UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

[Other language spoken]

OK, Thank you very much.

Very good morning to you.

Welcome to the press briefing here at the United Nations office at Geneva today, Tuesday, the 1st of September, of quite an important agenda for you.

As usual, we have the floods in Nepal, the Asia floods.

We also have the situation in the Occupied Palestinian territory, specifically food assistance in the West Bank and Gaza's rehabilitation needs.

So we have briefers from UN Women in the IFRC online ready to brief you.

Of course, we have Sophia Apollo here from those organisations as well.

But without further ado, I'll turn now to Miss Christine Arab from UN Women.

She's a regional director for Asia in the Pacific, joining us from Bangkok, who will speak to the situation of women and girls in the context of the Nepal floods.

So Christine, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

As you'll have heard, an estimated 43,000 women and girls in Nepal need immediate humanitarian assistance following the flash floods on 26 August.

Today though, I want to describe what this disaster looks like through the eyes and experiences of these women and the girls affected, including the perspective of the women LED organisations on the ground.

One such organisation told us in so many of the communities we have been to, pregnant women, lactating women, people with disabilities, the people we would normally support, they're gone, washed away because we could not, they could not run to higher ground.

And this is what happens when a disaster meets inequality.

The people already left behind are often the first to be swept away.

Our partners on the ground stress that women survivors are running out of food, that safe water is increasingly inaccessible, that protection risks are growing and that women risk being excluded from the decisions that will shape the response and the recovery.

We know that for women and girls in Raswa District, for example, collecting water already meant travelling long distance and spending hours each day to secure safe water for their families.

Now these women are telling us that access to safe water has been cut off altogether following the destruction of the water systems, roads and bridges.

Women in the worst affected areas, however, tell us that food is their most urgent priority right now.

Before the floods, women in Nepal were most likely to eat least and to eat last in their families, with serious consequences for their own health, particularly those who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Disasters also increase risks of gender based violence, exploitation and trafficking, while damaged infrastructure and communications can make it harder for survivors to seek help and to access protection services.

An estimated one in three women are illiterated are illiterate in some of the impacted districts, making awareness and access to essential services more challenging.

When there are no separate or safe latrines, adequate lighting or privacy, women and girls can face risks simply when using the toilet, bathing, sleeping or moving around after dark.

With male oat migration common in these districts, one in three households is headed by women.

Women who manage households on their own have fewer resources, income opportunities and support networks to draw on in a crisis.

They must be able to access the relief and recovery assistance independently and without the additional barriers.

Our partners are also telling us what disasters always bring a sharp rise in unpaid care work in the home.

Women in Nepal perform an estimated 85% of the country's daily unpaid care work.

With people injured and with homes, water systems, schools and other services damaged are destroyed.

That work load increases significantly and this can leave women with less time to earn income, recover their livelihoods or to participate in the decisions about the response and recovery.

You and Women is on the ground working directly with women LED organisations that are already active in effective communities despite themselves having faced loss and trauma.

Strategic support to women's leadership in the response must be explicit.

Experience in the floods of 2021 and 2025 in Nepal has shown that the overwhelming majority of women had not been significantly involved in applying for or receiving assistance.

Women LED organisations are therefore critical partners for the humanitarian response.

With more outreach to women, humanitarian support is more impactful for individuals and families and their communities within the Government of Nepal's overall response and also in the recovery.

UN Women is working to ensure that women and girls can access essential services and protection, that unpaid care work in the impacted communities is recognised and addressed, and that women and women LED organisations participate equally in humanitarian recovery decision making.

The humanitarian response must recognise the experiences of women and girls, it must reach them, and it must include them as key drivers in Nepal's recovery.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Christine.

And now we'll stay on the subject.

We're going to turn to our colleague Matt Baden from the IFRC, who's operation manager for the Nepal Crisis Response, and he's joining us from Kathmandu, if I'm not mistaken.

Matt, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

Over the weekend, our colleagues travelled to the worst areas of northern Nepal.

I'd like to share with you some of the accounts of what they saw and the people they met.

You can see exactly when the water came.

One moment the mountains were green and suddenly everything turns grey.

Vehicles, roads, entire houses buried under metres of mud.

Walk through it and you find yourself standing on what used to be the second floor of a house.

The ground floor is not gone, it's just underneath you, somewhere in the mud.

That's Debacot, a Riverside town and markets and small businesses that flooded last year as well.

[Other language spoken]

The river still runs too fast and too high to cross.

A trip that used to take 10 minutes now takes 9 hours.

People are coming back to look for their homes and what's allowed to them.

We met a group digging through the mud of their for their mother, 82 years old, home alone.

When the water came, she had nowhere to go.

A few streets away, we met a man named Sahil Khan digging out his own house.

[Other language spoken]

All 22 members of his family survived.

Hope remains, he told us.

Now he's digging out his house.

Because in his words, it's all I can do.

His response is about standing with communities like his.

So hope does not run out before help arrives on the ground.

The Nepal Red Cross Society has moved fast.

Volunteers are conducting rapid assessments in Newark Cotton Rasua services, helping people reconnect with relatives, supporting identification efforts and running help desks.

Ready to eat food, blankets, mattresses, hygiene kits and drinking water are reaching affected households.

The local Red Cross is pre positioned to dispatch thousands of relief items for pollens, hygiene kits, emergency toilets, stretchers and first aid kits while supporting search and rescue, evacuation, emergency shelter and health services alongside authorities.

Search and rescue is still ongoing and the monsoon hasn't stopped.

Block waterways remained at risk to further flooding and landslides is real and threat of landslides is real and immediate.

Rasua, New Lakat and Daddy were the hit hardest with serious damages also reported to Gorka, Chidwan and Nawapasi.

Deaths and missing persons number in the thousands and 10s of thousands of people have been affected, figures that the authorities continue to verify as access improves.

In the first hours following the disaster, the IFRC released 1,000,000 Swiss Francs to support the Nepal Red Cross in responding to the crisis and bringing immediate life saving activities.

In the following days, we've launched an emergency appeal seeking another 25,000,000 Swiss Francs reach affected people with shelter, cash assistance, health, water, sanitation to restore livelihoods and provide protection.

We've also mobilised our global network of professionals that are supporting the response operation.

The targets are ambitious, but the needs are deep.

[Other language spoken]

In the coming days, the Nepal Red Cross Society will mobilise shelter supplies, hygiene items and other essential goods to reach 10,000 households.

This is only the beginning.

Whole communities have been cut off, homes have been destroyed and incomes ruined.

And we won't know the full scope until the flood risk subsides and it's safe to return.

These efforts will need to be timely, they will need to be effective and they will need to be coordinated.

But the understanding that an intention that response should be led by local authorities with consultation with communities themselves.

Because recovery will continue along after the news cameras fades away.

As the IFRC, we call on the generosity of the international community, partners and donors to support the emergency peel so affected communities in Nepal can receive the full scope of life saving assistance they urgently need.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Matt.

And again to Christine, Actually we have Christian of WHO, Christian Lynn Meyer, who has something to add from the perspective of the World Health Organisation.

Christian, over to you.

Yeah, thank you, Rolando, and thanks to the colleagues.

Just to add a few of the key priorities we have identified from the health perspective right now for Nepal and China.

So, but mainly for Nepal, maintaining the essential health services.

So maintaining access to health service remains a priority.

Four health districts have been affected as in four have been, 4 hospital health posts have been completely damaged, 2 have been partially damaged.

So more health sectors impacted here and there are two areas who are not accessible.

So the hospitals that have not been damaged but access as the colleagues just described is not possible anymore.

So in total 8 facilities impacted with four completely damaged.

Disease surveillance and public health risk management absolutely of importance while immediate efforts remain focused on life saving interventions still and at this point, preventing secondary public health impacts is equally important.

Flooding, displacement, overcrowding and stagnant water can increase the risk of disease outbreaks.

Double Jo is supporting surveillance and is affected and downstream areas to monitor the potential increase in these areas of potentially dengue, scrub typhus and other communicable diseases.

Clinical preparedness W Jo has supported the identification of priority medicines, diagnostic kids and essential health commodities using risk based forecasting methods.

Technical guidance has also been provided on infection prevention, control measures, on the safe and dignified management of bodies and last but not least, vaccination and preventive services.

WHO is supporting efforts to monitor routine immunisation services, vaccine availability, culture and functionality, and vaccine preventable diseases surveyed in the affected municipalities.

Discussions are ongoing to assess the broader impact of the floods and immunisation services and determine whether additional preventive measures may be required.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so much, Christian, for adding this critical information on the health sector.

So over to your colleagues for questions.

To our briefers starting in the room, Yes, Emma.

[Other language spoken]

A question for Matt from IFRC, please.

I'm wondering if you're involved in the rescue efforts for hundreds of hydroelectric workers trapped in the tunnels.

If so, can you tell us a bit more?

How much time do rescuers have to get to them?

Maybe they have a bit longer than people kind of stuck under mud or rubble because they're isolated and maybe they have food or oxygen.

Can you just tell us more about those rescue attempts?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks, Matt, back to you.

Yes, sorry that apologies yet the NRC is not really extensively involved in search and rescue that that's that's led by the Nepali government.

What I'm talking about in in cases in kind of communities where they're supporting volunteers are supporting the rescue efforts in some of the affected areas, not not in any specific formal process with search and rescue.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, Christian of German news agency.

I have a question for you and women.

Not about the city, the appalling situation in Nepal, but I I struggle to understand what is the difference between your focus and that of UNICEF.

We are always talking about women and children.

Are you dealing with the same clientele?

Are you looking after the same people?

Is there competition between these two organisations or is there a distinct difference?

[Other language spoken]

Thank, thank you for that question.

Very interesting indeed.

And I think it's, I mean of course as the UN system in Nepal and in other crisis context, we work fully aligned according to our mandates.

And for UN women, our focus is very much on the disproportionate impact of women and girls in such a crisis situation.

And my colleague Christine shared as an example in Nepal, how we can see how women and girls are disproportionately affected in terms of access, in terms of protection, etcetera.

But of course, working very closely with our UN partners, including UNICEF with a specific mandate on children is, is critical.

I don't know if Christine wants to come in specifically from Asia, but thank you.

Thank you very much.

Christine, I'm not sure if you have anything to add.

Yeah, just to say a big part of what we do at this immediate time is to help the UN system understand the gender, gender differentiated impact.

So we work with the local women's organisations on the ground.

We have specific measurement tools that we use and that helps inform the agencies who are on the ground immediately delivering the food, the water, the medicine, which has been the case of since the 26th August, to have that lens.

That's at this particular stage.

But as Sophia said, we're already working with the women's organisations who can reach women more carefully and more safely.

And we're already aware of the pre-existing challenges those women in the communities have from violence to access to water, women headed households, a series of challenges that are specific to women, but we don't perform and deliver the same services that UNICEF delivers.

Thank you very much to both of you.

Let's see, do we have further questions?

Yes, Nina, over there to the left, there you are.

[Other language spoken]

You were discussing specific concerns about how this could be impacting women in terms of safety and in terms of, for instance, trafficking and such things.

Do you have already specific examples of this happening?

Do you, how do you have any numbers or indication of, of how widespread this is?

And then I for everybody, I was also wondering a little bit on the, on the Chinese side, their, their concerns about access.

I'm wondering if and also information if you and how that's spreading about and how that might be impacting the response, if you have anything on that.

And finally for WHOI had a question on the on the health posts that have been affected and destroyed, damaged.

How specifically is that impacting your efforts to then try to help rein in these the concerns about spreading diseases, waterborne diseases and whatnot?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks so much for your question, Nina.

[Other language spoken]

We'll start.

Maybe, Christine, on the first part on trafficking, certainly, no, we don't have specific numbers.

That's not how we do it.

We just know that in almost every crisis that happens, there are certain protection issues and exploitation issues that can come to the forefront, trafficking being one of them.

But and so based on that assessment and based on what has happened in Nepal in previous years and in terms of the challenges when there's been disasters, we can predict that there's a degree of vulnerability on this.

But we don't have numbers specific to these districts after the flash floods.

[Other language spoken]

Well noted.

OK, Jens has joined us on the podium.

We can speak to the situation impacts in China as as asked.

So Jens, over to you.

Yeah, thank you, Nina, for that question.

What, what I can say what, what we do know because they have they have put that online from the Chinese side, is that the death toll there stands at 16 while 546 people are remain missing.

I also want to mention that the Resident Coordinator in Nepal, Lila Peters Yaya met with the Chinese ambassador yesterday where they discussed, sorry, where they discussed the response.

Of course, she's discussing on the Nepalese side.

And the Resident Coordinator briefed the ambassador on the upcoming appeal.

And they also discussed the Chinese support to the Nepalese side.

And they of course discussed how the UN system in Nepal is supporting the government there.

So that to say that there is certainly and ongoing communication and interaction and meetings with the with the Chinese side.

[Other language spoken]

And then maybe on the question health infrastructure, Christian, thanks again on this.

[Other language spoken]

So what is what has been dispatched so far is additional infection prevention control kits, including 500 then also PPE materials or personal protection equipment like surgical gloves, over 1000 masks, full PPE sets for any other infectious diseases, Sadly, also, uh, body bags, uh, for adults and for children.

Uh, and the essential part here is to have the health services continue as good as possible.

So the bigger impact in these health facilities, the six directly impacted, 4 destroyed or just fully damaged and two partially as well as the two that can't be reached is of course to the people on the ground because they don't have a health facility available at the at the time of their biggest needs.

So whatever can be done, health personnel being dispatched, tense being set up next to partially or fully damaged hospitals and of course, they're trying to reach with the local health authorities to reach those hospitals that are further remote and cannot be exited at this point in time.

So the bigger concern is right now for how to get the help to the people.

Well noted.

Thank you so much, Christian.

And to the other briefers.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, I just for IFRC despite the the with despite the access issues, have you done an assessment on the damage and for the others also there there's been talk about this coming to cost billions.

Has there been any assessment on the cost front by the UN?

[Other language spoken]

On the assessment costs, I mean again, can't speak to the total damage.

Supposed to damage that be led by the Nepal authorities.

But what I can say from a humanitarian perspective is that we're just being able to get access to the most affected areas.

We had the team that was only be able to get to with the Rasa district yesterday by, again, very precarious roads.

We're just setting up our field offices right now in the Newarkot district.

And so we're hoping that we'll have more information, but a lot of this is based on estimates and trying to find really getting started on those comprehensive assessments.

So this will be a major priority for the coming days as we get better access to these areas.

[Other language spoken]

Maybe Jens, if you have something to add on other.

Yeah, just just very quickly that the the latest number on the on casualties on the Nepalese side now stands at 987, so very close to a grim marker of 1000 casualties dead.

[Other language spoken]

You have your hand up.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, I wonder whether you have a number for the missing.

But my question goes to Christian, just to get an idea what 8 hospitals means.

Can you give us the number of beds that are affected or can you tell us 8 hospitals out of how many in total in Nepal just to to get a bit of a grip on the size of the disaster in the health sector?

[Other language spoken]

Just quickly on, on the missing, the latest number is 4247.

Thanks for that clarity, Yens.

And Christian, back to you on the eight hospitals.

Yeah, actually thank you.

Christiana, this is a good moment to to clarify.

Careful, this is not all hospitals.

So these are 6 health facilities.

These are, let me count here, two well, there's different quantification or qualification in this case and I don't have details on what that means in terms of patients or size of the of the post.

There's 12 health posts, one health unit, A so-called health desk which have been fully damaged, one hospital and another health service centre partially damaged and the two hospitals that are currently inaccessible are two full hospitals.

I do not, do not have further information of how many patients that impacts, but maybe as a as a context, 6 districts and 15 local levels have been declared by the government of Nepal as disaster crisis affected areas for a period of three months.

So that's a a wider area.

But sorry, no further details on on what, how many beds that impacts.

Sorry, six out of how many.

I also do not have the context of that.

Sorry, maybe maybe ends, Sorry to push that further.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, I think we'll, we'll get back to you on that, that level of granularity.

Lots of, lots of moving angles here.

And of course, we appreciate the briefings here.

And of course, we'll keep you updated.

I think that does it for questions on the flood.

So thanks again to our briefers for joining us and here in the room, as well as from afar.

All right, colleagues, we're going to shift to the OPT at Occupied Palestinian Territory.

We have two briefings separate, one from the World Federal Oral Food Programme and one from the World Health Organisation.

We'll start off with the World Food Programme.

Sean Hughes is WF PS Country Director for Palestine.

I'm very grateful to have you joining us.

[Other language spoken]

You're based in Jerusalem normally and where it was in the West Bank recently.

So if you can speak to the situation of food insecurity in the West Bank, we'd be grateful for that.

So over to you.

Thank you very much.

Rolando, can I check you can hear me?

Yes, we can hear you perfectly.

[Other language spoken]

So today I'm here to announce that WFP is being forced to reduce the number of people we assist in the West Bank by half.

And this is happening as the food needs in the West Bank are more than double what they were two years ago.

We're running out of funding, and that means that from today, some 200,000 people will lose access to critical assistance.

Since October 2023, the intensified settler violence, prolonged and escalating Israeli military operations, severe movement restrictions, demolitions and widespread displacement in the West Bank have eroded Palestinian livelihoods and contributed to increased food insecurity.

A broader crippling economic crisis is pushing people to breaking point.

Unemployment has more than doubled to 30% since 2023.

WFP's most recent food security analysis shows that more than 1/3 of people are struggling to meet their basic needs and afford a nutritious diet.

Food may be available in the markets, but people simply cannot afford it.

In my recent visits to the West Bank, I have witnessed families once thriving and earning a living off their land, now forced from their homes, their livelihoods destroyed.

They now find themselves in a chokehold, unable to move freely to access land or jobs and so unable to afford food for their families.

They face incredible justice, injustice and hardship.

Almost a million people are now food insecure across the West Bank, over 1/4 of the population.

2 years ago, that figure was 11%, but as food insecurity doubles in the West Bank, WFP's operation is about to be slashed in half.

During the past two years, in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development and the United Nations Relief and Works agency, UNRWA, WFP has been providing regular cash and food assistance and livelihood support to vulnerable displaced people and herding communities, in addition to nutrition support for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

From this month, WFP is forced to prioritise only the most vulnerable families with cash assistance.

We will barely be reaching half of the 400,000 people who rely on WFP for that cash assistance.

On a recent visit to Janine in the northern West Bank, I met Aisha, an 84 year old mother of five, grandmother, 18 young children.

Aisha's home was demolished in Janine Camp in early 2025 and she has been living in a single dormitory at the American University.

Aisha told me she dreamed of the day when she could go back to Janine Camp, her home for nearly 80 years, and be reunited with her family.

She showed me what she was able to afford with WFP's monthly cash assistance from her local shop.

She had bought potatoes, rice and sugar.

Only the basics.

Now Aisha and thousands of displaced families may be left without any support at all because we do not have the funding to reach them.

Right now.

We should be scaling up our assistance in the West Bank, not cutting these vital life lines.

Allow me to turn to Gaza for a moment and you will hear from my colleague Renee, who is there.

The situation there remains brutal and volatile.

Air strikes and bombings have been increasing over recent days, including this morning.

WFP's warehouses have been impacted and damaged in many areas, particularly close to the advancing yellow line of Israeli military control.

It is simply not safe enough for people to access land to farm or their destroyed homes and businesses.

During my recent visits to Gaza, I've seen bakeries critical for food security in Gaza and other businesses at risk of grinding to a halt due to a lack of spare parts and engine oil.

I spoke to bakery owners who are unable to repair their machinery or deliver bread to markets and communities because they'd run out of diesel fuel.

WFP, together with our humanitarian partners, called for the Israeli authorities to allow these items to enter in sufficient quantities and channels and without further delay.

The recent marginal improvements in food security indicators, as reported by the Integrated Phase Classification or the IPC last month should not create a false sense of security.

2/3 of the population are still facing crisis and emergency levels of hunger, and the IPC is clear that if humanitarian food assistance is not sustained, up to 90% of the population will face high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of this year.

In Gaza too, funding shortfalls are forcing WFP to make difficult choices.

In July, we already reduced the amount of cash assistance for 75,000 families in Gaza.

Any marginal gains achieved through humanitarian action can be lost quickly.

I urge the international community and our donor partners not to let that happen.

WFP requires $386,000,000 to avoid any further reductions in assistance in Gaza and the West Bank over the next six months.

As global crises multiply and domestic fiscal interests take over, there is a real danger about the world's attention and moves on from Palestine.

But the needs of Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, have not moved on.

They are still there, still struggling to survive in the midst of incredible hardship and injustice.

They require the solidarity of the international community to commit the necessary resources to sustain the humanitarian response, to protect and rebuild livelihoods while working towards peace and stability.

Now is not the time to look away.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Sean, for the briefs on West Bank and Gaza.

As you touched on Gaza as well.

I'm going to throw it right away to Doctor Renee Vanderweet, and we're very grateful to have you back with us.

[Other language spoken]

So over to you for the perspective from the World Health Organisation.

Renee, no, we can't hear you.

[Other language spoken]

All right, over to you again.

Yes, good to good to see you again colleagues in, in Geneva and thanks for having me back at the at the pillar briefing.

And today, as you probably can see, I'm joining you from Gaza, our WTO office in, in the Albala and, and this is my 6th visit to Gaza.

And I knew I would be talking after my dear colleague, Shawn from WFP and trying to bring you some good news.

But that's honestly not being, not being easy.

As Shawn just highlighted, we are extremely concerned with the security situation.

Despite the ceasefire of last October, we are witnessing airstrikes as we speak.

Yesterday I was in Gaza City when an airstrike really nearby killed several people.

And today we really dealing with a very tense, uh, situation as as John Umm, as Sean alluded to, and again when I entered Gaza on, on, on Sunday, you think you get used to entering Gaza, but it's just very, very difficult to, to deal with the other level of destruction.

And as we discussed last time when I was in Geneva, it is very, very impressive to just see these endless sides of rubble, these overcrowded sides of flimsy towns in which people try to to make a living.

And when we come from the crossing, we take what we call the Coastal Rd with which must have been an amazing Rd just along the Mediterranean, Mediterranean Sea.

And you can literally see these stands touching the water on the beaches.

And then on these very, very crowded roads, you stick your arm out.

Or you could stick your arm out and then you really can touch other tents and makeshift little, little shops.

Sean alluded to the food situation, which is extremely worrying for us, but also the water situation, which is something I wanted to highlight today, because on these same trucks, on these same roads, when we enter the different destroyed cities in Gaza, we often stop behind water trucks.

And then you see people, including children with their buckets, gathering water for their very basic needs.

And as we as humanitarians know and as we hear from our colleagues in Nepal, water trucking is the site that we are used to in the immediate aftermath of a disaster of the crisis.

And it's really unacceptable to see in Gaza, almost three years in, that these water trucks are still the lifeline most Gazan depends on.

And at the same time, what is extremely worrying for us is that the quality of the water is deteriorating.

So it's not just a question of quantity, but also quality.

This year, microbiological contamination almost tripled.

So from the more than 6500 samples that were tested, we went from just under 6% contamination in January to almost 20% last month, just last August.

And what is important to note here and I will talk to that a little bit later, is that the laboratory capacities in Gaza remain very, very, very limited.

So we can only detect and track essential microbiological contaminants.

We don't have the ability to detect and track other contaminants that are likely to be present in the water and in the environment.

So for Rosa's WHO with our HealthPartners, it was not a surprise that we saw the number of cases of acute watery diarrhoea almost double from around 30,000 cases in March to more than 58,000 in August.

The other things that has hardly, the other thing that has already changed, and we discussed that when I was in Geneva last time, are the metres high of garbage.

We really applaud all the partners that are trying to remove the rubble and the garbage, but it is really, really difficult to see the impact.

And other colleagues from the UN and partners can talk about difficult.

It is on that very, very limited space that is left on the strip to even move the garbage somewhere else.

You can also see and smell the overflowing sewage everywhere.

And today we are in September, the rains and the winter are just around the corner.

So I don't think that you need to be a public health expert or an epidemiologist like myself to see what lies ahead.

The flooding in these very overcrowded places will strut the sewage, the waste and contaminated water into the places where people sleep, cook and care for their loved ones.

The standing water will further allow for breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other pests.

The tents will become damp and they will be infested with mould and further increase the risk of many, many illnesses including respiratory illnesses, especially among very young children.

And as the families try to escape the cold and the rain, the risk of disease are risk will only increase because people live closer together and risk of contamination will increase and this will affect the health system in Gaza.

And that was actually the positive news I wanted to share today is that we have seen improvements in medical and clinical care.

Together with the HealthPartners on the ground and the amazing health workers from doctors to nurses to psychotherapist to physiotherapist.

We really have increased the number of health services from primary healthcare to having more hospital beds and does allow the thousands of Gazans that need medical care to be treated.

[Other language spoken]

We have seen the capacities to care and treat people with living, living with mental health and chronic diseases, newborn care increase but the progress in medical care has not been fast enough and also not equal.

One area we still want to call your attention to is the lack of people getting the services they need when they have been amputated.

I hate saying this word, but according to our latest estimates, over 6600 people in Gaza require long term care for limp amputation.

And as we discussed last time W2, we continue to struggle to have the needed assistive products, especially prosthetic limbs, artificial limbs to enter Gaza.

Actually none of these items that would allow people, including many children to walk and live in some dignity have entered Gaza since May 2024.

And so unfortunately, as of July this year, only 12% of people that lost their limb since October 23 have been fitted with the prostatic advice.

So a lot remains to be done, but what we now really need to do is protect the fragile gaits we made in health.

And that means preventing at all cost disease outbreaks in the strip.

And to be ahead of this curve, we need to be able to rapidly confirm the causes of potential outbreaks.

As I mentioned at the beginning, our laboratory and diagnostic capabilities to rapidly identify viruses and bacteria that can cause these diseases are not available as we speak.

So unfortunately, we know what is coming, but we still have time to prevent a public health disaster within this disaster.

And I will repeat what John mentioned and what we continue to ask for.

Unimpeded and expedited entry of the humanitarian supplies.

That means unimpeded and expedited entry of supplies that will provide more permanent shelter, reliable access to clean water, and proper waste management.

Unimpeded and expedited entry of medical supplies, including laboratory material and prosthetic limbs.

And by doing so in the coming weeks and months, we can collectively make the coming winter in Gaza different from the ones we had before.

Thank you for your attention and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you so very much, Renee.

I think the message is very loud and clear and very thoughtful, yet very grim brief.

And thanks also to Sean.

[Other language spoken]

And if kindly, if you can inform us who you're directing your questions to.

We'll start off with Emma of Reuters.

[Other language spoken]

A few questions, 2 for WFP, one for WHO, please.

On the food assistance to the West Bank, are you the only ones doing this or could other actors step in to help those people you've had to cut off?

And can you elaborate a bit more on Israeli restrictions on access to water and agricultural land and how that is increasing food insecurity?

Maybe some examples you might have seen on your visits to the West Bank and WHO just a clarification on those levels of contamination in the water.

Is that in the trucked water or is that from the pipes?

[Other language spoken]

OK, Sean, over to you on the first questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much for those questions.

WFP is by no means the only actor in, in, in the food assistance or cash transfer space in, in the West Bank.

And, and when we do provide assistance, it's always with partners.

And I particularly noted the Ministry, Ministry of Social Development of the Palestinian authorities and also our colleagues in, in UNRWA.

Now, of course there is a specific set of of challenges that is impacting on responding situation at the moment, but they remain very critical partners as does the Ministry of Social Development.

In fact, part of what WFP does is to provide a top up to transfers that are provided by the Ministry of Social Development.

But because of this broader economic crisis that the Palestinian authorities are facing, the WFP top up has essentially become the mainstay for for for most people.

And it's a very small transfer value, just sort of 50 shekels per person per month.

[Other language spoken]

But it's now becoming a real sort of lifeline for people because of this financial pressure that that the Palestinian authorities are on.

So, yes, certainly don't want to give the impression that WFP is the only provider of cash and food assistance in the West Bank, but we are probably one of the most significant providers of it.

In terms of access to land.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, I've visited many communities across the West Bank now.

One particularly comes to mind in a community called the South and Hebron, where families have been unable to access their land, their water source has been, has been damaged their, the, the livestock have been harmed, killed in, in in some cases.

And so all of that livelihood that comes from being able to, to have land and, and, and livestock and be able to, to reap the benefits of that get to markets as well.

Because that's what we, we, we see now is that, you know, even if you were able to access your land, that you may not be able to get goods to markets to be able to, to be able to sell them.

And so all these challenges are compounding.

I should say, you know, for the context, we wouldn't, shall we say, historically or traditionally have considered the West Bank to be primarily a food crisis.

It is certainly a human rights crisis.

It is certainly a protection of civilians crisis.

But what we're seeing now is all these mounting pressures are bleeding into an increased level of, of food insecurity.

And, and you know, we're also seeing that on the, in, in the health sector, in the education sector and, and others as well.

You know, there's only so much pressure and restrictions that that that a community can can withstand before the symptoms become acutely humanitarian in nature.

[Other language spoken]

Renee, on the outbreak issue, yes, on on the contamination in the water, thanks a lot for your question.

And the we have different sampling sites, of course, the quality of the water that is distributed to the water trucking.

We look at the water quality and health facilities.

We do environmental sampling to sometimes find viruses.

So this is a systematic comprehensive sampling that we monitor over time so that we can have comparisons.

And then just just to repeat these numbers, So over the 6000 water samples that were taken with the consistent methodology, less than 6% was contaminated in January compared to almost 20% in August this year.

So just thanks for highlighting that very worrying development and the quality of the water in Gaza.

Thanks to you for highlighting that as well.

OK, let's take further questions in the room.

Yeah, Jeremy Edifi ready for international.

[Other language spoken]

That's a follow up on for WHO you didn't say exactly why do we have this contamination?

Why is that?

Is it because of the heat?

Why do we have that now?

Shall I take that question straight?

[Other language spoken]

First and foremost, it's like I tried to mention it's the living, living conditions there.

[Other language spoken]

You literally see and smell sewage everywhere.

So it's very clear that also with the heat, a lot of garbage that, uh, get in there.

So it's very difficult for us to contain that.

We also face, uh, collectively, as, as Sean mentioned, for funding crisis for food distribution, uh, UNICEF and other colleagues that work on wash are also struggling to continue the water trucking, uh, activities.

So there is so much pressure on the limited wash water available, uh, that people probably get their water from, from unreliable resources, uh, sources.

So we are definitely looking more into that.

But if you come to Gaza and you see, see the sewage, if you see the pressure, uh, on the very limited water resources, uh, it is no surprise to us.

I think here it is again important to highlight, similarly to what Sean mentioned, for agricultural products to enter, the people that work on WASH really need to have more sustainable water solutions.

Being able to enter a Gaza.

Uh, Gaza had a quite sophisticated water and desalina tion, uh, system before the war.

What we're doing now is really band aiding a very difficult, a very difficult.

And with less funding for water, people will continue trying to find the water from unreliable sources that might be contaminated.

Thank you so very much.

See if there are further questions.

Not the case.

You painted a very bleak picture, but it's very important to to hear these updates.

So thank you both very, very much.

To you, Sean, and to you, Renee.

Please do continue to connect with us here in Geneva to highlight the developing stories in the OPT where you work.

Thank you so very much.

[Other language spoken]

All right then, colleagues nearly done.

There are no announcements from briefers other than me.

So just to keep you on track as usual, you are probably aware that our Secretary General, Antonio Guterres is currently in Kyrgyzstan, in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where he's attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, the SCO summit, which takes place today.

He's met with a number of dignitaries.

We've shared some readouts with you, including the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Satyr Zaparov, with whom we discussed the strong relationship between the Kyrgyz Republic and the UN, and they discussed climate change, environmental issues, peace and security, as well as the in the context of Kyrgyzstan's upcoming membership of the Security Council starting in 2027.

There will be a number of other meetings taking place today in the sidelines of the summit, and we'll make sure to share those readouts with you.

And of course, the SG will also be delivering remarks at the SCO Plus meeting.

And the remarks of the Secretary General will be focusing on multilateral cooperation, the need for collective action to address today's global challenges.

So again, we will share those with you.

The deputy secretary general, Amina Muhammad is in Palau.

She was, she was there yesterday as well as today.

She's attending the 5th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting, important gathering in the region.

And we shared some comments from the DSG with you to later this week.

Miss Muhammad will be travelling nearby to Italy, to Rome, where she will be attending the 4th Gathering in Artificial Intelligence and Human Development.

This is part of a series of high level dialogues to examine how one of humanity's transformative technologies is shaping human progress.

So we will share her activities with you and statements thereon.

Let's see here, I have just one or two press conferences to announce this coming Thursday, the 3rd of September.

We have in this room at 10 AM the World Meteorological El Nino update.

We have the World Meteorological Organisation Secretary General Celas Salo, who will be joined by Wolfren Okia, who is the Chief of Climate Prediction section of WMO, who will be briefing you on this important update, the El Nino update.

So that's at 10 AM this Thursday.

A week from today, the 8th of September, we'll have the first of, I think, what promises to be a series of press conferences connected to the Human Rights Council.

We have the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.

We'll be briefing you at 9:30, just ahead of this regular briefing on Tuesday.

So 9:30 on the 8th of September, the Commission of Inquiry in the Syrian Arab Republic, that's Fionola Neolin, the commissioner, and Monia Amara, a commissioner as well, will be here in person.

Treaty bodies we have.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child kicked off its 101st session today, a number of countries being reviewed today and tomorrow, Lesotho, then on the 2nd and 3rd of September, Timor Leste.

Thereafter, we have Tanzania and then Uganda, Burkina Faso, Slovenia, Kazakhstan and finally Tajikistan.

So do consult the meat advisory which will have been shared with you.

And I believe that's it for me.

Are there questions before we wrap?

Yeah, go ahead, Emma, just for WMO, please.

[Other language spoken]

Let me just see if clear or somebody is connected.

I think Claire is connected according to my little piece of paper here.

Claire, there you are.

Hi Claire, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

I just put in the chat.

We will send out the Alinea materials under embargo today.

We already have everything in English, but normally with with this, you know, we prefer to send out the the other language translations as well.

So that, that, that should, that should be by by the end of today at, at the latest.

And if the worst comes to the worst, we'll, you know, send it out in English and then you'll get the the Spanish and the French tomorrow.

But you will get everything ahead well ahead of ahead of time.

Well, no to thank you so much, Claire.

[Other language spoken]

Further questions for Claire or anyone else or me perhaps.

No, that's not the case.

So I wish you a good afternoon.

See you here on Friday.

[Other language spoken]

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 01 September 2026