Thank you for joining us here at the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing.
Today, the 4th of October, we have another very packed agenda.
We have a few announcements.
We'll start off with our colleague Pascal from the Human Rights Council.
We'll obviously then we'll go on to Sophie Fisher of ILO.
We also have briefers who will address the situation in Lebanon as well as in Gaza, as well as an update from the FAO.
So again, very packed agenda.
We'll start off immediately with Pascal for an announcement and then over to Sophie from ILO Pascal.
The Human Rights Council is beginning today the consideration of the last item of its agenda, which is dedicated to technical assistance and capacity building.
A total of 10 countries will be considered until this agenda item at this 57 session.
At around 11:15 today, the Council is holding an enhanced interactive dialogue on the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands.
Deputy **** Commissioner Nada Al Na Schiff and the Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Marcos Aureena, will participate in this dialogue, and we also expect the participation of members of the National Nuclear Commission of the Marshall Islands.
This afternoon at around 3:30 PM, you, the Council, will hear an oral update from the OHHR on the situation in South Sudan.
And on Monday morning, the Council will hear reports from Vitid Muntarbon, the Special Rapporteur in Cambodia, to be followed by Isha Define, the independent experts in Somalia.
On Monday afternoon, we will hear a report from Yao Agdetse, the independent experts on the Central African Republic, and a report from the UN Human Rights Office on penitentiary systems, security and justice in Honduras.
And on Tuesday morning, until I speak to you for the next briefing, the Council will hold an enhanced interactive dialogue on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
**** Commissioner Volcker Turk will participate in this dialogue along with the team of international experts on the country and you will also have the participation of the Head of Monusco Bintuketa, the Chief of the Peace operation in the DRC.
We received all the draught texts for consideration for adoption for this end.
For this 57 session, we have a total of 38 draught texts, 1 Presidential statement and 37 draught resolutions.
4 of these draught resolutions are new initiatives, one on the elimination of domestic violence, a second one on the social reintegration of person released from prisons, a third one to mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action on Women's rights, and the first one on biodiversity and human rights.
About 1/3 of these draught resolutions concern country situations, and several of these draught resolutions request the renewal of mandate for investigations and experts.
The fact finding mission for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, two years.
The fact finding mission for the Sudan, one year.
The team of international expert on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one year.
The Special Rapporteur on the Russian Federation, one year.
The Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, one year.
Special Rapporteur on Burundi, one year.
Independent experts on Somalia, one year, independent experts on the Central African Republic, one year and the Special Rapporteur on climate change, one year.
I'll be able to share with you the list of these 38 draught text, hopefully this afternoon as well as the running order for their consideration that will begin on Wednesday afternoon.
Thanks very much for that comprehensive brief.
Pascal, do we have, I do see, a question for you from Christian of DPA.
Do you know whether there's anything special happening on the 7th at the Human Rights Council to commemorate the events one year ago?
Listen, so far the the Secretariat of the Presidency have not received any request or proposal to commemorate this anniversary on October 7th, but I will I strongly advise that you stay alert on what's going on in the room starting at 10 AM.
Thanks very much, Pascal.
Indeed, We'll be focused on the proceedings as you approached the last week of the Council.
Hi Pascal, para la habbo was sumi para la mission on the Mont pas uncle sorti ubian Messi.
Conference room papers kid over at Super on the OK, I don't see further questions.
So thank you very much, Pascal, and good luck once again.
Well, now throw to our colleague from the ILO, Sophie Fisher, who has an announcement on a publication concerning Gaza.
And then afterwards we'll go into some of the briefings on Gaza and then Lebanon.
On Monday, the ILO is going to be releasing the 5th and latest in its series of bulletins on the unemployment and livelihood situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
This one is entitled A Year of War in Gaza, Impact on Employment and livelihoods in the West Bank.
The report, we are hoping to put it out at 11 AM Geneva time, which is midday in Beirut.
The report is being prepared by our Beirut office.
Unfortunately, there will be a media advisory later today.
Unfortunately, we won't be able to give you advance copies because the report isn't actually ready yet.
As you will appreciate, this is going down to the last minute to to complete it.
The report will cover the period from the start of October 23 to the end of September 24, and it compares the situation in that.
With the preceding 12 months, the primary point of release of this report is Beirut.
But as you can imagine, the press there has a lot of other things.
It will be distributed to you.
Hopefully interviews will also be available if anybody wants 1.
Yes, Christian has a question for you.
It will be available Monday morning, though not at 11 only, right?
And please, if that splits slips a little bit, bear with us.
That will be because of of the fairly obvious logistical reasons and related to getting the relevant clearances from people who are in Beirut who have quite a lot on their plates at the moment.
Thanks very much for that, Sophie.
And of course to connect.
Oh, we have a question from Imogen BBC.
Just to clarify, have you got an embargo on it or, or how does this work?
It's it's we can report on it as soon as you finalise it and give it to us.
Got that question for you for from John Zaracostas.
The latest estimates from the ILO on the number of people that have fallen below the poverty line in Lebanon.
And if your Beirut office has some new estimates of Lebanese nationals and also refugees, the levels of poverty in Lebanon.
Sorry, I, I missed a bit at the beginning of your question because I think you were weaving off the mic, but I think you were asking about levels of poverty in among Lebanese and refugees, Lebanese nationals and also migrants and refugees in Lebanon.
If you have new estimates from the ILO or your Beirut office and how many are below the poverty line basically.
I will need to ask them because that's not directly the subject of the the upcoming report.
It's a separate because I know you track this stuff very much and since you're joining a joint study with a back World Bank, I think they do this tracking as well.
So I was interested if you have something similar on Lebanon, I'll often come back.
Thanks very much to you both, and good luck with that publication, Sophie.
OK, we're going to stay on the subject of Gaza Now, colleagues, we're turning to, I think Margaret has two guests.
Margaret Harris of the World Health Organisation would like to introduce 2 guests who join us from Jerusalem.
And yes, I believe they're both speaking from Jerusalem.
So Margaret, over to you.
And I'll be very quick because it's a packed agenda.
Yes, we have Doctor Michelle Tehran, who's our Special Representative for Israel.
And we also have Doctor Aidil Saperbekov, who's our emergencies lead in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
And I think we will start.
So we'll start with Michelle.
October 7 is on Monday and in Israel and for all Israelis, October 7 is day 9/11.
And the last year has been a lead determinant of health in Israel and a continued engagement for The Who in Israel to respond to it.
For Israel, Monday is one year after October 7 massacre and it is the largest on its own.
October 724 marks one year of captivity of 101 hostages.
Who from their timeless tunnels may not realise that yesterday it was their New Year's celebration.
October seven in two days will means in Israel being away from home for 75,000 people for who their hometown from Shilomi, where I was a few days ago and to carry Ashmona is the incubator of another October 7.
For the 10 million Israeli and residents here, it has been a year which show over 19,000 rocket fire towards the country indiscriminately.
WHO has so far verified 68 attacks on healthcare in Israel, with 24 dead.
For all of the above, this Monday will mark one year of a collective trauma that has spared no one in the country and has spread at pandemic speed and has doubled and in some parts tripled the demand for mental health care.
As we speak, the entire health system of the north of Israel, including the large, the third largest city, Haifa, operates underground in reconfigured shelters and parkings.
This represents very complex working and living conditions for thousands of patients and health workers.
A patient without daylighting is a patient without natural strength to heal.
There is an immense resilience and impressive readiness on the health system here, but at the great human cost for patients and healthcare workers.
For WHO in Israel, October 7th represents one year of solidary presence with the health authorities and with the people of Israel.
It is one year of bearing witness of the constant existential fear for 10 million people living in the country and its impact on health and health behaviours.
It's one year of support to the family of hostages and the family of the displaced populations.
For WHO in Israel, October 7th, 24 will mark one year of emergency mental health interventions for the most vulnerable and for the first responders.
This is a pact made between the Israeli Ministry of Health and The Who Regional Director for the European Region, Doctor Hans Kluger, to leave no one behind.
It is one year spent on dozens of sites, visits, areas of massacres, forensic institutes, ghost evacuated city evacuation and display centres, hospitals, bedside of victims, border areas and commemoration events for the many lives lost and more.
Finally, October 7 for WHO in Israel means one year of reporting on Israel in Israeli visualities and one year of continued humanitarian bridging and dialogue for anyone affected.
Outside Israel, no one heals without peace, and in Israel no one heals without the return of 101 hostages left in Haman's Hamas hands.
This was in all the New Year wishes which I could hear hear yesterday during Rosh Hashanah celebration.
Doctor Tedros, WHO Director General, was very clear yesterday.
The unspeakable suffering in Israel and throughout the region must stop.
Peace is the only and good medicine.
Thank you very much, Michelle.
We'll now hear from Doctor Saparbekov.
Thank you so much and good morning.
It's been 12 months and the hostilities in Gaza continue to range.
Over 6% of population of the entire Gaza Strip has been killed or injured and an estimated 10,000 people remain trapped under trouble.
The health system of Gaza Strip has suffered immensely from the repeated attacks and from the ongoing shortage of supplies, medicine, fuel and stuff.
Since October 2023, WTO recorded at least 516 attacks on healthcare in Gaza, which resulted in 765 deaths.
Only half of the Gaza hospitals are partially operational and only 43% of the primary healthcare facilities in Gaza Strip are functioning.
The working hospitals that still remain open provide the bed capacity of only 1800 beds, which is supplemented by around 650 beds are in 10 operational filled hospitals by emergency medical teams.
This is false, far short of the need industry.
Many of the hospitals that are still functioning have been reduced to a fraction of their former capacity.
They lack specialised stuff, they lack supplies, they lack equipment to treat complex injuries and complex diseases that are currently exist in Gaza.
According to the Ministry of Health, around 1000 health workers have been killed.
This is an irreplaceable loss and massive blow to the entire health system of Gaza.
Al Shifa, which was once the Gaza's largest hospital, has not yet returned to its former state despite all the best efforts by WTO and partners at the siege that has left it in ruins.
I still remember when I visited the stench of a rotting blood and death in the courtyard of this Al Shiva hospital.
I recall the panic and the fear on the people's faces when they rushed themselves and their loved ones into the overflowing hospitals where patients were spread across the floors, corridors of emergency rooms and in every possible space that they could occupy.
Inside the hospital, I witnessed patients crying in pain due to the lack of pain **** pain management.
I also met a surgeon in Asahaba Hospital who shared with me a story how he himself amputated his knees leg in his own kitchen table with his own kitchen knife because there was no safe access to the hospital.
Gazans have been living through **** and continues to suffer.
The situation is still green.
Many essential health services are still not available.
Gaza's only Limbury construction centre in Nassar Hospital is no longer functioning and the sole psychiatric hospital remains out of hospital.
Oncology imaging services are unavailable, specialised paediatric surgery is not available and the chronology services are not available.
Vascular surgery has been compromised among many other critical services.
We estimate that around 24,000 people in Gaza are suffering from life changing injuries due to the conflict and they have no access to rehabilitation or specialised care.
We recently met a man who had crafted his own prosthetically using a broken crutch and some wood.
While this speaks to the resilience of Gaza people, no one, no one should have been doing this.
We're deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict on mental health and psychosocial status of people in Gaza.
Prior to the conflict, there were almost half a million people who have already been diagnosed with mental health disorders.
Malnutrition is another concern.
Since January this year, more than 20,000 people children have been admitted for the treatment of malnutrition, including more than 4 1/2 thousand children with severe acute malnutrition.
Over 96% of women and children aged 6 to 24 months are not meeting their nutritional needs due to lack of diet diversity.
Pregnant women and new mothers are enduring unbearable conditions, unable to access hospital due to the constant displacement.
I've met many mothers who have shared their stories of living with their newborns in the hospital stairwells.
Because there is no privacy, there is no room for them to stay.
They have been forced out of the hospital for the second day after the delivery due to the different safety issues that they face.
Winter approaches and communicable disease remain a significant public health ******.
Acute watery diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections account for more than 80% of all cases of reported cases of communicable disease in Gaza during the first eight months of 2024.
The poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, alongside with overcrowding in shelters and lack of primary healthcare services are the primary drivers of this disease.
These conditions, we expect, will worsen during the winter, likely leading to a further rise in cases of morbidity as well as mortality as the burden of health services continues to grow.
The medical evacuation out of Gaza remains severely limited.
As of 30th of September, out of more than 15,000 cases requested for medical evacuation, only 32% have been approved by the Israeli authorities.
This is around 5130 patients.
Since the closure of Rafaq crossing in May 2024, only 219 patients have been evacuated out of the Gaza Strip.
We, as WTO, urgently call for the establishment of multiple medical evacuations corridors to ensure safe, organised and timely passage of patients.
We are all available routes.
Despite the extreme challenges on the ground, WTO remains in Gaza doing everything possible.
Out of 214 missions that we planned within the Gaza Strip since October 2023, only 44% have been facilitated.
And through those missions, we delivered fuel, medicine, supply that helped restore hospitals.
We also deployed emergency medical teams to support the Gaza health system.
Together with our partners, we have been able to vaccinate 560,000 children in the first round of the polio campaign last month.
Repeated evacuation orders and ongoing facilities continue to disrupt humanitarian operations.
We call for effective deconfliction and protection of the healthcare.
We call on safe access to health facilities and to sustain aid flow into and across Gaza.
In closing, I wanted to commend the resilience of Gaza health worker.
They're heroes who, without rest, continue to care for other people, often at great personal cost to their own mental and physical health.
They're fulfilling their oath of medicine and humanity beyond measure.
It's been one year, 365 days of bloodshed, pain and suffering.
Thank you very much, Doctor Ayadil and and Michelle as well.
Do we have questions for our colleagues from WH?
OK, we'll start in the room first row, Robin of Argent France Press Thank you.
It's a question for for Michelle in the in the north of Israel, how many patients are being treated in those in those reconfigured underground shelters that you talked about and and in Southern Israel year on.
Can you give us an overview of the healthcare situation in those areas that were affected by the October 7 attacks?
The when I say the entire inpatient system in Israel, N Israel is operating underground, it counts by thousands including the health workers at their bedside.
What I saw four days ago is an entire parking lot with about 5 to 700 bed hospital beds and we should count certainly two or three healthcare and associate workers for each bed.
So that was a lot of people.
There were two floors like this under Rambam hospitals in Haifa, same things in the central hospital of Haifa called the Zion Hospital.
Same thing in Aharia, same thing in Sefed and I visit the mall and then still Ashkelon hospital around Gaza is still in that situation.
So you really can count by a few thousands of of patients and and healthcare workers working underground.
Thank you very much, Michelle.
I, I think Margaret must have, if not already, she will soon send the notes.
So I think there are some questions about the notes, the details that were shared.
Do you have any information about the use of uranium bombs in Gaza during the last year?
Thank you for your question.
WTO does not have any information about and this is not part of our mandate over.
We have a question for you from Emma of Reuters.
Has the Polio 2 campaign now been approved?
Has Israel given its go ahead and and do you have any details of that?
And for Doctor Tieran, please, what is the perceived risk of polio actually in Israel?
I understand a significant portion of the Orthodox population is unvaccinated.
So how do you see that risk?
Maybe the first question for Michelle.
Yes, the the risk of Israel is, is cannot be discarded and the indeed the initial immunisation coverage in Israel are not homogeneous.
But in certain population segment and especially after the COVID, there has been some dent in the, in the coverage.
That's why we really need to be very careful here.
The risk is taken seriously.
We cannot say that they will be, but we know that the exchanges between Israel and Gaza will only but increase and therefore we need to be careful.
This is how it entered in Gaza from elsewhere as well.
So the the chain of that strain going needs to be stopped at some point.
Thank you and I believe you for your question.
Thank you for the question.
Yes, there are ongoing discussions with the Israeli authorities, the COGAT and the Ministry of Health of Israel, as well as the partners on the ground on the second round of the polio campaign.
We have requested the start of the second round of the polio campaign on the 14th of October.
So this is a week from now, 10 days from now, and we expect that the vaccination should finish by the 29th of October.
We have communicated those days to the Israeli authorities and we're having a meeting on coming Sunday to see whether this will be confirmed.
But we're very hopeful that learning the lessons from the previous successful polio campaign will continue to support the children.
Zero to 10 years in Gaza with this polio supplementary musician activities over.
Thank you very much for that clarification.
We have a question from Nick ******* Bruce of the New York Times.
Yes, just following up on the earlier issue, Doctor Idol, could you just update us on the numbers of children who have been affected by this or adults?
Thank you very much for the second round of the polio campaign.
We estimate that around 500 and sorry 5590 thousand children should be vaccinated with novel oral polio vaccine 2 and these are the children aged zero to 10 years.
In addition to the polio vaccinations, they also will receive a dose of vitamin A.
This is an oral vitamin to boost the immunity over.
OK, thank you for that elaboration.
We have a number of hands going up.
Maybe back to Nick because you have a follow up.
Just a quick follow up on the number of children who have been affected by polio virus since the first case was announced.
Number of children affected by the polio virus.
Thank you very much for the question.
So far through the epidemiological surveillance of acute plus paralysis, the laboratory has detected only one child, 10 months old child in Gaza who has circulated vaccine derived polar virus too.
There are additional samples that have been collected and sent to the lab last week and we expect the results of that investigation to be available within the next two weeks over.
A question from John Zaracostas of the The Lancet.
My question is to Michelle, I was wondering, so if you could bring us up to date on the number of civilians that have been injured since October 7th on the cross-border exchanges and if you could repeat the number of health personnel I think that you mentioned killed and how many were injured.
The number of of injured altogether is 7600 around and the number of health attacks has is 68 with 24 dead.
Those are the numbers that we are reporting.
I was interested in the northern injury levels.
You're mentioning the north and the South in the northern exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israelis in the north.
I don't have a disaggregated number to offer you at this stage, but I will.
I will look around and you will receive that.
Yeah, maybe, Margaret, I know there's a lot of numbers being thrown around.
Very important that we get clarity on those.
Lisa of Voice of America over to you.
I'd like to ask you, given the political stalemate in the region, could you give your impressions or what you think how, how the Palestinian population in Gaza views the situation, whether they've given up hope in terms of any sort of a ceasefire and their outlook for a future, indeed, if they have a future, if they think they even have a future.
And regarding the Israeli population, I guess a similar question, but also I would like to know whether you think that the, the hostage, the families of hostages, how, how are they feeling?
I mean, do they believe that perhaps the hostages will be killed?
The Prime Minister Netanyahu seems determined to continue this war and not agree on the relief of the release of the hostages, which was a kind of primary demand or belief by the Israelis.
Do either of you want to comment on these questions?
I can also just maybe remind you, as we have been repeatedly from this podium here and of course the Secretary General has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the beginning, immediate and unconditional release of hostages.
Obviously the effect of humanitarian aid, including much needed medical supplies, which the doctors are speaking to, but perhaps our colleagues from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have something to add.
From from Tel Aviv, perhaps my impression is what I observed every day there is much more peace and hope and hope for peace among the people here in Israel that one could believe.
There are wishes that the hostages will return safely.
And this is central to all the humanitarian debate here in Israel, even the political one.
I think the commitment is is certain and the families are with that that hope and that that that relentless claim and certainly that something positive will happen.
Thank you very much, Michelle.
OK, couple of fans still up.
We still want to we're going to address the situation in Lebanon shortly afterwards.
But Emma and then Jan Dirk Herberman, so Emma of Reuters again, thank you.
It was just to clarify the second phase of the polio campaign you envisage as well were there to be pauses in the fighting and you're asking Israel to agree to that.
If you could just clarify that, that is your request.
Thank you for the question.
As I said, the discussions with the regulator, it is including the COGAT, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Health ongoing.
We have asked the Israeli authorities to consider the similar scheme that we had for the first round was something they call tactical process during the working hours of the campaign, during the days that we have been indicating.
There seems to be a commitment to this tactical poses and we're hopeful that all the parties of the conflict will continue to adhere and to those poses when they're announced and where we will be hearing from the Israeli authorities shortly over.
One additional question from Yander Kerberman.
According to the Gaza health authorities, more than 41,000 people have been killed in the Strip.
And at the same time, the UN is reporting that around 10,000 people are feared to be buried under the rubble.
Now I was wondering, are these 10,000 included in the 41,000 or other 10,000 additional casualties of the war?
So far, the Ministry of Health has reported that 41,689 people have been killed.
The estimated 10,000 people who are buried under the rubble is a separate figure from the number of kick over.
Thank you very much, Iyadil.
I think, I think that exhausts the questions on Gaza.
That said, we'll, we'll shift N to the situation in Lebanon.
And we have 3 briefers who are going to brief you, one from UNHCR.
That's Rula Amin, who is a Senior Communications Advisor for the UN Refugee Agency who joins us from Amman.
We have Matthew Luciano who is IO, Ms Head of Office in Lebanon, who joins us from Beirut.
And introducing here is Christian Cardone, who is the new Chief spokesperson of the ICRC, who is also going to address the situation in in Lebanon as well as in the Middle East generally.
So we'll start off with Rula over to you.
You're you're muted or something is with the we don't hear you.
Sorry, before, before I start, I, I was a bit discouraged to me.
I just really normally thank our speakers joining us from WHO and I, I didn't, I'd neglect to do that, but I just really wanted to thank Aya, Dylan, Michelle and of course Margaret for having our speakers from WHO address these very important points.
So thank you very much and apologies for not saying that earlier.
Back to you, Rula, over to you.
So I'm going to brief on the displacement situation in Lebanon and the influx of people fleeing to Syria.
So as you may expect, the intensifying Israeli airstrikes and orders to evacuate for people in southern Lebanon are forcing more families in the country out of their homes, desperately looking for a safe spot.
Now, with the area's targeted being expanded, the area's people had deemed safe earlier on are no longer so so many people are having to flee and move over and over again.
To date, most of the displacement in Lebanon is internal and within the country.
The government estimates up to 1,000,000 people have fled to places across Lebanon and more than 185,000 people had actually chosen to cross the border to Syria, mainly through the Mass Nag.
Today the Taboost border crossing.
The Israeli air strikes overnight targeting the road in the no man's land at the Mass Nag border crossing has put a halt on traffic, effectively closing off this route for vehicles at this crossing.
And this is the main entry point for 10s of thousands of people and has been the main entry point for those people in the past week.
There are still three other border crossings that are open and operational, but this is the main one and today vehicles cannot use it.
Now, with more people displaced every day, most of the nearly 900 government established collective shelters in Lebanon have no more capacity to host all those displaced.
On the streets of Beirut, and even at the most famous landmarks like the Corniche, hundreds of stranded men, women and children are sleeping in the open.
UNHR is working with humanitarian partners and Lebanese authorities to urgently meet meet the needs of those displaced and to try to find safe shelter for those who are still without any shelter.
UNHCR response continues to focus on all affected communities, Lebanese and refugees and since October 2023, UNHCR has distributed more than 223,000 relief items for individuals in need and 70,000 individuals have received multi purpose cash assistance.
UNHCR continues to repair or support collective shelters and has expanded its hospital network to 42 hospitals across Lebanon, allowing for broader coverage of much needed emergency medical care.
Now, as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate TO NHCR is working to reinforce its supplies of much needed core relief items to meet the increasing needs and to prepare for any possible further escalations and displacement.
However, the volatile security situation and ongoing Israeli air strikes are disrupting and delaying relief supplies such as an airlift.
Carrying medical trauma kits that enable hospitals to perform life saving surgery.
A shipment from a man with over 20,000 thermal blanket was also delayed.
It crossed into Lebanon but there were significant delays.
Now at the Syrian Lebanese border, the influx of people fleeing to Syria continues.
The Syrian authorities have kept the border open for people to enter from Lebanon and UNHCR is at the four main Syrian official border crossing points, alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other UN humanitarian partners and NGOs.
Of course, this is to support those who cross into Syria mainly from jaded Babus Yabus in rural Damascus, which remains the primary entry point.
The arrivals so far are mainly Syrians and Lebanese.
There are also Palestinian refugees, Iraqis, migrants and other nationalities who are crossing into Syria.
UNHCRUNHCR supports the new arrivals with water, food items, blankets, legal assistance on issues such as documentation.
Many people fled their homes without any papers.
They have been away from Syria for years.
Many they don't have birth certificate, other documents.
So we're helping on that front as well.
Rub holes had also been provided and UNHCR protection teams are also at this border crossings to support now 60.
Some 60% of the new arrivals are children and adolescents.
Some of the children have arrived on their own without family members and as they flee the bombings, families arrive with profound physical and emotional fatigue and huge needs for support.
After the long journey, the majority of the new arrivals head to their original towns and villages to join relatives elsewhere and they some of them they do need accommodation.
As such, hosting centres across the country in rural Damascus, Cartuz, Natakia, Homs and Hama are now accommodating both Syrians and Lebanese who fled.
UNHCR is also supporting these centres with core relief items as well with supporting repairs at these centres to make them more dignified to receive those displaced by the conflict.
UNHCR and SARC are also continuing to support authorities in transporting thousands of the most vulnerable from the borders to their final destinations.
There are now UNHCR supported regular buses and they take these people mostly to Damascus, Araka, Aleppo, Shams, Latakia and Hammond.
But the suffering of those who cross does not end at the border.
Unfortunately, after 13 years of crisis, many are going to destroyed homes, damaged infrastructure and crippled basic services.
They have arrived with no resources to help them provide for their families most basic needs.
We have to remember, inside Syria, until this day, there are more than 7.2 million people who are still internally displaced inside the country and are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Now, UNHCR is not stopping at the border, so we're following up with those who had just arrived in their final destinations.
And Junetar is expanding its existing humanitarian programmes in Syria through more than 110 community centres around the country.
So we can support those who have newly arrived along with the other vulnerable populations in the country.
But more resources are desperately needed with the onset of winter.
UNHCR is concerned that conditions for those affected by the escalating conflict in Lebanon will only worsen.
We have already started dispatching essential winter assistance for recently arrived families.
We have to also remember that some of those who flee are now fleeing Lebanon to Iraq.
According to the Ministry of Interior in Iraq, over 5000 people have arrived since the twenty 24th of September.
They either fled onward from Syria through Al Qaeda and crossing or had arrived by plane to Baghdad or Najaf.
UNHUNHCRS humanitarian response is severely underfunded both in Lebanon and in Syria.
More resources are needed.
The interagency Flash Appeal for Lebanon was launched on October 1st in Beirut.
It aims to mobilise more than 425,000,000 to deliver life saving assistance to 1,000,000 people.
UNHCR portion of this appeal is estimated at 111 million U.S.
In Syria as well, UNHCR operations are is only about 27% funded and we along with UN partners and NGOs are trying to mobilise more resources to meet that huge additional needs.
There will be a flash appeal for Syria early next week and it will be led by UNHCR.
The international community must step up the support to all those displaced as a result of this conflict.
Every day this conflict continues means more lives lost, more people displaced and more hardship.
UNXR reiterates the Secretary General's call for urgent de escalation and calls on all parties to ensure humanitarian workers have safe access to civilians in need of support and urgent political solution to end hostilities must be the priority.
Happy to take any questions.
Thank you, Rula, thank you very much.
As I mentioned, we'll take the three briefers on Lebanon and then we'll take questions at the end.
And I now turn to Matthew Luciano and I.
I know that you may need to run quickly.
He's IO, Ms, Head of Office in Lebanon, joining us from Beirut.
But thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you, Thank you very much for for inviting me to, to brief.
So indeed, I mean, I'm the head of office of IOM here in, in Beirut, whereas, you know, the, the situation is, is really deteriorating rapidly.
I wanted to speak to internal displacements as well and to the hundreds of thousands of people who've been forced to to fill their homes in the past two weeks in in particular.
Are you all seen the images on the on TV?
The roads are jammed with traffic, the people sleeping in public parks on the street and the beach.
As UNHR said along berries Cornish as well.
So as of 2nd of October, IUM has identified over half a million internally displaced person with 400,000 displaced in just the last two weeks.
Of these, more than 165 thousands are living in 800 collective shelters across the country.
These are schools that the government has urgently opened.
Of course, the numbers continue to rise as heavy shelling continues in the South, in the big CAR in Beirut and the other regions in the in the country.
In addition to internal displacement and as CNHL said, 10s of thousands of Lebanese but also Syrians are leaving the country, both through legal and irregular means.
Between 23rd of September and October 3rd, 235,000 individuals crossed into Syria by land, 82,000 Lebanese and 152,000 Syrians.
And these are the figures from the Lebanon authorities from yesterday nights during the same periods, so 23rd of September to 3rd of October, 50,000 people departing from Beirut airports, mostly Lebanese, but also 10,000 Syrians and 1060 people fled by sea.
However, I mean, as would I mentioned as well, at 5:00 AM this morning, Israelis airstrike targeted the Lebanese border crossing in mass now, which is the that closed the main road International Rd connecting Lebanon and and Syria.
And that's the use with the road that another thousand of people have have used in the past 10 days to flee the to flee the bombings.
And that's that's now been been cut off.
Are the conflict intensifying.
So IOM has launched a flash appeal as well to raise 32,000,000, which will assist 400,000 people affected by the crisis over the next three months.
And this is part as well as UNHR said of the appeal that was launched by the UN on on Tuesday.
Since October, IOM has scaled up our immediate life living assistance, providing essential relief items like blankets, mattresses, kitchen sets, soda lamps, as well as protection services and health supports to the to the ADPS.
And we're also helping partners by tracking internal displacements.
These are the figures that I mentioned.
You can find them online.
We're not publishing 2 reports every week on Monday nights and Thursday nights with updates on the internal displacements.
And those are actually published and released in pollination with the, with the government, with the prime Minister's office.
So our team, emergency response team, they're delivering aid across Beirut monthly along the north, the big car, the South and at the Syrian border as well, where, as I said, 235,000 people have fled due to the violence in this report, that we have successfully relocated many of our national staff.
And all I want staff members are safe, even if they continue to assist those affected.
Despite the significant constraints and challenges in the in the country.
I want to take a moment to highlight the plight of Lebanon's 180,000 migrant workers, many of whom are female domestic workers.
They come from Ethiopia, from Kenya, from Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and they too have been deeply affected by the violence in the country.
We're all receiving increasing reports of migrant domestic workers being abandoned by their Lebanese emperors, either left on the streets or in the homes.
As the emperors flee, many have been, many have been forced to leave, but they face very limited shelter options.
Yesterday I visited a shelter in Beirut which is run by GRS, which is currently housing 64 Sudanese family.
You have nowhere else to go.
We've received as IOM increasing requests for migrants who seek assistance to return home and the last 24 hours as well.
Many IOM Member States have requested IOMS help to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon.
This will require significant funding, which we currently do not have.
I want to stress the importance of an inclusive, inclusive response and the NHR will agree with me on this.
Everyone in needs, displaced Lebanese migrants, refugees and any other valuable populations must receive the support they need.
The massive crisis demands immediate actions, the needs significance and we call on the international community to provide resources needed to ensure the safety dignity of the displaced families and anybody anybody affected by the by the crisis or repeat is part of I set up a larger coordinated effort with the UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations to scale up response efforts in Lebanon 32,000,000 that we're repeating for will sustain IOMS life saving operations for the end of the year and we're prepared to expand our efforts as needed.
And lastly, Christian Cardone, who's ICR CS new spokesperson, chief spokesperson and maybe you can introduce us all briefly, then maybe go off into your brief and then of course we'll share his contacts.
OK, Good morning, everyone.
Yes, indeed, Christian Cardone just started as the Chief Spokesperson.
Prior to that was working in the field of protection and and spend several missions in the Middle East, Gaza, Lebanon in particular.
I wanted to start by just very briefly taking stock of what we have seen was the over the last hours, the last days, what has been described in in details by some of the of the colleagues before and obviously starting with Lebanon and, and the so fast intensification of hostilities over the last days.
Just before coming here, we were exchanging with our spokesperson on the ground and before starting our usual, you know, update of what we do, where we walk, what we can do, what we cannot do.
She was basically sharing her personal experience of last night.
Her kids just woke up screaming, being totally shaked.
And that's happening not in the South of Lebanon.
That's not happening in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but that's happening in central Beirut.
And I'm sure that the colleagues based in Beirut to speak before can just confirm that.
And that's not happening in Gaza.
That's the reality in Lebanon, Beirut over the last days.
Yesterday West Bank affected people killed in Tulkarem after bombing which did not happen for years.
Tuesday evening, the population of Tel Aviv and many others outside of Tel Aviv in, in Israel went through a panic and distress again.
And then as we've said repeatedly in this briefing, in few days we will be commemorating what is happening, what is still happening in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday again was talking to colleagues in Gaza, this trying to explain me the situation, trying to put words and we've all tried to put words on the situation there.
But I think the good summary was Christian.
We're just trying to survive and everybody is affected, everybody is affected.
And that was not the case in previous escalation, everybody being affected in Gaza.
So killings, injury, displacement, panic, distress continues while we speak and just continue also to spread.
And This is why ICRC today, and you will see your statement after this briefing, we just can only again urge and call the parties.
Obviously while we speak about the the Northern Front, Hezbollah and the Israeli authorities to make sure they protect civilians.
What does this means is that civilians should be spurred from attacks.
Civilians should be able to leave their home, flee and go to more security if they can find security.
Respecting the rules of war also means that hospitals must be protected, must be spurred from attacks, ambulances.
We've repeated that again and again over the last years, obviously, but this is unfortunately, once again, the situation that we are facing and now in another place.
This also means that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas should stop because of the dramatic effect on the civilian population.
So once again, the ICRC urged, as I said before and called for a respect of the basic rules of humanitarian law protecting civilians.
We are convinced and as we've seen in many other regions, many other places in conflicts of different nature, that respecting these basic rules is definitely a good could facilitate the road to de escalation.
Respecting the basic rules of international humanitarian law can facilitate the road to de escalation.
So more than ever today in the region, in the Middle East region, those fighting, I mentioned Hezbollah, I mentioned the Israeli authorities, but of course Hamas and many others should respect these basic rules.
It's the moment and it's also the moment for those influence, having an influence on them to respect.
I just wanted to end on what we are trying to do in very difficult conditions again in Lebanon, very much focused today on the health response.
We've been working of course for months in preparing health facilities, health workers to a massive influx of injured people.
This is already happening after only few days, unfortunately, but that's what where we put the energy while I speak.
Also, a plane is on its way, a cargo plane is on its way to Beirut with lots of medical assistance again.
And that's just the start of a response that we are stepping up, but that cannot be unlimited.
I've heard colleagues before referring to appeals.
Let's be very clear that if the situation continue to spread, we will all be facing major challenges in the way we respond and how we can we can respond.
Thank you and welcome once again Merci Boku.
OK, we'll start with questions in the room.
We have two then we'll turn online and if colleagues, if you could specify to whom you're pointing your question.
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We'll take a question from John Zaracostas of Lancet in France.
I was wondering, so if you could bring us up to speed on the number of hospitals and medical centres that the IC supporting with material support.
You mentioned a plane is flying in.
If you could give us details on the supplies that it's carrying and if you also have ICRC emergency teams on the ground doing trauma interventions, if that could be.
And if any of the facilities that you support have been attacked, The Who mentioned yesterday that 28 health personnel were killed in just one day.
So indeed, we, we are supporting health facilities as as you mentioned across the country, but obviously these days with a clear focus on the South of Lebanon and also Beirut, in particular the, the, the Rafik Arie hospitals.
But 10s of medical structures in the, in the whole country.
When it comes to the, to the cargo plane at the moment and, and, and good news, probably the only positive news is that all actors are still present on the ground.
The stocks are are still there.
So this is more about medical materials rather than than than medicines that will be sent.
Because obviously we are preparing for the wars and we know that this won't necessarily last in terms of the, the capacity of the, the medical sector to cope with the, with the current situation when it comes to attack on our facilities.
At this stage, the the facilities that we are supporting have been spurred from attacks.
Jeremy launch of Radio France international.
And if you can direct your question to whom is best?
I've got 2 questions, maybe I will ask the first one in in French as it is for for IOM and Matthew.
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The second question will be in English, maybe more for UNHCR.
You talked about, I mean, talked about the refugees, the return is sorry, in Syria.
We know that they fled to like the Syrian returnees.
They fled to Lebanon for a reason, because of the civil war.
And some of them might be subjected to detention or torture when they got back to Syria.
So I was wondering, are you concerned about the fate of those returnees in Syria?
For they don't have anything waiting for them in Syria, but they also might be arrested.
So, yeah, can you comment on that?
Thank you, Jeremy, I think Matthew, you still connected.
I know we had to leave, pull up.
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So mercy boku, the second question for ruler, yes, thanks.
So, you know, before this conflict started, Syrian refugees in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region were telling us that they still had many concerns or what we call obstacles that is preventing them from taking the decision to return.
And this did include safety and security, lack of livelihood, lack of housing, lack of basic services and access to these services.
What we're saying today is that with the risks these people, with the refugees are facing in Lebanon due to the bombings, lack of adequate shelters, lack of access to services, IS is making refugees not a very, very difficult choice.
So it's either staying in Lebanon with that growing risk on their lives or taking the decision to go back and cross the border to Syria with all the other risks in mind.
But it seems from the numbers of people we have been seeing is that at this point they felt that the risks from the bombings is higher.
So it's, I think it's a very good reminder of all the hardship and the suffering that Syrian refugees had faced throughout the past 13 years.
Now they are really living that experience.
They're traumatised, they have to be displaced again.
They left all their belongings and their homes again and they are making very difficult choices now as UNHCR, we are trying to follow up with them in the destinations where they go.
Any reports we get, we try to follow up with the authorities and we are.
We have been working in the past few years with the different stakeholders including Syrian authorities, including international donors to address what the obstacles and the challenges that the refugees are are facing today.
We are very focused on trying to give assistance and support and relief to those who are crossing, fleeing the air strikes and who many of them have no immediate that they are all they want to feel is protected from the bombings.
So we're following up with them.
Much humanitarian assistance is needed as well as addressing the other concerns, including the ones you mentioned.
OK, we'll, we'll, I know we have a couple more questions in the room, but let's go online first because Emma has been waiting Emma of Reuters.
And if you can direct your question to the person?
Yeah, I had a couple of questions for the panellists and then I had a broader question for anyone.
Or maybe Yen's might want to jump in.
I can see him in the room if available.
But so the broader question is how many UN workers have been killed in Lebanon since the escalation in fighting?
And are you concerned that they're actually being aimed at and is this following the Gaza playbook and what can the UN do about it?
And then the sort of more targeted ones for UNHCR, please.
You mentioned that most of the 900 government shelters were full in Lebanon.
Are there other non government shelters available or can you build more shelters?
Is this happening and also with the Syria Rd being cut off, are there any other routes for people to flee or are they kind of trying to find other routes?
And, and finally, I, I would like to invite IOM to say a little bit more about the migrant workers who are trapped and, and, and where they're from.
We can perhaps we can start with you on that question.
Pointer to you so I can start in regard to the must not border crossing.
There were two strikes and a huge crater was created in the no man's land between the the Syrian and the Lebanese side.
So vehicles, it was very it's, I think it's very hard for vehicles still to go through this road.
However, just before this briefing started, our representative was on the ground and we could see that some people were taking, walking, desperate to flee Lebanon.
And so they walked actually through that destroyed road and trying to cross into Syria and they did cross.
We have to also remember there are another 3 border crossings that are still open and still operational.
But of course the must now as you know, is the main entry point that people have been using.
Now you also asked about what was your second question, the thing, it was a broader question, but maybe if there was something it was also about the the shelters.
Are you building other ones non government shelters?
So the established shelters seem to be at full capacity.
And there are of course all the other issues.
We are working with other humanitarian partners and the government to try to find alternative solutions.
The Lebanese civil society local initiatives have also started.
You know, some hotels had opened their doors.
We even saw some clubs opening their doors to post people.
But this is not enough, especially for the refugees who don't have this.
As you know, there are no refugee camps for Syrian refugees and except for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, there are the informal settlements.
We're trying to find ways to find a makeshift shelters and in different working with the municipalities and other local governments to find such solutions, but no plans to establish refugee camps if that is something that I can assure you.
Maybe on the broader question, just to say we don't have those specific numbers of those killed.
Of course, it's a paramount importance.
The protection of of civilians, as you've heard from all our speakers here is, is obviously the priority.
Our peacekeepers in the South of Lebanon from UNIFIL remain in position and doing what they can to deliver their, their very lofty mandate under these very dire circumstances.
But providing you with these specific figures, we cannot at the moment.
But maybe we can double back to you as, as this situation is fluid and as the numbers do become available.
But of course, paramount importance is a protection of civilians and our own staff, naturally.
Christian of German news agency.
I'm I'm a bit drowning in the numbers.
I wonder whether Matthieu and ula can confirm the number of people who have crossed into Syria.
I heard 180 and then I heard 235,180 thousand and 235,000.
And I very much wanted to ask the same question as Emma about the domestic workers.
Maybe you can shed a bit more light on on the numbers on the countries they come from and maybe situations that you have actually seen, desperate situations of people that you've seen.
Maybe you can flesh this out a little bit for us.
Yeah, indeed, the numbers are always, it's such a fluid situation.
Of course, Christiana and colleagues, if you could share your the numbers in writing with qualifications, that would be of enormous help.
But in terms of yes, so maybe Ruler, you can expand on the the numbers you shared and maybe our colleague from IOM, if you're still there, Matthew.
So yes, over to you, Ruler.
So we do have, you know, different figures because we're relying on different sources.
So our figures are the minimum and we are getting these figures from the Syrian Red Crescent.
I think IOM, as the colleague mentioned, these are the Lebanese government figures.
And we have to remember also that people are crossing through the official border crossings, but also they are crossing through other ways.
And this figure has not been captured.
I need to try if they would like to add anything.
Matthew, thank you very much.
You know, on the discrepancy between the figures, I think yes, the the source is the reason why as I said, our figures on the border crossings come free have come from the Lebanese authorities and not not from the Syrian sides.
So the the latest were received yesterday evening was indeed 235, 1000 people have crossed double check again.
We do have the breakdown actually of regular and irregular crossing, which I'm happy to to share have it here with me.
But I'm happy to share later on, later on, if I may then just to go back on the on the Ms question, but also the recent question on migrant workers.
But before just I wanted to go back to Ms question on the on shelter.
So now you have 800 shelter government LED shelters in the, in the, in the country and in 75% are full.
There's a live dashboard, which so that's the information from an hour ago when the briefing started, but that's updated on a regular basis.
But so they're not all at full capacity, but but most of them are.
And for sure, as I said, I mean all of the shelters in Beirut and Mount Lebanon are are full in terms of and as you nature said, one of the one of the priorities is to work with the government to identify new sites which could be used as a shelter.
So then effort from the government to identify from all ministries to identify which facilities they own, which could be used as a shelter.
For now, it's mostly the Ministry of Education which which provided their facilities.
That's why you know, most of the shelters of schools, but that's not great because that destructs as well.
Education and and schools should be used as the last resort for for collective shelters.
So since yesterday or the day before the Ministry of Agriculture as as proposed as well, some sites of technical and vocational training schools and other ministries are also following suit to make sure that we can potentially accommodate a larger number of displaced.
We'll also relocate people from the existing schools to to others.
So a lot of work ongoing and Unichiom is leading on, on this is to assess those potential sites, see what repairs are unneeded and cooperate with colleagues, UNICEF from Washletter as well to see what's but upgrade and and installation have to be made so that these sites can be can be used.
So this is indeed a priority as well.
As I said, identifying new sites and preparing new sites for for displacements.
In addition to those 800 shelters, you also have spontaneous, what we call spontaneous shelters where, you know, which is not school, but I mean other places, private facilities, hotels, private schools where IDP went.
So there's an effort currently and IOM is working on that for the government to track those as well, to make sure that they feed into these dashboards, master this so that we all know actually where people are and are able to assess their need and respond to their, to their needs.
On migrant workers, the country, you know, realised, we Lebanon realised heavily on the, on the, on migrant workers, especially for domestic work.
So you have 170,000 migrant workers.
Again, there's a report that IOM publishes every, every year, which shows, you know, numbers, the graphics and nationalities, which I'm happy to, to share.
They come mostly from Egypt, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, I think are the top five nationalities.
And, and they're mostly women because they're mostly women working as domestic workers or elderly care, as you can imagine.
And that didn't start, you know, a year ago.
But but migrant workers are partially vulnerable and they've been affected by all different crisis that's in Lebanon faced, whether it's the Beirut blast or or then the economic crisis in 2019 and then the war since, I mean, a year ago when the the escalation violence in the past two weeks, what we've seen is, I mean, significant protection risks.
Most of them are, you know, live in domestic workers, which in that they live with their employers.
They don't have their own place.
So we've seen the South, you know, that's the employers would leave, but then would either actually leave the domestic worker on the streets, wouldn't relocate with them or actually even worse, you know, luck the domestic worker in to make sure that, you know, the house was actually kept.
Whether you're seeking safety somewhere else.
We have huge issues around mental health, you know, among among domestic workers and those left on the street.
They also cannot relocate.
They cannot, you know, access consultation to go to, to, to seek to seek safety.
So it's also very complicated for them to access humanitarian assistance.
They don't have papers, they hear irregularly, and as a result, they're pretty reluctant to seek humanitarian assistance because they fear that they may be arrested and they may be deported.
They also don't speak the language.
As the migration agency is, we need to ensure and work with all our colleagues, I mean HER and, and all the comments and partners and the government to ensure that they're included.
Migrants are included and taken into account in preparedness efforts and response efforts.
And we coordinate within this, the protection sector, a working group where all the different NGOs, agencies provide assistance to migrants can, can, can share and discuss and be and be supported.
I mean, there's, there's again, more information available on our website for us.
Again, it's a small population.
It's more than the Lebanese, than the refugees and the Palestinian refugees in terms of numbers.
That's a bit what we see on the ground is that they have been affected and and it's and they have barriers when it comes to accessing humanitarian assistance.
Thank you very much, Matthew.
And Kennedy's in the room as well as a map online for both IO and HER for any further clarifications on that.
We'll take the last two questions from the room and then we'll move on to the next subject.
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Another question for Rola, maybe the situation on the border between Syria and Lebanon, How the the level of danger for this border because I know Mastna border was not the first crossing targeted by Israel.
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OK, thank you very much, Ruler.
OK, so as far as I know, today's tribe was the one that was closest to an actual border.
As far as we know and from colleagues who are on the ground, the other 3 border crossings are still operational and people are still using them even most not today.
As I said before, some people are walking desperate to to leave and cross.
So they are walking on on on the destroyed road and then getting to the Syrian side.
But of course it's the numbers are not as huge as we have seen in the past few days.
I think it's a testimony to the fear and panic that is driving people to just cross into Syria.
Thank you very much, Rula, for that.
John Zarkosis, maybe last question on this subject.
John, my question is to the IIM Rep, if you could please clarify your figures on 400,000 plus IDP's.
Is there variance with the numbers given by the UN in the launch of their appeal of over 1,000,000 displaced and the government says 1.2 million displaced.
So can you elaborate how you do your figures in your matrix?
Is that an algorithm or is that actually verified ID PS on the ground?
And Secondly to the UNHCR Rep in Amman, the people entering Syria, is there any processing fee levied by the Syrian authorities or are they entering free of cost?
Matthew, Matthew, are you still with us?
I don't see him connecting, so maybe we'll just go to you, Rola, on the question about the processing fee, I believe I understood that correctly, Rula.
The processing fee, the $100, the government has waived that fee for about one week.
And we are advocating with the government, with the government to extend that waiver so that people won't have, won't face any challenges to go in before this fee was waived.
I think this was the question.
Even people who people who didn't have the means to pay it, we saw other people crossing who had more resources actually chipped in and helped them.
Some of them were exempted, but now it's official that they don't need to pay it.
But we are advocating for this waiver to be extended unless you're talking about a different thing is that you're right, John, That's what you're looking for.
That, that that's correct.
Thank you very much, Rula.
On this note, I'd like to thank all our briefers, Rula, Matthew, who I understand had to leave.
So I think the first question maybe if you can liaise with Kennedy, who's in the room here and Christian, of course, male CEO, Bienvenu and we will share your contacts with our colleagues here.
Thank you very much for joining us.
So we now turn to the last item on the agenda.
Monica Totova of a senior economist of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, who you know well, who is here to provide us with a monthly update on global food commodity prices is joining us from Rome.
At this point, I guess I can wish you good afternoon.
So after the distressing topics we listened to this morning and briefing about global food commodity prices might sound little little ordinary.
But I did want to bring to your attention that the FAO food price index, which we released this morning increased by 3% in September compared to his August runner.
And this this increase of 3% marks the largest month on month increase in the past 18 months that is since March 2022.
Transportations for all commodities that are included in the index, that is cereals, vegetable oils, meat, dairy and sugar increased in different levels from about half percent for meat price and over 10% for sugar.
Compared to the historical levels in September, the in the index was about 2% **** and then its corresponding value a year ago, but still about 22% below the peak reached in March 2022.
I mentioned earlier, of course there are many factors that impact press transmission from the global reference prices to domestic prices and then along the food chain and it's 2 up for the prices change all the time.
So we shouldn't be deriving any longer term conclusions.
It is to be seen how the situation develops.
We are monitoring it and responsible for increases this particle month for both weather and policy and United issue.
In the interest of time, considering that we are running quite late, I will not go to the details of the specific commodities, but the briefing was shared with you earlier.
If there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
Thank you very much, Monica.
And of course, he is connected and can share this note with you.
Do we have questions for Monica?
No, I don't see that's the case, Monica.
So thank you once again for this, for this update.
OK, colleagues, just a couple of notes as usual for me.
Just to keep you on track, we have the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will conclude it's 27th session this afternoon after issuing it's concluding observations for Ukraine, Morocco and Norway.
And this coming Monday, the 7th of October, the Committee on the Elimination of Discriminations Against Women, otherwise known as Sea Doll, will commence its 89th session.
A number of countries to be reviewed, including Lao, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Chile, Canada, Japan, Cuba and Benin.
So that is a three-week session starting on Monday.
And lastly, as I mentioned to you already on Tuesday, the press conference from the World Meteorological Organisation is still scheduled to take place this coming Monday, the 7th of October at 10 AM Celeste Salo, the WMO Secretary General will be sitting here to brief you on the state of the Global Waters Resources, Water Resources report.
And lastly, just to mention that today or no, not today, today is for, so Sunday, Monday, I'm sorry, Monday, the 7th of October, once again, it's a World Habitat Day.
There's a Secretary General message on on the this observance World Habitat Day.
It's an opportunity to reaffirm the basic right to shelter and reflect on the transformation of urban environments.
We talked a lot about shelter during this briefing in the context of Lebanon and of course in Gaza.
This year's theme highlights the vital role of young people in creating a better urban future.
And by 20 thirty, 60% of urban residents will be under the age of 18, the message of the SG notes.
So that message was shared with you.
Do you have questions for me?
So on that note, I wish you bon appetit, bon weekend.
