Archiv: United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA)


27.08.2024 - 21:40 [ United Nations ]

In Gaza, evacuation orders threaten to uproot UN’s aid hub once again

The plight of Gaza’s people continues to worsen in the enclave where humanitarian operations are “ongoing where feasible” amid repeated evacuation orders from the Israeli military, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, warned on Tuesday.

In an update, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke rejected any suggestion of stopping the lifesaving aid operation, despite the multiple challenges linked to the war and ongoing fighting, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October.

“There’s been no decision to halt, there never has been, we’ve been there for 10 months, so [it is] ongoing where feasible. I want to remind you that only 11 per cent of the territory of the Gaza Strip is not under evacuation orders…so we’re trying to work with that number and keep the operation going.”

30.03.2024 - 21:10 [ EgyptIndependent.com ]

UN says Israel denied 30 percent of aid missions to Northern Gaza in March

“IDF soldiers too often delay or deny convoys from crossing checkpoints, with rejected requests for safe passage, searches, detentions and sometimes violence against aid convoys and awaiting crowds,” it added.

The aid missions included: food distributions, fuel, emergency medical teams movement and delivery of supplies to hospitals; and support for water, sanitation, and hygiene activities, the UN agency said

30.03.2024 - 20:15 [ United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) ]

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #148

– Since 1 March, 30 per cent of humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza and 10 per cent of missions to southern Gaza were denied access by the Israeli authorities.

– Nearly 40 per cent of school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit, according to an updated assessment of satellite imagery by the Education Cluster.

02.03.2024 - 20:08 [ NHK.or.jp ]

UN official: victims of disputed Gaza attack had gunshot wounds

An official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, reported on social media on Friday that medics at Al-Shifa Hospital are treating more than 200 people injured in the attack, some of whom have gunshot wounds.

07.02.2024 - 21:00 [ UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) ]

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture urges UK government to halt imminent extradition of Julian Assange

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, today urged the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) to halt the possible extradition of Julian Assange to the United States of America.

She called on British authorities to consider Julian Assange’s appeal based on substantial fears that, if extradited, he would be at risk of treatment amounting to torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment.

01.02.2024 - 11:00 [ UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) ]

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #106

20.01.2024 - 02:38 [ UN Humanitarian / Exposure.co ]

Gaza: Children Under Attack

„The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis, it is a crisis of humanity.“

– United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

The images and stories below are unbearable. But they must be seen and shared. The world needs to know what the people of Gaza are enduring, and political leaders must bring this war to an end.

30.12.2023 - 16:45 [ United Nations ]

United Nations Charter (full text)

Article 7

1. There are established as principal organs of the United Nations: a General Assembly, a Security Council, an Economic and Social Council, a Trusteeship Council, an International Court of Justice and a Secretariat.

(…)

Article 94

1. Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice in any case to which it is a party.

2. If any party to a case fails to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a judgment rendered by the Court, the other party may have recourse to the Security Council, which may, if it deems necessary, make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment.

(…)

Article 96

– The General Assembly or the Security Council may request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.

– Other organs of the United Nations and specialized agencies, which may at any time be so authorized by the General Assembly, may also request advisory opinions of the Court on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities.

18.12.2023 - 18:02 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) ]

Chile: Operation Condor judgment major win for accountability – Türk

GENEVA (15 December 2023) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today hailed Chile’s Supreme Court judgement on Operation Condor – a notorious campaign coordinated among South America’s dictatorships in the 70s and 80s to persecute political opponents and dissidents – as a major step towards accountability for thousands of victims.

The former dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay implemented Operation Condor to search for, persecute, torture, summarily kill and forcibly disappear people perceived as dissidents across the region. They used a myriad of tactics to eliminate them, including throwing people out of aeroplanes and helicopters.

On 14 December, in a unanimous ruling, Chile’s Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of 22 agents of the dissolved Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) for the kidnappings and qualified homicides of some victims of the Operation Condor, and ordered reparation measures.

18.12.2023 - 17:27 [ World Health Organization ]

WHO delivers health supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital, appeals for continued access to address urgent needs in north Gaza

(17.12.2023)

Once the most important and largest referral hospital in Gaza, Al-Shifa now houses only a handful of doctors and a few nurses, together with 70 volunteers, working under what WHO staff described as “unbelievably challenging circumstances,” and calling it a “hospital in need of resuscitation.” The operating theatres and other major services remain nonfunctional due to lack of fuel, oxygen, specialized medical staff, and supplies. The hospital is only able to provide basic trauma stabilization, has no blood for transfusion, and hardly any staff to care for the constant flow of patients. Dialysis is being provided to approximately 30 patients a day, with the dialysis machines operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using a small generator.

The team described the emergency department as a “bloodbath”, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute. Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor, and limited to no pain management is available at the hospital. WHO staff said that the emergency department is so full that care must be exercised to not step on patients on the floor.

18.12.2023 - 16:59 [ United Nations ]

UN workers delivering aid to Gaza hospital describe ‘bloodbath’ in overflowing emergency department

(16.12.2023)

UN workers delivering medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 16 December have described the emergency department as a “bloodbath”, with hundreds of injured people inside, and a constant flow of new patients.

12.12.2023 - 16:42 [ World Health Organization ]

WHO calls for protection of humanitarian space in Gaza following serious incidents in high-risk mission to transfer patients, deliver health supplies

On 9 December 2023, a WHO team, in collaboration with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and with support from the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), completed a high-risk mission to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City to deliver medical supplies, assess the situation in the hospital, and transfer critically-injured patients to a hospital in the south. The mission delivered trauma and surgical supplies, enough to treat 1500 patients, to the hospital, and transferred 19 critical patients with 14 companions to Nasser Medical Complex in south Gaza, where they can receive a higher level of care.

On the way north, the UN convoy was inspected at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, and ambulance crew members had to leave the vehicles for identification. Two PRCS staff were detained for over an hour, further delaying the mission. WHO staff saw one of them being made to kneel at gunpoint and then taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed, beaten, stripped and searched.

06.12.2023 - 08:30 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA), ]

Statement of the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings

(04.12.2023)

Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go.

The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.

06.12.2023 - 05:53 [ Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator / Twitter ]

Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in #Gaza, they do.

(04.12.2023)

06.12.2023 - 05:51 [ CNN ]

Israel expands war into southern Gaza as UN warns of ‘blatant disregard for basic humanity’

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops were operating in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis Tuesday as top officials at the United Nations warned of an “apocalyptic” situation in war-torn Gaza with “no place safe to go” for civilians.

“Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in Gaza, they do,” said Martin Griffiths, the top UN emergency relief official, in a statement on Monday. “People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another,” he said.

26.11.2023 - 11:05 [ United Nations ]

UN confirms more aid entering Gaza as humanitarian pause holds for second day

(November 25, 2023)

The freight included food, water and emergency medical supplies. Eleven ambulances, 3 coaches and a flatbed were delivered to Al Shifa hospital to be used to assist with evacuations.

Also on Saturday, another 200 trucks were dispatched from Nitzana, with 187 of them successfully entering Gaza by 19:00 local time.

In addition, 129,000 liters of fuel crossed into Gaza, said the UN humanitarian affairs office, known as OCHA.

20.11.2023 - 02:17 [ World Health Organization / Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) ]

WHO-led joint UN and Red Crescent mission evacuates 31 infants from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

(19 November 2023)

The evacuation, which was requested by health workers and patients during the joint mission yesterday, became necessary as Al-Shifa Hospital is no longer able to function due to a lack of clean water, fuel, medical supplies, food, other essential items and the intense hostilities. WHO remains deeply concerned about the safety and health needs of patients and health workers who remain at Al-Shifa Hospital, and in the few partially functional hospitals in the north that face imminent closure.

Al-Shifa Hospital, previously the largest and most advanced referral hospital in Gaza, together with other hospitals, must be fully restored to provide urgently needed health services in Gaza

20.11.2023 - 01:20 [ World Health Organization / Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) ]

WHO leads very high-risk joint humanitarian mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

(18 November 2023)

Earlier in the day, the IDF had issued evacuation orders to the remaining 2500 internally displaced people who had been seeking refuge on the hospital grounds. They, along with a number of mobile patients and hospital staff, had already vacated the facility by the time of the team‘s arrival.

Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a “death zone,” and the situation as “desperate.” Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there.

Lack of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other essential aid over the last 6 weeks have caused Al-Shifa Hospital – once the largest, most advanced and best equipped referral hospital in Gaza – to essentially stop functioning as a medical facility. The team observed that due to the security situation, it has been impossible for the staff to carry out effective waste management in the hospital. Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation.

20.11.2023 - 01:06 [ Mehdi Hasan, @mehdihasanshow on @MSNBC & NBC's @peacockTV / Twitter ]

The WHO team visiting the Shifa hospital described it as a „death zone“.

18.11.2023 - 05:34 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) ]

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #42

– The World Food Programme (WFP) has reported an increase in cases of dehydration and malnutrition and warned about the threat of starvation due to the collapsed food supply chain and insufficient aid delivery. Only 10 per cent of necessary food supplies have entered Gaza since the beginning of the hostilities.

– On 17 November, for the third consecutive day, Israeli troops, accompanied by tanks, operated within the Shifa hospital compound in Gaza city. According to hospital administrators , since 11 November, 40 patients, including four premature babies, have died in the hospital due to the lack of electricity.

11.11.2023 - 02:13 [ NHK.or.jp ]

Nearly 1.5 million people in Gaza internally displaced, UN says

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, reported the number on Saturday.

It said more than 710,000 people are sheltering in 149 facilities provided by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA. More than 120,000 others are in hospitals, churches and public buildings, and more than 100,000 are in 89 non-UNRWA schools.

11.11.2023 - 00:25 [ Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator / Twitter ]

Acts of war in places of grace must stop. #Gaza

(5 hours ago)

30.10.2023 - 18:02 [ United Nations ]

Gaza hospitals hanging on by a thread: UN humanitarians

The vicinities of Shifa and Al Quds hospitals in Gaza city and of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, have been bombarded over the weekend, UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said.

This followed renewed calls by the Israeli military to evacuate these facilities immediately,” OCHA added.

“Palestinian and Israeli civilians have suffered enough”, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths wrote on social platform X on Monday. He revealed that he is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and “will be discussing with the leadership of both parties how we can ramp up the humanitarian response”.

16.06.2018 - 08:22 [ reliefweb ]

Syrian Arab Republic: Humanitarian situation update in Afrin District and for IDPs in surrounding communities (as of 15 June 2018)

The United Nations continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced population of Afrin in Tall Refaat and surrounding areas. Despite the increase in the presence of humanitarian partners in these areas, assistance and services remain insufficient, particularly for people in rural areas and in the IDP sites of Tall Refaat, Fafin and Wahshiyeh. Facilities in IDP sites are sub-standard and inadequately arranged for the dignity and the safety of women and children.