Welcome to the press briefing of the UN in Geneva.
Today is Tuesday, 15th of July and we have a few colleagues to brief you on events which have been under the lights recently.
We have all seen a thing over the weekend, the tragic events that happened in Gaza, across Gaza, resulting in mass casualties, including among children.
To talk about this we have with us.
And thanks for being with us, Juliet Tumah, the Director of Communication, Woundra from Amman, and we also have our colleague Tamim Alkitan from OHCHR.
And we will hear from both of them updates about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian territory.
I'll start with JJ Welcome.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks, Alessandra and good morning everyone.
Like Alessandra said, I will give an update on the occupied Palestinian territory and I also speak to the work of Indra that we continue to do through our teams on the ground in in the OPT.
And then I'll end up with with a couple of announcements.
So on the Gaza Strip this morning, I will focus on latest data that we got from our clinics, our medical points in the Gaza Strip, specifically on malnutrition on children among children.
Like I said, this is based on latest findings.
Our doctors, our nurses, our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the 2nd of March.
So we've seen in our clinics an increase in malnutrition among children since January 2024.
So over a course of a year and a half, the Indrea health teams screened in the clinics and medical points of Indrea across the Gaza Strip, more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five.
So the age range is from six months to to five months old.
Currently, one in 10 children screened in those clinics and Andrea facilities is malnourished.
One in 10-1 in ten children.
Before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in in the Gaza Strip.
1 Andrea nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries.
Today he's treating them face to face in the Andrea Health Centres.
The growing number of children in need of therapeutic treatment risks overwhelming the already devastated health system in the Gaza Strip.
I'll tell you the story of Ahlam.
She is a baby girl that our teams in Gaza have been been treating and they told us her story.
She's only eight months old on average.
Since the war started on the 7th of October, her family, Lam's family, was displaced almost once a week.
She now lives in a tent with five other family members with not much food available to for for a lamp.
She is severely malnourished.
Despite the care that she is getting from the Andrea Health teams, her condition keeps getting worse by the day.
Like many other babies in Gaza, her immune system has been damaged by trauma, constant force displacement, lack of clean water, poor hygiene and very, very little food.
There's very little therapeutic supplies to help children with malnutrition in Gaza.
Medicines, nutritional supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out.
Andrea also ran out of food, if you recall, at the end of April this year.
Andrea continues to be the largest humanitarian organisation in in Gaza.
The agency, however, has been banned from bringing any humanitarian aid to Gaza, including nutrition supplies to treat babies like lamb, for more than four months now, since the 2nd of March.
As of this morning, Indrea ran out of nearly 60% of essential medicines.
As an example, we no longer have medicines to treat patients with hypertension and the agency's clinics ran out of antibiotics for adults as malnutrition among children spreads across the war-torn enclave.
Andrea has over 6000 trucks of food, hygiene supplies, medicine, medical supplies outside of Gaza.
They're all waiting to go in during the ceasefire between January and March, mid January to mid March.
Earlier in the year, the United Nations, including Andrea, were providing at scale and dignified assistance to people.
We managed through that work to reverse the trend and the deepening hunger, including among children.
This functioning system was replaced with one that takes more lives than it saves.
While there is a lot of focus out there you might see on social media and in the media on food being distributed, the people of Gaza need more than just food.
Above all, they need safety.
But no place is safe in Gaza and no one has been spared.
The people of Gaza also need medicine.
They need hygiene supplies like soap, they need water, sanitary pads for women and girls, diapers for babies and older people, and they need nutrition supplies for babies like Ahlam.
It is more than just food, let alone feeding people.
The only, including Andra, must be allowed to do our work also for the sake of children across the Gaza Strip.
I'll say a few words, Alessandra, on the situation in the West Bank, and then I'll say a few words about the work of Andra.
So on the West Bank, including E Jerusalem, we continue to have a silent work that is surging.
Why heavy restrictions on movement continue where poverty is increasing as people are cut off from their livelihoods and unemployment.
And it's great to have Samin on online because he'll give a much more detailed briefing on on the on the West Bank, the impact of the ongoing military operations by Israeli forces and the violence by Israeli settlers.
They're forcing more people to be displaced.
According to our Indran colleagues, this ongoing operation has been the longest since the the 2000s during the second Intifada.
This is mainly in the North and West Bank.
It is impacting several refugee camps in in the area and it is causing the largest population displacement of the Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
Just a few words on the work of Indrea and to confirm and emphasise and ask the media to help us to continue to say that Indrea continues despite all these challenges, despite a very, very challenging financial situation and and a crisis that the agency is going through.
Despite all the hurdles that I've mentioned to you across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, our teams continue to work.
We have a staff of about 14,000 people across the OPT who continue to deliver services and assistance not only to Palestine refugees, but to people in need, especially in the Gaza Strip.
And I'll give you a few examples.
On average every day, despite everything in the Gaza Strip, our medical teams, our health teams continue to give 15,000 consultations a day in the UNDRA clinics in the medical points across the Gaza Strip.
In total, since the war began, the health teams at UNDRA gave over 9 million health consultations.
A Only this year alone, we've provided domestic water and drinking water to 1.3 million people in the Gaza Strip.
That's about 60% of the population.
Our teams continue to manage shelters for displaced people.
With more and more forced displacement orders from the Israeli authorities, more people are forced to flee, and they often come to enwrap shelters, which the agency can is to manage.
We've reached last but not least and very important, we've reached more than half a million boys and girls with psychological support across the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank, the school year has just finished a couple of weeks ago and we were able to continue to provide education until the end of the school year to about 40,000 boys and girls who went to Indra schools in the West Bank.
And hundreds of thousands of people continued to go to Indra clinics in the area.
And like I said, in the northern West Bank, because of the displacement, there are humanitarian needs of people who are being forced to flee, and India provides them with relief and basic assistance.
In closing, just to say that we have a few resources that I will share Alessandra with you that we've updated a couple of documents on my website that I'd like to bring to the attention of the media.
The claims versus facts about under that's been updated made available on the website.
We've published last night A blog on nutrition and the children of of Gaza that can be republished in in media outlets and I'll send that.
And we also have quite a lot of multimedia material, so photos and raw footage in B roll and also videos on the nutrition of children in the Gaza Strip.
Thank you very much, Juliet, for this update.
And please share the documents.
We will make them available to the journalist here.
But please, before we do that, I'll like to listen to Tamim that as Juliet also noted, noted the he's going to tell us more about the West Bank and killing and forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli forces to me.
Thank you, Juliet for the briefing and good morning, everyone.
Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem, in the past weeks.
This includes the demolition of hundreds of homes and forced mass displacement of Palestinians, contributing to the ongoing consolidation of annexation of West Bank territory by Israel in violation of international law.
Since the launch of Israel's Operation Iron Wall in the north of the West Bank earlier this year, about 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced.
Israeli forces have shot live ammunition at unarmed Palestinians, including those attempting to go back to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkaram and Noshams.
Israeli security forces have often used unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal force, against Palestinians who did not pose an imminent threat to life.
The youngest victim, 2 year old Leila Khatib, was shot dead in the head by Israeli security forces on the 25th of January while she was inside her house in a Shahada village.
On the 3rd of July, 61 year old Waleed Abeder was shot and killed by the Israeli security forces, reportedly while he was cycling back home from prayers passing through the outskirts of the New Shams camp.
Leila and Waleed are among at least 964 Palestinians killed since the 7th of October 2023 by Israeli forces and settlers in occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem.
Also, since the 7th of October 20, 2353, Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes.
35 in the West Bank and 18 in Israel.
In June, the UN recorded the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians in over 2 decades.
In all, 96 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers during the first half of 2025.
There have been 757 settler attacks that resulted in Palestinian casualties or property damage, a 13% increase on the same.
Since the start of Operation Iron Wall, Israeli security forces have issued demolition orders for about 1400 homes in the north of the occupied West Bank.
These large scale demolitions, if not rendered absolutely necessary by military operations, violate Israel's obligations as the occupying power.
In addition, Israeli demolitions have displaced 2907 Palestinians across the West Bank since the 7th of October 2023.
A further 2400 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been forcibly displaced as a result of the actions of Israeli settlers.
Thus, emptying large part large parts of the West Bank of Palestinians.
Permanently displacing the civilian population with an occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, a grave breach of the 4th Geneva Convention and, depending on the circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.
Israel must immediately stop these killings, harassment and home demolitions across the occupied Palestinian territory.
As the occupying power, Israel must take all feasible measures to ensure public order and safety in the West Bank.
It is under the obligation to protect Palestinians from settler attacks and to end the unlawful use of force by its security forces.
There must be thorough, independent and transparent investigations into all the killings and all other alleged violations of international law.
Those found responsible must be held to account in line with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice.
Israel must end it's unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Thank you very much, Tamina.
And I also would like to call your attention to what the Secretary General said yesterday at the end of the press conference where he was launching the SDG report when he spoke about Gaza, when he said we absolutely need a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
And I hope that the parties will be able to overcome the difficulties that they still find for the ceasefire to take place.
But the ceasefire is not enough.
It is essential that ceasefire leads to a solution.
And that solution can only be possible if both Palestinian, Israeli can have a state where they can exercise the right.
And he referred to the conference on the two state solution that should happen in New York on 28 and 29th of July.
I'll open the front to question those of questions.
I so first Nina and then Christian and then Olivia.
Yeah, thanks for these these briefings.
I had a couple of questions on Gaza.
I was wondering if you could say a little bit about the Israeli announced plans for the, I guess humanitarian city is what they're calling it.
If you could say what that would mean in terms of of human rights law to force basically forcibly to displace the entire Palestinian population in Gaza into that area.
When it comes to the West Bank, as you were talking about June having the most injuries I think in a very long time, was that only only injuries from settlers or was it also from Israeli military?
And could you break down those those numbers And just on the West Bank in general, if you could say, I mean, it sounds like there's also this sort of mass displacement there.
Are you worried that the West Bank is is going to resemble sort of what's hat we've already seen in Gaza?
I mean, thank you for these questions, Nina.
I'll try to answer all of them now on the figures.
So 96 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers.
This concerns attacks by settlers and the increase that I've mentioned.
It's also about settler attacks in the West Bank concerning force to displacement.
Of course, this is a huge concern for us and we are seeing already Palestinians who are being forcibly displaced inside the West Bank.
We should recall that international law is very clear about this, in terms of the obligations of the Occupying power, bringing about permanent demographic change inside the occupied territory.
It may amount to a war crime and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
So these are obligations for the occupied occupying power to not make any changes to the demographic, to the demographics of the occupied territory.
In Gaza, we have seen these reports about establishing a so-called humanitarian city in Rafa, and there are also calls for voluntary movement of Palestinians in Gaza to third countries.
In all, these calls raise concerns of forcible transfer.
The the first of all, the setting up of such a humanitarian city in itself is, is problematic and it raises concerns about further force displacement.
Of course, without proper humanitarian assistance and it is likely that men and women of certain age groups could be at higher risk of arbitrary detention.
We can, we have concerns of disappearances, family separation, of course, the lack of freedom of movement.
And you know, the, the whole situation of thousands of people being crammed into a small area in the Gaza Strip.
This is very much concerning.
And it would add more difficulties in terms of aid distribution.
And also, of course, we cannot talk about any voluntary movement of people from Gaza to third countries because for the movement to be voluntary, we should give the people the the choice in terms of life, life conditions to remain in Gaza.
And then we can talk about whether they can have the choice or not.
Juliet, if you want to add anything.
Yeah, I saw you were nothing before.
And just hi, Mina, wait to see you.
Look at on the question on the quote unquote, humanitarian city with very big quote, unquote.
The commissioner general of India just a few days ago issued a statement on that.
I don't know if you've seen it and Nina, but he said that this would be de facto creating a massive concentration camp at the border with Egypt.
If it helps, I can send you the the link to the statement, Nina and and everyone.
And also to say that as we've seen at the beginning of the war when there were all these announcements and plans for humanitarian zones, we reminded everyone in the UN that these unilateral decisions are contradictory to international humanitarian law and they cannot be done in without either agreement of all parties to the conflict.
So that's also something that we can we can refer to when it comes to these statements about this so-called city.
Yeah, if maybe if you can add the link to the package that you're sending so that we can send it to the journalist.
So you put some many things in the chat, but we can also send it by e-mail to the journalist who are not who are not connected.
So it's better that we send it to everyone by e-mail.
My question is on the very first figures that you mentioned on malnutrition.
Just to clarify you, you said one in 10 children between six months and five years is malnourished.
What is the total number of these children malnourished at this point?
Because you also mentioned that 240 boys and girls have been screened over the last year and a half, but they might have been diagnosed as malnutrition.
Malnourished, Malnourished, sorry, as malnourished, which has then changed in the course of of the 18 months or so.
So my question is how many are malnourished at this point in time?
So this data that I shared this morning, Christiane and everyone is only for the children, the babies who came to in direct clinics and medical points.
There's other screenings happening against malnutrition in other health facilities.
But this data that I shared this morning is only about the in direct clinics and medical points, over 240,000 children screened, all of them under the age of 5, all of them since January 2024.
And of those one in 10 is malnourished currently.
And we've seen an increase in cases in babies coming to to clinics with malnutrition, especially since March.
And there is a correlation between the siege blocking the entry of food and also nutrition supplies to help babies since the siege was put in place.
That was more than four months ago.
And maybe Christiana, I don't know if it can help, but yesterday we got this numbers from UNICEF that said that last month.
So that was last month more than 5800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1000 children with severe acute malnutrition.
This is an increase for the 4th month in a row.
But I'm I'm sure that UNICEF can still answer your question.
No, I just wanted the clarification.
So if a child was diagnosed as malnourished in January 2024, that doesn't mean that it is malnourished today because it might have in in the meantime when aid came in, it might have recovered.
So I, I wonder whether you can say that out of the 240,000 that have been screened since January 2024, they were diagnosed at one point in time, but it doesn't mean they are minority today.
And we have seen an increase in the malnutrition rates among children, especially since March.
And you know, Christian, what's really alarming is the cases are severe accused malnutrition, what we call Sam.
And that is the alarming part and that we've seen over the course of the past months, including in Andrea clinics, babies dying of malnutrition, including most recently a girl that I speak about in my blog that I shared with Alessandra.
By the time she reached the clinic at Andrea, it was too late and and she died.
I mean, all of this to say is is what really needs to happen.
And Sunday for me what what really needs to happen is is is a is a ceasefire is a deal and is a standard flow of humanitarian supplies.
It's not just about dry food.
It's also about these supplements for children.
It's about therapeutic supplies with children with malnutrition and the longer as time goes on, the clock ticks faster and faster towards more children dying of of starvation or suffering of malnutrition in Gaza, which is like I said in the briefing, is not something that we've had in Gaza before the war.
Reuters, thank you both for for the brief briefing and thank you to my colleagues who've asked questions I was seeking answers to.
The European Union struck a deal last week with Israel to allow more aid into the enclave.
Have you seen actual any material differences on the ground since, since that deal was struck?
Thanks Olivia and really good to see you.
Like I said for Anra, there's there's no change and for the people that in our serves, there is no change.
We've been banned from bringing in any humanitarian assistance into Gaza for more than four months now.
It's, it's from Jordan to, to, to the Gaza Strip.
It's a 3 hour drive, right?
The trucks are loaded with humanitarian supplies, including food, but also hygiene supplies like bars of soap, as a very simple example, like medicine.
Medicine and food are going to soon expire if we're not able to get those supplies to people in Gaza who need it most, among them 1,000,000 children who are half the population of the Gaza Strip.
It was a para osiku ya put the pure Yanquilla Gaza de Mont reserve vote reserve a Gaza on term the Noviture medical order E Sufi commento like capacity to distribution common spas is you don't what I mean no.
Do you want me to take this?
I'll I'll respond in English.
The reserves look like I said we're at 60% when it comes to the, the medicines and we've run out of certain, certain amounts of oxygen, sorry types of, of medicines like antibiotics for adults, like medicine for hypertension, for the therapeutic supplies for children.
We rely very, very heavily on UNICEF and they are the ones who have been very generous in giving us the therapeutic supplies, you know, plumpy doors and and those other treatments that we give for malnourished kids.
And so it really depends on how much they themselves are able to bring into into Gaza.
So I prefer you ask that specific question to UNICEF.
The questions are are also on the OPT.
OK, Hello demande Tamina pispasa Ala platform merci double La La de mission do the Mon the Commission donquette donette retro hockey PE parekh usaversi obian Don que La La commissiona de mission general a GI in question Concealer.
Not her, not her colleague Nasser Allah Ramallah don't penetrate don't do not Bureau is on 2 case to the 3A vole secrest a not chef the Bureau.
Nasser a concern on vote her statement SK converdit Don Cliff force Israel yen souvann Rocco I enforce disproportioni la enfas on avede Seville don't call le ziska Yan the forces alien attack key exactemon the Seville the Jean armen the group.
The Commission a complete.
Come to the DLS man down now that was 3 visas on some car La von Pennsylvania to place information on the concern of No 7 killer vet accuser the terrorism menu 7 seeker say on general section tondance poor Liz authority Israelian the that is additionalist the terrorism a don't sit assume a contradiction at least so Sunday measure before I keep up that her destiny.
This authorities Highland 2 little list.
Don't look at the disoperation they forced the Lord esque session la quintete tree ETA me put that key on a key at that army on paper to several Mesqui issue secure uncertain on the person quantity trick you know by the army.
Kennedy power making it you know positive can risk for la vie the the for the Lord of Australian examples of the Leptic Layla doesn't get about you Shezel do Monsieur Walid der ke VE SOA santano Ki Ki don't found the don't Seymour do have sisse to treat a do I have a word I don't get.
Thank you for taking my question.
It's for UN human rights, but I don't know whether perhaps Juliet wants to come in as well.
Now last week on Friday, human human rights gave us figures about people being killed trying to get aid in Gaza.
You almost 800, more than 600 of them you said close to these GHF aid distribution points.
I mean, I was in touch with GHF over the weekend.
They are quite adamant basically that this is not true.
And they say that the UN is hurling insults and basing it's information on propaganda from terrorist groups.
I think I probably speak for all of all of the journalists here that there there is this issue of Hamas and the attack on Israel and then people who work in Gaza for the public sector and the OR for the health service, for example.
And I'm just wondering what what is your response when consistently every single day, I've had a statement from GHF since last week suggesting to you and human rights that you are at best repeating lies.
And then also Juliet, if you want to add anything.
First of all, I have I do have updates on these figures.
As of the 13th of July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food.
674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites.
Now the data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organisations.
It is still, of course, being verified in accordance with the strict methodology of the UN Human Rights Office.
So the health authorities, first of all, for these figures, the health authorities in Gaza are not the only source of our information.
As you know, we have said that repeatedly from our past experience with the Ministry of Health in Gaza in past conflicts, we can say that the figures that they have provided turned out to be close to the the figures that we have managed to verify it later.
And as you know, we don't have complete access and the process of verification at our office according to our strict methodology is ongoing and can take some time.
So we repeat again that there needs to be there need to be investigations in each and every killing in order to establish the the the facts and for those responsible to be held to account.
Thanks, Imogen, and thanks, Samin.
Look at our teams on the ground in their teams and other United Nations teams have spoken to survivors of these of these killings is starving children included, who were shot at while on their way to pick up very little food.
James Elder himself spoke to several of those survivors.
One kid, if you recall, had died.
And I second the OHCHR call for investigations into all of these killings and all other violations, including against Indra.
So far, we are nearing 330 Andrea staff killed as one example and 80% of our schools have been hit as another example.
So there's constant violations that must be investigated.
Again, we're in this loophole of he said she said he's lying, she's lying.
Misinformation, misinformation, yes, no.
And international media continues to be banned from going into Gaza.
And until international media is allowed to go into Gaza to report for first hand on what's happening to Gaza and the people of Gaza, in Gaza, we are going to continue to be stuck in claims versus facts.
And so it's an urge again, for international media to be finally allowed to go into Gaza.
Also to support the great work that local Palestinian journalists have been doing in in telling the story of the atrocities in in the Gaza Strip.
Satoko Yumirishimun, yes, thank you very much for doing this.
About two months ago you, you told us that the armed Israeli forces invaded Unuva school in East Jerusalem.
So could you give us an update on the 6th Unuva school in the East Jerusalem and what happened?
What happened to the about the 800 boys and girls since then?
We were forced to close the schools and the Israeli authorities came to the schools.
They gave a stop work or or closure orders for the schools.
There were a couple of incidents when force was used, including tear gas.
The schools were eventually closed just a few weeks before the end of the school year.
So he at some point he towards end of May in absolutely right that there there were 600 boys and girls who were forced to continue their schooling through alternative learning, meaning they couldn't physically go to school anymore.
We don't know the fate of these schools.
At the beginning of the year, after the summer holidays, we call once again for these schools to be reopened.
These are United Nations schools and so they are protected by international law.
Thank you, John, Francois, Catherine Lancet.
My question is to Juliet, following up on Christian's question.
Juliet, if you could repeat the numbers of children suffering from malnutrition and in particular those suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
And if you have any information, if you if UNRWRA still has health centres that are doing screenings for malnutrition always that depend on other facilities to do that and voluntary organisations etcetera.
Just send us the numbers.
And so launches distributed, you have them in, you have your notes in the, in the, in your e-mail boxes.
John, thank you very much for the, for the question.
The data that I've given this morning is all from indirect clinics and health facilities.
Like I said, there are other entities in the Gaza Strip who are going, who are doing screening of children against malnutrition.
But the data that I shared this morning, which like Alessandra said is in the briefing note, that's from only under facilities and clinics.
We still have a few clinics that are still standing and still functioning.
But what we've also done, John, is we've created these temporary medical points, whether they are mobile or they're fixed, for example, in places like shelters.
And this is where we have about 1000 health staff at Indra that continue to work providing health services, including screening of children against malnutrition.
Now since January 2024, so a year and a half in those in their facilities, medical facilities, we have screened over 240,000 children against malnutrition.
10% of those children screened or one in 10 have been diagnosed with malnutrition.
We do have a breakdown of how many are Sam and how many are Mam and how many are Gam, but I'm not going to go into details here.
What I suggest we do, John, is you e-mail me after the briefing and I'll put you in touch with our director of health, who can walk you through exactly what we're seeing in our clinics and explain to you also A medically the, the, the, the increases.
And, and again, I think what's really key here, John, is that we are seeing a significant increase in the number of children diagnosed with malnutrition since March.
So there is a correlation between not allowing food and other supplies into Gaza and an increase in malnutrition among children.
I was going to say last question from Nick.
Good morning and nice to see you.
Juliet, Question to you and to Tammin.
Judith, you said that the displacement on the West Bank was now the highest level since 1967.
And Tammin, you mentioned a figure of 30,000 under since the start of Operation War and war.
I just want to check, are you you talking about the same thing?
Is this the highest level of displacement under this particular operation?
And what is the current title population displaced in the West Bank at this point?
And are you seeing an acceleration in the levels of attacks would you say and displacement in recent weeks?
And what, what what do you think is, is the dynamic that's driving it at this point?
Juliet, you want to start and then Tamim?
And then and then Tamim has a lot of information, but a couple of things, Nick, very, very good to hear you.
Look, there is this ongoing operation that has been happening in the north of the West Bank and impacting largely Palestinian refugee camps in in the area.
We're talking about 3 camps that have been impacted in particular.
That's Janine camp, Tulkarim camp and Nurshans camp.
And according to the data from our teams, which tallies with what Tamin has shared with us this morning, is about, yes, over 30,000 people who have been forced to flee their, their homes, including from these camps in at some point during this operation.
Janine camp was as an example, was totally emptied, right.
And so there is an increase in, in, in violence.
And with that comes a displacement which according to the data is the highest since the war of 1967 in in the West Bank in in particular, we're talking our international teams have been banned from going into the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli authorities have stopped giving us visas to go to the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem.
That's since January this year.
So it's been yeah, about yeah, well, almost exactly 6 months now.
And the same applies for Gaza.
So monitoring human rights violations and monitoring the impact of the, the, the displacement on the humanitarian impact of, of this, this operation is very challenging.
We do however have our, like I said, local staff who who help, but it's, it's not as it used to be, especially in terms of how robust it used to be when we had international presence across the West Bank.
So, as as Juliet said, from this Operation Iron Wall, in these three camps in the northern occupied West Bank, there are about 30,000 Palestinians who remain forcibly displaced.
The Israeli security forces have issued demolition orders for about 1400 homes in these camps.
In addition to that, Israeli demolitions have displaced 2907 Palestinians across the West Bank since the 7th of October 2023.
These are mainly justified by lack of construction permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain.
A further 2400 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been forcibly displaced as a result of actions by Israeli settlers.
So of course, yeah, these figures are are alarming.
And Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation to refrain from permanently displacing the population living under its occupation.
I'll take a last, last question from Olivia and then we will go to Ukraine.
This is just a quick clarification that I mean, thank you.
You said it's 875 deaths recorded right in the vicinity of eight points.
And I just wanted to check if that also you said it's near kind of a points including GHF, but does that also mean other relief groups including the the, you know, the UN like convoys run by the UN?
And just secondly, just want to check that it is 674 of those which were in the vicinity of GHF.
Yes, so 875 people killed while trying to get food, 674 of them killed in the vicinity of the GHF sites and the remaining 201 killed on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys.
These aid convoys can be by the UN or other humanitarian organisations, but as you know, there are very few of them in the Gaza Strip, unfortunately.
Thank you very much to both our speakers and the journalist for their questions.
I see that Solange has sent another, another message with all the information that came from JJ.
Thank you so much for being with us this morning to update the Geneva press corps.
Continue doing so, please, as this dire and terrible situation continues to unfold.
But you're not leaving me alone because I've got your colleague on the put in with me, Liz, to speak about the other big story of the weekend and of the last years, which is Ukraine.
And with with the list, we also have WHO Tariq has brought us Doctor Yano Habich, who as you know is WH representative and head of country office in sorry, Ukraine from Kiev.
So thank you very much again for the briefing on Gaza and let's move to Ukraine.
Let's start with lease and then we will go to Yarnham.
So good morning, everyone.
You've seen have seen that we have actually issued our Ukraine briefing note.
I will highlight some points that we make in it.
According to our latest information, so far this month, at least 139 civilians have reportedly been killed and 791 injured in Ukraine amid intense and successive waves of missile and drone strikes launched by the Russian Federation.
In an overnight attack on the 12th of July, Russian Armed forces reportedly deployed 597 Shahed loitering munitions and decoy drones and 26 missiles.
2 civilians were killed and 41 reportedly injured.
Damage to civilian infrastructure was reported across several regions, including Chernovti, Levi, Chekasi, Voleen and Kirov Farrad, far away from the front lines.
On the 9th of July alone, Russian Armed Forces launched a record number of long range drones against Ukraine 728.
July has brought no respite for civilians in Ukraine after June, which, according to our monitoring, saw the highest monthly number of civilian deaths and injuries in three years.
In fact, since May 2022, there were 232 people killed and 1343 injured.
The devastating physical and psychological impact on civilians have repeated attacks in this and other conflicts cannot be captured by numbers alone.
People are having to spend hours sheltering, including in basements, corridors and available refuges such as metro stations.
Children, older people and people with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the prolonged stress and disruption of sleep, and in some cases they're unable to get to shelter.
Intense and sustained attacks using explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas are likely to have indiscriminate impact and as such raised serious concerns as to their compliance with international humanitarian law.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for Katuk reiterates that an immediate ceasefire is needed now to end this unbearable suffering.
The Russian Federation's full scale armed attack on Ukraine must urgently be halted and work on a lasting peace in line with international law must intensify a peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The High Commissioner also highlights that it is vital that any negotiations focus on a coordinated push as immediate steps to end attacks that affect civilians, to protect the rights of people in occupied territory, return forcibly transferred or deported children, establish humanitarian corridors across the Line of Control and end the torture and I'll treatment of prisoners of war and other detainees.
He urges the Russian Federation and Ukraine to commit to a full exchange of prisoners of war.
Resolving the fate of civilian detainees also needs to remain high on the agenda.
I'll leave it there, but there are some more details in our briefing note regarding our work interviewing released prisoners of war.
Listen, as you said, the the the notes are in your e-mail boxes and I'll go now to Yarno Habits.
Yarno, it's nice to see you again.
Please go ahead with your introductory.
Thank you, thank you and thanks for having Ukraine in the agenda.
And also at least to describe the situation that many Ukrainians, but also the humanitarian workers, international organisations, everybody who is in Ukraine is going through and feeling daily.
What we see is that the civilian casualty is almost doubled in quarter 2, if we compare it to quarter one.
So the situation at the time of peace talks is getting more grim for the civilians.
But also, while we all met in Ukraine recovery conference, trying to keep the optimism looking to the future, double HO also reached to monitor and verify and report.
2500 attacks on health last Thursday, So while many partners came together in Ukraine recovery conference and the health sector got places for $200 million worth of projects and initiatives, attacks and suffering continues and the whole recovery needs more than 19.4 billion U.S.
dollars in the coming 10 years.
So we are responding to the crisis at the same time when looking more optimistically to the future, as I mentioned we reached a 2400 attacks of health last week.
As of today, it is already 2504, so and that means 212 deaths and 768 injured.
If we think back since 24th of February 2022 and Russian Federation invasion, this means more than two attacks every day, more than two attacks every day.
That means that Healthcare is not a safe place for the patients and healthcare workers, and it's a violation of humanitarian law.
In that environment and circumstances, I like to thank all the healthcare workers in Ukraine for all of the efforts that they are doing on saving lives and keeping the health system moving.
Now let me move to the second topic I wanted to cover today, and it's about mental health.
In latest health needs assessment WHO has been doing in April 2025, we see that 70% of people reported experiencing mental health issues, anxiety, depression, severe stress over the last 12 months.
And this is also directly linked to the attacks on civilian infrastructure that Liz was also just describing.
And every second person, 50% reported significant stress just during the last two months at the time when we see more attacks to the civilian infrastructure.
So we see that at the same time to respond to this challenge, the mental health services are getting more accessible, but not everybody is still seeking it at the level we expect to be seen what international community including WHO has been doing.
We have trained since 2022 more than 125,000 healthcare workers on WHO tool image cap that is allow allowing the services to be available more in the primary care.
Now the community mental health centres are established and they're expanding, bringing more services available and specialised services available to the communities and WHN partners.
Scientists declaration of interest and memorandum last yesterday in Kiev to get more partners supporting mental health and WHO continues to provide trains in 220 resilient centres that are established by the Minister of Social Policy.
Finally, when I look from public resources, Ukraine is prioritising mental health as we have been discussing a lot about the mental health programme under the leadership of First Lady Olen and Zelenska.
When we look public resources that Ukraine is investing to mental health, this has doubled in 2025 compared to the last year.
So this is about that tax and mental health.
Let me go to another topic.
Ukraine is a big country and we see inequalities which are increasing.
We need to reach more to the people who are in the front line, those who are displaced and rural areas.
Let me dwell into the front line as we talk about the humanitarian situation today.
Less people in the front line have access to the family doctor or have visited the doctor.
Only 69% of frontline workers frontline, those people living in the frontline have visited the primary care doctor compared to the 74% in rest of the Ukraine.
And this has this comes because sometimes the doctors are not available and we are lacking healthcare workers more in the front scenarios.
So what WHO has been doing in the past year, since January 2025 or half a year?
We have 15 teams working in 82 locations providing primary healthcare.
And I'd like to thank all the healthcare workers and doctors working with us.
And this has ensured approximately 7500 consultations.
And this is not enough, We need also to arrange convoys because the pharmacies are closed or supplies are not available.
So WHO has been part of 25 of interagency convoys organised together with the United Nations and humanitarian partners and arranged 12 dedicated WHO convoys to the frontline.
Is it to distribute medicines to people in community but also trauma kids as the attacks are continuing and that they provide medicines for the healthcare workers that they can distribute further for non communicable diseases.
This has allowed to support more than 100,000 people especially in the frontline.
Now when I look what we do and what all partners are doing in the frontline.
This brings for the fourth topic I wanted to share.
We have set the priorities, but we should not leave people behind.
And when I look and talk to 119 humanitarian partners who are providing support to the health sector, they are telling me that we not have enough resources.
When I look first half of the year, only 35.5% of resources, approximately $46 million has been made available for humanitarian partners, those 119 to act.
This has allowed us collectively, including WHO to reach to 1,000,000 people.
But our target was 3 million and we should not leave the 2 million behind.
So I urge those who are financing humanitarian response in Ukraine to ensure that we have a humanitarian response funding available, while at the same time we are balancing it with the recovery and restoration.
We need to do both at the same time.
We have discussed that since the beginning of full scale invasion.
We need to have humanitarian response, but we need to restore and recover because this will bring back hope to the communities where people are living now.
This brings me to an end, which is more on lasting impact and recovery.
And we need to think collectively how to support Ukraine in the medium term.
I told that the recovery needs need 19.4 billion U.S.
dollars just to restore what is damaged.
But Ukrainians have just adopted the Health strategy 2030.
They are looking more eager how to transform the health system further and this should be supported also by many of us who are in Ukraine.
And at the same time we need to address the challenges which are beyond the humanitarian response.
Lately in the public health.
We need to be ready for the summer and the heat that many European countries have been going through.
The same happens in Odessa or Nipro or Hockey.
Second, we need to look to the vaccination levels especially because we witnessed number of outbreaks.
We have as a double HO review 79 outbreaks across the whole Ukraine and two out of the three outbreaks, meaning 65% is related to the measles.
So we need to ensure catch up campaigns for the measles.
Furthermore, we need to look to the healthy behaviours because according to our statistics and studies, we see 2 problems currently.
One is heavy drinking among adults, which has been increasing, and the second novel products of tobacco used by youth.
And we need to invest into public health more and health promotion because this is the human capital of the future Ukraine and connected to managing alcohol control and tobacco control.
We need to invest more to the nutrition, particularly to the schools, school nutrition programmes and we should not forget the elderly, those who have led to Ukraine, those who need support on chronic care.
So we have witnessed more than two attacks per day in health.
We are looking how to ensure support on mental health.
We see inequalities are increasing and that doesn't stop humanitarian and other partners to respond.
We are concerned about the humanitarian funding to be sufficient to support people and not to leave people behind.
And we should not forget transforming the health system because this is what Ukraine is envisaging to do even at the time of war.
Thank you very much, Jarno, for this comprehensive briefing.
I'll open the floor to question first in the room where I see or leave.
Yeah, Reuters, thank you very much for for this briefing.
Just a quick one on the 2504 attacks on health.
So just to check that includes both attacks on personnel and you know, medical workers and also hospitals, medical facilities, etcetera.
So it's across the board.
Is that what you meant on that figure?
Yes, this includes all attacks and of all the type.
So they could be attacks on hospitals or primary care particularly we saw many of the primary care facilities attacked last year.
It means also healthcare workers, like in 2024, we saw many of the double tap attacks means that when the healthcare workers are going to the site to save lives, there is another attack where unfortunately, we have lost some of the healthcare workers and it could be also on the ambulance.
So it's all the attacks on health as it is that should be defined.
If there are no other question, I'll go to the platform.
We have Robin, Robin Miller from ASP.
2 questions for Liz, if I may.
Firstly, will the true toll of civilian deaths and injuries be higher than the figure that you've given that your office is able to verify?
And secondly, is there a danger that if there is a move towards a ceasefire that the justice for the catalogue of gross violations and rights abuses could be overlooked?
I think what we have said really for the last sort of three years or so is that the, the verification, the monitoring that we do is according to, to, you know, our, our methodology, it takes time.
And we've always made it clear that the, the, the true numbers are likely to be higher.
So I think this is, this is almost a given, you know, in a way that our monitoring, our verification lags behind the, the, the real number.
I mean, just to recap, since February 2022, we have documented the death of at least 13,580 civilians and 34,115 injured.
But that's what we have managed to to document and verify.
So of course, it's ongoing work that that our colleagues in Ukraine do.
You make an absolutely key point because any move towards towards ceasefire, towards peace, that our accountability must be at its heart.
There must be a just peace.
There must be accountability for the many violations that have been committed.
So that is, that is a central call.
I think we've we've outlined that work on a lasting peace.
It has to be in line with international law and it we're setting out that it had there has to be peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, which is why, of course, our colleagues in Ukraine are monitoring not only civilian casualties, but also monitoring violations that have been committed with a view at some point to ensuring accountability.
That's yes, thank you, Alessandra.
So my question is for lease.
First of all, thank you so much for the briefing and for the statistics presented today.
However, what struck me a bit with the numbers was the fact that there was not a single mentioning of the Ukrainian drones attacks on the Russian civilian population.
Ever since the end of June, the Russian median have extensively reported in such attacks with numerous victims, including in my hometown region of Bransk, as well as in Kursk, Belgorod and other parts of the country.
So what came as a bit off to me was that the casualties on the Russian side, not one showed up in this briefing, which was not the case before with the previous ones.
So my question is whether the OHCHR is aware of this attacks and casualties.
As, as you may know, that our colleagues do the monitoring for civilian casualties in Ukraine, but they are also aware of reported casualties that are in the Russian Federation and, and you have highlighted some of the regions where where you know there are reports that this has been happening.
The latest report that we published on the human rights situation in Ukraine, it covers the period from the 31st of December 2024 to the 31st of May 2025.
And it had a part where it referred to the civilian casualties in the Russian Federation.
And, and if I may, I'll just highlight this, that in that time period, the Russian authorities reported that 99 civilians were killed and 648 injured in attacks launched by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 11 regions of the Russian Federation.
Now work is ongoing, but but the UN Human Rights Office has established some information regarding these.
However, and this is important to stress, the circumstances of many of the incidents remain subject to verification due to the lack of access to the Russian Federation and limited publicly available information.
As you again may know, we have repeatedly asked for access to the Russian Federation.
So it's not a case of us not reporting on it.
It's not a case of us not being aware of it.
It's just the the different circumstances.
But I think that the key point here and and it's worth repeating, is intense and sustained attacks using explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.
And this is a general point, doesn't matter which country, in populated areas are likely to have indiscriminative impacts and as such raise serious concerns as to their compliance with international humanitarian law.
So that is a general principle and one that we will repeat no matter what the country and what and what the circumstances.
Thank you very much for this information.
Liz, is there any other question on Ukraine?
I don't see any other hand up.
So thank you very much, Liz and thanks to Yarno from Keith for these briefing of this update on the situation of Ukraine.
And so on my part, I have only one announcement to make and it's about the Human Rights Committee that tomorrow at 10 AM will hold the public meeting to review the concluding observation, state reports of this session.
On Thursday at 4:00 PM, the Committee will conclude the session and issued the concluding observation on the seven countries that they reviewed, which were Kazakhstan, Guinea Bissau, N Macedonia, Latvia, Spain, IET and Vietnam.
And on the 28th of July, the official beginning of the third and last part of the 2025 session of the Conference on Disarmament will begin under the Presidency of Malaysia, which will be followed by Mexico until the from the 18th of August to the 12th of September.
These are the few announcements I had.
If there are no further questions and I see no hands up, I'd like to thank you all very much for following this briefing and see you on Friday.