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GAZA : Un afflux d'aide nécessaire pour éviter une famine imminente
Des pertes massives sont imminentes dans certaines parties de Gaza en raison de graves pénuries alimentaires dans la bande qui dépassent les seuils de famine - à moins qu'un cessez-le-feu ne permette d'urgence un afflux substantiel d'aide alimentaire, ont averti mardi les humanitaires de l'ONU.
« Tous les mécanismes d'adaptation ont été épuisés. Et, je vous le dis, les mécanismes d'adaptation que nous avons vus ces dernières semaines, voire ces derniers mois, sont des gens mangeant des graines d'oiseaux, des fourrages pour animaux, des herbes sauvages et du blé. Donc, ils ont déjà consommé cela, nous sommes au-delà de cela, il ne reste littéralement plus rien », a déclaré Jens Laerke, porte-parole du Bureau de la coordination des affaires humanitaires de l'ONU (OCHA) lors d'un point de presse de l'ONU mardi à Genève.
La dernière analyse du rapport de la Classification Intégrée de la Sécurité Alimentaire (IPC) avertit que la situation à Gaza est catastrophique, avec une famine très probable à tout moment entre maintenant et mai 2024.
« Ce ne sont pas non plus des projections où ils disent que cela va probablement se produire d'ici la fin mai. Ils disent que cela se produit très probablement dans une période qui a commencé il y a deux jours, à la mi-mars, » a précisé M. Laerke. « Donc, la famine... ce qu'ils disent clairement, c'est que le seuil de famine pourrait déjà être atteint dans le nord de Gaza. »
« En regardant les projections de famine avec 1,1 million de personnes à risque, et en regardant le taux brut de mortalité, vous envisagez plus de 200 personnes mourant de faim par jour, » a ajouté le porte-parole de l'OCHA.
Les bombardements israéliens intenses et les opérations terrestres - ainsi que les combats acharnés entre les forces israéliennes et les groupes armés palestiniens - continuent d'être signalés dans une grande partie de la bande de Gaza, en particulier à Deir Al Balah et près de l'hôpital Al-Shifa dans la ville de Gaza au nord.
« Mes collègues et moi avons rarement vu une situation évoluer aussi rapidement et aussi brutalement que celle dont nous parlons aujourd'hui, » a déclaré M. Laerke, en réfléchissant sur 20 ans de travail humanitaire de l'ONU et de ses partenaires dans le monde entier. « On se pose la question : où est passée l'humanité ? »
Selon l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), moins de 1 pour cent (0,8 %) des enfants de moins de 5 ans étaient atteints de malnutrition aiguë à Gaza avant les 5 derniers mois de conflit. Cependant, le rapport de la Classification Intégrée de la Sécurité Alimentaire (IPC), publié plus tôt cette semaine, montre qu'en février, cette malnutrition aiguë affecte désormais entre 12,4 et 16,5 pour cent de la population dans les zones nord.
« Ce que les médecins et le personnel médical nous disent, c'est qu'ils voient de plus en plus les effets de la famine, » a déclaré la porte-parole de l'OMS, Dr. Margaret Harrison.
« Ils voient des nouveau-nés simplement mourir parce qu'ils sont trop petits à la naissance, ils voient les femmes enceintes qui viennent également sous-alimentées et souffrantes, les complications qui surviennent si vous essayez de mener une grossesse et que vous manquez de nutrition, » a-t-elle dit.
L'OMS et ses partenaires soutiennent actuellement les enfants souffrant de malnutrition aiguë sévère et de complications médicales, qui sont les plus à risque de décès imminent, par le biais d'un centre de stabilisation nutritionnelle à Rafah, dans le sud de Gaza.
« Rien de ce que nous voyons n'existait avant le début de ces hostilités et il faudra un afflux massif d'aide pour inverser la situation, mais cela peut être inversé, pour l'instant, si les hostilités cessent, » a déclaré Dr. Harrison. « Et je demanderais à ceux qui disent qu'il y a un objectif militaire qu'ils pensent devoir atteindre, je leur demanderais de regarder dans les yeux d'un enfant à Gaza et de lui expliquer pourquoi leur objectif militaire est plus important que sa vie, » a-t-elle ajouté.
Le Bureau du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme (HCDH) a déclaré que l'étendue des restrictions continues d'Israël sur l'entrée de l'aide à Gaza, ainsi que la manière dont il continue de mener les hostilités, pourraient équivaloir à l'utilisation de la famine comme méthode de guerre, ce qui constitue un crime de guerre.
REPORTAGE : Menace imminente de famine à Gaza - OCHA, OMS, HCDH
DURÉE : 3:43”
SOURCE : UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS : AUCUNE
LANGUE : ANGLAIS / SONORES
FORMAT D'IMAGE : 16:9
DATE LIMITE : 19 mars 2024 GENEVE, SUISSE
1. Plan moyen : Allée du drapeau de l'ONU
2. Plan moyen : orateurs au pupitre de la conférence de presse
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
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Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
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Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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