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UN Geneva Press Briefing - 21 March 2025

2:03:50

MP4

7.3 GB

21-03-2025

Press Conferences | UNRWA , IFRC , UNICEF , OHCHR , UNHCR , WHO

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 21 March 2025

ENG FRA

UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

21 March 2025

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

War in Gaza

Sam Rose, Deputy Director of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), speaking from Gaza, said that the previous night was the fourth in a row of intense bombardments. The situation was gravely concerning, and hundreds of lives had already been lost. The Ministry of Health reported over 600 fatalities, a third of whom women and children. The bombardment was followed by evacuation orders and forced displacement, with many people now on the move. The Israeli forces had reoccupied the Netzarim Corridor, effectively splitting the Gaza Strip into two. Further occupation of parts of Gaza was expected to happen. For close to 20 days, no supplies whatsoever had entered Gaza, which resulted in massive reductions of distributions of supplies and a cut of essential services. When people were on the move, service provision had to be recalibrated. The progress made by the aid system over the six weeks of ceasefire was being reversed, warned Mr. Rose. Just some days ago, Mr. Rose had hoped that he would be speaking about the reinstatement of services in Gaza, including health and education, but the resumption of bombardment had halted all of that. If the ceasefire was not restored, there would be a continuous loss of life, destruction of property, growth in infectious diseases, and a massive trauma for the two million people, who had already suffered so much.

Mr. Rose spoke about a tragedy on top of tragedy, cruelty on top of cruelty, with people feeling defeated, hopeless, and scared. Seven UNRWA and one UNOPS staff had been killed since the resumption of fighting. He stressed that it was not too late for the ceasefire to be restored. The remaining hostages had to be released immediately, and all humanitarian workers had to be granted an uninterrupted access to the people in need. Member States with influence needed to do everything they could to bring an end to the fighting.

Tommaso Della Longa, for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), provided an update from the Palestine Red Crescent (PRC) teams on the ground. PRC teams had had hundreds of call outs across the Gaza Strip and responded to dozens of fatalities and injuries as bombing continues. PRC was also responding to calls of people missing and trapped under collapsed buildings and rubble. Doctors were exhausted, medical supplies were running low, and the PRC was working to rehabilitate and reopen medical facilities, a challenging task under current circumstances. Until the border crossings reopened, the people of Gaza would continue to fac ethe health crisis. Of the 53 emergency vehicles operating before the border closure, only 23 were now operating due to the lack of gasoline. The impact of chronic water shortages in Gaza was growing in severity, which meant the level of sickness was increasing, especially among children and also having a direct impact on hygiene and sanitation. Mr. Della Longa stressed that the IFRC took the side of humanity and reiterated its appeal that humanitarian workers be protected and all routes for delivery of aid.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that the Secretary-General, speaking at the EU Summit in Brussels on 20 March, had appealed for an immediate ceasefire, an unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas, and an immediate release of all hostages. She also referred to the previous day’s post by UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, in which he wrote about a deepening humanitarian crisis in the West Bank with homes and other civilian infrastructure systematically destroyed. Ms. Vellucci informed that today, Sigrid Kaag, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim, would brief the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Answering questions from the media, Sam Rose, for UNRWA, said that more supplies had entered Gaza during the six weeks of the ceasefire than during the previous six months. Almost all of those supplies had been distributed, he explained. There was very little left in UNRWA’s warehouses, and with the scale of needs growing, the aid pipeline had to be kept open, stressed Mr. Rose. UNRWA had enough flour to distribute to one million people for a few more days. If the conflict continued, it was likely that Gaza would see more looting, criminality, and fighting for scarce resources. UNRWA had enough fuel for diesel generators for a few more weeks, he said. Children traumatized by the 18 months of conflict were experiencing a trauma again by the bombardments all over. Ceasefire or not, international humanitarian law had to be respected. A total of over 280 UNRWA personnel, out of the workforce of 12,000, had been verified as killed until now. On another question, Mr. Rose explained that currently some 100,000 people were affected by the evacuation orders, but more could be expected. Any forced displacements of the population were deeply worrying, he stressed.

James Elder, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), added that the worst-case scenario for children’s traumatization was to return home only for the ware to start all over again. While literacy rates in Gaza had been among the highest in the world despite everything, a generation was being lost now because of the traumas and breaks of education. UNICEF had 180,000 doses of vaccines stuck at the border, along with ventilators for babies and other supplies; UNICEF-supported desalination plant was not able to function properly, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without water. Children’s rights were being denied not by accident, but by choice. Protecting children was not optional; it was the law.

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), replying to a question, stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire, full flow of aid, and an unconditional release of hostages. What was happening on the ground now had to stop.

Global funding crisis and impact on children in Ethiopia and Nigeria

Kitty van der Heijden, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), connecting from Abuja, spoke of the results of the work by UNICEF and partners over the recent decades, which had, among many other achievements, decreased malnutrition and child mortality. UNICEF’s partners across the government, philanthropy and civil sector were playing a critical role, she stressed. Those gains, however, were being rolled back because of the decrease of global aid. The decisions being made were very acute and unexpected, and what made it worse was that multiple donors were cutting aid at the same time. Those cuts did not have abstract consequences, but a real impact on real children here and now. For example, some 1.3 million children were at risk of losing access to life-saving support in the region of Afar in Ethiopia, warned Ms. van der Heijden. Less of half of mobile clinics operated by UNICEF there were now operating. UNICEF knew what was possible and what needed to be done, but it needed resources to be able to do it. Without new funding, UNICEF would run out of the life-saving treatments by May, leaving 70,000 children uncovered.

In Nigeria, on the other hand, 80,000 children needed such support every month, and the supplies could run out any time between now and May. Ms. van der Heijden stressed the importance of early support, not only treating acute consequences of malnutrition. This was happening all over the world, with children bearing the brunt of humanitarian aid cuts. Meanwhile, the needs were rising: UNICEF estimated that as many as 213 million children in the world would need its support. UNICEF ought to be enabled and supported, so that it could, in turn, support all those children in need. The funding crisis was at the risk of turning into a child-survival crisis, which should not be allowed to happen.

Answering questions from the journalists, Ms. van der Heijden explained that governments took decisions about aid cuts and then changed them, so it was difficult to have precise mortality numbers which were likely to be seen if the announced cuts remained. UNICEF was going to stay wherever it was needed and deliver as much as it could. UNICEF was calling on all actors, governments around the world, but also philanthropic organizations, private sector, and individuals, to support the cause. The currently provided life-saving support was nowhere near where it had to be, and this trend had predated the current funding crisis. Critical supplies of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) were a priority, as any interruption in RUTF provision was leading to child deaths. The world should not fail children; it was never about just one donor, but about the global community which had to act. The funding crisis risked becoming a child-survival crisis, which was still totally preventable.

Also answering a question on the support of European countries, Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), referred to the Secretary-General’s statement in Brussels the day before, where he had said that the European Union was a fundamental pillar of the multilateral response to the challenges in peace and security, in climate, in sustainable development, in human rights.

On another question, Ms. van der Heijden, for UNICEF, stressed that the US – both the government and the people – had been a phenomenal partner of UNICEF over the years. UNICEF was monitoring the funding situation by the day, which was very fluid. UNICEF was investing heavily in making the case to the United States Government on how important it was to support children around the world. Every child needed to survive and thrive. UNICEF was making the same case to all its partners, big and small. She emphasized the successes achieved over the decades, but that did not mean it was an easy ride without challenges. 2024 had been the worst year for children since UNICEF’s establishment because of the high number of conflicts around the world. It was not easy to keep children safe and healthy, and the whole global community had to come together to support this cause.

Impact of the armed conflict and occupation on children’s rights in Ukraine

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that a new OHCHR report detailed how death, injury and lasting family separation were among the traumatic events that had upended the lives of Ukraine’s children in the three years since the Russian Federation had launched its full-scale invasion. The ongoing hostilities and occupation of parts of Ukraine by Russia had caused large-scale human rights violations and inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of children. Their rights had been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physical and psychosocial.

Ms. Throssell specified that between 24 February 2022 and 31 December 2024, 669 children had been killed and 1,833 injured, many as a result of the extensive use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Of these, 521 had been killed and 1,529 injured in territory controlled by Ukraine, and 148 had been killed and 304 injured in currently occupied territory. The actual numbers were likely much higher. As of December 2024, an estimated 737,000 children had been internally displaced by the hostilities. A further 1.7 million were refugees, many of them separated from a parent, usually their father. It was clear that Ukrainian children had endured a wide range of wartime experiences, all with serious impacts: some as refugees, others as direct victims, under continued threat of bombardment, and many subject to the coercive laws and policies of the Russian authorities in occupied areas. The OHCHR report madre it clear that acknowledging and addressing violations are essential to ensure a future where all Ukrainian children could reclaim their rights, identity and security, free from the enduring consequences of war and occupation.

Full press release can be found here.

Answering questions, Ms. Throssell explained that the report referred to children transported within the occupied territories and Russia. As the OHCHR did not have access to those areas, it was difficult to ascertain what exactly had happened. The report made it clear that children had been killed in Russia as well, but the OHCHR could not verify those numbers.

Humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Eujin Byun, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that critical funding gaps were severely hampering humanitarian efforts in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and beyond, leaving thousands without life-saving aid and pushing an already dire humanitarian situation closer to catastrophe. In less than three months, informed Ms. Byun, the number of Congolese fleeing to neighbouring countries had surged to over 100,000. Ongoing hostilities in North Kivu province, particularly in Masisi and Walikale territories, along with an extremely volatile security situation in Bukavu and surrounding areas in South Kivu province, had forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee.

In and around the city of Goma in North Kivu, sites that were previously home to 400,000 internally displaced people had all been destroyed, leaving families stranded without shelter or protection. Due to funding cuts, humanitarian partners were struggling to rebuild shelters, leaving displaced people with few options for survival. In Burundi’s Rugombo commune, which was hosting the majority of the 68,000 refugees who had arrived in the country since February, inadequate sanitation facilities and overcrowding in and around the stadium where people had been sheltering, as well as limited health care, had resulted in at least eight suspected cases of cholera. Without more funding to increase health services, there was a significant risk of further spread of disease.

UNHCR was grateful to those donors who had committed support so that UNHCR and partners could ramp up response efforts in the DRC and neighbouring countries, but the growing needs far exceeded available resources, concluded Ms. Byun.

UNHCR statement is available here.

Replying to questions, Ms. Byun spoke of identified cholera cases in an overcrowded stadium in Burundi’s Rugombo commune, which hosted 68,000 people. Political will of the warring parties was a critical factor to reaching a ceasefire, but in the meantime, UNHCR remained on the ground to support people in need.

Impact of funding cuts on UNHCR

Answering questions on funding cuts, Matthew Saltmarsh, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), referred to the previous day’s statement of the High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi. The biggest concern was for the refugees and other displaced people, who would be feeling the brunt of those cuts. Mr. Saltmarsh said that the UNHCR was undertaking a review of its operations, both at Headquarters and in the field, after which they would be able to share more details on the organization’s downsizing; it seemed inevitable that some staff would lose their jobs. Mr. Saltmarsh provided several examples of underfunded emergencies in recent years, stressing that the crisis in humanitarian funding was not a new phenomenon. Some 99 percent of UNHCR’s funds came through voluntary contributions, explained Mr. Saltmarsh. UNHCR would continue to engage constructively with the US Administration while trying to secure new sources of funding.

The impact of the cuts was already being felt across the world, including in, for example, South Sudan, where 80,000 people were not able to access emergency psychosocial support, or in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, where as many as one million people were in need of support. It was important that individuals, private sector, and governments from around the world step up so that the effects of the US cuts could be minimized. Until 2024, the US had been the major contributor, providing around 40 percent of UNHCR’s budget, followed by European Union and east Asian countries. UNHCR was now looking into both expanding donations by the existing donors and searching for new sources of funding. Some 400 jobs at UNHCR were being currently cut, he specified, and many more jobs were likely to be axed.

Announcements

Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation would release two new reports on 25 March: Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, and Counting Every Stillbirth. The reports, which contained important global data sets, outlined how sustained investments fueled worldwide progress in reducing child deaths and stillbirths. Nevertheless, many children were still being lost to preventable causes, and decades of progress were now at risk as major donors cut development assistance budgets. The reports would be under embargo until the morning of 25 March.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said that on 24 March at 12 noon, UNAIDS would hold a press conference on the impact of US funding cuts on the HIV response. Speakers would be Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, and Angeli Achrekar, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was concluding its 32^nd session this afternoon, after which it would issue its concluding observations on reports submitted by the European Union and by five State parties: Tuvalu, Dominican Republic, Viet Nam, Canada, and Palau.

At its next public meeting, in the morning on 24 March, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances was scheduled to review a report submitted by Belgium. In the afternoon, CED would start the review of the report of Malta.

Finally, Ms. Vellucci informed that 21 March was the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; the International Nowruz Day; the International Day of Forests; the first-ever World Day for Glaciers; and the World Down Syndrome Day, on which occasion an event was taking place at UN Geneva this afternoon.

Teleprompter

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service here at the UN in Geneva.

Today is Friday, 21st of March.

We have a very dense briefing today and I would like to start by recognising the presence of the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Kitty Vander Heiden, who's joining us from Abuja, Nigeria.

Thank you very much, Madam, for being with us.

It's really an honour and a pleasure.

But before going to her, let's start this briefing by focusing on, unfortunately, it was very **** in the news at the moment, which is the situation in Gaza.

For this we have also the pleasure to have with us some Rose, sorry, some rules of Unrah who is connecting, I think from Amman, if I'm not wrong, some please correct me if I, if I am wrong.

And also on the podium with me, the spokesperson of UNICEF, James Elder and of IFRC, Tomaso de la Lunga.

Just I would like to start this part of the briefing by reminding you that yesterday the Secretary General who is currently in Brussels, spoke together with Mr Antonio Costa to the press in Brussels.

And among other things, I think we, you have the, the, the full statement that I wanted to mention that he spoke about Gaza hearing you disappear for respect of the ceasefire, for the unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas and for the immediate unconditional release of the hostages.

And again, please have a look at the full remarks that we have shared with you.

And I'll start by giving immediately the, the floor to Sam and then we will go to the, to the colleagues on the podium.

Sam, please, you have the floor.

Thanks, Alexandra.

And I hope you can hear me in the room in Geneva.

We can hear you well.

And I'm I am being told by everyone on the on the chat that you are connecting from Gaza.

Sorry for that.

I think I, I remember the the first exchange, but yeah, you are in Gaza.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

And thank you very much for giving us this eyewitness remarks as as an eyewitness.

[Other language spoken]

No, thank you very much.

I am indeed connecting to you from from Gaza.

I'm in the central Gaza Strip, about a kilometre South of the Netzarim corridor.

And and look, it's 11:30 here.

We're waking up from another intense night of of bombardments, the fourth night of bombardment since the ceasefire abruptly broke down on on on on Monday night.

And the situation is gravely, gravely concerning.

The bombardments that are across the Gaza Strip have led to large scale loss of life over the past 4-4 days.

Most of those deaths have occurred at night.

The Ministry of Health Care is reporting around 600 people killed amongst those around 200 women and, and, and, and children.

So absolutely desperate tragedies that are occurring all over over Gaza.

Coupled with that, we're seeing evacuation orders, we're seeing live scale displacement, lots of people forced, lots forced to move, lots of people on on the move.

Yet again, Israeli forces have reoccupied and moved back into the Netserim corridor, which separates Gaza City and northern Gaza from the rest of of of the Gaza Strip.

And, and ground operations, they're being described as limited ground operations are under way in various parts of, of Gaza.

And just over the past few minutes, the Israeli defence minister has issued instructions for further occupation of, of parts of Gaza.

So very much an evolving situation here.

And of course, this all comes against a backdrop of no supplies having entered Gaza since the beginning of March.

So for about 19 day.

So this is the longest period since the start of the conflict back in October 2023 when no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza.

That's supplies of aid, commercial supplies, but also fuel, which keeps everything going here.

And you'll recall the reports that the sole electricity line that was feeding Gaza was cut off in in the middle of of of last week.

And that immediately has translated into a massive reduction in distributions, distributions of essential supplies, food, shelter supplies, non food items for desperate families and also a drawdown in in services because of the bombardments.

It's making a lot more difficult for people to move around around to the to the distribution centres, to the health centres, etcetera.

And of course, when people are on the move, there always has to be a recalibration of how those services are are provided.

And that takes time.

[Other language spoken]

The area around me was empty as of a few days ago.

But already people are are moving back.

People are, are are fearing the worst yet again.

And we can say categorically that the progress that we made as an aid system over the six weeks of the ceasefire is already being reversed.

This is in terms of basic sustenance, but it's also the services that that we're providing and the hope that people have started to have that that life was gradually getting back to some kind of, of, of routine.

And the risks and the fear and the suffering and the humiliation and cruelty that people have gone through over the past 18 months was something, was something of the past.

I mean, look, this, this briefing was arranged or organised about a week ago.

And I was hoping to be able to tell you about all the work that UNRWA had done to restore services, restoring primary healthcare to 200,000 people through opening, reopening of our health centres and, and, and kind of most importantly, restoring access to education for 50,000 young girls and, and boys at schools across central and, and southern Gaza.

The images, the videos, the life and the happiness in the eyes of the children and the pupils was really something to behold.

One of the few positive stories that we'd have been able to communicate from, from guards.

But alas, all that is, is, is, is is back, back to naughty.

Those schools, those learning centres are, are, are are now suspended.

We are able to, to continue some health services, but it's very, very difficult when the situation is so dangerous for people to move around and look, we've, we've been through this before.

We know how how this goes.

If the ceasefire is not restored, this means white lifescale loss of life, damage to infrastructure, property, increased risk of infectious disease and massive, massive trauma for the 1,000,000 children and for the 2,000,000 civilians who live in, in, in Gaza.

And it's worse this time because people are already exhausted.

They're, they're already degraded their, their immune systems, their, their mental health, people's populations on on, on the on the verge of famine.

We're not starting from scratch here.

This is a population that has already suffered so much in many ways.

These are the aftershocks after, after the, the earthquakes of, of October, the, the, the 7th and everything that's happened happened since then.

It's fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty and tragedy on on top of tragedy.

And the people I speak to, refugees, 100 colleagues, they're really feeling lost.

Just as I said, as people were starting to hope for their futures, they're back to where they, they, they were.

They feel defeated, they feel hopeless.

They feel yet again scared.

The, the, the, the memories that we had from, from the war of going to bed, not knowing if if loved ones and colleagues would be safe, would be alive in the morning.

All that is, is is starting again including tragically amongst UN colleagues.

As you said, Alessandra, at the start, they've been 700 staff have been killed since the fighting resumed.

And, and one you not staff member as well an international staff member in a deconflicted UN property.

Our thoughts are with his family and our thoughts are also with the families of, of, of those who were also gravely injured in that incident.

But I'll end by saying it's not too late.

[Other language spoken]

We can restore the, the ceasefire, as you said, as the Secretary general said, we can, we call for a, an immediate and and unconditional release of, of hostages.

We call for protections for UN workers, for medical staff, for all humanitarian workers, and we call for a resumption and an uninterrupted flow of aid so that we can get supplies to the people that need them so services can get back up and running and we can put this behind us.

It's we, we, we've been through this once already.

We absolutely do not need to go through it again.

We, the parties, the conflict, the powers and the member states need to do everything to put this to an end before it's too late.

Back to you and I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you very much, Sam.

And indeed, as you said, this is terrible.

But also we would like to share our condolences with the families of the staff that has been killed and our thoughts for those who are still in the hospitals.

And I would also like now to give the floor to James.

Oh, you want to add something?

No, it's only for questions.

[Other language spoken]

Then I, I go to Tomaso for IFRC and then we will open the floor to questions.

[Other language spoken]

Stay with us.

We will have questions in a moment.

Tomas, thank you very much for Sandra and good morning, all.

I would like to give you the latest updates from our teams on the ground in the Gaza Strip.

In the last 48 hours, Palestinian Crescent colleagues has had hundreds of call outs across the Gaza Strip and responded to dozens of fatalities and injuries.

As bombing continues, Palestinian Crescent is also responding to calls of people missing and trapped under collapsed buildings and rubbles.

Our volunteers and staff have been helping in the outbreaking task of recovering the bodies of those missing, for example, in and around Rafa.

In the last 48 hours, our medics in Palestine Christian Medical Facility have told us that doctors are exhausted, essential medical supplies are running low and corridors are crowded with people either in need of treatment or waiting to find out whether their loved ones will survive.

Palestine Crescent has been working to rehabilitate and reopen damage clinics, health centres, hospitals, particularly since the ceasefire started in January.

But since Gaza was sealed off to a delivery nearly three weeks ago, this has become an even greater challenge.

We have critical supplies of medical equipment, medicines and fuel waiting in our warehouses in Egypt and Jordan.

But until the border crossings reopen, Palestine Crescent and the people of Gaza are facing a new crisis.

But as an equation, ambulance service has been significantly impacted as fuel supplies are drying up.

Of 53 emergency vehicles that were operating before the border closure, 23 remain.

This is a direct result of the lack of availability of gasoline.

We are also hearing from colleagues in Gaza that is becoming increasingly difficult for our teams and for civilians to move around the Strip.

And they're also telling us that in the last three days, the impact of chronic water shortages in Gaza is growing in severity.

This means the level of sickness is increasing, especially among children.

This is also having a direct impact impact on hygiene and sanitation.

We are seeing growing cases of people with infections, breathing difficulties, stomach problems and skin infections, particularly again among children.

The AFRC logistics centres in Jordan and Egypt continue to prepare for the moment we can transport aid to Gaza.

Since the start of Ramadan, we have seen an outpouring of support from countries sending consignments of urgent supplies.

As of yesterday, 20 March, we still have capacity to store in our warehouses.

For now.

We don't know how long it will take before there is no longer the space to store, but we're talking about weeks rather than months.

The IFRC takes no side other than the side of humanity.

We reiterate our calls on all parties to protect civilians, humanitarians and healthcare workers and facilities.

Ensure safe and unneeded access for aid and essential services.

Open all available border crossing to assure a continuous and expanded flow humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, food and fuel.

Immediately and unconditionally release all the hostages.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Thomas, and again, thanks to Sam.

I'll open the floor to question now.

First in the room, Nina Larson, AFP.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for taking the question.

So I wanted to ask about, I mean, there are Israeli allegations that there are that there's plenty of aid still inside of Gaza, that the warehouse houses been full or that Hamas has been stealing the aid.

What can you, what can you say about that?

And also I'd like to ask about the ability to, to, I mean, if, if you've received any indications that aid will be allowed in what kind of discussions you're having?

And finally, just on the trauma that that the especially the children in Gaza are suffering, if you could say a little bit more, this is for maybe for Mr Rose or for James about what kind of trauma or reactions you're seeing given, you know, the on again off again situation.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Sam.

And then James also want to add something, Sam, please.

[Other language spoken]

Look, we were able to bring in more supplies and during the six weeks of the ceasefire than we had been in the previous six months.

These were supplies that were backed up that were blocked at ports at the border because of difficulties in bringing things in.

Those supplies have essentially all been been distributed as UNRWA.

We provided food to 2 million people.

We provided hygiene kits, children's clothes, tents, mattresses, blankets, you name it.

I'm not saying our warehouses are, are empty, but there's very little left in the in in stock right now.

The nature of, of this operation and the scale and the universality of of of need is such that we need to keep the pipeline going completely and any interruption in that has an almost immediate impact on, on, on, on the population.

We ramped up as a system as UNRWA and others.

We showed what we were able to do already we're seeing the the impacts of that.

UNRWA has enough flower to provide to distribute for a few more days.

We estimate that 1,000,000 people in March will go without their their ration, so we'll only reach 1,000,000 people rather than than 2 million people.

Six of the 25 bakeries that WFP was supporting have already had to close down.

We're seeing on the streets larger crowds outside those bakeries, increased agitation amongst populations as well.

So as this continue with, we will see a gradual slide back into what we saw at the in the worst days of of the conflicts in terms of looting, in terms of crowd problems, in terms of agitation and frustration, all translating into desperate conditions amongst the the population.

When children and malnourished, they need steady supplies for 5-6 weeks just to stabilise their condition.

There's no improvement in in their weights in their nutritional situation over those those weeks.

If that those supplies are are interrupted.

And that interruption happens both as a result of of limited distributions, but also if people are on on the move and they can't maintain those, those services going to the health clinics, etcetera.

We've also got issues with, with petrol moving around.

We've got enough fuel to work the the diesel generators for, for a few more weeks.

But it's absolutely critical that these supplies keep coming in as Unruh as the rest of the system.

We have very robust measures for for distribution, robust systems that we've had in place for a long time here speaking on behalf of Unruh, It's direct distribution from the moment it comes into the moment it gets to the the populations in need.

We have end to end control through that direct implementation system and, and, and, and trauma amongst amongst children.

It's look, these are children that were already traumatised at the outbreak of of the war, as a Save the Children report noted in in September 2023, as children woken up through the night, children wetting beds, children who are who are distressed, living in fear of, of the noise that they see of this, the humiliation of, of, of of their parents.

All these facts as in the lack and the complete lack of normality in in their lives.

Children who'd come back to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents, now back on the road, hearing the bombardments around them constantly, absolutely desperate for, for, for, for them.

I'll turn to maybe James has something to add on, on.

[Other language spoken]

If we start with trauma, I mean, unfortunately the best we can get is, is anecdotalised.

And the number of child psychologists I spoke to in Gaza who would speak about being in uncharted territory.

Then they would expand that and say their great fear actually is that things would deteriorate when children got home, when this nightmare ended and they got home and they saw what had happened to their home or they started to understand that their neighbour had been killed or their, their best friend or their auntie wasn't missing and and they that their auntie in fact had been killed.

The child psychologist would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again.

So that's the terrain that we've now entered.

We don't have an example in modern history in terms of an entire child population needing mental health support.

And there's no exaggeration that's the case.

And we have to then segue into what that means for the future of Gaza.

Yeah, it the literacy rates in Gaza were amongst the highest in the world.

And that's despite all the crises that befell Gaza over the past 15 years.

That's because grandparents and parents did everything they possibly could always to prioritise education.

And it's why universities employ and employers across the region seek out Gazans because of that education rate.

Our great fear now is that we are losing a generation in terms of education and in terms of of a mental health crisis that we've not seen before.

When we come to aid, I mean, Sam captures it, international humanitarian law is, is really clear.

You know, ceasefire or not, aid must flow.

So if we look at UNICEF specifically, we've got 180,000 doses of vaccines a few kilometres away that are life saving and are blocked.

You know, the biggest desalina tion plant that UNICEF supports has not had electricity for weeks and it is below 15% capacity.

That translates to hundreds of thousands of civilians being deprived clean water or just on a simple thing.

We we have more and more mums or more and more women giving birth preterm.

That happens all around the world.

It's happening more and more in Gaza based on stress, based on nutrition.

Now, Gaza had many, many hospitals that had incubators, you know, preterm babies, they need their lungs developed.

And incubator is a very basic medicine, a very, very basic instrument that does that.

[Other language spoken]

They have a massive shortage.

We have dozens of them again, sitting across the border, blocked ventilators for babies.

So, you know, we are at a point where none of us wanted to believe we'd be here again.

None of us wanted to think this could be happening again.

But as Sam outlined, you know, here we are, you know, 180 girls and boys killed, killed, you know, in a single day.

So children's rights have been ignored.

[Other language spoken]

They've been dismantled, not by accident, but by choice.

So as we've said since October 2023, those with power must act because protecting children, getting aid to children is not optional.

[Other language spoken]

Nina, we have so many questions.

Really briefly because I really need to to go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry it was it was just specifically on the question if you've seen any sign that that Hamas or anyone else is is stealing the aid that's inside Gaza and on the number of deaths among Anura staff, if you could give us the total figure now that would be helpful.

Thank you Some just quickly on this follow up then we go to the second question.

[Other language spoken]

I have not seen any evidence no of, of, I mean, there's no aid being distributed right right now.

So there's nothing to to steal.

I mean, what we fear is that if the situation continues like this, that we will go back to the worst days earlier in the conflict when we saw looting, when we saw criminality, when we have less control because of the insecurity of the, the, the environment.

And as James said, it said, it's still within our hands to to stop that ceasefire or not.

There are rules of war and international humanitarian law dictates the the, the facilitation of, of aid as did the International court, Court of Justice.

In terms of UNRWA personnel killed, we are at 281 as things stand right now.

I believe those numbers are, are often difficult to verify in, in, in situations like this because we're waking up every day with new reports of colleagues who have been killed.

So over 280, including seven since since the ceasefire broke down.

Tragically.

These are midwives, these are nurses, these are teachers, these were people who are, who are at home.

And I think that's why we've seen so many women and children killed in in this phase of, of the conflict because these bombardments have been happening at night when families are asleep in their in their homes and their beds.

Thank you very much, Sam.

Let me go to the second question here.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you everybody for this briefing.

Sam, may I may I kindly start with you just about fears of famine.

I think you said some populations on the verge of famine.

Are you able to give some details on where, which part of the enclave that concerns and how many people?

And can you just also clarify what you said about distribution of flour?

Did you say it's a matter of days worth of stock that you had left?

And and just then my second question is for Tomas.

So you said 2353 emergency vehicles remain operational.

Can you just describe what impact that it's having on the ground because that basically means less than half of your your feet are left operational?

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, thank you for the for the questions.

Look, we don't have precise details of of where these people are as where the most affected people are right now just because of the nature of what's happening with about we estimate around 70,000 people on the move and many more affected by those evacuation orders that are continuing.

The, the, what I was referring to were the populations that were found to be on the verge of, of, of famine just a few weeks ago as a result of the latest IPC reports.

We know that these people can be treated, but they, they need to be, they, they, they need to receive regular assistance over a period of time.

And if that assistance is impacted in any way, then the gains and the stabilisation that have, that have occurred are, are rapidly, rapidly reversed.

So that those are our fears right now.

It won't happen overnight, but it will be an, an inevitable impact of the lack of aid coming in and, and the reduction in distribution.

And indeed we've got about flower supplies, flower supplies left for another 6-6 or so days.

We can stretch that we can back by giving people less and we always have to keep reserves in place for those families that are evacuated.

But really we're talking days now rather than weeks.

And this is under the largest provider of food assistance inside Gaza.

We're not the only one, but other, others are in a in a in a similar situation because everything that we brought in, we we pushed out both because of the but also because of the volumes of supplies coming in as a result of the, the number of trucks in the ceasefire agreement.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks, Olivia for the question.

Well, the, the impact is of course devastating.

I mean, we need to think about the fact that if an ambulance doesn't have gasoline fuel, this means that there are entire communities that are weakened that are people that are calling emergency service and will not get any answer.

And also the frustration on the Palestine Crescent volunteers and staff that are taking those calls many, many times and with an increase in the last days, and they cannot answer to these calls knowing that there is someone on the other side of the call in need of.

Of course, I'm not only talking about injuries of the last bombardments, but also people with medical condition.

Think about having an issue here in Geneva and not being able to have emergency medical service reaching out to you or your families.

So this is what we are facing in Gaza.

Thank you very much.

I'll go to the platform Bianca Rotiate Global TV Brazil.

Hi, thanks a lot, Alexandra.

[Other language spoken]

I was doing a live, but I don't know if you mentioned already this subject, but the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz said that the army is doing all available pressure on Hamas to release the hostages including implementing President Trump resettlement plan.

So my question to Umrah, to Sam Rose, do you think this kind of action in direction to Trump's resettlement plan, it's already happening on the field?

What like Sinos that maybe evacuation of population could go on that direction And also to Liz if she's there how the OHCRHCDS and there's also another and other threatened from the Israel cats saying that Israel can annex part of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas releases hostages.

So how do you see these these threatens.

[Other language spoken]

I, I, I put myself on on on, on mute and inadvertently look the question from the Brazilian correspondent.

We've seen forced displacement throughout the the war, forced displacement inside of Gaza, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in, in over 100 unrest schools.

One point I think we had 1.9 million people out of a population of two, just over 2,000,000 displaced.

So 9 out of 10 people.

We're seeing that again, we're seeing, you know, evacuation orders affecting over 100,000 people.

If the conflict continues, we can expect more of that if it takes the same trajectory as the previous conflicts and we see people in and people in the vicinity of those areas.

Also on, on the move.

What we're seeing right now is displacement inside of Gaza.

No moves, of course, towards the border.

And that I believe was the key element of, of, of the Trump plan.

We're focused here on conditions on the ground inside Gaza.

There's not really much I can I can say to speculate on, on element any elements of of of that beyond the border of Gaza.

Thank you very much.

Sam Eliz is on is with us on the on the podium.

She has more.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for your your question.

I was I was in the room.

So moving up to the platform.

I think what you're, you're sort of talking about is, is concerns about what the future may hold.

I think what is really important to stress right now is what we're seeing currently, you know, it is so important that there needs to be a ceasefire.

There needs to be immediate and unconditional release of hostages.

There needs to be as, as, as colleagues have highlighted, the full flow of aid.

So I think from from that point of view, this is, you know, we really need to be stressing what is happening right now.

I don't want to be drawn into conjecture of what might be being planned, what might happen.

I think what we're seeing on the ground right now is horrifying enough and it needs to stop.

[Other language spoken]

And sorry, the the statement, the latest statement that the secretary general made on Gaza, it's exactly saying that that he stresses the need for a ceasefire to be respected, bring around the suffering of the people, humanitarian aid, reach all the people in need.

The hostages released immediately and unconditionally and recalls the international law must be complied with at all times.

And I think we have expressed ourselves several times on what is the political issue of that must be seen for this situation, this conflict.

We've got two more questions and then I would like to go to the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF who's patiently waiting.

So I give the floor to Yuri Aprelev.

Yuri is our correspondent of University.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

My question is for Sam from it is also about the staff, just you say that it is 281.

[Other language spoken]

I just have a question about the missing staff that you have because I know that the number of killed and the number of the staff that you are sure that they are killed.

I wanted to know if you use the the possibility of the ceasefire to find the staff that has disappeared, the staff with who you didn't have contacted during the the hostilities, did you found them and how many of them are still missing?

If we are talking about dozens, hundreds of thousands staff that disappear.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks, Yorian.

Apologies for a lack any lack of clarity on the number of of staff deaths.

Obviously it's very difficult to ascertain that given how quickly the the situation is evolving.

But for now we are reporting 284 of our of our colleagues who've been killed since the start of of the war.

That's out of a workforce of over over 12,000 people.

We have managed throughout the conflict to keep quite close track on our, on our, on our staff, both those inside of Gaza and, and outside of Gaza through our human resources systems and, and, and mechanisms and, and processing just our communication trees and, and, and things like that.

So we're not envisaging major jumps in numbers.

There is always a slight jump when, when these things happen, when there's a ceasefire as we're able to kind of gather our thoughts and, and reconfirm things.

But no, we're not envisaging many more than that just because of the nature of of our systems.

But we are intending to issue regular updates as this phase of the conflict continues because tragically, we, we, we, we, we, we, we may be facing more staff deaths in the coming days and and hours.

So we'll continue to keep you updated on those new numbers, which as I say, are a bit of a moving target.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Jimmy Keaton, Associated Press.

[Other language spoken]

Alessandra, my question is for Sam.

I wanted to just go back to Nina's question a little bit earlier about whether or not you've seen any pilfering by Hamas of, of aid deliveries.

You, you mentioned in your response that there's no aid deliveries going on right now or distributions.

You should say, I should say the, I think the, the, the statement from the Israeli authorities is more about over time over in the last few weeks and months.

So I just want to be clear on that, that you haven't seen any sign of that over that over the last few weeks.

And then my other question, my, my real question has to do with the Israeli announcement yesterday about how Palestinians will not be within Gaza, will not be able to move into northern Gaza.

What is your read on that?

And what is the response on the ground among the Palestinians in Gaza?

Is that, is that seen as a short term measure or is that a sign of something maybe more worrying for the longer term?

[Other language spoken]

On the question on on a a diversion, I mean, look, what we can say is that there there have been incidents over the course of the war when aid convoys have been looted.

We're all aware of that.

Some of the time just by desperate populations on on the ground at times it appears to have been much more more organised.

But look, we're in a, in a, in a situation here where the only supplies that are coming in are are aid supplies.

Those supplies are, are distributed.

Some of those supplies are are sold on as well at markets.

That's just a reality of the situation here.

But that, that we've not seen anything over the past few weeks and, and, and what we've seen over the war is what has been reported every day on, on, on, on the media in terms of those criminal, criminal elements.

That's all I can say in relation to, to that.

And yeah, anything related to forced displacement, forced evacuation of population is deeply, deeply worrying.

We're not yet seeing anything on the scale of what we saw in October 2023 when, when essentially the entire Gaza Strip was placed, northern Gaza was placed under, under evacuation order.

Again, as as I said to the earlier question, we cannot speculate in, in relation to this, but of course there are fears.

But as this conflict continues, we will see more and more of these evacuation orders.

So it's not out of of the question that this would, would, would happen, but we're focused right now in dealing with the the, the movements that we've had today.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Sam.

Thanks everyone.

But before we close the issue of Gaza, I would like just to read, as I was asked to do on behalf of Umrah, the post that Mister Ladzarini, the Commissioner General Rumores just published, where he says a deepening humanitarian crisis in the West Bank, with homes and other civilian infrastructure systematically destroyed.

Just yesterday, the Israeli authorities issued new demolition orders for another 66 buildings in Jenin camp.

Dozens of houses have already been destroyed in the camp over the past two months.

These demolition orders must not be carried out.

10s of thousands of Palestine refugees are at risk of renewed long term displacement.

With Janine camp permanently altered and this reference to the West Bank, I would like to connect to the fact that today the Security Council will hold an open briefing followed by callers and consultations on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process at interim cigarette COG will deliver the quarterly update on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23rd December 2016.

This resolution demanded that Israel sees all settlement activity in the OPT, including E Jerusalem and call for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror.

And and this the Security Council briefing secret card is suspected to update the council member on the situation in the West Bank.

So thank you very much to some, some thanks for briefing the journalist here for bringing this really direct witness to the correspondent here.

Stay safe, please and come back and update us on the situation in Gaza.

And thanks to the colleagues, to Tomaszo and James and Liz, James Thomaso, you could, sorry, James, you can stay on the podium if you wish.

And we would like now to go to our colleague in Abuja.

I'd like to welcome Kitty Vandeheyden, the UNICEF's Deputy Executive Director, to update us on the global funding crisis as it relates to Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Kitty, thank you very much for your patience and for being with us today.

James, you want to say something or I should I say go straight to to Kitty.

Thank you very much.

You've got the floor.

[Other language spoken]

And you know, what can you say after a briefing like the one we just had?

I mean, it's absolutely terrifying what we see on the ground.

So let me just for the sake of argument, also bring a little bit of the art of the possible of what we can do when we get it right.

Right.

I mean, just realising that the under 5 mortality has gone down by 60% since the year 1990, that we've been able to reduce, you know, severe acute malnutrition by one third since 2000.

That means 55,000,000 children being alive today.

Just because of simple interventions, we can actually do this.

And just in 2024, UNICEF and of course all of our partners, we were able to.

Reach 441 million children to prevent malnutrition and treated 9 million children to treat acute malnutrition.

So there are ways in which we can still be optimistic if we know that we can do it.

And of course, we don't do this alone.

As UNICEF, it's critically important for me to understand that these figures that we are very, very proud of, we do that together with our partners, our partners across the government, philanthropy, the private sector.

We never do this alone.

And with that support, we as UNICEF and our partners, we've been able to be that conveyor belt, conveyor belt, I would say, to child survival, to child well-being, to realising their rights, to realising their full potential.

But the reason I am here today is really to talk about the risk that these gains are being rolled back, that we see a global retreat, if you will, from the donor community, from the art of the possible, from the art of investment in children that is the future.

And that we see funding cuts across a multiple sort of a cohort of donors.

And it's not just the quantity, the absolute envelope of the funding cuts, but it's the nature and how these decisions are being made, very acute, very unexpected, which does not give us an ability as UNICEF to mitigate the risks if critical life saving support is cut off.

And it's not one donor.

It is the fact that it's a cumulative set of donors that are doing this that really risks to roll back that progress that I was talking about just now.

And the the consequences, if you will, of these decisions have impacts on real children, real lives every day in the here and now.

And I was in Ethiopia earlier this week and I went to visit the Maiduguri up NE here in Nigeria to witness what is possible but also to witness what is at risk.

And due to funding shortages for both countries, what we currently see is that about 1.3 million children risk to lose access to life saving support.

Our UTF are ready to use therapeutic food during the course of this year.

Let me tell you what we do in a place like Afar in Ethiopia, the dry northeastern lowlands of Ethiopia, where we were running 13 mobile health clinics, health and nutrition clinics to serve very destitute populations, pastoralist communities, communities on the move.

And with these mobile clinics, we were meeting them where they are.

[Other language spoken]

You open up a sheet under a shaded tree and you treat and diagnose pregnant and lactating mothers and children with the bare minimum of what they need.

This is about vitamin A and iron deficiency for pregnant mothers.

It is treating malaria, it's treating TB, it's treating pneumonia, it's treating malnutrition and a combination the Co morbidity of these issues.

Malaria and malnutrition are often deadly unless they are treated in time.

It's simple, it's effective, but currently these services for children and for mothers are in peril.

Out of the 30 mobile health and nutrition clinics that we were running in this region, drought prone, very destitute, very poor, currently only seven are still operating.

The consequences of these decisions, because this shortage 23 taken out of operation was due to funding cuts, have real live consequences for children and for mothers.

We know what is possible, we know what to do, but we have to be allowed to then also do it beyond Afar.

Overall, in Ethiopia, we estimate that without new funding coming in, we risk to lose our supply chain of our UTF, our UTF ready to use therapeutic food to treat children that suffer from the most acute forms of malnutrition.

Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain by May and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia depend on this type of treatment cannot be served.

And you'll recall from Sam just now, this is continuous treatment that is required.

Interruption is life threatening.

In Nigeria, we face the same situation.

80,000 children every month needs this type of support.

We risk here in Nigeria to run out of surprise anywhere between this month and May.

And for me, it's important that it's not just about the treatment.

We have to be able to prevent it getting to this stage.

I was in a hospital 2 days ago in my degree with a child so malnourished.

[Other language spoken]

That's the level of malnutrition that we're seeing here.

We have to be able to invest in prevention by community mobilisation, by early screening, by breastfeeding classes, by early referrals, by nutrient supplementation for pregnant mothers.

And currently, not just us, but also the partners with whom we work, local partners, because of funding cuts, are unable to provide that type of early support to prevent a child like Moussa being completely unresponsive and probably at this stage, no longer alive.

And of course, this funding crisis isn't just about Nigeria and Ethiopia, which is as bad as it gets.

This is happening all over the world and all over the world.

The price is the same.

It's children that bear the brunt of decisions in capitals and even a brief halt in these life saving support services that we provide are critical.

And the needs are rising.

It's not as if retreat is related to a reduction in the need, right?

On the contrary, needs are rising.

We anticipate just in 2025 that we need to serve 213 million children in 146 countries with life saving humanitarian support.

And so as needs are rising, we need the global community to step up to the plate, to rise to the occasion, to keep investing in the art of the possible.

We have to stay and deliver as UNICEF.

[Other language spoken]

We will not retreat, but we need to be enabled.

We need to be able to get to that level of a conveyor belt because our funders do not retreat on children.

And so I'm here to really call on through you all, governments that are looking at where they prioritise their budgetary allocations, that they continue to invest in children, that they continue to prioritise, I would say the future, the potential of children as an economically rational decision, or else this funding crisis will become a child survival crisis and we cannot allow that to happen.

Over to you in Geneva.

Indeed.

Thank you very much, Kitty.

This is really a strong appeal that you're doing here.

So I'll open the floor to question in the room first.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, Thank you very much for the for the briefing.

I was wondering if you could say, I mean, you, you painted a pretty stark picture with a lot of a lot of numbers and, and children who won't be served.

Do you have an estimate of how many children will actually die if you can't get your supply lines working in these places?

And also, if you could say, I mean, you say UNICEF is going to keep keep working, but you also have a pretty dire funding crisis as as you mentioned, how, how can you navigate that?

[Other language spoken]

We sorry we don't have the exact numbers also because the situation keeps on changing.

So governments take certain decisions and then come back because of the arguments that we put forward that we cannot fail children.

So we don't have the full estimate of the mortality numbers that we will see, but that the consequence of every retreat of investments in children's lives and well-being or acute, that is absolutely certain.

And we're seeing that governments are hearing us, but we're also calling on that was your second question.

What do you then do?

We will stay and deliver with as much as we can.

We are calling out all governments, but also philanthropic organisations, also individuals, corporates, but also national governments in the Global South to step up to the plate to allow us together collectively to keep serving children.

And if you just look at this country, here in Nigeria, the Minister of Health, Mohammed Kathy to together with the President to decision to free up an additional $200 million to invest in critical life saving support in the health systems to at least to be able at least to cushion the blow.

Is that enough?

[Other language spoken]

But we will keep arguing with every government, every individual, every corporate and philanthropic organisation is that we cannot fail children.

[Other language spoken]

I was wondering if you could, can you hear me?

[Other language spoken]

I was just wondering if you could comment on the way these funding cuts have been carried out.

There have been other agencies have also mentioned the fact that, that this sort of very abrupt halt without giving countries the chance to, to step in and and fill, fill the gaps has been quite devastating.

And I'm wondering if you could also say something about the the, the way the funding cuts have been carried out.

Look, we respect all our partners that have invested in us in the partnership with us to allow us to deliver for children and with many of the donors that are now taking these decisions.

We've had partnerships for decades and the fact that we have been able to achieve these impressive results was really due to that long term partnership.

That's why it was very difficult for us to accept that changes were made.

Decisions were made almost overnight because that led to interruption of services and an inability for us to adapt and to mitigate risks for children.

Those are the discussions that are of course, still ongoing because we are arguing that we cannot fail children and we will continue to put forward the arguments that this partnership is a partnership that needs to continue until the job is done, which means that children survive, children thrive, and children have a pathway to a life in dignity.

And UNICEF cannot do that alone.

We have to do that together.

So we're arguing not just for no sudden cuts.

We're arguing for no cuts.

In fact, we need to see the contrary.

We need to see investments in the future so that we can keep children safe.

We invest in resilient communities.

And through that, we invest in economic growth in countries where that is so much needed.

[Other language spoken]