The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
“I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
A recent online video featuring a dying 13-year-old Abed al-Rahman who Mr. Elder met while on mission in Gaza has been seen thousands of times since it was published on 6 June. In the clip, Abed explains that he has been asking for pain relief for his shrapnel wounds but none is available.
Speaking to journalists from Amman, Mr. Elder explained that partly destroyed hospitals including Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis continue to treat wounded children, despite a shortage of medicine and medical supplies.
“Humanitarian aid is so much more than food in a box; it's oxygen kits, it's ventilators, it's hygiene packs; it's medicines, it's incubators. It's all those things the United Nations was doing just a couple of months ago.”
Mr. Elder added that parents whose children need oxygen have been leaving hospital “because of the fear that Nasser may come under attack again. As the doctors told me, if you have a child who needs oxygen and they leave without the oxygen, they will, over a matter of time, die in a tent.”
The dire shortage of the most basic life-sustaining aid linked to Israeli restrictions continues to create desperation and starvation across Gaza.
“I spoke to a grandmother in tears saying, how am I possibly to get to these sites?” Mr. Elder explained. “I've met young men who've been seven times and never returned with anything. So, there's a complete lack of equity. There's a complete lack of sites. You cannot distribute aid in a militarized zone, in a combat zone, by one party to the conflict.”
Those most susceptible to the lack of fresh drinking water, food and fuel are the weakest Gazans: the young, pregnant women, the elderly and amputees, Mr. Elder said. It would be impossible for them to walk the long distances required to fetch scant supplies from controversial non-UN aid hubs.
“You have half a million people facing starvation with a lethal choice of being forced into very small pockets where most people can't access into what are officially known as combat sites,” the UNICEF spokesperson explained. “We know children [who have been] killed at these sites.”
Meanwhile, malnutrition and the impact of it on people’s weakened immune systems continues to take its toll, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
“The latest reports say 610 patients have been admitted due to severe malnutrition complications,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “But what does that mean? That means these are the lucky ones who made it so far to get to a place. This does not count the many who were too weak to reach any point, who are too weak, who cannot be transported because the roads are blocked, because there are no ambulances, or because the hospitals, some of the health emergency centres have been shelled and bombed and are being constantly shelled and bombed.”
ends
STORY: Gaza update – UNICEF, WHO
TRT: 3’06”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 20 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND and various from Gaza – see shotlist for details.
Speakers
- James Elder, spokesperson, UNICEF (from Amman)
- Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson, WHO
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations, flag alley.
- Wide shot, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, UNICEF: “You have half a million people facing starvation with a lethal choice of being forced into very small pockets where most people can't access into what are officially known as combat sites. I have met children - we know children - killed at these sites.”
- Medium, podium speakers, TV screen showing external speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, UNICEF: “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza. I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries. That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
- Medium, journalist.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, UNICEF: “I spoke to a grandmother in tears saying, how am I possibly to get to these sites? It's the same people all the time that get them; it's the same people, it's the people with knives. I've met young men who've been seven times and never returned with anything. So, there's a complete lack of equity. There's a complete lack of sites. You cannot distribute aid in a militarized zone, in a combat zone, by one party to the conflict.”
- Medium, journalists.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, UNICEF: “Of course, humanitarian aid is so much more than food in a box; it's oxygen kits, it's ventilators, it's hygiene packs; it's medicines, it's incubators. It's all those things the United Nations was doing just a couple of months ago.”
- Medium, journalist typing on laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – James Elder, UNICEF: “Civilians with children who are on oxygen have left because of the fear that Nasser may come under attack again, as the doctors told me, if you have a child who needs oxygen and they leave without the oxygen, they will, over a matter of time, die in a tent.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, WHO: “The latest reports say 610 patients have been admitted due to severe malnutrition complications. But what does that mean? That means these are the lucky ones who made it so far to get to a place. This does not count the many who were too weak to reach any point, who are too weak, who cannot be transported because the roads are blocked, because there are no ambulances, or because the hospitals, some of the health emergency centres have been shelled and bombed and are being constantly shelled and bombed.”
- Wide pan, destruction and a still-functioning ICU ward at Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis, Gaza, 14 June 2025.
- Medium-wide, young patient lying in hospital bed, bandaged, 14 June 2025.
- Medium, young patient lying in a bed wearing respirator mask, 14 June 2025.
- Wide, destroyed frontage of Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza Strip, 10 June 2025.
- Wide, debris and damaged ambulance vehicle at the hospital compound, 10 June 2025.
- Wide, healthcare workers at Al Sahabah hospital in a neonatal intensive care unit, 11 June 2025.
- Close, infant receiving manual respiration at Al Sahabah hospital in a neonatal intensive care unit, 11 June 2025.
- Wide, UN water trucks at Al Zohor displacement camp, Khan Younis, Gaza, 15 June 2025.
- Medium, girls pour water from a pipe into their jerry cans while other children watch, Al Zohor displacement camp, Khan Younis, Gaza, 15 June 2025.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Liz Throssell made the following statement on the latest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday called for investigations into hundreds of killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces and settlers, warning against ongoing forced mass displacement of the Palestinian population.
1
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR , UNRWA
Nearly 900 people have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks trying to fetch food, with most deaths linked to private aid hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the UN Human Rights Office have today released a report detailing the evolution of violent gang incidents beyond the capital Port-au-Prince since October 2024 up to June 2025, and the resulting loss of life and mass displacement.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza: ‘Unacceptable’ choice between getting shot or getting fed – UN humanitarians
Following the deaths of several children in an Israeli strike on Palestinians waiting in line for nutritional supplements in central Gaza on Thursday, UN humanitarians have once again condemned the killings of people at aid distribution sites in the enclave.