Welcome to the press briefing of the event here in Geneva.
Today is Tuesday, 17th of March.
Let me just guide you through this briefing, which is a little bit of a complex one.
We are going to hear at the beginning of the briefing by several colleagues on the situation in the Middle East, including the UN Resident Coordinator in Meridian, Coordinator who's connecting with us from Beirut, and I welcome Mr Imran Riza.
We will also hear from OHCHR on Lebanon and on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and from UNECE.
I've got Jean here with me on the podium also on the situation in the Middle East.
We'll go afterwards to other subjects, Afghanistan and Sudan and sorry, South Sudan and, and we will hear then as soon as he arrives, The briefing by the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr Skow, who will intervene at the end, unfortunately could not be with us at the beginning of the briefing.
So we will hear for him from him as soon as he arrives.
And then we will have other announcements from WMO also an item, a topic item by increased by Karima and her invitee.
I ask for your indulgence.
We'll try to do our best.
And I like to start now by giving the floor again, as I said, welcome, Mr Riza, we are really happy to have you here briefing the journalist in Geneva on the situation on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon and the current response efforts.
So you have the floor and then we will hear from the other colleagues, please.
Uh, very pleased to be with you, umm, today.
And, but certainly not in the circumstances that we're under.
Umm, Lebanon, as you know, entered these escalations just over 2 weeks ago on, on the 2nd of March.
Umm, and what we've been de, and this is coming, of course, on, on, on the umm, the crisis that we had in 2024, umm, a whole series of other crises before.
And I think one thing to just, umm, really note is that Lebanon is in a sense, and the humanitarian community trying to respond to this crisis are much weaker than we were in 2024 before the escalation happened at that point.
And I remember in 24 we kept saying we're coming out of a series of crises since 2019.
So the capacity of responding is really very limited at this point, which is why at the end of this I will talk very much about resources and the need for that.
This in the last 15 days, what has been recorded by the National Disaster Risk Management Unit is more than 2200 hostilities that that reflects a bit the scale and the speed of what has been happening and how the humanitarian toll has been quickly rising.
886 people, according according to the Ministry of Public Health, have been killed, more than 2140 that have been injured.
Children account for at least 107 of those killed.
Civilians are paying a very, very high price and displacement is increasing incredibly quickly.
Hundreds of thousands of people left their homes, many leaving with very little umm, just the clothes they were wearing.
I was at a shelter this morning.
People were talking about walking two days and trying to move with their cars.
Some others but but taking two days to get from the South to Beirut to try and find shelters.
Some of them went to a lot of different shelters before they finally found a shelter where they could get some some refuge.
So as of last night, we have 132,700 people who are being sheltered in some 622 collective shelters.
Umm, the estimate of the total number is much, much, much larger there.
The ministry of social affairs has started has given a facility for people to self register themselves when they're displaced.
The numbers on that are over a million, 1,049,000 people right now.
And so these are the self registered and what we expect is that the total number is actually over that.
And if you think that the population of Lebanon, the people living in Lebanon, meaning citizens as well as the refugees, the Syrians, others, et cetera, is close to about 5 and a half million, we're talking about almost 20% of the people living in Lebanon having been displaced.
And it's going to continue.
Umm, there have been a whole series of displacement orders.
I think many of you are very familiar with them.
We get them now on a near daily basis.
They are covering increasing, increasing amounts of territory within Lebanon, which is leading to all these movements, different places that, that people have been moving to, putting a great deal of, of umm, pressure on host communities also that are trying to help those that, that, that are displaced.
As I was saying, those that are in shelters are the minority.
It's probably about 70% that are not in shelters.
So there's the whole challenge of trying to assist them in, in, in the places where they are being, where they're trying to find some sort of safety from what is a continual, not just a set of displacement orders, but a set of strikes that are happening.
And, and the air strikes have also been increasing in terms of the geographical, umm, area that they're being hit.
Of course, the devastating effects on, on civilians I was mentioning, but one, and particularly children, it's, uh, well, in the self registration, we have at least 300,000, umm, children.
Uh, there are a lot of people with disabilities this morning also at shelter.
I was talking to some number and it's a surprising number of people that you see that are, are umm, people with disabilities.
Maybe it's not that surprising given some of the history of what has been going on over the last F few years.
Umm, or more than that even.
There is a huge psychosocial toe, umm, and not only on the children, but on the parents, umm, and there is a sense of umm, a great deal of uncertainty where to find safety.
And compared to 2024, we're seeing and we're worried about more tensions between communities as as we, we go on the call on respect for international humanitarian law.
We have continually been doing this.
We did it in 2024 and unfortunately the situation now is absolutely no better in terms of that.
In particular, we have seen it's the world WHO surveillance system on on attacks on healthcare have recorded 28 attacks since over the last 15 days.
There have been 33 zero health workers who have been killed in these last two weeks, There have been 5 hospitals that have been closed due to hostilities and there have been 48 primary healthcare centres.
On the 13th on Friday, when we actually had the Secretary General in town, we were doing the launch of the flash appeal that afternoon over here.
That evening there was a strike in a place called Bursch Kalawiye, which is in the **** Jabel tier area of of southern Lebanon.
A primary healthcare centre was struck and 12 medical personnel, doctors, nurses, paramedics were killed in that and one injured.
This was, I think the one of the single deadliest attacks we've had in Lebanon on health workers in years.
And this facility provided it was a civil civilian healthcare centre that was providing assistance care to about 20 surrounding villages.
So that's essential health services, the first point of access for thousands of people in these communities.
So you can imagine the impact that has on not just the communities, but the general psyche of of, of people that are under these these sorts of attacks.
Education is also being disrupted.
Public schools and the country's only public university are all being used as shelters.
The collective shelters that I was talking about.
We're also trying to look together with the government on trying to find other facilities that can be turned into shelters because as I was saying, many people still are not sheltered.
And we expect numbers to rise as, as military operations continue, umm, to take place because of the military operations happening, it's also become very difficult for us to access certain communities that are, are, are left behind in a sense, but people that have chosen not to leave their villages.
And much of this is of course in the South, but also in some areas in, in the Beka, etcetera.
Umm, and you can also imagine that often there are elderly that don't want to leave.
There are people who can't physically move and are very scared to leave and try and undertake.
So they're very vulnerable people that are remaining behind.
And there are others that want, don't want to risk losing their homes, their villages.
They worry for what the medium long term loss might be in in that sense.
Two other points for me, I know I'm going on for a bit, but, but very quickly 1 is that, um, this humanitarian response here is very much being coordinated and led by the government of Lebanon.
The Minister of Social Affairs has been appointed by the Prime Minister to coordinate their response.
All their entities that are involved in it, Council of the South, High Relief Committee, High Defence Council, et cetera, everyone is being coordinated quite well with that.
We are working in support of that.
We are working very closely with them.
So the the aspect of coordination, knowing what's needed, being able to sort of report on what's happening is I think a lot better than it has been in the past.
But the problem is we don't have resources.
We don't have what we need to be delivering to the to to the right extent.
So last Friday we launched a flash appeal.
We this is covers three months and it is targeting some 1,000,000 people in this three month flash appeal from the numbers I was already telling you before, we've got more than 1,000,000 people that are already in need in this.
So as this continues, we will have to continue asking for more resources and funding to to support our response.
I will say that the greatest need of course is an immediate de escalation.
We hope the political track moves on this and the something is able to be done on that.
It is extremely important that international humanitarian law must be upheld by all parties.
Civilian, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian workers, health facilities, all must be protected at all times and we need the generosity of the international community.
It will be critical to support a sustained humanitarian response at this time.
On the, the day of the flash appeal, umm, various countries already indicated some, uh, pledges and others that were along, uh, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Germany, the UK, umm, so, and we've also used our own surf funds.
The emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher allocated $15 million that we can use right away.
And we have our humanitarian fund from which we also had some $15 million that we've already been dispersing to try to respond to these urgent needs.
Thank you very, very much, Mr Risa, for this very, very useful briefing.
And we hear your appeals.
And since you spoke about human rights, I look at my left to our colleague, Tamina Akitan, who will tell us also a little bit more about the situation of human rights in Lebanon.
On behalf of the Office of the High Commissioner, thank you, Alessandra.
Another tragic chapter in Lebanon's history is being written, bringing more suffering to civilians.
Since the 2nd of March, at least 886 people have been killed, including at least 111 children, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of homes and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities.
At the same time, Hezbollah fighters have launched indiscriminate indiscriminate to barrages of rockets at Israel, injuring people and causing damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.
In many instances, Israeli airstrikes have destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed together.
People displaced by the fighting and living in tents along the Beirut sea front have also been hit, and in recent days at least 16 medical staff have been killed.
Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounts to a war cry.
In addition, international law provides for specific protections for healthcare workers as well as people at heightened risk, such as the elderly, women and displaced people.
Meanwhile, Israel has extended its extensive warning and displacement orders across southern Lebanon, adding the region between the Litani and the Zahrani rivers to the broad swath of Lebanese territory already covered by such measures.
These orders may amount to force displacement, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Large number of displaced people have also lost their homes and are left without any safe place to stay.
Entire families are sleeping in makeshift tents on the streets, exposed to harsh weather such as the recent storms.
Others remain in temporary shelters or with host communities where overcrowding is reaching a breaking point.
Multiple families are squeezed into single apartments or shape shared spaces, with tensions rising amid soaring living costs.
With this displacement comes a wide array of human rights concerns.
Proper healthcare, sufficient food and drinking water are lacking.
Education has been interrupted for another academic year, freedom of movement no longer exists and livelihoods have now been lost.
And while people are displaced, Israeli attacks are destroying and damaging their houses, farmland and other civilian infrastructure.
We have also received reports of discrimination against displaced people in the Lebanese rental market, alongside the rise in hateful rhetoric targeting certain communities on social media.
Those who have stayed in southern Lebanon now face heightened isolation and growing obstacles to access humanitarian aid as Israeli airstrikes have destroyed bridges linking the South to the rest of the country.
Statements by Israeli officials threatening to impose the same level of destruction on Lebanon as inflicted in Gaza are wholly unacceptable.
Such rhetoric, coupled with the Israeli military's announcement that it would will deploy additional forces and expand its ground incursion intensify deep fear and anxiety among the Lebanese population.
The Union High Commissioner for Human Rights for Couture urges an immediate cessation of hostilities and accountability for all violations.
He encourages the international community to support the humanitarian response in Lebanon.
Thank you very much, Tamim.
And let's conclude this initial briefing before we go to question with you and ECE.
As we have heard from acted in the past days and yesterday from FAU and we are seeing everyday the impact of the conflict is important is huge on trade and UNECE is telling us about an alternative to home and then we'll go to questions.
Yes, as the crisis in the Middle East deepens, disruptions to the movement of oil and gas in the region continue to make headlines and send global economic shock waves.
But with trade impact also already starting to be felt through strategically important hubs and corridors for the transport of goods, let's remind that the Strait of Hormuz sees going through it 2.8% of global container transport worldwide.
So governments in the regions are proactively taking measures to ease trade and transport impacts with the help of the UN Tier Convention.
The Convention is the world's only global customs transit system for the international transport of goods.
Qatar's Chamber of Commerce has called on shipping companies to register with TIER, while Kuwait's customs authorities are actively discussing furthering TIER Tier operations.
All Gulf states are party to the TIER Convention, and you might remember that a few weeks ago we announced in another region that Brazil had recently acceded to the convention as well.
Proposals in the Gulf are emerging to combine maritime and overland transport routes between the Gulf and the Red Sea.
At the same time, transport companies are also actively exploring alternative routes through the region.
Land transit options to Turkey via Iraq, Syria or Jordan provide also further opportunities to use TIER.
However, political sensitivities and administrative barriers.
Including visa restrictions affecting some drivers may constrain the potential expansion of some routes.
Infrastructure and regulatory constraints might also limit the capacity of certain types of cargo transports, such as, of course, roads transport for oil and gas.
So this will not be an alternative very clearly to the oil and gas issues affecting the Strait of Ormos.
UNEC Executive Secretary Tatiana Molshan commented.
To mitigate the economic impacts of this uniquely challenging situation to the greatest possible extent, I encourage all governments, operators and international partners in the region and beyond to continue working together to ease trade flows and facilitates a smooth and safe passage of goods and the transport crews responsible for them through the proven tier system.
Let me recall that the the Tier Convention dating back to 1975 is a treaty that is administered by SUNECE with the IRU of the International Rd Union operating the international Tier Guarantee system and the printing and distribution of tier Carnes.
Let me add that IRU, same as US, is based here in Geneva and your tier goods are carried in sealed vehicles or containers from a customs office of departure to a destination across multiple countries using a standardised tier carne or through the digitalised ETR system that serves both as custom declaration and an international guarantee for duties and taxes.
This reduces, of course, border inspection and speeds up the transit, reducing cross-border transport times for goods by as much as 92% and costs by up to 50%.
Jumping on a question received before the start of the briefing, let me just stress that the numbers I've just mentioned now are averages and they're not related in any way to the specific situations of the countries in the Gulf at the time when we're speaking.
These are global averages on global tier operations in the world.
Land and multimodal routes therefore offer a lifeline to alleviate some of the pressures affecting the region's economies, including for the import of food and consumer goods, including also medicines, and to mitigate the consequences for broader trade flows.
Making the most of these possibilities can thus help avert potentially large scale economic consequences for the countries affected.
Thanks to the three briefers.
Let me open the floor to questions now.
I start with the room and yes, the French news agency, AFP, Yes, thank you International news agency.
I have a question to Tamim about the the statements that you mentioned about the Israeli officials threatening to, to impose the same level of, of destruction in Lebanon and in in Gaza.
Have you seen any indication that Israel is moving towards with these threats and and that they are intentionally targeting civilians?
And yes, sorry, I don't mean this.
The situation in in Lebanon is is obviously catastrophic and it's tragic.
I would not compare with what has happened in Gaza, and of course we would.
We hope that what happened in Gaza will never be repeated anywhere else in the world.
We still witnessing many concerning developments, including military operations where civilians are being killed and injured and civilian infrastructure is being damaged.
As I said, we we need, there need to be investigations, proper investigations in each and every incident where civilians are impacted in order to establish the responsibilities, including the intent part, of course.
And I said, as the Secretary General said at the press conference that he gave in Lebanon that Mister Riza referred to, he said what happened in Gaza is a disaster.
That is something that can and must be avoided anywhere else in the world.
Other questions, Isabel Sacco, the Spanish news agency.
Yeah, I would like to ask him about what he mentioned on the tensions among communities, if he could developed on that.
What has been seen to that allows him to to to say that which are the communities involved?
And also a second questions is on the, if he can give us an idea on the surface of of of the territory of Lebanon, which is a small country, what is the surface that has been submitted to evacuation orders?
Yes, OK umm now on the tensions, uh, in 2024 also there were some tensions, but but much less between communities and people.
Umm, moving particularly from the South N this time it's more umm, and part of it is these umm, targeted assassinations that have been taking place because a lot of them have happened without warnings, uh, without displacement orders.
Some have been with, some have been without umm, and so there is this concern that a lot of communities have that people that might be targeted might be moving in some of their areas.
So that is I think one thing that's really raising it.
Umm, So, uh, some of the displacement orders actually did indicate for, for people to move in particular directions.
Umm, so there is a, A and, and if I can also link it a little bit to, to the answer that that my colleague that I mean just did from the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
People hear the threats, people hear the rhetoric that's coming out a lot, which creates a huge amount of anxiety.
So a lot is happening in that space that creates this tension.
So yes, we are having more worries on that.
On the other hand, you do have a lot of people that are trying to do what they can to accommodate the displaced.
Lebanon has incredibly strong civil society.
There are great NGOs that are working.
A lot of our local partners are the key responders right now.
This morning when I was at a shelter, umm, it's in an old, uh, abattoir.
It's in an old slaughterhouse, umm, that's been redone to be a shelter.
It's one of the few that's not from, umm, a classroom or a school or that it's, it's something separate and it's being run by an NGO and others are involved in it.
Umm, the people there have come from a lot of different areas and they're also, I was happy to see that even some Syrian refugees are being sheltered there and some migrants because those are the other two communities of of non Lebanese that we have to be trying to make sure we have an inclusive approach towards.
The second one was yeah, you want to.
It was about the surface.
I think the surface of Lebanon, which is interested by evacuation orders, I think it's somewhere around 1415%.
There was something from NRC, from the Norwegian Refugee Council that was put out yesterday that had a figure around that.
But off the top of my head, I think that's it.
But you can search for that.
Thank you very much, Imran.
I'll go to the next question on the platform, Olivia Le Pou Advan, Reuters.
Thanks very much for the briefing today.
Imran, you mentioned the attack on Burj Al Alaviya in Binjibel, which killed 12 medical personnel.
I was just wondering between you and Samin if there has been any UN investigation launched into that?
And Samin, you mentioned the need for investigation, but I'm just wondering if anything has been formally launched on your side, uh, into that case.
And secondly, um, Imran, you mentioned, uh, funding limits.
Could you perhaps outline some examples of choices who are now having to make, um, in terms of the types of aid and support you can give people, um, inside Lebanon and also perhaps how that compares to the previous conflict and how much more limited you, you are than before due to funding restrictions.
I'll start with Imran then if you want to add anything to me, Imran.
OK, I'll start with the second question then first.
Yeah, I mean, the situation is, is as you know, for the last year, year plus, we've all been cutting staff, we've been cutting programmes, umm, and what we were responding to was a situation, umm, that needed a lot of recovery assistance, forget reconstruction after the 24 war for at least doing some early recovery for people that suffered so much.
I mean, I didn't mention it before, but a lot of the people that we're seeing now, of course, were displaced in 24 and, umm, what they, and this, so this is their second displaced and of a, of a major scale.
And this, and they're also repeatedly being displaced within the last two weeks because some of the areas where that people move to, including in Beirut were targeted.
So you have, you know, concentrations of displaced people then trying to find other shelters as well and, and, and move on.
So, umm, yes, we're a weakened humanitarian community, umm, that, uh, had to sort of look at what resources we had and try and umm, reprioritise, shift them, talk to donors about flexibility and do all of these sorts of things to try, try to use what we can.
I mentioned a couple of funds, the SURF, the LHF that we've used and deploying on that.
But also remember that in 24, we were receiving an incredible amount of assistance also from the Gulf states, from the Saudis, from Qatar, from the UAE, from Oman, from Bahrain, et cetera, et cetera.
We were getting a lot from Kuwait and none of that is happening.
The air bridge is no longer there.
We've had I think three flights in, in the last week um, the EU arranged one.
There were a couple of others as well.
Uh, so it's nothing of the scale at that point.
So we are, um, and, and the focus, I mean, it's even about mattresses.
It's about mattresses and blankets.
Over the last two weeks that has been the main issue, finding shelter mattresses, blankets, water, dealing with wash in the shelters, trying to make sure that we're also focusing on all the vulnerabilities, people with disabilities, the elderly, etcetera and all all of this in a context.
Now today we've got a very sunny day over here, but the the last few days have been horrific in terms of sleet and rain and and still people being unsheltered in, in, in that context.
On the other question about investigations, no, we don't.
We are we are responding to to that and we are calling for respect of international humanitarian law.
But I think maybe Tamim can answer a bit on, on that.
Thanks for the question, Olivia.
In terms of our work, we continue to try to collect information the best of our abilities.
Also in a situation that's very difficult from a security perspective for our staff, we continue to to try to collect information, to document and to verify incidents.
But from a legal perspective, it is the responsibility of the party that conducts an attack to investigate and to bring those, those responsible for any violations to account.
Just a follow up, you're saying there's no longer an air bridge coming from the Gulf?
Is that due to kind of supply chain airspace issues or is that a political issue?
I think it's very much supply chain and, and dealing with the situation over there.
Umm, because I, I, there have been, I think the Saudis have already announced that they're going to try to assist and do that, but practically in the first couple of weeks, Umm, we have that.
And also it's worth remembering, I think that many of the agencies have huge warehouses that are in Dubai.
Umm, so also the, the sort of the block on the logistics, the, the supply supply chain right now is, is we're going to have to, we're looking at other ways of getting it.
So, so a lot more coming from Europe right now.
And that is exactly what I think we'll hear from Carl Skao later on.
On the global ripple, ripple effects of the humanitarian crisis.
Mr Riza, I just wanted to pick up on on that about how supplies are actually get.
Again, you sort of touched on it from Europe.
If you could elaborate a little bit more on that.
And on a similar note to Jean, I didn't quite get your comments about the tier convention.
What I'm more interested in in particular is whether or not there are serious if, if Unici is noticing major changes in the traffic flows by route, by Rd, I guess, or by other means to avoid the difficulties in the Persian Gulf area and broader Middle East just in terms of getting goods to people.
If you could call if you have any information on that.
Yes, we had a flight about 5 days ago, six days ago that was arranged by the EU.
It brought in supplies for UNICEF.
The supplies came from Copenhagen.
There's been one Rd by Rd convoy that the Jordanians put on.
That also happened last week.
And there's a third one that I can't remember, but I'll try and get you the answer later.
But so far it's been only three and and I was just contrasting it with 2024 when we had numerous fights arriving every day in that crisis.
Yes, thank you, Jamie for the question.
We don't have data on particular flows since the start of the of the bombings and the war in Iran.
IRO is putting some numbers together, but we don't have that yet available.
And I'm sure you shaved the moon.
Thank you for taking my question.
I just had a question about the Palestinian refugees in, in Lebanon.
You mentioned, Theresa, that migrants were among those who were, who were vulnerable.
But I, I guess the Palestinian refugees also in their, their camps right in the area where that are being heavily bombed.
And I'm wondering sort of what you're seeing in terms of, of their situation, especially because I guess they're, they're quite extra traumatised, you know, what's happened in Gaza when they're getting threats of having that happen in Lebanon.
Just before I get to that, the third flight was same as AGM, it was from France.
So we also have the private sector sort of helping on that, that there was a load of release relief supplies from from Paris.
The yes, I should have mentioned that of course, there is a huge impact on Palestinian refugees, Palestine refugees that are here, including those that came from Syria.
In fact, there are, there is a group of those as well.
Um, what has happened is that Anwar has managed to open some shelters out for displaced Palestinians, but not just displaced Palestinians, these shelters are actually also taking care of a lot of Lebanese, taking care of Syrians and taking care of other migrants that are here, umm, domestic, uh, labourers, et cetera.
I met with quite a few of these that them that were, umm, actually working and living in the South.
So they were displaced from that, that situation.
And often, you know, they don't have passports.
They have a whole set of other protection problems that come come into play.
But yes, the, the, the, the intent very much is to make sure that we also have good shelter for Palestinians that are being displaced.
And we will hear more about sorry.
We will hear more about Palestine in a moment from OHC Chair, again, I'd like to thank very, very much.
I'm sorry, Isabel, I didn't see your hand.
And then we'll we'll go to the next section.
You said that going back to what you said that people displace were hit in the along the Beirut sea front.
So we know about the displaced people being targeted or well affected by the the attacks where there were bombardments.
And you said later, immediately after that deliberately attacking civilians or or civilian objects amount to a war crime.
Do you consider that these attacks affecting displaced people maybe consider war crimes?
Thank you for that question.
This is precisely why we need proper investigations into the circumstances of these attacks to determine their the the the the compliance or not with international internal law principles, including whether they were deliberate or not.
But on that, yes, the the international law is very clear that deliberately attacking civilians or civilian object amounts to a war crime.
Investigations are imperative here.
So let me thank again Mr Imran Riza to connect and please, Sir, continue updating us here in Geneva.
And I see in the chat the request for the notes.
If it's possible to share your notes, we can, so that can they can be distributed here in Geneva and also from Tamim.
Thanks, Jean, for being with us.
I'll ask Tamim to stay on the podium because we will stay in the Middle East now and we will go to the situation of human rights in the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem.
Sangai, who is the head of the OHCR Sharp office in the occupied Palestinian territory and that we know from previous briefing.
You want to start very good.
The Israeli government has accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem, forcibly displacing over 336 thousand Palestinians amid increasing violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.
These are findings of a new report by UN Human Rights covering the 12 month period up to the 31st of October 2025.
The report documents increasing incidents of settler violence resulting in killings, injuries, and property damage, as well as relentless harassment, intimidation and destruction of Palestinian homes and farmland.
Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in, or enabling this conduct.
Long standing and pervasive impunity is facilitating and encouraging violence against and harassment of Palestinians, the report says.
The displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which coincides with the extensive displacement in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military, appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.
The unlawful transfer of protected people is a war crime.
The report notes that such acts potentially incur the individual criminal responsibility of officials engaged in them and, under certain circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.
We call on Israel to immediately and completely cease and reverse the establishment and expansion of settlements.
We also call for the evacuation of all settlers and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Israel must also enable the return of displaced Palestinians and stop land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions.
I'd like now to give the floor to my colleague Ajit Sangay, the head of our office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who's joining us from Oman and can update us on the current situation, also beyond the period covered by this report.
Since the end of the period covered by this report, the pace of the concerted efforts by the Israeli government to seize as much Palestinian land as possible, with as few Palestinians in it as possible, is only becoming more relentless.
To this end, Palestinians are pushed out of their homes and off their lands every day to make room for more expansion of illegal settlements.
Israeli senior official statements point to a policy to thwart Palestinian statehood and to maximise irreversible damage to Palestinians right to self determination.
Today I will brief you on just a few trends that continue to intensify after the period covered by the report.
First, an enabling policy and legislative environment continues to facilitate settlement expansion.
In February 2026, the Israeli Cabinet adopted decisions that will further extend Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, allow more Israeli land seizures, and allow settlers to purchase land from Palestinians in an environment where such transactions cannot be considered voluntary.
Second, Palestinians live with even more violence, restrictions and discriminations than they did just four months ago at the end of the reporting period.
Since the beginning of 2026, Israeli settlers have killed 7 Palestinians across the West Bank, a significantly increased rate compared to the 8 Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers all of 2025.
Since the start of the conflict in the region on 28th February, the situation has become worse.
Israeli security forces have continued to kill Palestinians with impunity, including a killing of a 19 year old this morning in an incident last Sunday when they opened fire on a car in Tubas and killed 2 parents with with two sons aged 5 and 6.
In the same time frame, Israeli security forces have also launched daily raids across the West Bank, seized dozens of Palestinian homes for several hours or several days to use as interrogation centres, and detained at least 200 Palestinians, including for social media posts labelled as incitement or glorification of the enemy.
Israeli authorities have tightened the already heavy discriminatory closures and movement restrictions across the West Bank, tearing communities apart and impeding Palestinians access to health care, livelihoods, education and basic services.
Yet Israeli settlers are roaming free with complete impunity, often armed, forcing Palestinian family after Palestinian family off the lands.
As a result, 9 Palestinian communities have been fully or partially displaced since 28th February, mostly in the northern Jordan Valley.
Over the weekend we received it.
We received harrowing accounts from the residents of one of the last standing communities there, Kirbet Humsa.
According to our monitoring, dozens of settlers attacked the community and assaulted Palestinian men and women in front of their children, stole livestock, and apparently sexually assaulted a young man in a horrifying manner.
This violence is clearing Palestinians from the area, while a new separation barrier is being constructed that will close this part of northern Jordan Valley to Palestinians entirely.
Third, settlement expansion is also accelerating.
Last December Israeli authorities approved 19 settlements.
This includes settlements in the north northern West Bank, where last year Israeli security forces had expelled at least 32,000 Palestinians who remain displaced to this day.
In January 2026, Israeli authorities issued tenders for the construction of thousands of settlement units in the so-called E 1 area.
This expansion will likely sever E Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and disrupt territorial continuity in the West Bank between North and South.
Before I close, I want to stress that Palestinians in Gaza are also still living under conditions of precarity and dehumanisation.
Even five months after the ceasefire was announced, 671 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations since ceasefire, both in the vicinity of Israeli forces deployment lines and far away in homes, tents and on the streets.
Thousands remain missing, buried under rubble or forcibly disappeared.
The entry and flow of humanitarian aid is not reliable as quantities change, many essential goods are still blocked and crossings are not dependably open.
The event of the past 2 1/2 years in the Occupied Palestinians have not only caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our lifetimes, but also presented a severe human rights crisis, with the risk of further reverberations across the region and the world.
This is a time to strengthen respect for human rights and humanitarian law.
Ending the disturbing trends of violations, occupation and impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a good place to start.
Thank you very much to both.
And I see Christian wanted to add something on the OPT.
Thank you very much colleagues and thank you very much, Alessandra.
Yeah, let me add a few on these disturbing situations.
Since the regional escalation began on 28th February 2026, the increased closure of checkpoints and road gates has further restricted movement across the West Bank.
Checkpoint closures have impeded travel between cities, while the entrances to many villages have been closed.
Between 28th February and three March alone, WHO recorded 9 incidents in which ambulances were infected.
On The Who surveillance of attacks on healthcare, the SSA system.
These incidents are classified as a tax on healthcare as they involve obstruction and interference with the delivery of health services.
WJO has received reports from HealthPartners that ambulances medical staff have been stopped at checkpoints and searched.
We also received reports that ambulance medical teams have had to take longer alternative routes to reach patients, significantly delaying access to care.
In some instances, crews were required to transport patients on foot through closed gates after ambulances were blocked.
Despite these obstructions, ambulances continue to reach patients.
However, response time have been times have been significantly delayed.
Such delays can mean the difference between life and death.
WHO calls for the lifting of access restrictions to allow unimpeded movement of ambulances, health workers and humanitarian personnel.
W Joe also calls for the protection of healthcare and respect for international humanitarian law.
And just for a bit of context, in the year of 2025 alone, so for the whole year of 2025 in the West Bank alone, 233 attacks on healthcare were registered in the SSA system across the West Bank.
While the immediate deaths related to it are fairly limited, if that's a cynical turn to lose, only 13 killed and 52 hundred 165 of these attacks are simply blocking or affecting health transport.
25 have affected health facilities.
That's the data for 2025 and it certainly has continued and has significantly increased during the recent conflict.
Thank you very much, Christian, and thanks, Ajit and Tamin.
I'd open the floor to questions in the room.
So let's go to the platform.
Jeremy Launch France Ready.
Unfortunately, we can't hear your question.
Maybe you can disconnect and reconnect while we see if there are other questions on the matter of Palestine.
So let's give one second to Jeremy.
Look, I don't know what's the problem, but we can't hear you.
Maybe you can send your question to the person you wanted to ask it to because we can't hear your voice.
I'm very, very sorry if there are.
Effect, yes, relating to the ambulances in West Bank.
I don't know if you mentioned it, but I wanted to know if this blocking of the ambulance has worsened the conditions of the patients or has them put in unnecessary risks.
Yes, but well, in related terms, I mentioned it.
It's significantly delaying the response time either getting to the patients or getting a patient to a facility, which of course delays care.
We don't have exact figures.
Our percentage is how many patients succumbed or where the conditions got worse because of that.
That's really difficult to evaluate.
But the part point is that just to repeat the few of the numbers, 196 times last year alone, obstruction of healthcare delivery, 44 * a rest or detention of health personnel and patients, 37 militarised searches of healthcare, personal facilities or transports.
So this is significantly impacting healthcare for people or just making them frightened and scared to look for healthcare.
Let's not forget about the psychological impact as well.
So it is a way to impede health and as the colleagues said, maybe also a way to terrorise the population.
And I have the question from Jeremy.
I mean, he's asking on the accusation of crimes against humanity.
He has the impression this is not the first time in this context.
Thank you for that, Jeremy.
We have indeed voiced concerns about the Commission of atrocity crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory and at different instances.
So what is needed today and what we are repeating and reiterating is that proper investigations need to be conducted in order to determine the responsibilities in these instances and determine whether these all such crimes have been committed or not and of course, hold those responsible to account.
Thank you so very much to me.
Thanks to Ajit Sange and to Christian for intervening on that very quickly, please.
Yes, IFPA question to Ajit on the displacement in West Bank, you say that set settlement expansion is accelerating, but on the displacement people, do you have any figure since October, end of October of last year any, any trend, any figure on that?
I can get you those numbers if that's OK.
From the north, of course it's 32,000 that we're holding in from the three camps from rest of West Bank, there are about 4000 and I can get you those numbers, exact figures, if that's OK, straight after this briefing.
Thanks Ajit for being with us.
I mean, I mean you stay because we've got more items.
But let's now change a little bit the the agenda as we have two guests from the field who are here to talk to us about the situation in South Sudan.
So I'd like to welcome Doctor Humphrey Karamagi, who is The Who representative in South Sudan.
He is connecting from Juba.
And for IFRC, we have Danielle Brauer, IFRC Communication Coordinator also from Juba.
And of course Christian and Tomaszo are here.
So I like to start with WHO Doctor Humphrey Karamagi and then we will hear from AFRC.
I will just give a brief overview of the progress and priorities from the front line relating to what's happening in South Sudan from the health context.
As you recall, South Sudan is the world's youngest nation and is facing a severe and worsening health emergency, which is driven by conflict, displacement, flooding, food insecurity and repeated disease outbreaks.
These challenges are unfolding while the health system is quite young and under development.
In 2026, an estimated 6.3 million people will need health assistance and more than 10 million people will require some form of humanitarian support.
Recent violence in one of the states which is Jonglei State and other affected areas has forced people to flee their homes, increasing the need for healthcare, food, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Since late December 2025, at least 11 health facilities have been attacked in this John Lee state alone and these include hospitals, primary care facilities and other community based facilities.
We've seen health facilities bombed, looted, vandalised or forced to close, while ambulance and humanitarian vehicles have been seized or destroyed.
The consequences for civilians are immediate and severe.
When vaccination, disease surveillance and referral pathways are disrupted, illness and death rises quite fast.
In South Sudan, we continue to to to face a number of outbreaks.
We've got a measles outbreak, impulse malaria, acute water diarrhoea, respiratory infections and severe acute malnutrition.
The cholera outbreak that began in September 2024 is one of the most serious recorded in the country and in the region.
Although sustained response efforts have really helped to reduce the deaths and slowed transmission, WHO in South Sudan is working quite closely with the Minister of Health and the HealthPartners to try to improve or to strengthen the National Health response.
We've supported a lot of disease surveillance activity, rapid response team deployment, vaccination campaigns, essential medicines and emergency health supplies, case management and coordination of essential health service provision in 2025.
Last year, we supported the delivery of 4 million doses of the oral cholera vaccine to protect communities in 15 high risk locations across the country.
South Sudan has a very high maternal mortality rate, one of the highest in the world at present, and we are also working closely with our partners to expand maternal and newborn health interventions in hard to reach areas.
I was out in the field last week to try to address this particular challenge.
Looking at the immediate needs, the WH OS 2026 Health Emergency appeal requests for 12.4 million U.S.
dollars to sustain life saving health operations and strengthen the health system preparedness and resilience.
This is in the context and supports the broader humanitarian needs and response plan for South Sudan, which six, $114 million to address the urgent needs of over 6.3 million people across the country.
WHO calls for self humanitarian access, the protection of health workers and health facilities and more predictable and sustained funding.
If we are to turn the the the chapter around in the country.
Without timely support, the gap between health needs and the ability to deliver services will continue to widen.
Living more communities without access to essential care at this point when they need it the most.
I will stop here for now.
Thank you very much, Sir.
Danielle Brauer, IFRC Communication Coordinator is also with us.
I'd like to speak to you about the conflict in Sudan and especially the fact that it's not only a crisis inside Sudan, it's a crisis spreading across the region.
And as I have foresee, we want to warn that the humanitarian situation in Chad, in Egypt, in Ethiopia, Uganda and also here in Sudan is deteriorating by the 2nd.
Funding dries up while needs continue to rise.
And we really see it slowly turning into a nightmare.
We know almost four and a half million people have fled now Sudan to neighbouring countries, and many of them arrive in places that were already struggling before.
It's at the border between Sudan and South Sudan and people survive there with almost nothing.
They walk long distances for water, they have only one meal a day.
And there's even a hospital that's running low, dangerously low on medicines while it's serving 60,000 people in the community and rank.
It was before a quiet and relatively small town, but now we see a new crisis unfolding there.
I was in a transit centre and that's a place where where people are waiting to be relocated to other refugee camps in South Sudan and 8000 people are still there waiting to be relocated, whilst there's only shelter for one to 2000 people.
There's no transport available due to the lack of funding to other places, so people are stuck there whilst every single day new families enter the camp and as a result thousands of families just live in makeshift tents.
They don't have any food, it's very scarce and the prices have risen sharply.
Even a fish while it's at the mall is €3.
And I spoke with Esmeralda.
She's a 36 year old mother of two.
She has two daughters of four and two years old.
And they walked from Khartoum all the way here to South Sudan.
And they only wear the clothes they were wearing.
And she had a bucket with water to carry.
And for nine months now, she calls the sticks with bed sheets in between.
They call it their house.
She collects firewoods to sell to other people for cooking.
And most of the days it's not even enough to feed her children.
She told me that she doesn't know where her husband is.
She doesn't know where her children are.
The rest of her children, she only has her two daughters there in that makeshift tent.
But yet she still wakes up every single morning to collect firewood.
And, and she still has hope that today for one day will be at peace and that her children will have a life that's more than just survival.
But then there also is the unpredictability of the climate.
And I think it was already touched upon just now because the rainy season is approaching in South Sudan.
And I said in the whole country, 10s of thousands of people are living in insufficient shelters made from clothes.
And when the rain arrives in a few weeks, much of the area will flood and waterborne diseases like Colorado will spread very easily.
In chats we see the same picture, a similar picture emerging.
They there are many Sudanese refugees who fled there for and most of them are children.
Most of them don't go to school and especially there since it's dry season now, access to water is a daily struggle.
Most people only survive with 7 to 9 litres of water per day, which is only half of the humanitarian standard and at the same time food assistance is reduced significantly, even in some places it has been cut by half for 2026, while food prices are increasing significantly.
Luckily, across the the region, we have Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers that are with support of the IFRC working around the clock to help people fleeing the conflict in Sudan in rank where it was only only in that place, 150 volunteers every single day support people.
They provide clean water, they build latrines and also in chat and South Sudan.
The IFSC provides cash assistance to allow refugees, returnees and also the host community to buy food, to buy tarpaulins or well to, to improve the shelter.
Especially now rainy season is close, but still the needs continue to rise.
They're growing and growing while funds is are drying up.
And let me conclude this by talking about the Middle Eastern conflict because it was already touched upon.
But even here in the Sudanese region and in the neighbouring countries, as I ever see, we are already experiencing the impact of that conflict.
We see disruptions in supply chains, which makes it very much more difficult for us to deliver essential AIDS.
For example, there are tents currently stored in Dubai that are facing delays before coming here to South Sudan.
But we really need it for the operation and especially with rainy season so close, we want to use the tents to treat people suffering from cholera.
We also have special, special kits to treat cholera, but they cannot deliver and be delivered to chat yet.
And an IFRC food shipments to Sudan could not go to Port Sudan.
It it wasn't allowed to go through the Red Sea, so it had to come all the way through Egypt.
It makes it our work more costly and more importantly, it makes people in dire need of AIDS wait even even longer.
So our call, let me conclude our call is very clear.
The IFRC is supporting national societies to help people survive today, but our call upon the international community is really big to help prevent the crisis from becoming an even greater, greater humanitarian nightmare tomorrow.
Thank you very much to both of you, to Doctor Karamagi, and to you.
Let me see if there are any questions.
It's on Sudan to IFRC on the the briefing notes on Sudan mentioned the the fears that the refugee crisis situation could become a nightmare with the with the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
And I was wondering if you could explain us what is the impact of the Middle East war is having on the Sudan refugee crisis?
Yes, it thank you for the question.
It's exactly as I was just mentioning that is already disrupting the supply chains.
So we see that it has a direct implication on the help we deliver to people here.
And I already gave 3 examples, but I can repeat it, of course.
So first we have tents that are in Dubai now and we really need them here in South Sudan to treat people, for example, for for cholera, it's bigger tents, but they're stuck and delayed in Dubai and we don't know when they will arrive here.
And the same goes for oral rehydration point kits.
So it's it's a kit to help people treat Colorado.
They have to go to chat, but they're still in Dubai.
And we're even looking for to see if they can be delivered from the UK.
But the only thing we know is that it will be more costly and it will take longer to help people.
And the other example is about Sudan.
So there was a food shipments coming to Sudan, to Port Sudan, but it wasn't allowed to go via the Red Sea.
So we had to to do it all the way via Egypt.
And people in dire need of food need to wait longer before they get any help.
So that's the direct consequence we feel already here on the grounds.
And it is a very worrying situation, especially with rainy season coming up.
We want to be prepared and we want to help people.
Thank you very much to our briefers.
I see the in the in the chat request for notes.
I think WHO has already sent them.
And Tomaso will do immediately that for Danielle.
So thanks also to the doctor Karamagi and to Daniel Browser in Juba.
And now I would like to, as I said, said at the beginning, to welcome here at the, in the, in the press room, the representative of the World Food Programme.
We have the honour and the pleasure to have with us Mr Skao, who is the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, who is going to tell us we have already heard but more about the growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and the global report effects on the world, especially in situation, especially in the Middle East.
Thank you very much for taking the opportunity of being in Geneva to come and brief our journalist.
And just for a little bit of housekeeping, we'll we'll go back to Afghanistan afterwards.
And we also have another guest from Onrist.
But let's now give the floor to Mr Skao for his introductory RE/MAX and then we will take questions.
And it's really great to be with you.
It's actually my first time here and on top of it to be here in person.
But of course, heard many times about this great opportunity to engage with with media, with the press on humanitarian concerns across.
So I wish the circumstances were were better, but really glad to be with you for for this exchange.
And I will, you know, really want to draw attention to the escalating humanitarian fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, which is growing more concerning by the day.
And I saw this first hand in Beirut last week when I visited.
Lebanon is really, I guess you can say the epicentre of, of the humanitarian or the most immediate humanitarian fallout of this, of this conflict.
There is great uncertainty on the ground.
Everyone I met was desperate to know how and when this will end.
I landed midweek at the start of that major escalation of hostilities and for the entire visit there were evacuation orders and air strikes across the city and also in southern Lebanon, intense military activity that has now driven a massive displacement in just a few days.
The government estimates, as I'm sure you heard from I missed this morning over 800 and 3800 and 30,000 people.
And these are now rising people having fled their their homes.
Many of them that I met and spoke to had been displaced before.
They had not managed to, to recover from that displacement in 24.
And so now they really have no margins to to cope.
They have really been floored by the scale and the speed of of this escalation of hostilities.
The government has been leading an immediate and large scale humanitarian response to stabilise situation.
Hundreds of of dedicated shelters have been open and schools have been repurposed as as makeshift shelters.
The World Food Programme and others have also then scaled up to support these efforts and to contribute to the humanitarian response.
We are providing food, hot meals and bread to over 250 shelters to 10s of thousands of people and also providing cash assistance to now over 200,000 people who have been displaced.
And we do this through the government social safety net system that we have been there helping also the government to set up.
But what we have achieved in this past couple of weeks is very fragile.
To sustain this response in Lebanon and to contain, frankly an even greater crisis from spreading, we now need donors to step up the way they did in 2024, I should say.
But what we've not seen so far in this crisis, the Secretary General announced, as I'm sure aware of, flash appeal for $308 million in new funding for the UN Lebanon operation to provide life saving assistance and protection.
And we at WFP were specifically asking for $77 million over the next three months to sustain these vital programmes that I just spoke to.
But beyond the immediate fallout in Lebanon, the conflict has also caused major knock on effects on global humanitarian operations.
And as you know, we are the cluster lead on logistics.
So we are really feeling the pain on this.
Our supply, supply chains may really be on the brink of the most severe disruption since COVID and the Ukraine war back in 2022.
Our shipments of life saving food are being affected by the squeeze on trade.
It is taking us longer to deliver by sea and our costs have increased.
In the Strait of Hormuz, humanitarian shipping has already been restricted on account of of security risks.
Maritime operators are also becoming more risk averse and many are rerouting vessels to avoid the bubble mandeb.
This has brought further delays and higher shipping costs to all our operations across the world.
In one case, a recent rise shipment from India to Port Sudan was required to take a 25 day detour some 9000 kilometres around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid travelling through the bubble Mandeb Strait.
So humanitarian supply chains into Afghanistan has also been affected as it has become too dangerous to deliver through the Iran corridor or through what was, you know, usually the the corridor from Pakistan.
This has added to existing supply chain difficulties as as, as I said, as the Pakistan Afghanistan border also closed in October 2024.
WFP has adapted to supply chain disruptions where we can to keep Afghanistan supplied.
For example, we're now delivering through an alternative route through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and then over the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan.
But I think this just illustrates how complex now these deliveries have begun become.
And in Lebanon and in Iran, we are distributing now more cash assistance instead of food rations where markets are are functioning.
But there is only so much we can control and and WFP's operating costs have have now jumped up as a result of the disruption.
Our our shipping costs are up 18% so far and we have thousands of trucks on the roads every day and and these are now running on much more expensive fuel due to the oil prices.
Higher costs mean that we can buy less food or provide less cash to beneficiaries.
Before this crisis we were already stretching our funds to the limit so you can just imagine the burden this adds.
We have been forced to cut life saving food reassions for people in famine conditions in Sudan.
We are only able to support one in 4 acutely malnourished children in Afghanistan, which is now the world's worst malnutrition crisis.
And I think this just exemplifies that already before, you know, we were in a really tight space.
And now then being able to spend less on the people we serve and more on ourselves because of these higher costs is really a major challenge for us.
We also have new analysis that suggests that the Middle East conflict could have an even more severe impact on global hunger that goes beyond the immediate humanitarian impact, but also these disruptions to humanitarian operations across of immediate concern.
Global fertiliser markets are now being disrupted just as sub-Saharan Africa heads into a planting season.
Fertiliser flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which is now at a virtual standstill, and some 25% of the world's supply comes through this this channel.
This is a major risk to countries such like Somalia and Kenya, which depend on Gulf imports of their fertilisers there.
It's more than 25%, it's beyond 30% of that fertiliser coming from the Gulf.
A reduction in fertiliser supply will increase input costs for farmers and in turn that will mean lower farming yields overall.
In the worst case, this means lower yields and crop failures next season.
In the best case, higher input costs will be included in food prices next year.
That is better than widespread crop failures, of course, but price rises will be passed on to ordinary families who often are already struggling.
The oil shocks will also transmit quickly into food price inflation, particularly in import dependent economies as energy is a critical input to agriculture systems.
So taken together, the spike in global food and fuel costs could leave millions of families priced out of stable foods, particularly in import dependent countries like sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
In fact, our analysis projects that if the Middle East conflict continues through June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger by price rises.
This would take global hunger levels to an all time record and it's a terrible, terrible prospect.
This just reinforces the importance of the escalation to this conflict.
The consequences are falling on the world's most vulnerable people who are already living in dire conditions.
They do not have the margins to cope with a new jump in living costs.
All those with influence must now step up and protect them.
It is vital to contain the knock on effects of this crisis and to make more resources available for the humanitarian response to the crisis.
Thank you very much, Mr Scour, for this very, very important notes.
I start with the room, Christian Erich, who is the representative of the German News Agency.
Christiana, with the German Press Agency, I have two very different questions.
The first one was you mentioned 45,000,000 additional people could be pushed into acute hunger.
Could you tell us what the overall figure is or would be without the conflict going on until June?
And the other question is on the shipments, do you actually get preferential rates from shipping companies or do are you paying market rates for shipments?
I'm sorry, should I have waited?
No, no, OK, OK, OK, OK, sorry since I don't know the, the OK.
So you know we are counting 319 million people acutely food secure and that's a three fold increase in the past five years.
So it's record high already.
Now situation in Gaza has stabilised, but we still have famine in Sudan.
So you know, we're talking already about historic heights in terms of of world hunger and and starvation.
Now add to that then 45,000,000, you can do the math to what would that be 360 million or something.
And you know, really it is again, taking this to a whole other level, but I think what's important is also, you know, our ability to to cope with this.
WFP last year had a 40% cut in our resources.
So we already saw, you know, historic heights in terms of needs.
We are seeing major cuts to our funding and our capacity and resources to to manage those needs.
And you know, in addition, of course, now there are increased costs to our operations.
So it's really an equation that doesn't come together.
And then my second, yeah.
So we have actually when, when now some of the shipping companies added surcharges because of the the, the conflict.
They had given us exemptions early on, something we negotiated together with UNICEF for our joint UN supply chain work.
So that will save us, you know, a few $1,000,000 already in the next few weeks, depending on how long this continues and, and if we can maintain those exemptions.
But yes, we are usually working on market rates, but here the the shipping companies have stepped in to support just just this is just a very short question from Reuters.
It's just a question I have in the chat, is that correct?
And that's not chronically hunger.
That is, you know, acutely food insecure, which means that you have been impacted by a shock.
Of course, Sudan has been a major driver.
Gaza has been a major driver in the past couple of years.
But it's also extreme weather events from climate change and other natural disasters that are causing those shocks.
But it's not, let's say, you know, chronic food insecurity is shock related food insecurity.
It can also be from an economic shock, as would be the case now.
Should the prices go through the roof in the next few weeks because of these higher oil prices and and the lack of access to fertiliser?
I have a few questions about the acute food insecure in Lebanon.
You think 1,000,000 might be acute food insecure by mid 26.
How many would you say are acute food insecure today in Lebanon?
My second question is when you're trying to reach people now being extremely displaced in Lebanon, how do you deal with the security situation?
And the third question I had is, if you compare today's humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and what you're seeing today compared to earlier experiences that you've had, how would you characterise it?
To start with the last question, you know, I was in Lebanon about a week into the conflict back in 2024.
And, you know, it was to some degree Deja vu to step into these public schools that have now again turned into to makeshift shelters.
You know, having four to five families trying to separate a school classroom into their, you know, bedrooms and, and living rooms, using the school bathrooms as water and sanitation facilities and, and wanting, you know, with a lot of fear and uncertainty, but also wanting to kind of establish some kind of normality and, and, and, and dignified life for, for themselves and, and, and their children.
And so, you know, in many ways it was a similar picture, but it's also different.
I think one difference is that the government is really leading and coordinating this effort.
Second is that us, the humanitarian community, are even better prepared in stepping up.
I mean, partly because we've been through the drill only two years ago.
But so, you know, the systems were really there.
The fact that we were able to work with the government to set up a cash system to support those displaced within 48 hours.
I think it's not, you know, unheard of.
We were in those shelters with hot meals 24 hours after people arrived.
I think that's also, you know, a bit of a record.
So I think that is the way that the government is leading this effort.
They're also promoting an inclusive approach.
We know that there are tensions between communities and when that happens, you know, they're quick to find solutions and move, you know, whether it is Syrian refugees into another facility or, or, or other communities where where it's not working.
So they're taking that, they're saying and doing all the right things and and the system is really stepping up and responding at scale very quickly.
I think what's different to last time is that the money is not following, you know, we are forwarded internal resources, but we desperately need donors to step up and contribute for us to be able to sustain this, this level, the scale over over time.
So, so that's a little bit of comparison.
I think it's also impressive to see Lebanese solidarity.
I mean, this is really Lebanese communities supporting Lebanese communities beyond anything.
I mean, 800,000 people being displaced, some 600 thousand of those live with friends and families.
You know, I visited some of those apartments.
They're often not the people with a lot to start off with.
And now they're housing another three to four families, you know, on their floors.
And so, you know, it's really, I think also important to pay tribute to that, to that intra Palestinian or Lebanese solidarity.
I think also, I mean, in terms of acute food security, I mean, I guess you could in one way argue that all the 800,000 that have had to leave everything behind and are on the road, you know, are struggling to to know when and how they're going to eat next.
And I think that's how we kind of define that's the basic definition of being food insecure.
But we will have better numbers, you know, going forward on this.
But I think the most immediate concern when you arrive at these shelters is, is food.
You can, there is nowhere to cook.
People don't have the resource.
And so we're providing those hot meals.
What we've also learned from last time is that it's very important for people to have their own agency in this.
So we are already together with UNICEF, setting up kitchens around these shelters so that the communities themselves can basically provide food for themselves rather than have commercially procured hot meals being brought to these to these shelters.
And of course, the cash support is key here moving forward.
That is really what also injects resource into the economy and and helps people find their own solutions, especially also for those then who are living with family members and inside communities and who don't first and foremost need food, but they need means to to be able to sustain themselves.
What about the security situation in your work?
How concerned applied for we have notified convoys to the South.
When I was there, we had to cancel because of the intensification of of the of the attacks.
We had another such convoy cancelled yesterday, but we were able to reach 2.
But we have not been able to be to those frontline communities.
But first and foremost, of course, it's those who have left who have nothing.
I mean, those who are remaining, yes, you know, a few weeks from now, they certainly are going to be on struggling and you know, we want to access them already now.
But I think our number one concern are the people who have left everything behind.
But second, of course, is to try to reach those who are are staying behind.
And and we have been able to have a convoy tutor, but but we have so far not reached the far South.
Thank you very much, buddy.
Hager Phoenix TV Yeah, for this TV from Hong Kong, the question that I'm wondered Lebanon crushed even before the crisis on this state debt.
So I'm just wondering how the humanitarian crisis is deeper for the state debt.
So how could you ensure the civilian and the country could pay for food and the, the social equipment?
And what's a bigger consequence beyond or after the fact, beyond Lebanon?
I don't know if that's a good question for you because I'm trying.
No, I think I, I won't be able to answer that.
I mean, Lebanon and the Lebanese have been through many crises over the past 5-10 years.
So there's no doubt about that, you know, And so you could say they have the experience, but you know, that doesn't make it any less harsher every time they're hit.
On the contrary, I think, you know, every time you have less margin.
And that goes at the macro level in terms of the overall economy and the capacity of the state to respond.
But it's also about the individuals, of course, that have been hit over and over and don't now have, you know, the margins to cope themselves either.
As I said, I feel really, I had good meetings with government when I was there, that they are doing, you know, everything they can to respond, of course, with limited capacity and resources.
And, and they really deserve now the international community to step in and, and, and support them.
And, and I think, you know, it is a fragile situation.
And so it's important to to step in and support first and foremost for the humanitarian imperative, but also for, you know, for continued stability and social cohesion in the country.
I think it's important to say that that, you know, this is a moment of truth and, and really there is need to step up and, and, and, and support.
Let me go to the platform.
Jamie has been waiting patiently.
Jamie Keaton, Associated Press and then I go to there are a few more here.
Hello, Mr Scouse, and nice, so nice to see you again, Jamie of Associated Press.
I wanted to ask you, you mentioned the needs, financing needs in particular.
What are you doing to reach out to the United States, which has been traditionally your largest donor, of course, had some cutbacks last year, but is also a belligerent in the current conflict for them.
Whether it be Congress, whether it be the administration, whether it be individuals in the United States who may want to open their pocketbooks to try to help offset some of these difficulties that you're having.
So specifically what are you doing with the United States to appeal to them because obviously the cost of this conflict also has a very high dollar, dollar value as well.
My second question just has to do, if you could just be a little bit pithy on your comment that you made earlier.
You, you, you mentioned that that the current sort of disruptions to supply chains have had a knock on effect.
Could you just in a nutshell, I mean, you mentioned everything from, you know, from Africa to, to, to Afghanistan and others in Lebanon.
Of course, if you had to just sort of quantify it, you mentioned that it is the maybe the worst since the COVID conflict or the Ukraine conflict.
But can can you be a little bit sort of sweeping about the how really significant this crisis is for WFP and who is suffering most in a nutshell?
That second question is a hard one to answer because I mean, you know, it is a long list.
But let me start with the with the first.
I mean, we are engaging the US and all donors and tapping every door we can, whether in Rome, here in Geneva, at capital level.
And of course, I met with the donors jointly and individually, also in, in, in Beirut, you know, making the case for the needs, but also the fact that we are, you know, translating these contributions effectively and efficiently into impact and, and, and results.
I am concerned because on one hand, you know, increased energy prices also puts additional pressure on domestic budgets.
I'm also concerned that there is a general move towards investing more in defence rather than in, in, in humanitarian and development assistance.
And I think, you know, these latest developments add further risks to that, you know, but we always make the case that that, you know, this is a small bill, if you will, compared to everything else.
I think Tom Fletcher has made the case that, you know, there are reports of this war costing more than a billion dollars per day.
You know, a billion dollars will go a very long way in our programmes of supporting those who have been the hardest hit by this conflict.
I mean, I think it's important.
There is a lot of talk about the economy of this war, the supply chains, of course, the, you know, the military strategies, the different weapon systems, the geopolitics.
But there is not enough attention really to the people who are being squeezed, whether, you know, at the centre of these conflicts but but also beyond.
And and so I really hope that you in this room carry that story that requires more attention, I think in comparison to everything else.
I mean, I would say that, you know, we already before this war, we were at what we call the WFP in a perfect storm where on one hand, you know, hunger has never been as severe as now in terms of numbers and how deep that hunger is.
As I said, pushed by more conflict, pushed by extreme weather events and, and including having, you know, famines declared at the same time, the resource have fell sharply from 2023 and 24 levels.
We have tried to cope with that by, you know, making sure that we are as efficient and effective as possible.
We have really downsized 1/3 of our global HQ.
We have really streamlined and cut wherever we can so that, you know, a larger proportion of the resources available go into the programmes and, and, you know, we are basically stretched to the to the limit there.
But but really, we are struggling with capacity and resources to meet these needs.
And on top of that, we are navigating a much more complex political reality.
And I think the extreme element of that is danger and security to our staff.
We've never seen more humanitarians killed on these front lines.
And you know, last week we had a day where we had colleagues killed in Lebanon, in Sudan, in the eastern DRC on a one-on-one same day.
I don't think that has ever happened before.
And so I think, you know, that speaks to what was the context already before.
And if you now then add this situation, which makes it, if we only stick to that much, much more expensive on top of it so that we are having to spend more on ourselves again than the people we serve.
Obviously that, you know, that just aggravates this, this perfect storm, short of the fact that it's also driving up needs both in the theatre itself, but also beyond due to these indirect implications for hunger.
I think maybe that's where I would, but I, but I think also I don't want to leave here also, you know, a sense that we are kind of leaning back and, and everything is impossible.
I think it's important also to speak to, you know, the difference we make.
As I said, you know, the record time we scaled up to hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon, The fact that in Gaza, despite all the challenges, we are serving 1.5 million people every month.
In Sudan, you know, we are so supporting 5 million people monthly across the country, 2 million of those in in areas of of risk of famine.
I mean, I think, you know, it's important we speak to these challenges, but I think it's also important that we speak to the achievements because you know, at the end of the day, that also is the reason why donors should invest.
We are a system that is delivering, We are bringing, we're saving lives, we're living, leading suffering and we are bringing stability in a very fragile.
Environment to the world important to underline this, but I see Jimmy has a follow up.
So I think I just want to follow up on that.
I just want to be clear on something.
You know your way around Capitol Hill, you've been to Congress, you, I know that you know your way around Washington.
I, I just want to how much is it your argument that the United States in some ways may have an outsized responsibility to help try to offset these issues?
And what, what kind of arguments are you specifically making to them to help convey that message to them?
I mean, I think we're bringing the safe same message to, to to everyone and I hope there will be traction.
You know, I had a good we have had good conversations on our response in Lebanon as the modem as as the most immediate humanitarian fallout of of of this of this conflict.
You know, last time last year, there were a lot of concerns.
the US remained our largest donor and, and you know, we hope that they will continue to be also in to this year.
But we need to diversify.
We need to move beyond, you know, I, if you look at my travel pattern, I'm, you know, really trying to push the envelope on our diversify and, and, and, and broadening A donor base agenda.
We are in a different environment and moving forward, this entire system needs to look at different ways to sustain its, its funding models.
And so, you know, while the engagement with the US and and some of our traditional donors remain a top priority, we also need collectively to do more to have to broaden the burden, if you will, or the opportunity to invest in these important programmes indeed.
Thank you very much, John Zarro, Costas, France, Vancat and The Lancet.
I was wondering, so if you could elaborate a little bit on how you see the situation in Yemen and also overall in sub-Saharan Africa with special focus on Central and West Africa where you've put out an alert that 55 million people could be at risk, including 13 million children.
What's the latest on that?
So your first question was, can you remember you want to repeat it?
Yeah, the first one was on Yemen.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
So Yemen, I mean, so we are, you know, we are really operational in the South and, and we're delivering to some 2 million people there on a monthly basis and, and ready to do more if needed.
Our, our real concern is in the north, of course.
And I'm sure you're aware that, you know, there are 75 UN colleagues who have been detained in the north, 38 of those are from WFP.
On top of that, the Houthi authorities have confiscated all our assets.
They're occupying all our offices across the country or across the north.
And so obviously in that environment, it's impossible for us to to to operate.
That is having a terrible hard hit on the people.
We know that and that's why we always speak to the needs in the north despite the fact that we are just now not able to to operate.
We are trying to support others to do so and we hope to be back as soon as possible.
Of course, we are extremely worried that Yemen, in one way or the other, will be dragged into this broader war.
We hope that's not the case, but should that be the case, we need to see how we can respond in the north.
As I said, unless anything fundamentally changes in terms of the operating environment, for the moment it's not possible for us to to operate ourselves.
But but we are looking to see how we support others.
I think in, in West Africa, I mean, I think, you know, I was in Ukraine when this war started and the Ukrainians were really worried that it would bring attention away from, from the, the war on Ukraine.
Well, you know, if the Ukrainians are worried, you can just imagine our teams in, in the Sahel, attention and low funding was already a major issue.
And I think, you know, this is not going to make it any, any easier for us there.
Now the cost of our operations are, are going up.
I mean, we are heavily dependent there on, you know, trucks shipping food or nutritional, nutritional supplementals through the coastal countries.
And in Mali and Burkina we're also operating the air service because the areas that has been closed off by by militants and and those are very expensive as well.
So, you know, we have a situation where the prospects of mobilising more resources are coming down.
Overall, the economies are really pushed by this maybe more than in other places and will be impacted also by the fertiliser crisis and, and, and, and now you know we we are also seeing an increase to the cost of our operations.
So, so they are really in a squeeze and I thank you for for helping to draw attention to that.
I mean, I, I mean, when I speak about it, I think Afghanistan is really, you know, a critical example where we have gone from assisting 8 million people to around 1.52 million people, you know, going into this winter.
It's a malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan really.
I mean, look at UNICEF stats that they have put out and the money is just not simply there right now, though.
We have on top of that this supply chain issue where we are not able to bring in commodities from Pakistan.
Plan B was Iran obviously not possible and we're having to take it all the way around as I just suggested now.
So you know, really people are dying in Afghanistan due to the lack of of assistance in Somalia.
We have clear indications that we're heading into famine.
We have two consecutive droughts.
You know, we have all the data on Somalia and we know from history what happens when there are two consecutive droughts.
We were able to prevent that.
We did not have famine in Somalia, but that was because donors stepping in.
We supported some 4 million people in 22 to avert that famine.
We are now struggling to see some 700,000 in in Somalia.
So we have the data on Somalia.
We have the capacity to experience the systems, but we just don't have the the funding.
And my worry is that we're not moving into situation where, you know, we will only get the resources once it's too late, if you will.
And people have really already fallen off the Cliff.
I would want to draw attention to South Sudan.
You know there are IPC 5 pockets.
People are already dying in the upper night and jongle where the only way to get there is through air, either air drops or helicopter, very expensive.
And we are having conversations whether we can afford to actually continue to assist those populations.
That has never happened basically in WFP before.
But if we are prioritising that, that means that we have to cut basically everything else.
And, you know, there are a lot of struggling people across South Sudan in what is a very fragile moment also for the political and security processes.
So, so that's another example, you know, of this extreme situation in terms of hunger and lack of of resources.
And of course, we're worried also there that bringing up cost further is going to make the situation even even more difficult to manage.
I've got a question about the WFP hub in Dubai.
Could you maybe tell us, I mean, is it fully operational?
And if not, what kind of disruptions is it facing?
And also purely on the Strait of Hormuz, how key of a distribution route is it for the WFP?
Do you have any data about the volume of shipments that used to go through exactly this route and perhaps where it was then going?
OK, so we have a logistics hub in, in, in Dubai like and so that's a number of other agencies.
So you know, in order to be able to use the warehouse or use the the commodities that we have available there for, for operations around.
But of course the cheapest option is to go or would have been to go through the Strait of Hormuz.
Should it be working as as as normal.
I think our main concern there is one, the price of oil going up, which you know impacts our operations across and two, the constraints on access to fertiliser.
As I said, 25% of the world fertiliser is coming through that straight.
So but of course you know, it would also add to that if we could use our Dubai ports in a normal way, but we're not sitting back waiting for that.
We are using other, other alternative routes through Oman and through Saudi Arabia to get to get stuff out.
Carl, thank you very, very much for this incredible, useful briefing.
I really thank you for passing by using your visit to Geneva.
Please continue briefing us and the journalist here in Geneva on this extremely complex situation.
I would just like to look at Shannon because I'm asked by the journalist if it's possible to share the briefing notes, cards, briefing notes at the beginning.
And we will continue to stay there because we haven't finished the briefing.
So let me go to Unri's now and I I really asking for Tamil indulgence because we have got these guests have been patiently waiting.
Can you can you please come to the podium and I'll ask the journalist please to, to.
OK, so let's have the colleagues of Unruh and then we will finish with the last item of OHCHR.
And we still have the BRIMO online for an announcement.
I'd like to welcome Mrs Gosh to the briefing to tell us about the International Panel on Inequalities.
It's a great pleasure to be here and to be part of this briefing.
And after a lot of extremely disturbing news that this media room has had to face over the last couple of hours, I want to just perhaps suggest some possibilities for hope in what is otherwise a very, very bleak global scenario.
This is about an initiative that began really with the G 20s South African presidency when some of us were tasked, led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, in a committee to report on the extent of inequality.
And I think I don't need to talk about how important and how significant inequality has become across the world today.
Everybody has experienced it and we have just heard some of the implications of that in terms of the extreme hunger, impoverishment, violence that is occurring around the world.
Our report found a number of drivers of inequality and and some very striking features of inequality, especially in terms of the fact that it's not just income inequality, but wealth inequality that has become even more severe.
And that over the last 25 years, the top richest 10% of the richest 1% of the world has captured more than 40% of all new wealth, while the bottom half of the world's population has got only 1% of the wealth.
And of course, all of these inequalities are intertwined with inequalities of race and gender and location and so on.
Now we need much more knowledge about all of this.
These are still debated issues.
These are still not A lot of policy makers still need to be convinced that these are important issues.
We have seen this as an inequality emergency.
But across the world, many governments do not necessarily see this as an inequality emergency, however.
So one of our main proposals was in fact that we set up an international panel on inequality, broadly along the lines of the IPCC on climate change.
That would actually bring out the data that would assess the available research, provide some consistent information that everyone could rely on, on the broad extent, the trends, the drivers and causes, the different policy measures and their impact.
And just so that people around the world and governments around the world get a better awareness of the problem and a greater ability to actually deal with it.
So our approach has been to envisage a globally balanced international coordinating body that would provide analysis and a technical service to synthesise and provide what would become authoritative and independent assessments and analysis of inequality.
This was well received at the G20.
We have now in fact taken this much for further with the governments of South Africa, Spain, Norway and Brazil championing this initiative.
And yesterday we had the first meeting of the founding committee of this International Panel of inequality, which I'm happy to say was a very fruitful discussion.
We are imagining that this IP, the IPI, just like the IPCC has, will play a vital role in providing neutral science based and objective assessments of climate change.
We also have the good news that Professor Stiglitz, the chair of this committee, and Winnie Biannima met with the UN Secretary General last week and he has also expressed his support for this initiative and look is looking forward to taking it further.
And so at this moment we are thinking of a very lean body, but which will involve the voluntary work of many people around the world.
Already we have 700 economists and other social scientists who are willing to provide this.
And we will actually develop this proposal further in a meeting again in South Africa.
And we are hoping that by the end of the year we would be able to establish an international panel.
Now, why the need for this?
Not just to provide scientific and objective assessments, but just as the IPCC brought to the fore the issue of climate change and actually got people to recognise it as a problem, got governments to see that something had to be done, got civil society more enabled to do something about it and to ask for changes.
So we are hoping that the inequality emergency will be addressed by independent scientific data that will enable governments and people together to actually bring in measures that would fight it.
So here in Geneva yesterday, in a time of great disruption and great global tragedy, really in many ways, we are also hoping that this is a moment where we can think positively about future changes and that this is the first beginning step in what could be a transformative approach towards what are the very, very great challenges of our time and how we can address them.
I'd be very happy to take any questions.
Yes, we need a little bit of hope.
I don't know if there are any question on this.
Look at the platform too.
But thank you very, very much for this, for this briefing, for bringing this information to us.
Anyway, you want to add anything?
So thanks a lot for this.
Thank you for taking my question.
My question is how do you put to operationalise your findings?
Are you working, do you have a strategic plan to work with the policy makers?
Because identifying the problem is one thing, right?
And we know this problem has been around for decades now.
So that's my question, how do you plan to strategize to actually make it actionable your findings?
Yes, well, you know, in we have a rather short report, but that report already identifies not just drivers, but policy measures both nationally and internationally that can be taken.
But obviously all of these have to be very context specific, but they also have to be much better researched.
So the panel would identify the extent of it because there's still debate, there's still a lot of different measures of inequality, There's still many sort of contending arguments.
So we need, first of all, to get some global consensus on the numbers, the metrics and the extent of it and the degree of intersectionality of all of these.
And we need much more objective consensus about the drivers of inequality.
And once we have that, there are very, very specific measures that can be undertaken at national and international levels.
We have outlined many of them.
The dramatic decline in public wealth compared to private wealth, how that can be recovered.
The extent to which financial deregulation has unleashed forces that adversely affect countries depending on where they are in the currency hierarchy.
The nature of the provision of public services, which has been dramatically changed by the absence of progress taxation, the shift to much more regressive taxation.
The impact of intellectual property rights that have privatised and commercialised knowledge, leaving not just countries but people unable to deal with the very important and urgent challenges of our time, like climate change and health challenges, etcetera.
We have identified the drivers.
We have looked at possible institutional and policy and regulatory measures that could change those, but we need obviously need much more positive response from governments.
So the idea of the panel is to actually bring these out much more in the public domain and hope that that will assist both governments and people to actually demand these changes.
We do have very positive feedback from some governments, as I mentioned, the champion governments that have already got involved in this process.
We are interacting with others and we're hoping that the UN, if it actually does move towards a resolution in the General Assembly to recognise this problem, we'll also assist in enabling greater dissemination of the possible changes that can be made.
Thank you very much, Mrs Really, for this, for this briefing.
And thanks Karima to bring her here.
And now, please bear with us.
We still have to hear from Tamim and Christian on Afghanistan.
On the situation in Afghanistan that we have touched upon a little bit today while we were speaking about the various consequences of the Middle East crisis.
But I think Tamim and Christian have a little bit more on an attack in Kabul.
I'm sorry because this has been probably the longest moving on record.
And thank you for your patience, everybody's patience and continue to follow us, please.
Last night's tragic blast at a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul that reportedly left scores of patients dead must be investigated promptly, independently and transparently, and those responsible held to account in line with international standards.
Those results must be made public.
Victims and victims families are entitled to reparations.
Witnesses described a scene of total destruction at the hospital site and seeing hundreds of people looking for their relatives.
Under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian objects are strictly protected.
The laws of war clearly spell out that any attack must comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions.
International humanitarian law provides for specific and increased protections for medical facilities.
Since the hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated at the end of last month, 289 Afghan civilians, including 104 children and 59 women, have been killed or injured.
10s of thousands, mostly in the South and southeast of the country, have been displaced by the fighting in Pakistan.
Many have also been forced to flee their homes and schools have been closed.
The High Commissioner Walker Torque reiterates his call on all parties to take effective measures to ensure the protection of civilians in line with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
He calls for an immediate end to hostilities and for all parties to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those desperately in need.
Thank you very much and let me go to Christian Water has something to add on Afghanistan.
Christian, we can't hear you now.
Yeah, thank you very much.
And to add on this very disturbing situation, the upsurge in violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan has resulted in at least six health facilities reportedly impacted in Afghanistan since late February.
We are double Joe is deeply concerned by the reports of a strike on the Omid drug revitalization facility managed by the Ministry of Interior in Kabul that killed more than 400 people and injured at least 250, all of those who are being treated for substance use disorders.
We are working to verify these incidents and in case so would then be added to the famous SSA system.
The intensifying conflict is placing additional strain on the health system and increasing risks to the health and well-being of vulnerable populations and these people who absolutely belong to the most vulnerable.
WTO urges all parties to pull back from this escalating crisis and put peace and health before all else.
Absolutely, thank you very much.
Is there any question on Afghanistan to our colleagues?
I don't see any, but it was important to to state what has been stated and and speak about this deadly situation in Kabul.
I am now now the last but definitely not least speaker who has been patiently waiting for an announcement.
It's Claire Newlies for WMO.
Carl, thank you very much for being with us.
Sorry for having make you wait so long, but I think it was very, very important what was said today and very interesting.
So I give it the floor to you for the announcement about the climate report.
It's just really a very quick announcement because we are getting media enquiries.
The World Meteorological Organisation will be releasing the annual State of the Global Climate report for 2025.
We're launching it next Monday at World Meteorological Day, the 23rd of March.
But we will be having an embargoed press conference on Thursday in the press room at 10 AM with our Deputy direct, direct, sorry, Deputy Secretary General Co Barrett and the report report authors.
We hope to send everything to you under embargo tomorrow so you have the materials in advance.
The World Meteorological Day itself, I know you're all very, very busy with with, with human rights and with everything else that is happening in the world at the moment.
But obviously if you are interested in joining us for the ceremony on Monday, you are more than welcome and the details of that are on our website.
So that's so that's all for me.
Thank you very much, Claire.
Let me just see maybe there is a couple of questions, not there are none.
So thanks a lot for this.
You've also so I won't have to announce your press conference you did just now.
But I do have a few announcements and please bear with me because there are quite a few.
First of all and most important, Friday the Paladin is closed.
There will be no briefing because it's because the UN are celebrating the Alfit and Roots.
So the UN will be closed in Geneva and I think also in other in the other locations.
So that is the first thing I wanted to tell you.
I have been asked by WTO to remind you, sorry, I'm trying to take my notes here.
I've been asked to remind you to attend the upcoming World Trade Organisation embargoed press conference on the Global Trade Outlook and Statistics.
This is taking place on the 19th of March at 2:00 PM Geneva time in Room D of the WTO Building and on Zoom.
The embargo will lift at 3:00 PM Geneva time on the same day.
The conference with the press conference will feature Director General Ungozi Ocondio Iviala and Chief Economist Robert Steiger.
If you wish to participate either virtually or in person, you need to send an e-mail to the media team.
The usual reminders about the committees.
The Human Rights Committee will review this afternoon at 4:30 the progress report of the special rapporteur on concluding observation.
Sorry, it's special rapporteurs.
Sorry, my notes are here.
I can see that the 145th session will be concluding on the 9th of March.
Sorry, this is a little bit confused.
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances will close next Thursday, 19th of March at 5:30.
It's 30th session with concluding observation in Samoa, Malawi, Iraq and Ecuador.
And the Committee on the Rights of Person with Disabilities will conclude, will review the Marshall Islands and conclude this afternoon it's review of the report of Liberia.
And then of course, you know about the Human Rights Council.
I wanted to tell you to remind you that there are a few international days in the next in the end of until the end of the week.
We have on the 20th day that should rejoice us all because it's the International Day of Happiness, but it's also the French language day.
On French language language day, we will have a photo booth to test and to show your language abilities.
Show your language abilities at the taking a picture at this photo booth which was placed in Concordia.
You can also take your colleagues there and take group picture if you want.
On the 19th of March, you can join us at 1:15 until 2:30 in all 14 of Building A in front of the Assembly Hall to celebrate Wall Down syndrome Day, which is organised by the office by the UN Office in Geneva in collaboration with Down syndrome International and the Association Home on Trizomi Vante.
This year's event is under the theme of Together Against Loneliness.
We'll bring together member states, individuals living with Down syndrome, families, advocates and experts to promote the right and well-being of people living with this syndrome worldwide.
Just any information about the Geneva International discussion?
The Assistant Secretary General for the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peace, Building Affairs and Peace Operations of the UN, Mr Khaled Khiari will travel to Geneva to attend the 66th round of the Geneva International Discussions on 18 and 19 March.
He will participate in his capacity as the UN Co Chair of the discussions.
As you may remember, the Geneva International Discussions are held in accordance with the Six Point Agreement of the 12th August 2008 and subsequent implementing measures of eight September 2008.
They are Co chaired by the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the UN.
And also, we have sent you messages of the Secretary General about the various international days, International Day of Nauru's, International Day for Denomination of Racial Discrimination, and the message for World Water Day.
And I think I've told you everything I had.
This has been a very long briefing and thank you very much for following it.
So as I said, we won't see you on Friday, but of course, we will remain available for questions.
And also we will send you the information that we receive, as usual, in your mailboxes.
So thank you very much, Bon Appetit, and we'll see you next week.
