Thank you for joining us here at the office, UN office at Geneva on the 10th of November for this press briefing.
We have a fairly light but important agenda today.
We'll start off immediately with Claire Nollis of the World Meteorological Organisation, who has an update on WWMOS greenhouse gas Bulletin.
Yes, good morning everybody.
The World Meteorological Organisation on Wednesday the 17th will issue it's annual greenhouse gas Bulletin.
This reports on atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and the other big greenhouse gases which are driving climate change.
There will be a press conference in this room with Professor Petrie Tallas.
It will be his last press conference in this, in this room.
As you know, he stands down at the end of at the end of this year and he will be going to, to, to cop 28, you know, after once, once we've once we've issued the, the the bulletin and other reports.
So this is an important report.
We are seeing, you know, record levels of greenhouse gas concentrations.
This is driving climate change.
October once again ******* the temperature record for the month.
It didn't just break it by a small amount, it absolutely shattered it.
September shattered the September temperature record and so there is, it does seem, you know, almost certain that 2023 will be the warmest year on record.
We will confirm this and give lots of other information in our provisional state of the global climate in 2023 that will be released on the 30th of November at the opening day of COP.
But even if you're not travelling there, obviously we will make all the information available to you under embargo ahead of time for the Palais journalists.
So as I said, October yet again shattered the monthly temperature record.
And what is of equal concern to to the temperatures is, is what's happening in the Antarctic.
So it was the 6th consecutive month that Antarctic sea ice was the lowest on record for this time of year.
And again, it's not just by a small margin.
I'll send you the briefing notes and in that you can see a chart just as to how you know big the deficit is this year.
Such is the concern about the rate and the extent of climate change in the polls and in in **** mountain areas that the French government this week convened A1 planet Pole polar Summit.
So it brought together for the past two days, it brought together hundreds of scientists, local community representatives, policy makers to discuss the what what is happening in the polls, what is happening in the **** mountain areas, in the glaciers, glacier retreat.
How that is going to affect.
It is already affecting everybody.
It's affecting local ecosystems.
But in the future, you know, these threats will grow because of sea level rise, because of the ****** from melting glaciers to to water and food, food security.
So we had there were lots of scientific discussions for the last two days.
It could the the summit in Paris concludes today with a **** level event.
And Professor Petrie Tallis and also the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Jim Scae, will both be addressing that **** level event.
And then the meeting will conclude this afternoon with the French President Emmanuel Macron, who will issue a Paris call for Paris call for glaciers and poles.
So that will be issued this afternoon.
As I said, WMO is one of the Co sponsors will issue a press release about it later today.
And if you are interested in following it, I'll include the the links to the to the live stream in in my briefing notes.
So that's all I have now.
Thank you very much, Claire, and thanks in advance for sharing that press release.
Do we have questions for Claire?
Just to make sure, the greenhouse gas button will be released on Wednesday as well same time as the press conference or we'll release it under embargo, but and the embargo will be lifted at the start of the press conference at 11:00, but we hope to release it either Monday or Tuesday.
Another question for your different subject.
It seems that Australia granted asylum status to to the people of Tuvalu for climate purpose.
I would like to know if WMO has any comments on that.
Do you think that's a positive sign?
You know, we provide the, the science to policy makers, but obviously it is an issue which is going to become more and more pertinent in, you know, in, in, in, in future years.
I mean, we're already seeing and we report in our annual climate statements, you know, the impact of extreme weather, climate change impacts on on displacement, on forced migration.
So, you know, this is obviously taking it to a, to a completely different level where you've got, you know, entire populations of low lying island states being, you know, being, being threatened.
But as to the granting of refugee status, that's that's outside our mandate.
We have a couple of questions online Christian of DPA.
Thank you and good morning, Claire.
30th of November, you have the provisional statement on climate and that will possibly tell us whether it was the hottest year.
Since WMO is putting together predictions and measurements from different organisations, do you think that WMO will be the first with that information or do you think that Copernicus or NOAA will come up with this before?
Are you waiting for statements from those other agencies before you publish the provisional statement on the state of the climate?
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, they have what we call the ERA five data sets.
And it was that data set which on the basis of which earlier this week, Copernicus Climate Change Service said that October was, you know, by far the warmest October on record.
NOAA and NASA will issue their monthly reports ahead of COP and we as WMO, we factor, you know, six data sets including NASA, NOAA, Copernicus, and then one from Japan, one from the Met Office and one from Barclay Earth.
We factor all of those data sets which use slightly different methods of calculation.
We use, we factor those into the our global climate statements.
It is a provisional, it is a provisional one.
We, you know, we will only get the final temperature figures early January.
But our statement will at COP will be as far as I know will be the first sort of consolidated one of of all the different data sets.
But as I said, you know, Copernicus has said that it is virtually certain that it will be the warmest year on record.
And I believe that NASA and Noah also also said that, but our ours will be the definitive authoritative, authoritative 1.
Hi, good morning, Rolando, good morning here.
Hurricane Otis, which devastated the Port of Acapulco in Mexico, changed from category one to five in in a few hours.
So do you think that we will see this type of phenomenon more often due to climate change?
What comments do you have about what happened with Otis?
It's true that Otis went from it was tropical storm.
It wasn't even category one.
It was tropical storm status to top level, Category 5 in a matter of hours.
I remember I was at a conference in Kigali when it happened.
I went to bed never having heard the name Otis and woke up to see that it it it was Category 5 and it ******* into Acapulco.
So it was one of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes that we've that we've ever seen.
There's obviously a lot of research being carried out into this, this phenomena of very rapid intensification.
And it's I think it's probably probably a little bit too early to to say why Otis intensified so rapidly.
But certainly one of the factors was that it did Passover very, very warm waters just ahead of landfall.
And it's, you know, the warm waters that give provide the energy for rapid intensification.
It's not the only factor you've got, you know, wind shear and other factors which play, which do play a role.
But certainly warm waters are one of the one of one of the factors this year.
You know, we are seeing record sea surface temperatures.
So there's a lot of warm waters and that means a lot of potential energy to fuel very rapid intensification.
There was a tropical cyclone hit Vanuatu several weeks ago and again, there was very, very rapid intensification there as well.
So it is a phenomenon, you know, it is a very real phenomenon that we that we are aware of.
As far as I know, I think the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is also reported on it in its reports.
Another follow up, I think another question rather from Christian DPA.
Sorry, no, this is a question to Yens once Claire has finished.
We'll hold off on that then questions for Claire before we release her.
No, I don't see that's a case.
So thank you very much and good luck and thanks again in advance for that press release this afternoon.
Maybe Christian, let's is if you can just mention what your question is on, we can call Yens shortly, but I have a few announcements.
We don't have other active, I mean voluntary briefers, but we do have a few colleagues online.
We have Yens in the room.
But maybe if you can pose your question now and then maybe I can go to my announcements afterwards.
Yes, my question is to Jens for an update on the Rafa crossing and this truck situation.
I'm looking for for numbers, but I'm also looking to understand a bit more what the hold up is whether the UN is waiting specifically for Israeli go ahead or whether there are other impediments when there's a day with no trucks or very few trucks.
I'm trying to get some of the context.
I think I will have to call our friend Jens to the podium.
In the meantime, while he's making his way up here, I noticed there's a lot of other hands popping up.
Maybe since I assume that some of these questions are going to pertain to the situation in the Middle East, in particular in Gaza.
Maybe let me just take this opportunity quickly, if, if I may, just to note that on I was going to say this later, but I'll take this opportunity now to say that on Monday at 9:30 here in Geneva and across the our duty stations throughout the globe at 9:30 their respective times Secretary General has invited personnel from all duty stations to observe a minute of silence this coming Monday, the 13th of November.
And this is to mourn and honour the colleagues who have been killed in in Gaza.
And to date, the number is tragically 99 UN staff who have been killed.
So of course we repeat our our deepest condolences to the families of our fallen colleagues and we will be observing by this minute of silence and the flags here will be lowered at half mast on on Monday at at 9:30.
So on the trucks, maybe Jens has a few notes you can share with us.
Thank you, Rodento, and thanks for the question, Christian.
On the numbers yesterday, a total of 65 trucks carrying food, medicines, health supplies, bottled water, blankets and hygiene products, as well as 7 ambulances crossed from Egypt into Gaza via the the Rafah crossing.
That brings the total number of trucks that have entered Gaza since the 21st of October to 821.
As you recall, prior to the start of of the current hostilities, approximately 500 truckloads in that Gaza every single working day for the 821 is the total since 21st of October.
There are some issues with with the crossing.
First of all, I think it's it's fair to to thank the Egyptian authorities to make sure that that crossing is there and it's operational and we are able to get trucks across.
But it's also worth bearing in mind that that crossing is designed and built for pedestrian crossing, for pedestrian court crossing, that it's not built for trucks.
It has been used, however, in recent years for a limited number of trucks for a limited number of truck, but it is first and foremost a pedestrian crossing.
The the crossing that was used and that is built for trucks passing is the Kirram Shalom crossing.
As you know, the southern, the tip there between Gaza, Egypt and Israel proper so to speak, that's built for that.
And that's where the vast majority of trucks with different kind of consignments, both humanitarian aid but also commercial loads came in before.
So that is why we are advocating with the authorities in Israel to reopen and use that that crossing because much more trucks simply can go through there.
And there was prior to the escalation of the hostilities, of course, a verification mechanism by the authorities there to ensure that the stuff that entered into Gaza was for civilian use or humanitarian aid.
So I think that's that's what I have on, on, on on that constraint if you like.
Thanks very much, Jensen.
Maybe I'll take this opportunity also to to repeat what the Secretary General said yesterday, as had Mr Griffiths and Mr Lazarini Renoir and his message to the Paris conference on Gaza.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres again called for unfettered, safe and sustained access to bring in and distribute supplies at a much greater scale, volume and frequency.
This is in his message among other key messages Imogen.
The 63 I think you said yesterday, so they crossed, have they got out of the South of Gaza?
And then because we know that the needs are vast in the north and then following up from that, we know that the IDF has suggested like 4 hour pauses.
What dialogue is the UN having with them to coordinate a delivery and their 4 hour pauses?
Do you see that as something that could be beneficial?
I do not have a full overview of where those trucks are.
In actual fact, most of the trucks are not UN trucks.
They are Red Crescent supplies and NGOs are also part of that.
The UN does have some trucks.
Of course it is intended for the people because as you know, the vast, the majority of the gas and population is now in the South.
So we drive our trucks where people are.
We cannot drive to the North at the at the current point, which is of course deeply frustrating because we know that there are several 100,000 people who remain in the North.
If there is a **** on earth today, it's name is Northern Gaza.
People who remain there, the corners of their existence is death, deprivation, despair, displacement and literally darkness.
The entire Gaza Strip has been plunged Into Darkness since the 11th of October when the electricity grid was shot down and fuel stopped entering.
So it is a life of, you know, fear by day and darkness at night.
And what what do you tell your children in such a situation?
It's almost unimaginable that the fireworks that they see in the sky is out to **** them because that's what it looks like.
Advocate for a humanitarian pause for a humanitarian ceasefire that covers the entirety of the of the strip.
We'll take a question, 2 questions in the room.
We'll start with Isabel, FA and then Emma.
Can you switch on your mic please?
Well, well, you, you, you heard what I what is the, the, the idea how these process can really be used to expand the humanitarian operation through the Ng OS local Ng OS through the Red Crescent.
And if you could really elaborate on this, given the fact the fact that the, the the first intention of this process is to allow people to to to leave this the the northern part of Gaza.
And I have also a question of for that will be a show I think the Margaret is on online.
There has been an attack and a direct attack against Altifax Hospital.
So I would like to know what information WHO has on this and also on the running of hospitals in the northern part.
Because for several days we have heard that they have they already use all the fuel they have for the big generators and they were using the small generators.
But what is the situation now?
Maybe I should start also because Imogen, you asked the same question and I didn't reply to it.
So on the announcement of the 84 hour pauses that we've heard from the Israeli authorities, I can say that any such halt in the fighting and how it would work for humanitarian purposes would need to be coordinated with the United Nations, especially in terms of timings and locations.
That did not happen before we heard about it.
Obviously, for this to be done safely for humanitarian purposes, it has to be agreed with all parties for it to be truly effective.
Hi Anne, I wanted to ask about what you think the impact will be of so many 10s of thousands of people moving South now, given that the shelters are already very crowded with few resources.
How many people have moved up to date in the last few days and what do you fear the consequences of so many people reaching those shelters will be?
We saw yesterday quite a large amount of people moving.
We estimate that some 50,000 people fled the north of of Gaza.
That's not a what's called Wadi Gaza.
You know, that's a valley that kind of separates the northern part from, from, from the southern part 50,000 that fled towards the South.
So, so it's, it's a very large number of people.
I'm sure you have seen the images, as have I, of people walking, pushing wheelchairs with disabled people, elderly people down the the the roads on donkey carts, whichever way they can.
You see very few cars for good reasons, because there's no fuel to run cars, so people are asked to walk.
It can only, it can only, you know, make the situation of overcrowding both in the UNWA facilities that are hosting, thank God for them hosting so, so many people.
We have heard that some facilities are at four times capacities, Other facilities are 10 times capacities.
We hear stories of one toilet per 160 people, one shower per 700 people.
These are just mind boggling figures and it gives you an idea of of the day-to-day human challenges in terms of preserving people's human dignity in such a situation.
I think you had a question at Al Shifa Hospital.
Margaret is online from WHO Margaret if you can chime in on that.
I can't see actually, if you I can see myself now.
Yes, we're getting reports now that increasing numbers of hospitals are no longer functioning.
The information I have at the moment is that there are only, we now only have we've, we've got 20 hospitals out of action.
And I haven't got the detail on Al Shifa as yet, but we do know that they are coming under bombardment.
And we also know that there was significant bombardment of Ran TC Hospital, which is the only hospital providing paediatric services in North Gaza.
And in that hospital were a number of children who were on life support and children receiving dialysis, things that you cannot possibly evacuate to accurate them safely with.
I think maybe Isabel, you had a follow up on that.
Margaret, if you can be clear on the number of hospitals that are still running in the, in the, in the northern part of Gaza, you mentioned 20 are out of service, but how many are still functioning?
So the numbers we have are 16, so 36 hospitals overall.
So if we've lost 20, that means we've got 16, but it's not functioning in the way you or I would recognise a hospital functioning.
Let's, let's be realistic here.
They are managing to keep the the bare minimum of services and receive people, but they are not being able to function where they, they do do not have any of the adequate supplies.
They do not have the anaesthetic medications, they do not have the disinfectants and they are massively, massively overcrowded.
Now she for the last numbers I have were a bed occupancy of 190%.
That is not, that's a crazy figure.
You know, that means that you, you're not only do you have every bed filled, but you have every corridor filled, every space on the floor filled.
And around those hospitals, there are large numbers of people sheltering as well because they don't know where else to go.
One of my colleagues even gave the number as large as 60,000 in a call we're hearing around Al Shifa.
So please don't take that as read.
But the numbers seem to be very, very large of people who've gone to the hospitals because they're looking for somewhere to be safe, because as you know, hospitals should never be a target.
We'll take maybe Taha and then we'll go back to for Round 2, Emma Imogen.
And then we have to go online afterwards.
But why did the Human Rights Council not hold a special session on Palestine?
I think I can speak for my colleague Pascal.
As you know Taha, the the procedure is it's a state driven process.
Of course states need to call for this.
As you know, there will be a group of ambassadors speaking this afternoon at 3:30.
I can't predict what they're going to say.
There will be a joint declaration that read out, but of course, calling a special session of the Human Rights Council requires 1/3 of the 47 members of the council to do so.
And of course, it needs some time to prepare the ground for such a meeting.
We've heard a number of sentiments, of course, from the international community from memory, members of the council on what's happening in the Middle East, but we have not received any formal request yet.
And of course our colleagues at the OHCHR would will communicate that as soon as if should it happen.
OK, let's maybe we'll go to who was first, Imogen, maybe and then Emma and then we have to go online.
It's, it's, it's for Yents again and, and maybe also for Margaret.
You've talked about the, the really difficult crowded situation in, in, in the South.
Now we hear repeatedly that the South is safe.
You know, that's where people have been told to go, they'll be fine and so on.
What is stopping the UN, the Red Cross getting really vast amounts of aid, setting up proper camps with proper latrines, more showers?
Is that just the blockage at the border or is there a more fundamental, we don't want to make this massive displacement look permanent.
What, what's the actual thinking?
They are because I mean, for you, Margaret, you know, this, this kind of hygiene situation, you're bound to get illness, big health risks.
So yeah, what's what is stopping you setting up a vast and tidy refugee camp around Kalmunis and clear on the stances, please.
2 issues you mentioned one of them yourself, the access across the border for us to to get in ourselves, aid workers to get in and trucks to get in.
And secondly, southern Gaza is not safe.
You mentioned Al Shifa and you mentioned bombardment coming under bombardment.
Were you speaking specifically about the overnight strike?
There's a lot of images circling on social media.
Is that what you were referring to, please?
And, and do you have any detail at all of of the damage and what happened and who is responsible?
So I, I don't have detail of the damage.
And as you know, we don't ever allocate blame.
We, we verify that attacks have occurred and that's where it goes from WHO point of view, the verification, the assignation of blame that's done by other agencies.
I the information I simply have is from colleagues on the ground who say that indeed there is intense activity.
It's, that's not really the appropriate word, intense violence around the hospital.
And I don't have anything further to the earlier question about what's stopping setting up.
Yeah, safe and clean camps.
Exactly what Yen said, Access and safety.
We would definitely like to be able to send teams across.
We are ready to send teams across.
We are ready to send emergency medical teams to support the health system.
And remember, the health system should be supported.
We want a functioning health system.
But there is no safe access.
Nowhere is safe, nowhere is safe for anybody.
Look at the huge numbers of UNRWA colleagues that have been killed, the most humanitarian colleagues ever killed in in in an incident and an event.
So yes, we want to see people to have clean water, we want people to have space.
We, we are desperately concerned about the levels of infectious diseases.
As you know, we're seeing diarrhoea rates that are just massive surge in diarrhoea rates.
We normally see 2000 cases per month.
We're seeing over 22,030 thousand cases, huge numbers of respiratory infections.
This will spread everywhere.
This will create major, major, major problems for everyone.
So that's why we are all saying there must be a a real humanitarian ceasefire.
Maybe just to pick up on that point about the staff, our staff have been killed.
Indeed, this is unprecedented.
The number of staff killed in this short period of time is unprecedented in the history of the UN.
And maybe just to take this opportunity to echo what the Volcker Turk said this morning in his press conference in Oman.
He said, as we have all been saying repeatedly, that the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure structures like hospitals, etcetera and schools must be protected.
Now we now we can turn online.
So we'll start with Gabby of El Proceso.
Well, it's, it strikes me that there are no more UN agencies talking about the situation in Gaza here today.
I mean, it's, it's evident that things are not improving.
So just it's, it's a practical question or what, what happened there that there are no more agencies today.
So I'm, I'm wondering if you receive any kind of pressure from the member state to tone down what is happening in Gaza or something like that.
We have colleagues online.
We've been here briefing you ad nauseam since the 7th of October.
We've been feeding you with vast amounts of messages, urgent appeals, you know, really encouraging you colleagues to to echo these important messages beyond.
So we're here, we don't bow to any pressure.
We continue to do our jobs and and as you we've said here already, often putting our lives at risk.
So we are here to serve you.
We are here to deliver messages without pause 24/7.
So that's, that's just to be absolutely clear about that.
One questions to maybe to to yes, on the conference in Paris yesterday.
I wanted to know if you could give us your appreciation of the results of this conference in general and about the pledges.
And then I have a second question, which is not on Gaza, which is on the press release sent by UNHC Air on Sudan.
Let's just exhaust the questions on on Gaza first and then we can go to Sudan after.
Thank you, Agnes, for that question.
It was an important conference.
As you saw, Martin Griffiths was there, Philippe Lazarini was there.
There was a there was a message from from the Secretary General as well.
So, so the UN was fully engaged and fully involved.
And as as you have seen Martin Griffiths saying, he thanked President Macron for his leadership convening this this conference and for his leadership in getting so many people around the table there at the EEC.
I think we saw that on live television yesterday.
So of course we we appreciate that.
In terms of commenting on the, on the outcome, of course the UN was not part of organising the conference.
So it will be for, for the French to the French host to, to comment on that.
I don't know if Stefan said something on behalf of the secretary general after I'm unaware of that.
And yes, I only referred to the message of the Secretary General, which he delivered by video message, which among other than other things, his message was to the delegations, to the delegates and the gathered, those who gathered in Paris yesterday, that to them that they must step up efforts to assist and protect civilians in Gaza.
And again, as I mentioned already, this means unfettered access, humanitarian access, but also this humanitarian ceasefire ensuring full respect for international humanitarian law.
So this was this was his message.
And of course, he also mentioned the need to invest more, the $1.2 billion humanitarian appeal that the UN has had launched to help the Visilians in Gaza.
So that that was really just the key messages from the Secretary General's video message to the participants in Paris yesterday.
OK, we have 1234 questions remaining.
We have Muhammad of Andalou Agency.
My question for you or, or for your answer also, it's it's about Gaza.
the United States and Western countries support humanitarian powers in Gaza.
The White House announced that Israel has agreed.
To for our daily post in hostilities yesterday, nearly 11,000 civilian have been killed in Gaza since October 7th.
I was wondering, don't you think a humanitarian post in conflicts is a temporary solution?
Also, do you think that this could prevent deaths in Gaza?
I, I think I can only repeat what our very clear and consistent call has been and that is only a humanitarian ceasefire will work in this situation.
We are not changing that position today.
And I think I replied to what I had on the the specific announcement of of, of of the humanitarian polls.
OK, Catherine, Francois, Kat, go ahead, Kat.
Good morning to all of you.
I have a follow up question for you, Margaret and I have a question also for Yens.
So where is he now or is he having plans to visit the region again or what are the his plans?
And now regarding Margaret, do you have any information about the French hospital ship that should arrive today or tomorrow?
And also will that hospital should be able to be accessible by the the people that are needing it?
And could you be a bit more precise also regarding the southern part of Gaza, as mentioned by against, we know that it's not safe, but how many hospitals are barely functioning in the South of Gaza, in the South of part of Gaza?
And and could you be clear you and Yens about who is forbidding the access to humanitarians across the border?
First on on your question on emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffith was in Paris yesterday.
I can tell you he remains in Europe and without promising too much, I think we will hear more from him in the days or weeks to come.
For the usual reasons, I, I, I cannot or have not his exact travel plans, but he should be around.
So I hope to have something to announce next week.
In terms of access, these are international borders that are controlled, of course not by the United Nations, but by the countries that they form the border between.
So in, in in terms of Rafa, that is Egypt and and Israel, but also with the involvement of the de facto authorities that are in, in Gaza as mentioned in terms of trucks that matters in terms of volume on a daily basis, Rafa is the second best option.
The best, the best option is Karam Shalom and that crossing is controlled by the Israeli authorities.
The Israeli authorities have not opened it for entry of trucks up to now.
I'm trying the the numbers are changing as we speak.
So as I said, we now have 20 of 36 hospitals not functioning, OK, so only 16 hospitals functioning and when I say functioning, I mean partially functioning.
Now we had S Gaza at the southern part always was under had much less hospital service than the northern and the central part.
We had three major hospitals able to provide surgical care.
I do not have the total of all hospitals currently functioning in the South, but you can understand essentially what is available to the thousands of people.
We've got injuries in the 20, the the middle 20s, close to 30,000 injuries.
What is available is nowhere near adequate.
I'm, I, I will get you very specific numbers when I'm off this call and send them to you separately to make sure we've got all the numbers.
There is a graphic we have that's available that does map out where the hospitals are and what's available.
I don't have it in front of me right now.
And also remember it will be out of date.
It will be out of date as of the the bombardments and the loss of function due to lack of fuel.
I think there was a question on the ship as well.
I don't have any information about that.
We have put out a call for emergency medical teams through our emergency medical team system.
But my as far as I understand, I don't think the ship is in that same category.
So I can't give you any more detail about the French ship.
And of course, just to mention testament to how difficult it is to get numbers, it's to the very, very difficult and critical situation on the ground.
We have two last questions, John Zaracostas and then Gabby again.
Follow up to some of the earlier questions.
I was wondering if Margaret or Yens could give us the latest attacks on health in the West Bank and also throughout the OPT and Gaza.
I didn't see them in the in yesterday's update by OCHA.
If you could do it, bring us up to date on that.
And secondly, Margaret, do you have any data on given the use as the **** Commissioner said this morning, of **** impact explosive weapons in densely populated areas?
Do you have a **** number of amputations among the injured and are you in need of orthopaedic surgeons to go into Gaza?
I think maybe the answer is ready to go.
So maybe we'll start with the answer then.
Yeah, OK, just just briefly, John, thanks for that.
I, I, I will refer you to the flash update that that that is out.
That is that is what I have.
There is an entire section called healthcare including attacks in the Gaza Strip and there's another section that's called violent and casualties in the West Bank.
That is the information that that that I have as well.
And I'll just say what I've got currently.
And again these numbers are changing rapidly with the intense bombardment, but I have 235 attacks on health in the whole of the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 7 October, 108 in Gaza and 127 in the West Bank on your **** impact weapons.
We, what we're seeing, the injuries we are seeing are crush injuries, burns, and yes, indeed people are having, have severe damage to their bones, having been under rubble, having been crushed.
And one of the things that was requested of us is that we provide something called external fixiters.
Normally you would have just say 10 or 20 in your, in your kits.
We're being asked for thousands and what external fixiters do.
It's a orthopaedic mechanism that you use on a crushed limb when you've got bones internally *******.
It holds the limb together while the giving the bones of the the doctors a chance to set the bones because you it, they're so damaged that you can't do the kind of surgery that would put those bones back together.
So that gives you an idea of the severity of the injuries people are dealing with.
And once we have access, I am sure orthopaedic surgeons will be very, very welcome.
But the critical thing, as I've said, is we need safe access and a means to provide those teams in a way where they can truly support the health system and the the beleaguered doctors and nurses who are doing extraordinary things under impossible conditions.
One last question on this subject from Gabby.
Perhaps I asked my question wrong.
I don't want to be misinterpreted.
I did not mean that you have not given us all the information possible.
On the contrary, your work has been extraordinary.
What happens is that I see you very worried, but kind of more reserved.
But maybe that is my my personal impression.
Maybe we are all, you know, overwhelmed with the situation, I don't know, seeing what is happening there.
So about aid access, if you can specify the process to authorise the entry of a convoy of of the UN.
So Israel has to give permission, Hamas, Egypt, I mean, what is the process, if you can just detail that?
Yes, thank you very much.
Let me tell you, I, I am working on something actually to try to give you step by step idea of the COM complexities and I don't want to say anything wrong.
The also because the, the process and, and these, these steps that need to be taken are not by the UN.
So we have to ask others, what is it actually?
You need, you need, you need to see in order for, for this to access and why and, and the rest of it.
So it's kind of outside our, our control for the reasons I, I, I just mentioned that we don't control those borders.
One thing however, I I want to stress very clearly and that is that nothing in those trucks that the cross are surprises to the Israeli authorities that they're fully aware of what is in there.
It's it's completely transparent and there are mechanisms that that were in place before this jewel use material, you know, all of that.
So it's essentially not nothing new, but please bear with me.
I, I will try to, to give you, you know, as I say, a more linear idea of what, what the process is because it's absolutely not straightforward.
It's not just driving to Rafa and then you get a permission and then you cross the border.
It's driving to Rafa and then going on a detour to another location where the stuff is verified and then back to Rafa before you can cross.
Yeah, it's quite complex indeed.
Thank you very much, Jens.
And maybe just thank you for clarifying your point, Gabby.
Of course, we are worried.
We're dedicated, we're committed to make sure the messages get out and and we thank you for helping us in that regard.
Kat, is this also on OPT?
I this morning Mr Volkatuk did remind us that UN had issued an humanitarian appeal and he didn't recall the exact figures.
Would you be able to remind us those exact figures about recent humanitarian appeal and that and is it also including the ILO appeal of yesterday 20 million?
The revised flash appeal for the opt, so both Gaza and the West Bank is $1.2 billion.
So that is the ask the the timeline of that is October till December of this year.
Thanks for that clarification.
And I think, Lisa Voe, this will probably need to be the last question on this subject.
Actually, it's the first question on a different subject.
And Agnes, I, I, I don't want to bump her.
She wanted to ask you a question about Darfur, and I do also.
So you have a question on Sudan as does an yes if I.
So perhaps you take Agnes first, since she asked.
That's very considered of you.
And yes, you will jump the line.
We'll go to an yes first and then back to you.
Actually, I also have a question for you, Rolando, about the minute of silence that you have announced for next Monday.
I want you to know in Geneva if, if you know that there will be anything specific organised, if the, the, the people will go in some place, will go out of their office in some place to, to be all together.
So we can be there as a journalist and and take some images.
So if you could give us more information about what is exactly going to happen on Monday.
And and then my question for UNHCR on refugees.
So the press release says that more than 8000 people have been reportedly killed by armed groups in Adamata W Darfur.
But the press release didn't specify during which.
Those people were Republic killed.
If it was during the week or during all the period of the conflict or during last month, it's not mentioned.
So I would be pleased to to have more information about the the the timing.
And yes, William, I believe is connected William Spindler of UNHCR.
Do we have William there?
Trying to switch on my camera.
I don't know if you can see me and hear me I.
And yes, for for that question.
Yes, this press release is comes as as as we received the latest information about the situation there.
As you know, our Director of External Relations brief, you briefed you extensively on Tuesday, but since then we have received these reports from new arrivals in Chad.
These are refugees fleeing the Darfur area that are talking about armed militia going from house to house, men and boys in Adamata, and also of men and boys being prevented from leaving Darfur and fleeing to chat at checkpoints.
So this is a very worrying development.
This is an area where so far has been relatively peaceful.
We carried out a distribution of relief items very recently through a cross-border operation from Chad.
We we went into Sudan to deliver these items.
So these killings reportedly have happened in the last few days.
So this is very worrying and that that's why we have come up with this statement today.
William, sorry, I'm going to have to pump you with a few, pepper you with a few questions because you didn't read the press release, so I'm sorry.
Anyway, on this information, you also mentioned was, was this camp in Ardamata under the care of the UNHCR or not?
And then you also say that they were close to 100 shelters nearby that were razed to the ground.
So what has happened to those people?
Because apparently they suffered a lot of, you know, trauma and this have they fled to, are they among the people who have fled to Chad and or have they gone elsewhere in Darfur?
And is there any safe place in Darfur for people?
There's no safe place in Gaza apparently.
But is this also the case in Darfur?
And what sort under what sort of ***** is happening to these people?
I mean, what's happening there?
And sorry, just another couple of quick questions here.
Do you have any contact with the warring parties inside Darfur?
Are you in negotiations with the Rapid Support Forces?
And lastly, what's happening with the Jeddah talks?
Is that sort of a big waste of time or is anything concrete in a good way happening there?
There are many questions there, so I'll I'll do my best to try to answer all of them on on this camp.
This is a camp for displaced people.
I mean, perhaps I should start saying that because of the insecurity in the whole of Sudan.
We have moved our international staff to Port Sudan and we have very little in terms of activities on the ground.
We still have national staff, Sudanese colleagues who are working in various parts of the country, but mostly with under very difficult conditions and they are not able to carry out daily activities.
So our access like the access of other agencies is very limited in many areas including Darfur.
In this particular area of the matter, we were able to carry out a distribution of relief items recently, but the situation has deteriorated since then and become much more dangerous.
So and that the distribution was carried out by our staff from Chad.
So it was a cross-border operation.
We crossed into Sudan in order to provide this this assistance on the kind of human rights violations that we have heard reports from.
And I remember we have no first hand access to these areas.
So this information is coming from the refugees themselves is what people are telling us.
We also see people coming out of this region with gunshot wounds and very traumatised, but what they have seen and had experienced themselves.
So we have heard testimonies of cross human rights violations of, of, of, of **** and other sexual *****, of killings of people being extorted for money and, or, or all sorts of mistreatment.
So this is this is very worrying.
And that's why we're sounding the alarm, as we and others have done in the past.
We all know what happened in the 420 years ago.
And that's why we're seeing with great concern this dynamic repeating itself.
So on, on the Jeddah talks, we like other UN instances, have welcomed the, the, the, the agreements and, and commitments there.
But this is again, something that needs to be translated into access for humanitarian actors on the ground and also respect for the civilian population.
I don't have the details of the tops themselves and, and who's taking part.
There are other entities of the UN that follow that.
We are concerned as you know with the humanitarian response as as are other agencies on the ground.
I don't know if there are where other questions that haven't answered yet.
I think you tackle them all, but Yen's does have a comment on Jeddah Talks.
Yeah, thank you and thanks, Lisa.
You, you may have seen a couple of days ago, the 7th of November, the, the, the humanitarian coordinator, her name is UN Quita.
She was, she visited us here just a few weeks ago and gave a press conference, issued a statement on that in which she said that the statement of commitments that was adopted in Jeddah today marks a moment of truth for the country.
She said that the promises made by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the two parties to the to, to the, to these commitments to are promises that must be kept.
She also mentioned that she in particular welcomed the agreement to establish a humanitarian forum for Sudan, which is which is led by my office, OCHA, representing the humanitarian community and with the participation of the parties to the conflict.
And that is exactly a forum that will deal with the the issues that William is talking about, access being top of the list to facilitate the implementation of of of this agreement.
So it is out there and I'm happy to resend that to you so you can read it in full.
Big complaint and apparently the chat is ******* there.
There was a noise people, a woman talking behind William and a little bit behind Yance and it was it totally distracted me.
I got missed everything that you said.
And for radio it's, you know, a bust.
So, and the the problem of being on Zoom is, you know, if I raise my hand or whatever it is, you don't pay attention to me until until all the noise has gone on.
So I just want you to know this.
I we did hear a little external noise and it's not a perfect environment.
We're doing everything we can to try to, to deliver these messages without any background noise in this case.
But if there's anything that's unclear, of course, I would recommend or suggest maybe you speak reach out to William directly, who I'm sure is amenable.
Taha, you had a question as well.
Janice, if you have further information about the Humanitarian Forum on Sudan, please send it to me.
I don't right now, but I will.
Thank you very much to our briefers.
I think that concludes our items.
I have a few additional points just to mention, but thank you very much, Jens, Margaret, and of course, William, all very much for your tireless efforts.
And yes, you had a question about the minute of silence.
Of course, I don't have more information at the moment.
I can only tell you that 9:30 on Monday morning here at the Palais, the flag again will be lowered and there will be a minute of silence.
How, if, if colleagues will gather?
Certainly we'll inquire after this briefing and and share that with you in a note to correspondence should there be a photo opportunity or something of that sort.
In terms of announcements, I already referred to the Secretary General's video message to the Paris conference on Gaza, so I won't repeat that meant be just to mention there are a few meetings taking place here in Geneva on human rights.
We have the Committee Against Torture that is currently in session today.
It's reviewing, I'm sorry, on Tuesday, excuse me, on Tuesday it will review Egypt Committee against Torture review of Egypt.
On Tuesday, the Universal Periodic Review under the Human Rights Council is also meeting, as you well know, today, this morning in fact, at present reviewing the human rights records of of Canada.
Monday, the UPR Working Group will review the human rights records of Bangladesh in the morning and the Russian Federation in the afternoon.
And on Tuesday and Wednesday, Azerbaijan, Cameroon and Cuba are in the line up sticking on the P and the issue of the Middle East in the question of Palestine.
The Security Council in New York incidentally will be holding a public meeting at 9:00 PM our time, so 3:00 PM New York time.
Several press conferences who announced, as you know, Mr Turk Volcker Turk did brief you from Amman this morning.
You, I'm sure many of you listened in on that important meeting.
You received as well his remarks that he shared that he uttered at the beginning of this important press encounter at the end of his visit to the region.
As I alluded to earlier, at 3:30 this afternoon here at the Bosserpont, we will have a press stakeout which has been organised by the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine and Ambassador Ibrahim Kreishi, the Permanent Observer.
The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine will deliver a statement as well as a statement.
I'm told a statement will be delivered on behalf of a group of upwards of 40 to 50 ambassadors will be present and there will be a joint statement read out by the Ambassador of the Maldives so we can confirm that.
So that's at 3:30 at the Barsapunt on Tuesday, the 14th of November.
We have a press conference at 9:15 before our regular briefing, 9:15 in this room.
It's a Unit Deer on the launch of the Landmine Monitor 2023 report.
We have a number of speakers who will be addressing this issue and on Wednesday, as Mark or sorry, as Claire mentioned earlier, WMO will have a press conference at 11 AM in this room on their greenhouse gas bulletin and that will be with the M of WMO Secretary General, Professor Patrick Talas.
And today is World Science Day for Peace and Development and highlights a significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues.
And the theme for this year's observance is build a building Trust in science.
So that is a day that is led by our colleagues at UNESCO.
And then the last thing is just to mention a lovely event that's coming up next week.
On Thursday the 16th at 2:30 in Room 18, we'll have the Young Activist Summit.
This is the fifth time that we're doing it here.
We have about 650 young people we'll be gathering here in Geneva to five young activists, in fact, will be here to speak about peace and reconciliation and sustainability.
We have young people joining us who will be speaking about Rohingya people's rights, peace building in the Sahel region, climate action for peace, Environmental Protection and the fight against child marriage.
Very, very important issues, of course.
And these young youngsters aged between 14 and 29 will be here and somebody who's not quite within that age bracket, Prince Albert of Monaco, will be here in person to address the summit.
He is of course, a advocate of of many human rights issues and issues, social justice.
And he will be here in person to to address this young activist summit on Thursday the 16th.
Any questions, Catherine, go ahead.
For the this afternoon event of the other group of Arab ambassadors and the Ambassador of Palestine, is UN going to cover it?
Are you going to record it and film it?
Thank you for the question.
We will provide an audio recording of this we do not provide for as it's not taking place in this room and and normally under normal circumstance we don't provide TV video recordings for state organised press encounters as has been our policy for some time.
But we will provide you immediately thereafter with an audio recording of of the encounter this afternoon.
Take into account what you mentioned earlier.
We do appreciate all the information we're getting.
But it would also help to get the sitreps not only from the ones we've been getting very regularly from UNRWA and OCHA, but from also other agencies that are putting out very regularly sitreps on the crisis in in the OPT.
I was thinking especially of UNICEF, EMRO and others that are bringing them out And also when there are reports by various agencies coming across your desk, like yesterday, an important report by UNDP didn't come down to our server list.
So it's just a suggestion what comes through your desk that sometimes might be missed by us.
It's helpful to really direct it as you do many of the other items.
Of course, we always welcome these suggestions and comments and we will convey this for those listening online.
It's note well or very well noted.
And I'll convey this to all our colleagues, including UNDP, who I don't think is connected today.
But indeed, thank you very much for sharing that with us.
Further questions for me.
So I wish you one uppity and nice weekend.
