UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

So let's let's start the briefing again with two other speakers of exception.

We have Julia Arne that you all know on screen and we have the real pleasure to have him today in the press room.

As you know, Julia is the special ABOLA Coordinator of the United Nations, easier to tell us to give us an update in person on the situation of Ebola in DRC.

And we also have Olivia Lee, Poland, Poland, who is the unit Head for Epidemiology and Analytics for response of WHO, who will compliment Julian's briefing with the epidemiological situation in DRC related to Ebola.

So Julia, I'll start with you and thanks very much for taking the opportunity of being in Geneva to come in person to brief you have to push that.

Thank you very much.

And it's it's great to be here.

I'll be heading back to to Bunya tomorrow and in the areas of the Ebola epidemic.

So very important to have the opportunity to engage with the press corps on what what's going on.

So it's, it is remains a, a deadly and and massive epidemic.

There are some areas of progress, but nonetheless in other areas we we continue to see growth in, in cases there is an integrated response, but we need to do more in the, in some of the areas of neurotransmission and we more need much more international solidarity.

So to just describe, let's see, to describe the, the extent we have cases in, in Bunya, in Ituri and in at the far other end of the country in Sudubangi.

That is like a distance from Geneva to Dublin, right?

The area that is covered by the way and where there's transmission of the, oh, there are cases of, of, of Ebola is, is 2 time zones.

It takes 2 1/2 hours to fly from one extent, one part of the, the epidemic to, to the other.

And the, the different zones that are affected, the, the contexts are incredibly different.

[Other language spoken]

You have areas where there's conflict.

You have areas of artisan or mining, you have, you have areas sparsely populated on the border with South Sudan where I was two weeks ago.

So it's, it's a really variegated and heterogeneous environment which is incredibly difficult to operate in.

And you the many areas, the the roads, you know, massive potholes, not even potholes, you know trucks disappearing into the mud.

You've many areas accessed even by small plane is is complicated.

And then there's violence against the response.

Now most Congolese citizens are fully supportive of the response, but nonetheless there are small numbers, generally young men, artisanal miners and taxi, motorcycle taxi drivers who a minority of whom Attack Attack aid workers and attack health facilities.

So it's a very difficult operating environment.

My my friend and a colleague Olivier Will will get into the details of the epidemiology, but we're seeing some progress, particularly in Naturia named Bunya, specifically some areas under control.

However, there are other areas like in Mutemba in North Kivu, where we're seeing the numbers come up.

So it's, it's, it's such a vast epidemic that it's difficult to talk about 1 epidemic, but there's rather many different locations.

We're going to have to get the epic response right in all of those places.

Now in terms of the, the integrated response, it's one of the heartening things about this response is the excellent coordination between government leaders, be it the minister, be it Professor Miami of the AINLB, Professor ****** World Health Organisation colleagues, UN agencies, NGOs, Africa, CDC, there's just a, a really wonderful coordination.

Everybody focused against the the response and working in innovative and integrated fashion.

So that is, that is, you know, after many years, that's really something that strikes me personally and makes me very happy to see.

We've got a integrated response on the scale up of beds, very important in the airbridge treatment centres.

We've gone up from where we were about 900 beds increased by 440 in the last month, something which we didn't think we could do only because of the way the UN agencies and NGOs are coming together with, with the government on controlling EBLER transmission down the Congo River.

Again, excellent coordination between government and and UN agencies.

And then that integration is not just within the country, it's also internationally.

We having corporation on, on post exposure prophylaxis on, on therapies and very soon on, on new vaccines.

So which will be under trial.

So the you have local corporation integration, but also international corporation and integration, which is making this, which will make this response success if we fund it fully funding generous response from the United States, from the UK, EU has contributed and, and Germany and, and many other member states.

But we will need more the, and we will need more not just for the Ebola response but also for the humanitarian response.

The humanitarian response is only 49% funded and Ebola epidemic makes things much worse for all Congolese in the affected areas.

You get worsening increases in hunger, food insecurity, attendance in in health centres, drops, increase in maternal mortality, interrupts treatment for HIV AIDS, persons living with HIV AIDS.

So we also need to see funding for the the humanitarian response.

But it's not just money, we also need to have specialised technical emergency medical teams need to be deployed.

There's been some indication from member states that they might be prepared to send those teams, but we need a far greater support and dedication of those resources.

And with Ebola, you can't take your foot off the gas, right?

You take your foot off the gas and the and the epidemic will come straight back at us.

So to to slow and stop this resources now.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Olivier.

The side of the immunology.

Thank you very much.

Good morning everybody.

I'll, I'll just provide a quick update on the epidemiology.

[Other language spoken]

So overall in the DRC, the epidemic remains intense and geographically spread out.

In just four months since the start of the outbreak today and as of 12th September, we've had 7200 cases reported and close to 3500 deaths across 62 health zones and now 7 provinces covering a very vast geographic area.

Although the response has been unprecedented, unprecedented in its scale, the epidemic continues to expand, but the epidemiological situation is not uniform in, in across the, the, the DRC right now in Ituri, there are some early signs of reduced transmission in some areas, particularly those health zones that were affected the earliest, some signs in Bunya, but also certainly in Mongwalu.

But there are still about 300 cases reported on a weekly basis and approximately 160 confirmed that last week.

That's about 50% of the case load reported nationally.

In North Kivu, we see cases picking up over the last two weeks.

The number of weekly cases has increased from about 100 cases a week a few weeks back to 200 cases per week last week.

So that's a doubling of the cases just in a few weeks.

[Other language spoken]

We worried about particularly Butembo and Katwa, that sort of urban central axis in the northern part of North Kivu as well as Beni in other provinces.

The epidemiology remains mixed and the situation remains mixed.

There's been no new confirmed case in South Kivu since the end of May.

We had one recent case now in a new province in Sudibangi that will require a specific response and that response is being set up right now.

3 cases have been reported in Barwelli and in Chopo.

Particularly around Kisangani, we see sporadic cases, but mostly among people who've travelled from areas of known transmission.

So the epidemiology there is very different from other affected areas.

In Otwili, further north, with the border, closer to the border with South Sudan, we see about 30 to 40 new cases the week.

In this, the situation has been somewhat steady but nonetheless quite geographically spread out.

But in addition to trends, there's a number of other indicators we're looking at to have a better sense of where the epidemic is heading towards.

The percentage of deaths outside of designated Ebola treatment centres gives us a sense of how effective cases and contacts are being identified and managed.

The percentage of tests that come back positive also provide some insights into the scale, but also the intensity of transmission.

And importantly, the percentage of new cases that are known contacts.

So cases who have an epidemiological link with other cases really gives us an indirect metric of how well the epidemic is being controlled.

And none of those indicators right now are showing the level of improvement we'd like to see.

So efforts need to continue.

Efforts need to be strengthened in all affected areas, including in areas at risk not reporting cases at the moment.

The new cases last detected last week in Sudibanki is a is a good reminder of the risk of this outbreak continuing to spread geographically and the need to scale up interventions.

Also where there's no cases to make sure that we're able to pick those cases up given the very high population mobility in that part of the world.

We're supporting the government and all partners with all aspects of the response, including expanding surveillance, bed capacity, clinical management, logistics, infection prevention and control, just to name a few areas.

We're also supporting research and development.

Therapeutic and post exposure prophylaxis trials are ongoing and we hoping to see vaccine trials up and running within the next few weeks.

So overall, while there's some early signs of improvement, the efforts will need to keep to be sustained and strengthened, building on early gains and keeping momentum, momentum in an epidemic response that will continue to be challenging, will continue to be demanding and resource intensive over the many minutes to come.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Olivia, and thanks to Julian again.

And let me open the floor to question.

I'll start with RFE Jeremy Launch.

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Reuters, sorry, it's related, but just if you could say clearly, if you think it is a turning point and there was talk of there being fear that this could be the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever, Is that still a possibility?

And anything further you can say about the trajectory going forward?

Olivia, you said months, but anything at all on the duration and just a precision please, if you could say, Julian, which countries might be sending medical teams?

[Other language spoken]

So the we'll reverse the order.

I'll start and then pass back to, to Olivier.

The what happens in the future depends upon what we do in the response, right?

If, if member states fund us the response and if we further increase the, the response, if we get out into these areas of neurotransmission, then maybe we are at a point of infection.

If we do not get that funding, if there isn't the response that is growing and, and, and then also there's the elements of to, to how the, the vaccine trials will go, then we could find ourselves in a, in a, in a very different situation.

And Olivia for the, for the, for the details.

Yes, thanks so much.

Just to compliment that, you know, I think, I think it's, it's too early to confidently say that we've passed past a peak.

I think that's, we know from past experience that an epidemic can show early signs of improvement and then pick up again quite quickly.

As Julian mentioned, clearly we not have the situation where we can take our food off the gas in, in.

In fact, we need to shift gaze even further to make sure that we build on early momentum and gains and and move forward.

So that's one thing.

There are also, if you look at the epidemiological indicators, we we're not seeing great improvements in some of the indicators that we are most worried about.

For example, the proportion of deaths in the community remains very high.

In some areas, 6070% of the deaths happen outside of Ebola treatment centre.

So that's a sign that patients will come later, not come at all to healthcare facilities.

And so being infectious in the community, spreading it onwards, but also not receiving the care they could have in Ebola treatment centre and then augmenting survival in by by by that means as well.

The proportion of cases who are periodically linked to other cases remains far too low.

We've got about, you know 20%, sometimes less than 20% of our new cases being known contacts.

That tells us that the epidemic continues to be bigger than what we're seeing.

So we're interpreting trends with a, with a, with a note of caution.

We're looking at trends, we're looking at some positive signs, we're looking at some early impacts from the respondents, some areas.

But we're also very conscious that the number of cases reported daily remains very high, higher than the epidemic than the DRC has ever experienced in past epidemics.

If you look at performance into the epidemic right now with more than 7000 cases reported, that is the fastest growing epidemic of Ebola we ever we've ever had.

So, you know, we need to sort of interpret the signs also in the context of what's happening so far.

Now to your question about outlook, tiny agree with Julian A.

That will really will depend with how much the the the response will be able to scale up.

We don't have a crystal ball.

We can make simulations, we can try to say what if XY and Z would be put in place and how would that move forward.

But we know that with the volume of cases right now, with the incidents and the geographical extent, it will take many, many months to get this, this outbreak under control fully and it will require significant support to do so.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I'll go to the platform.

So that was the the on the emergency medical team.

So there's discussions, there's there's discussions with European emergency medical teams or more specifically.

Emergency medical teams from Europe, but also from the from the African continent.

However, none of those discussions have yet satisfactory have been yet satisfactory concluded the the why those emergency medical teams are really important is that if we are to deal with the amount of cases and to provide appropriate care inhabited treatment centres, we need a lot more specialised medical staff than we have at the moment.

We've done a lot of positive work through the scaling up of the of the bed capacity, but unless we get more specialised medical care, we will eventually come to to plateau, which links back to the previous point, right?

If you don't provide the care, if you don't finance the care, if you don't provide the technical resources, then Ebola is a live enemy and will come back at us.

[Other language spoken]

Just one question embedded within my triple question that wasn't addressed.

It was just at one point there was talk of this potentially being the worst outbreak ever.

Is that still a possibility or can you rule that out at this stage?

[Other language spoken]

What happens in the future depends upon what we do.

Very clear.

OK, let me go to the platform.

Catherine.

[Other language spoken]

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[Other language spoken]

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[Other language spoken]

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If I'm allowed one final one, Julian, you talked about that, the need for more resources, financial resources.

Could you be a bit more specific about where we are now and how much more is needed?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, certainly it's the Reuters No, no, no, sorry.

So the the Ebola response for DRC, there was an integrated plan that was developed with the government or rather by the government with the support of Africa, CDC, United Nations, NGOs and and also some member states were were part of the process of validating that.

And the need for that is $1.3 billion for a six month period and now that is obviously very important sum.

But if you compare that to the consequences of not investing in the response and what happens when you able to get out of control, it is a relatively small expense.

If you look at what happened in West Africa, a in a location which in an area which is smaller population and, and physically a smaller size, the the economic consequences of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was in excess of $53 billion.

If you look at the direct investment and the impact on other forms of, of health and, and livelihoods and the, the economic, the economic impact, so early investment in slowing and stopping transmission is it's a, it's a wise, wise choice.

The then on the humanitarian side, the humanitarian response plan is, is currently 49% funded.

So we need approximately another billion dollars on the HNRP because much of the Ebola epidemic is in areas of of great humanitarian need, be it any Tory or or North North Kivu and the epidemic and the response to the epidemic tends to worsen the humanitarian situation by depressing the economy, reducing access to healthcare and potentially affecting access to education.

So it's, you know, it's a vast area and it and it needs very significant funding.

Please, I'm probably trying to do too many things at once and miss something.

But you said 1.3 billion over a six month period.

So how much of that do you actually have now?

The we Africa CDC and the government are following the, the tracking of the response.

This was only announced 2 weeks ago.

So for this this new part and the funding remains low.

There was a recent announcement by the United Kingdom for a small work for a a an important increase in the UK, but nonetheless relative to the total amount that's required and the majority still needs to be financed.

But we'll get you the more precise times afterwards.

I would like to talk to a positive point about about the response about DRC.

So not only are we seeing some improvements in in in Bunya and one power and that's you couldn't attribute that to we attribute that to the response, you know, government, UN and NGOs, but it doesn't stop by itself, right?

So that's very positive.

But the other thing I think that is very positive is, is the is the way that the government has has dealt with new cases.

So let's take the the case in Sudhubangi, they came out and they announced it straight away.

And public declaration of of cases is absolutely essential.

What is most deadly is when new cases are hidden and concealed, because if it's concealed and hidden then you can't respond to it.

So the the the brave and public response to the government is excellent.

Also, the fact that in a completely different part of the country, this case was picked up is also a very good sign because it shows that the health systems across the country are are paying attention and they are they are looking out for every cases, which was not the case at the beginning of the epidemic, say in April, April, May, when transmission was not picked up.

So there's many positive things going on.

Obviously, we just need to do a lot more, a lot faster and at far greater scale.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Olivia, to both of you for this extensive and really important briefing.

And thanks for taking the opportunity of being in Geneva to come in brief.

I think that I'm looking at Christian and maybe also Vanessa for the follow up information.

There are some requests on the chat for for the written notes.

[Other language spoken]

So thank you very much to both of you and you say goodbye.

And let's now go to another region and to an underground school.

I am talking about Ukraine and where we have our Ricardo Perez.

Ricardo, hello, welcome to the briefing.

I can see you are underground.

There's no light because you are briefing from an underground school where actually Ukraine children have to get their education at the moment.

So after five years of conflict, you go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

Getting into the 50s.

[Other language spoken]

Now you're muted, but try now.

[Other language spoken]

Bonjour Indeed, nearly five years into the war in Ukraine, children's right to education remains under attack with consequences that will define an entire generation.

Just 15 days into the new school year, there have been over 1000 air raid alerts across the country.

This is the highest number for this.

In the last five years and nearly double the same period last year.

It amounts to over 100 alerts every single day and at least 4 every hour.

Sue me where I am speaking to you now from an underground shelter.

School Today has been among the three regions hit hardest this year, together with Nicolaev and Odessa.

Nobody hears them louder than deeper than children.

I am now inside one of the 22 underground shelters turned into schools that UNICEF has helped set up for children living near the front lines.

This one can host up to 300 children.

It's astonishing to see how they keep learning and being children even in the middle of war, conflict, fear and air strikes, as we've been hearing here on Sumi for the last two days.

Here in Sumi, essentially one in every two education facilities have been damaged or destroyed by the war.

It is heartbreaking to see what should be a place of learning and protection turned into rubble across the country.

The picture is just a stark According to government estimates, between January and August this year, hundreds more educational institutions have been damaged, taking the overall toll in Ukraine to over 4 to 4200 since the start of the war.

Children whose hope of simply going to school continues to be disrupted by conflict, causing a seemingly never ending cycle of trauma.

The cost for children is measured beyond broke, broken walls, psychological scars and loud sirens.

Results from the latest OECD Pisa released last week show us that a significant proportion of 15 year olds in Ukraine who undertook the test, many of whom had spent the last five years of their schooling in war zones, have not yet reached a level of competency in the subject matters that would allow them to keep building on their education.

This narrows their options for further further study, skilled work and full participation in society as adults.

Around 1/3 did not reach that basic level of achievement in science and about half did not reach it in maths or reading.

When comparing this achievement to the overall OECD average, it is equivalent to a gap of two years of study from reading and 1.5 years of study for math and science.

Similarly, 56% miss the baseline in at least one of the tested subjects, maths, reading and science, and nearly three in 10, or 29% failed to reach the baseline level in any of the three tested subjects.

According to school principals, 61% of Ukrainian students attend schools affected by shortages of learning materials and equipment, and 54% attended schools lacking enough digital resources because of security reasons.

This data is only coming from 17 regions in Ukraine, so we can assume that schools closer to the front lines, like in Sumi, are even less resourced.

Despite the war, Ukraine has demonstrated incredible resilience in sustaining the education system, as verified by the stability of results between 2022 and 2025.

However, as we continue to warn, children in Ukraine need peace to be able to learn properly.

After almost five years of war, school is one of the few places where a child can find some sense of normality, friends, teachers, routine, a place to feel safe.

That matters because this war has taken an enormous psychological toll on them.

9 year old Sabrina, who I spoke to yesterday, told me yesterday that how much she missed being able to be with her classmates despite the dangers above the ground.

It is so nice to be together again and not learn online, she told me.

I just missed our regular walks and plates on my side, but now it's too dangerous.

But we stay inside all day, she explained, still sharing it as a positive news that they can still be safe on the ground.

Children like Sabrina have spent years waking to explosions, running to shelters, being displaced from their homes, separated from friends, wondering when the next attack would come.

We see children struggling to sleep, to concentrate, to regulate their emotions.

A child cannot simply leave that fear at the classroom door.

An air raid siren means a maths lesson stops halfway through.

Children leave their desks for shelter, they wait for the all clear, they return, they try to concentrate again.

And then the siren sounds.

It's worth repeating.

Children and parents do everything to study, but the impact of this war is clear and visceral.

Amid it all, and as a testament to parents, the government and humanitarian partners, Nearly 4.2 million children return to learning this September, including over 712,000 preschoolers.

More than 360,000 teachers also return to the classroom.

A significant number of children continue to depend on blended and fully online approaches with a context in flux and the area and the areas and number of attacks shift and escalate.

Nearly half of preschool age children are missing out on regular early childhood education and quick care, which is critical, losing opportunities to develop foundational skills for lifelong learning.

And now another threat is approaching.

Winter attacks on infrastructure will cause electricity and heating disruption.

As we saw last year, 2 million children suffered in extreme winter conditions after being left without heat, electricity and water.

Power cuts disrupted online lessons too, with the front line areas like Sumi being hardest hit.

UNICEF's 20262027 winter response is aiming to reach 3 million people, including 540,000 children.

This will include repairing heating systems and providing energy back up to schools.

It will ensure that 375,000 students can keep learning in person through the winter.

With our partners, we're also rehabilitating school shelters, repairing education facilities damaged by attacks, supporting catch up learning and providing mental health and psychosocial support.

We're doing everything we can to keep children learning, but no amount of support can shield their education from the consequences of continued war and military attacks.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Ricardo, thank you very much.

The number are impressive.

Let me open the floor to questions now, if any in the room, let me look at the platform.

I don't see any hands up.

So if I don't know if you've already distributed the notes, but I think it would be useful because there were a number of figures.

And thank you so very much for for briefing for briefing the journalist in such a dire situation.

Stay safe, please, and keep updating us on this dire situation.

Oh, there is a question from Christiane.

[Other language spoken]

Ricardo, I I just wonder, it's probably not possible, but can you take us and the camera into the classroom?

Fair question of privacy, right?

Yeah, you can bear with me.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, we can show it from a business.

They look very, very busy.

They are being children.

It's quite inspiring to see that they they continue to turn up and enjoy class, enjoy being with his friends, their friends, and they wait until their parents come from work and pick them up at around 6:00 PM.

Normally it feels like a like a school.

[Other language spoken]

As you could see, they're doing their best to give that sense of normality.

But when the kids go above the ground is when things get very scary.

And and that's something that needs to end because the the everlasting cycle of suffering and trauma will have an impact on their mental health now and in the future, let alone on the education results, as as we've seen.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so very much for for showing us this.

Ricardo, really please stay safe with the children and wish them a very good school day as much as possible.

[Other language spoken]

OK, so let's now go to the last part of the briefing.

[Other language spoken]

So let's move now to Middle East.

And we have the briefing on OPT.

Two different subjects.

Sophia is with us, Sophia Caltrop, a chief of humanitarian action for UN Women and Tamim for OHCHR.

You've brought us Ajit Sangai.

[Other language spoken]

Head of the OHCHR office in the occupied Palestinian territory was joining from Jordan.

So do we start with.

OK, We start with Sophia.

[Other language spoken]

So let's start with Sophia, and then we will go to you.

Edit Sophia, thank you.

Thank you, Alessandra, and good morning, everybody.

Settler violence, Israeli military operations and movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank have left many women living in fear and increasingly cut off from daily life.

As of January 31st of January 2026, more than 1050 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli security forces since October 2020, three 1025 of whom are men and boys, and more than 22,300 people have been detained, the majority of them men and boys.

Behind every one of these figures is a family in grief, a mother waiting for the news of her son, a wife left without her partner, and children facing immense loss.

For women who are suddenly left heading households, they must find ways to earn an income, secure assistance and protect their families under conditions that make even the most basic responsibilities extraordinary difficult.

They face heightening risks of poverty, of exclusion and of violence.

Latest estimates suggest that 83,200 households in the occupied West Bank are now headed by women, representing one in eight households.

But this figure is likely underestimate.

UN Women has spoken to women across the occupied West Bank and we have documented the findings in a new analysis published today.

We found that women headed households are more likely to be displaced, with 40% of households headed by women not living in their original home compared to 30% of men headed households.

We also found that fear for one safety and security is everywhere.

3/4 of Palestinians that we spoke to told us that they do not feel safe in the daily life.

Half told us that the security of the children is of great concern.

57% of women heading households told us that they were afraid of being arrested and 76% of men shared the same concern.

Half of women heading households told us that they are skipping meals to cope with food shortages, and 2/3 said they are taking out loans to make ends meet, making any recovery much harder to reach.

Movement obstacles including staff checkpoints, Rd barriers and franchise are another major driver of daily hardship in the occupied West Bank.

They are now an estimated 925 such obstacles, the highest number recorded in two decades.

And every woman heading a household when we interviewed said she avoids checkpoints altogether, while nine in 10 said they make them feel unsafe.

The consequences are severe.

Women responsible for feeding their families, securing assistance and meeting basic needs are being prevented from moving freely to reach food aid, essential services and employment.

This is restricting their mobility and undermining their safety, well-being and ability to keep their families afloat.

Palestinian people and especially women and girls need this suffering and violence to end.

UN Women calls for immediate action to end the violence, movement restrictions and home demolition in the occupied West Bank, including E Jerusalem and to protect women and girls and all civilians in line with international law.

UN Women calls for dedicated support for women headed households, support that is disability inclusive and combines livelihoods, social protection, health, shelter and protection services.

UN Women is on the ground in Palestine.

We work with women LED organisations across the West Bank providing psychosocial support, protection services, legal assistance and access to aid.

Despite the immense suffering imposed on them, Palestinian women continue to show extraordinary strength, leadership and determination.

We call on the international community to stand with them in strength and leadership to protect civilians, respect international law, ensure freedom of movement for people to go about their daily lives and to ensure accountability for the violence.

Thank you very much and back over to you, Alessandra.

Thank you very much Sophia for this description of this impact.

And maybe I'll now go to Tamim.

Tamim, you have some introductory remark and then we'll go to Ajit.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, everyone.

You will have received the news release issued this morning by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for could talk about the recovery of human remains in Gaza.

The painstaking recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, mostly of children and women, almost three years after their homes were heavily bombed by Israeli forces, underscores the concerns over compliance with international law and the possibility that serious violations, including war crimes, may have been committed.

The remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations where that were pulverised by Israeli attacks.

It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed.

The remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives.

It is critical that evidence of violations, including a destroyed sites, be preserved.

Given ongoing legal proceedings regarding the conduct of hostilities in Gaza, international investigators must be allowed into all parts of Gaza to assist with evidence gathering.

Every feasible effort must be taken to document and identify the victims, preserve forensic information and biological samples, record their burial locations, and inform their families.

The right of families to know the fate of their relatives does not end with the identification and dignified burial.

They deserve to know the full truth.

We have repeatedly expressed grave concerns that Israel's choices of methods and means of conducting hostilities, including through the extensive use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, failed to ensure that they effectively distinguish between civilians and fighters.

The discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces these concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes.

Israel has clear obligations to take all measures to search and account for missing people and to search, collect and evacuate the dead in areas where the Israeli ground forces are deployed.

Remains must be recovered in a dignified manner, identified and all potential evidence preserved.

Recovering and burying the victims does not substitute for establishing the circumstances in which they were killed.

These attacks must be effectively investigated.

Where violations are established, those responsible must be held to account.

Now, I would like to give the floor to my colleague Ajit Sangay, who was the head of our office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

He's joining us from Amman and will tell us more about the suffering of those families.

Over to you, Ajit.

Thank you, Tamim, and thank you, colleagues.

Let me compliment the High Commissioner with some remarks from the field on the same issue.

Human remains believed to belong to 96 people from three Palestinian families have been recovered from under the rubble in Gaza City this month.

Around half were women and children.

One family, the Malakas, had lost 72 members in Israeli airstrike on family homes in November 2023.

Only three bodies were recovered at the time, remains believed to belong to 55.

Four members of the family were among those recovered this month.

The remaining 14 family members are still missing beneath the rubble.

Like many in Gaza, they have never been recovered.

The sheer explosive power of heavy munitions sometimes left no recover recoverable remains, and it's increasingly difficult to distinguish rubble from remains as the years pass.

A survivor of the attack on the Malaka families, Holmes told us that for nearly three years he felt buried beneath layers of grief and pain.

The pain of knowing they still lie in ruins, the pain of being unable to recover and bury them, and the ultimate pain of losing them.

It is estimated that at least 8000 bodies remain buried under the rubble.

Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian civil defence teams have recovered over 800 bodies since the announcement of a ceasefire in October 2025, despite severe shortages of equipment, fuel and personnel.

At this pace, completing the recovery of the remaining bodies will take at least 10 more years, even longer when accounting for the time needed to identify bodies.

If ever possible.

It is Israel's obligation under the international law to do everything possible to ensure these remains are found, identified and buried with dignity in accordance with families, religious and cultural beliefs.

Instead, the collective impact of Israel's conduct is making any systematic large scale search, recovery and identification effort nearly impossible.

Some families, like the Malakas, have been unable to recover the remains of their loved ones due to lack of resources.

Israeli authorities have been blocking the entry of heavy machinery and trained personal needed for large scale recovery.

At present, Palestinian civil defence teams report having only one excavator left and at times being forced to dig through rubble with their bare hands.

Some families in Gaza cannot reach the areas where the missing family members were killed to search for their remains.

Israeli forces surround the Palestinian population in Gaza from all sides along the constantly shift shifting so-called yellow line.

Most of the territory of Gaza is now beyond the Yellow Line, inaccessible to Palestinians, including civil defence teams and families of missing persons.

Reports are also mounting about Israeli soldiers removing and crushing rubble there, rubble laden with people's remains.

Even when bodies are recovered, families are often unable to identify them.

Israel has been blocking the entry of forensic identification tools such as DNA and fingerprinting kits, leaving families to identify remains by physical characteristics or by guessing based on the location of of the recovery.

If a natural disaster caused the scale of crisis, international mechanisms, deployment of specialised search in forensic themes and massive resources to support large scale operations of search, recovery and identification would all be triggered.

Yet the needs here, despite the human causes this time, are just as great and I would urge similar kind of joined up response here.

This predictably risks the loss of evidence needed to ensure every individual responsible for atrocity crimes is held account.

It also prolongs the anguish of thousands of families already living in perpetual fear, insecurity and want.

They have a right to know the fates of their children, parents, siblings, cousins.

They have a right to mourn them with dignity and they have a right to justice.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I'll open the floor to question now whether on the West Bank, in the situation of women or Gaza, what we've just heard in the room.

Is it the finger or a hand?

OK, So let me see on the platform.

I don't see any hand up.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

Sorry, sorry.

Sorry, Emma, it's a bit slow.

Yeah, I just had a question actually for OHCHR about the original estimates of the number of bodies under the rubble.

I mean, given the recovery efforts so far, is that still the best guess that there are 8000 or 10,000 bodies yet yet to be recovered?

I mean, besides the 800 you mentioned?

And if you could just clarify in a bit more detail what is happening to the bodies on the Israeli side of of the yellow line?

Is there any recovery at all on that side?

[Other language spoken]

I think that's a very important question.

[Other language spoken]

Obviously none of us have full unimpeded access to these places.

There is no proactive coordinated mechanism or effort to recover bodies in the 70% of the IDF controlled part of Gaza.

This is the reality.

What we have are reports that the IDF at this stage are destroying and demolishing and flattening many buildings, in which case we also believe many bodies are completely buried under under these rubble forever.

In cases where they have managed to find bodies and it is not a proactive method or, or or an effort.

They have, we understand, handed over them to international bodies.

We are not entirely sure how many of them they are, but this is the situation at this point in time in the idea of controlled part of Gaza.

[Other language spoken]

Jeremy Launch now it's a hand to your knowledge, like to know.

Do you know anything about the Civil Defence people who are actually getting the remains with their bare hands?

Do you actually know a case where they have been targeted by the IDF?

We are in constant touch with the Civil Defence.

We work with them on, on these issues.

It is true that they have been trying to pull the bodies from from the rubble with their bare hands.

There's only one workable, you know, heavy equipment at this stage.

While they have been in the process of recovering bodies, if that's your question.

As far as I am aware, I do not have information that shows that the Israelis have attacked them.

[Other language spoken]

I just wondered to what extent you've been able to map the location of civilian casualties in the course of the war and therefore, to what extent, you know, what kind of proportion of those civilian casualties the 77,000 plus lie in areas behind the yellow line?

[Other language spoken]

That's a very difficult question, Nick, but thanks for for that question.

I will take you back a little bit to our June 2024 report that talks on about the indiscriminate bombing in Gaza, where we actually talk about 6 particular communities in Gaza City, which was bombed and there were heavy casualties.

That nature of mapping has not been possible.

And This is why we want to draw attention to this issue, which is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the context of talks about early recovery, but also what we hear that's that's happening in the idea of part of, of of of Gaza.

I wouldn't be able to give you an estimate simply because that part is also compounded by agricultural land as well as in the past human dwellings.

So it's a little bit difficult for us to estimate at this stage what percentage of of those who are dead are in that part.

I would want to again caution that the 8000 that we constantly talk about is a very, very low and an underestimate of what the actual numbers are.

These are based on families coming forward and just simply saying have a family of five missing and they're perhaps under this trouble and and so forth.

So there has not been a concrete full on effort to map out all the missing persons in Gaza with their age, gender and so forth.

Thank you very much.

I don't see other questions for you.

Is there any question for you and women on the West Bank?

I don't see any hand up.

So thank you very much to both.

Thanks to Tamim.

Thanks Ajit and Sophia for this briefing.

I have quite a few announcements for you to see if you want to.

[Other language spoken]

So, first of all, let's remain on human rights, as we have but two committees, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will review the report submitted by Lesotho regarding the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

It will be followed by the review of additional information submitted by Gabon and then the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which will end the review of the report submitted by Slovenia this morning.

And then we'll review the report submitted by Kazakhstan.

[Other language spoken]

I'll start with today at 2:00 PM, the WMO Secretary General, Celesta Salo will present you the State of Global Water Resources Report 2025.

This is embargoed until the 17th September at 4 GMT.

She will be accompanied by Wayne Jenkinson, Director of the Division of Hydrology and Creosphere and other officials from WMO.

And WMO also asked me to remind you that Waldozone day is 16 September, that is tomorrow.

WMO sent out its annual ozone bulletin under embargo also, and they can give interviews on request.

And we also sent you the statement of the Secretary General for the International Day of for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Two more press conferences also on human rights.

On 17th September, 12 noon, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls will brief you on Victims still waiting, a global briefing on transitional justice around the world with the Special Rapporteur, but now do him.

And on 17th September also at 3:30 PM, the Fact International Fact Training Mission on the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela to the Human Rights Council will brief you on the latest reports that they have released recently and that will be with the three members of the investigative body.

I just wanted to also inform you that the, that as you know, next week we will in fact on Sunday, the high level week of the 81st session of the General Assembly will start in New York.

It will start with the SDG moment convened by the Secretary General.

That would be on the 18th September at 4:00 PM Geneva time.

The Secretary General will speak to the press tomorrow, Wednesday, 16th, sorry, 16th September at 5:00 PM Geneva time.

That's the usual press conference at that.

The Secretary General gives ahead of the high level weeks of the UN General Assembly and of course, it will be broadcast on UN Web TV.

And I'd like to invite you also to have a look at the High Level Week 2026 web page.

There are a lot of high level moments, not only the general debate, but a lot of high level events on climate action and just transition.

On the 40th anniversary of the Declaration, the right to development on the planet, the plenary meeting to address the existential threats posed by sea level rise.

There is also a high level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

And one on the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

And to finish that will be on the 29th of September.

The high level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

All these events will be on UN Web TV and they are described on the High Level Week page.

So please have a look if you wish to follow any of this of this events on Web TV.

So I see now that that is what I wanted to tell you in terms of announcement.

[Other language spoken]

UNHCR is here, Eugene is here, by the way.

I just wanted to tell she's coming to the podium.

I just wanted to tell you that because of today, the briefing was very, very full, very, very busy and reaching information.

But we are planning with Eugene and IO, Ms colleague to have a spotlight on Yemen on Friday.

So just a heads up, we will, we will do our best.

Mohammed, Eugene is on the podium.

[Other language spoken]

OK, Thank you so much, Alessandra.

My question will be about the Yemen, which is one of the up to date topics.

And nowadays recently we have seen many internal and external displacement in Yemen.

What would you like to say about this situation in Yemen?

Can you give us any figure about latest situation?

Thanks, Mohammed.

Thanks for your cushion and interest on this subject.

As Alessandra mentioned that we, we will bring our representative this Friday who are currently in Obock where we are receiving a new arrival from from Yemen.

But I can just quickly send give you the update.

But we will also share the press release this morning.

As soon as I go back to the office, I will share the press release with you immediately that UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is extremely worried about rapidly escalating hostility along Yemen's western coasts, which have already displaced the nearly 100,000 people.

We're talking about the country that having have suffered 12 years of conflict and also the already have a 4.8 million internally displaced persons in the country and also that the hostilities are forcing more than 2400 people to seek safety across the Babel Mandeb strike in Djibouti.

We are also deeply concerned about safety and well-being of more than 65,000 refugee and asylum seeker inside Yemen, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, who are facing renewed risk as the security situation worsening in the country.

As I mentioned, over the past four days, more than the 2400 people have made a sea crossing from Yemen to Djibouti, arriving mainly through Obog, Korangar, Mulu and Godaria.

This is primarily a movement of refugee fleeing conflict and insecurity.

The people arriving from Yemen are seeking international protection and it should be received and assisted your NHSR hugely.

Thanks to Djibouti, our long standard refugee host, for keeping its border open and welcoming those who fled.

The current situation is also raising a broader concern over global humanitarian logistics already strained by the ongoing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.

The Babel Mandeb Strait is a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Continued insecurity it could affect humanitarian and commercial shipping serving Yemen, Sudan and other operation in the region and beyond, potentially increasing transport cost and delaying the delivery of relief supply.

We mentioned about this repro fact a few months ago.

And then if this straight is blocked basically that we have to reroute all the shipping be at the Cape of Good Hope adding 25 to 30 days to shipping times.

But I will assure all the the entire press release.

[Other language spoken]

I just wondered, since Kennedy is also online, I don't know if IOM wants to add anything ahead of this briefing on Friday.

So if this is the case, I'm on this app.

Thank you very much, Alessandra.

I won't really be adding much on that as we've already had.

The situation is very fluid.

We are having a number of people who are currently displaced within Yemen, especially on the West Coast and increasing day by day.

So far, ties is one of the most affected areas and we have seen an uptick of over 5 / 50,000 people being displaced from that particular location.

As our colleague has mentioned, sorry as as it has been mentioned by UNSC are already we are seeing a number of people.

So coming back from into Djibouti as well as remember that most of the pieces are rigid that has marked a lot of has been a corridor for most migrants that are trying to access the gals.

So most of them also experiencing being trapped in this particular situation are basically forced to kind of find refuge.

So as it has already been mentioned, we are hoping to have an update and exhausting brief with our respective colleagues in both Djibouti and Yemen hopefully on Friday.

But just what a couple of those feelings.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry, I have a problem with my mic.

[Other language spoken]

No, I just wanted to, to ask to you and here a quick follow up.

The Djibouti Finance Minister actually a couple days ago complained about a lack of UN presence in Djibouti to to help with the thousands that have arrived.

I was just wondering, is that a place where you you've had to cut back since 2025 And just if you wanted to respond to his remarks that there's not enough UN help on the ground there.

[Other language spoken]

We do have colleagues on the ground, but you are absolutely right that with the funding cut that we have reduced the size of operation in Djibouti.

But because of this, new arrivals and registration is actually a foremost important.

So we are actually sending our search team from the regional Bureau.

They're on the road, Alex.

[Other language spoken]

Just a quick question, you're talking about nearly 100,000 people displaced in Yemen.

Do you have an exact figure?

You mean the IDP's the figure, it's the what the, what we are seeing is 94,000 at the moment, but it's a, it's a yesterday's number.

And then we're seeing the, the very roughly the, the figure is increasing at the moment.

And then we're expecting if the the hostility continue and escalate it further, we're expecting more people to be displaced internally and also that receiving more refugees and asylum seeker in Djibouti as well.

Yeah, very fluid numbers.

OK, thank you very much.

So we'll we'll hear more on Friday.

We'll have ANHCRNIOM colleagues from the field talking briefing you on the on the situation in Yemen.

Thank you very much, Eugene.

Thanks, Tamin and thanks to you all.

So I'll leave you to the press conference of this armament this afternoon and all the press conference of the week and I'll see you on Friday.

Thank you very much.

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 15 September 2026