel authorities and the ceasefire’s guarantors, the US, Qatar and Egypt.

“At long last, aid at scale is entering,” said Mr. Laerke. “At long last, more hostages were released and can be reunited with their families and at long last, women and minors were freed from detention. It’s a tremendous hope, fragile but vital; this deal must hold.”

Immediate priorities for Gazans include “getting food in, opening bakeries, getting healthcare, restocking hospitals, repairing water networks, repairing shelter, family reunification,” the OCHA spokesperson told journalists in Geneva. “A lot of the things that we have done throughout, but nowhere near at the scale needed. And that is what we hope and work towards to be able to do now.”

UN humanitarians have long maintained that the entire population of Gaza – more than two million people – depends on such essentials. They include children, who account for about half of the Strip’s population, “with many surviving on just one meal a day”, OCHA said in an update.

“We have to and we will maximize delivery through this opening. Hunger is widespread, people are homeless; disease, injuries are rampant. Children are separated and there's a cloud of deep psychological trauma hanging over Gaza that needs to be dealt with.”

Urgent health needs must also be addressed across Gaza where one in two hospitals are not functional, others are only partially functional and the majority of health facilities have sustained damage, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). “The idea is really to as quickly as possible, try to provide health facilities to people of Gaza, focusing on emergency care, maternal and child health and other areas,” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.

He added: “We should not forget other areas and that's 12,000 patients still need to be evacuated outside Gaza. We need to make sure that those people can go and receive medical care they need. We've been talking to 25,000 people [who] have sustained life changing injuries. These people need rehabilitation services that are not available right now.”

ends

Story: “Gaza humanitarian aid update – OCHA, WHO” – 21 January 2025

Speakers:

  • Jens Laerke, OCHA
  • Tarik Jasarevic, WHO

TRT: 02’47”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 21 January 2025 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Geneva Press briefing

RESTRICTIONS: None

SHOTLIST

  1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “I think we will all remember Sunday, 19 January; sigh of relief at long last, aid at scale is entering. At long last, more hostages were released and can be reunited with their families and at long last, women and minors were freed from detention. It’s a tremendous hope, fragile but vital; this deal must hold.”
  2. Wide shot: journalists at the press conference room.
  3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “Our priorities are clear: getting food in, opening bakeries, getting healthcare, restocking hospitals, repairing water networks, repairing shelter, family reunification. A lot of the things that we have done throughout, but nowhere near at the scale needed. And that is what we hope and work towards to be able to do now.”
  4. Medium shot: podium speakers.
  5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “Hundreds of trucks have entered. They started a few minutes after the deal entered into force on Sunday. We have to and we will maximize delivery through this opening. Hunger is widespread, people are homeless; disease, injuries are rampant. Children are separated and there's a cloud of deep psychological trauma hanging over Gaza that needs to be dealt with.”
  6. Wide shot: podium speakers and journalists.
  7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson: “Up to now, these two first days of entry, there has been no reports of looting or attacks against aid workers.”
  8. Medium-wide shot: podium speakers, journalists.
  9. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson: “The idea is really to as quickly as possible, try to provide health facilities to people of Gaza, focusing on emergency care, maternal and child health and other areas. So, half of hospitals are not functional, others partially functional and [the] majority of health facilities sustained some sort of damage.”
  10. Medium-wide, journalists.
  11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson: “We should not forget other areas and that's 12,000 patients still need to be evacuated outside Gaza. We need to make sure that those people can go and receive medical care they need. We've been talking to 25,000 people [who] have sustained life changing injuries. These people need rehabilitation services that are not available right now.”
  12. Wide, journalists, control booths to read of Press room.
  13. Medium, journalist.
  14. Medium-wide, journalists.


Audio Files 2
Download Gaza humanitarian update OCHA - WHO (Edited Story)
Download
Download Gaza humanitarian update OCHA - WHO (Edited Story)
Download

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.