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Conférence de presse de l'ONU à Genève - 3 mai 2024
CONFÉRENCE DE PRESSE DE L'ONU À GENÈVE
3 mai 2024
OMS : Mise à jour sur Gaza
Dr Rik Peeperkorn, Représentant de l'OMS dans le Territoire palestinien occupé, parlant depuis Jérusalem, a averti des conséquences sanitaires d'une opération potentielle et imminente à grande échelle à Rafah. Avec plus de 1,2 million de personnes entassées à Rafah, une telle opération aggraverait la catastrophe humanitaire. L'OMS et ses partenaires faisaient des plans d'urgence pour s'assurer que le système de santé soit préparé et puisse continuer à fournir des soins. Malgré ces mesures, le système de santé défaillant ne pourrait pas supporter l'ampleur potentielle de la dévastation que l'incursion causerait.
Une incursion pourrait rendre les trois hôpitaux de Rafah inaccessibles et non fonctionnels, y compris l'Hôpital européen de Gaza : cela aurait un effet domino sur l'ensemble du système de santé, car les patients devraient être transférés vers d'autres hôpitaux déjà surchargés. L'insécurité accrue pourrait également entraver gravement le mouvement des aliments, de l'eau et des fournitures médicales vers et à travers Gaza via les points de passage frontaliers.
Le système de santé survivait à peine et seulement 12 des 36 hôpitaux et 22 des 88 établissements de soins de santé primaires restaient partiellement fonctionnels.
Dans le cadre des efforts de contingence, l'OMS mettait en place un nouvel hôpital de campagne à Al Mawasi (Rafah). L'OMS avait mis en place un grand entrepôt à Deir Al Balah et avait déplacé des fournitures pour garantir un accès rapide et le mouvement des fournitures vers Khan Younis, la zone médiane et le nord de Gaza. Neuf des dix salles d'opération étaient opérationnelles. L'OMS et ses partenaires établissaient également des centres de santé primaires et des points médicaux supplémentaires à Khan Younis et dans la zone médiane.
Dans le nord, une expansion des services était soutenue à Al-Ahli, Kamal Adwan et Al-Awda par des équipes médicales d'urgence et la pré-positionnement des fournitures. Des plans étaient également en cours pour soutenir la restauration de l'Hôpital Amis des Patients, en se concentrant sur les services pédiatriques, et l'expansion des centres de soins de santé primaires et des points médicaux.
La situation alimentaire s'était quelque peu améliorée. La nourriture était plus disponible et plus diversifiée. Cependant, l'OMS avait observé plusieurs cas d'enfants en bas âge gravement malnutris, avec des centaines d'autres cas signalés.
Le Dr Peeperkorn a ensuite discuté des arrangements que l'OMS mettait en place pour permettre aux fournitures médicales d'atteindre Gaza. Il espérait que l'OMS pourrait également bientôt compter sur des achats locaux en Israël et en Cisjordanie.
Pour sa part, le Dr Ahmed Dahir, Chef de l'équipe du sous-bureau de l'OMS à Gaza, parlant depuis Gaza, a déclaré que le système de santé de Gaza survivait à peine. Toute opération contre Rafah bloquerait l'accès au seul hôpital spécialisé dans la dialyse rénale, avec des conséquences potentiellement catastrophiques pour ses plus de 700 patients.
Rolando Gómez a cité les remarques de presse du Secrétaire général à la fin de sa visite à Santiago du Chili, au cours de laquelle M. Guterres a rappelé qu'il avait "appelé constamment à un cessez-le-feu humanitaire urgent (...) et à une augmentation massive de l'aide humanitaire", et a souligné qu'"une attaque militaire sur Rafah serait une escalade insupportable [et] aurait un impact dévastateur sur les Palestiniens à Gaza, avec de graves répercussions en Cisjordanie occupée et dans toute la région". M. Gómez a également mentionné un rapport du Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement, concernant les "Gaza War: Expected Socio-Economic Impacts on the State of Palestine" (2 mai).
En réponse aux questions, le Dr Peeperkorn a déclaré que tout plan de contingence de l'OMS ne pouvait être qu'un "pansement". L'OMS espérait que l'incursion militaire n'aurait pas lieu et qu'un cessez-le-feu prévaudrait.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
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:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
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- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
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.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
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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