About 200,000 residents in northern Gaza, particularly in Jabalia, are facing critical shortages of food, water, and medicine as Israel‘s ground offensive continues for the 14th consecutive day, reported the Gaza Civil Defense on Friday.
Archiv: Wasser / Strom / Versorgung / Kraftwerke / Infrastruktur / Zugang / Ressourcen / water / electricity / supply / dams / infrastructure / access
Opening Remarks of UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator at the Lebanon Response Plan Steering Committee Meeting
A Steering Committee for the Lebanon Response Plan (LRP) was formed today following the endorsement of the humanitarian and stabilization response plan for Lebanon for 2024. The meeting was co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator of the UN. It was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Education and Higher Education, Public Health, Social Affairs, Energy and Water, Labor, Agriculture and Environment; alongside the Ambassadors to Lebanon of Canada, France, the EU, Germany and the charge d‘affaires for the US; as well as Representatives of UN Agencies and national and international NGOs.
Below are the opening remarks as delivered by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the LRP Steering Committee meeting:
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Mikati, esteemed ministers, honorable ambassadors, distinguished guests, dear colleagues, good morning.
We gather here today at a truly unprecedented time for Lebanon. This country has already faced many years of multi-layered crises. Over the past year, the escalation of hostilities has inflicted severe damage on communities in the South. In the last weeks, the violence has intensified, causing widespread civilian casualties, mass displacement, and extensive destruction across the country.
Healthcare and frontline workers have come under attack, as have civil defense centers and water supply systems, pushing essential services to the brink of collapse. This must stop.
Electricity and water cut off for 48 hours in Jenin
„The situation is really, really bad. Food in out refrigerators has gone bad so we are forced to leave Jenin and take shelter with relatives outside the city.“
The resident said there was no internet or event the ability to charge phones. „It feels like Gaza‘s conditions,“ they added.
50 Jahre Nelkenrevolution in Portugal
Am 25. April 2024 wird Portugal zum fünfzigsten Mal seine so genannte friedliche Revolution feiern. Von den damaligen Errungenschaften ist fast nichts geblieben. (…)
Das Kapital eroberte sich Schritt für Schritt seine Macht zurück. Die Landreform wurde zurückgenommen. Bei der Rückgabe von Ländereien kam es zu bitteren Szenen und Prügeleien. Kleinbauern verloren die Früchte ihrer Arbeit und das gerade bestellte eigene Land. Den verbleibenden Kooperativen – Versammlungsstätten und kulturelle Wohnzimmer der Dörfer, in denen sich die Bewohner gegenseitig versorgen und ihre Produkte lokal anbieten konnten – wurden die steuerlichen Vergünstigungen und damit die Arbeitsgrundlage genommen. Damit ging ein Herzstück der Revolution verloren.
Der Westen hatte gesiegt. Dem portugiesischen Volk wurde der Beitritt zur EU 1986 als Weg zu Sicherheit und Wohlstand verkauft.
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) – The Republic of South Africa submits an urgent request for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of the Court’s prior provisional measures Order and decision
THE HAGUE, 6 March 2024. South Africa today filed an urgent request with the Court for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024 and decision of 16 February 2024 in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).
In its new request, South Africa states that it is “compelled to return to the Court in light of the new facts and changes in the situation in Gaza — particularly the situation of widespread starvation — brought about by the continuing egregious breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide . . . by the State of Israel . . . and its ongoing manifest violations of the provisional measures indicated by this Court on 26 January 2024”. It requests the Court to indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify the provisional measures indicated it its Order of 26 January 2024, pursuant to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Article 75, paragraphs 1 and 3, and Article 76, paragraph 1, of the Rules of Court, respectively, “in order urgently to ensure the safety and security of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, including over a million children”. It urges the Court to do so without holding a hearing, in light of the “extreme urgency of the situation”.
South Africa Asks U.N. Court to Intervene to Avert ‘Genocidal Starvation’ in Gaza
(07.03.2024)
Israel has strenuously denied the genocide allegation, and on Thursday its foreign ministry called on the court to reject South Africa’s latest request.
“South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel’s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens, and to release all of the hostages,” Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said on social media.
It was not immediately clear when the court would respond to the request.
A statement on Gaza and Israel from the president of the ICRC
Five months into the escalation of hostilities, which began with the horrific events in Israel on 7 October, the situation in the Gaza Strip degenerates by the hour. There is nowhere safe for people to go. The civilian death toll and the ongoing captivity of hostages are shocking and unacceptable.
This brutal war has ruptured any sense of a shared humanity.
Gaza war has ‚ruptured any sense of a shared humanity‘ amid Israeli atrocities: ICRC
„As an occupying power, Israel must provide for the basic needs of the population or facilitate the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian relief,“ Spoljaric said.
The war had „ruptured any sense of a shared humanity“, she said.
„The situation in the Gaza Strip degenerates by the hour. There is nowhere safe for people to go. The civilian death toll and the ongoing captivity of hostages are shocking and unacceptable,“ Spoljaric said.
Biden, I want to see a cease-fire
Biden says Netanyahu is ‘hurting Israel more than helping Israel.’
“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Netanyahu in an interview with MSNBC.
“In my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” Mr. Biden said, appearing to refer to Mr. Netanyahu’s military strategy. “It’s contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake. So I want to see a cease-fire.”
85 Palestinians killed in Gaza in last 24 hours, death toll climbs to 31,045
“The death toll from malnutrition and dehydration rose to 25,” it noted, adding: “72% of victims of the Israeli aggression on Gaza are children and women.”
Flouting the provisional ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 72,654 injured since 7 October, according to Palestinian health authorities.
This was a pernicious lie that was promoted by Biden and his administration to justify Israel’s attacking of hospitals. Those of us who warned that this was a lie at the time were accused of being Hamas propagandists.
The case of al-Shifa: Investigating the assault on Gaza’s largest hospital
The Post’s analysis shows:
– The rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by IDF troops showed no immediate evidence of military use by Hamas.
– None of the five hospital buildings identified by Hagari appeared to be connected to the tunnel network.
– There is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards.
Hours before IDF troops entered the complex, the Biden administration declassified U.S. intelligence assessments that it said bolstered Israel’s claims. In the aftermath of the raid, Israeli and U.S. officials have stood firm behind their initial statements.
A Washington Post investigation has found no proof of a Hamas command center under al-Shifa Hospital following Israel’s attack on the medical complex
Evidence Doesn‘t Support Israeli Claims That Hospital Was Hamas Command Center: Report
The Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital last month, which was preceded by an evacuation order aimed at thousands of people sheltering at the hospital and hundreds of sick patients, produced one of the grisliest scenes in the country’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip: a “death zone” that included a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and dozens of desperate patients inside, according to the World Health Organization, whose aid workers arrived at the facility on Nov. 18 as part of a humanitarian mission.
Forty patients, including four premature babies, died in the hospital due to a lack of electricity in the days surrounding the raid, hospital administrators told the United Nations.
Dear President Biden: The humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip
(12.12.2023)
Dear President Biden,
The war in the Gaza Strip has been underway for more than nine weeks, ever since Hamas carried out its horrific and criminal attack on Israeli civilians, which included killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping some 250 to Gaza – among them Israeli civilians, foreign nationals and children. Immediately after the attack, and in a speech you later gave in Israel, you made it clear that Israel has the right to defend itself, while emphasizing it must do so only in accordance with the provisions of international law, and particularly the rules of war.
We, Israeli human rights organizations and civil society groups, must at this stage state with a heavy heart that our government has chosen to ignore your advice and similar statements by US officials. This letter does not address the grave suspicions of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law during the war, but centers on the extreme humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza and the urgent need to change Israel’s policy on this issue.
Israeli Human Rights Organizations to President Biden: Stop the Humanitarian Catastrophe
(13.12.2023)
Among the signatories: Academia for Equality, Akevot – Institute for Israeli Palestinian Conflict Research, B’Tselem, Bimkom, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Gisha, HaMoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual, Jordan Valley Activists, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Machsom Watch, Parents Against Child Detentions, Psychoative, Rabbis for Human Rights, Social Workers for Peace and Welfare, Yesh Din and Zazim -Community Action.
Life in the Gaza Strip right now is an unimaginable nightmare, as the result of a deliberate Israeli policy. Millions of residents are dangerously overcrowded in inhuman conditions – without water, food, medicine or fuel – and hospitals that have collapsed. >
All of this under unprecedented and relentless Israeli bombings. The situation is deteriorating and aid organizations are almost incapable of helping. This isn’t the war’s biproduct, it’s the deliberate outcome of Israel’s policy – a manufactured humanitarian catastrophe. >
Our analysis of the policy over the past two months:
https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20231207_humanitarian_catastrophe_as_policy
Ireland will co-sponsor ?? resolution on #Gaza at UN Security Council today, demanding: – Immediate humanitarian ceasefire. – Protection of civilians & compliance with int. law. – Immediate & unconditional release of hostages. – Urgent humanitarian access.
The Council must act
WHO appeals for protection of the health system from further attacks and degradation of its capacity
(04.12.2023)
We have seen what happened in northern Gaza. This cannot be the blueprint for the south. Gaza cannot afford to lose another hospital as health needs continue to soar.
As more civilians in southern Gaza receive immediate evacuation orders and are forced to move, more people are being concentrated into smaller areas, while the remaining hospitals in those areas run without sufficient fuel, medicines, food, water, or protection of health workers.
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.
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
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.
The WHO team visiting the Shifa hospital described it as a „death zone“.
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.
From our #Gaza team @TomWhite: There will NOT be a cross-border aid operation at the Rafah Crossing tomorrow.
The communications network in #Gaza is down because there is NO fuel.
This makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys.
Gaza: Lack of fuel threatening to shut down ‘entire’ humanitarian operation
In a wide-ranging briefing to journalists in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reiterated calls for a ceasefire and addressed misinformation targeting the agency, including claims that aid is being diverted.
He said he has also received reports of UN schools being used “for military purposes”.
During the briefing, Mr. Lazzarini said he had received reports that Gaza was under a communications blackout due to the lack of fuel.
He repeated his earlier warning that UNRWA is running out of fuel, thus putting lifesaving support to 2.2 million in Gaza at risk. Everything from aid delivery, to water supply, to even accessing cash from ATM machines will be impacted. (…)
While the agency received a “tiny shipment” of fuel – half a truck – on Wednesday, he said “it was delivered with conditionalities”. The fuel can only be used for trucks collecting goods arriving at the Rafah crossing with Egypt, meaning that water desalination plants, sewage pumping systems or bakeries will go without.
“As from yesterday 70 per cent of the population just in the south has no access anymore to clean water, and as of today, we have raw sewage starting to flow in the streets,” he said.
U.N. Security Council Calls for Dayslong Humanitarian Pauses in Gaza
The resolution put forth by Malta passed after weeks of division and inaction over the Israel-Gaza war. It stopped short of calling for a cease-fire, and it did not spell out the number of days for a humanitarian pause, instead calling for “a sufficient number of days” for “the full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access.”
The resolution is legally binding and called for all parties to comply with international laws of conflict that demand that civilians, especially children, be protected. It also called for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas.
UNSC adopts Malta’s resolution on Gaza
Approved resolution
The Security Council,
Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming that all parties to conflicts must adhere to their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
Stressing that international humanitarian law provides general protection for children as persons taking no part in hostilities, and special protection as persons who are particularly vulnerable, and recalling that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law,
Recalling that all parties to armed conflict must comply strictly with the obligations applicable to them under international law for the protection of children in armed conflict, including those contained in the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as the relevant conventions regarding the involvement of children in conflict situations,
Expressing deep concern at the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its grave impact on the civilian population, especially the disproportionate effect on children, underlining the urgent need for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, and stressing the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence and the obligation to respect and protect humanitarian relief personnel,
Rejecting forced displacement of the civilian population, including children, in violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
Expressing deep concern that the disruption of access to education has a dramatic impact on children, and that conflict has lifelong effects on their physical and mental health,
Commending the ongoing efforts of several regional and international actors as well as of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to address the hostage and humanitarian crises.
Demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children;
Calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable, consistent with international humanitarian law, the full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for United Nations humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other impartial humanitarian organizations, to facilitate the continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential goods and services important to the well-being of civilians, especially children, throughout the Gaza Strip, including water, electricity, fuel, food, and medical supplies, as well as emergency repairs to essential infrastructure, and to enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts, including for missing children in damaged and destroyed buildings, and including the medical evacuation of sick or injured children and their care givers;
Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children, as well as ensuring immediate humanitarian access;
Calls on all parties to refrain from depriving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip of basic services and humanitarian assistance indispensable to their survival, consistent with international humanitarian law, which has a disproportionate impact on children, welcomes the initial, although limited, provision of humanitarian supplies to civilians in the Gaza Strip and calls for the scaling up of the provision of such supplies to meet the humanitarian needs of the civilian population, especially children;
Underscores the importance of coordination, humanitarian notification, and deconfliction mechanisms, to protect all medical and humanitarian staff, vehicles including ambulances, humanitarian sites, and critical infrastructure, including UN facilities, and to help facilitate the movement of aid convoys and patients, in particular sick and injured children and their care givers;
Requests the Secretary-General to report orally to the Security Council on the implementation of this resolution at the next mandated meeting of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, and further requests the Secretary-General to identify options to effectively monitor the implementation of this resolution as a matter of prime concern;
Decides to remain seized of the matter.
Israel-Palestine crisis: Security Council calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in Gaza
3:40 PM
The Security Council voted on the Malta resolution, with 12 members in favour, none against, and three countries abstaining, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
UN Security Council set to vote today on Israel-Hamas war resolution calling for ‘pauses’
The Security Council launched new talks on a resolution, but those negotiations got bogged down on the wording to be used to call for a stop, however brief, to the fighting.
The United States opposed any use of the term “ceasefire,” diplomats say. Other terms floated were “truce” and “pause.”
Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse. By the end of today, around 70 % of the population in #Gaza won’t have access to clean water. To have fuel for trucks only will not save lives anymore. Waiting longer will cost lives.
(9 hours ago)
Deeply worrisome and frightening: @WHO has lost contact with its focal points in Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza, amid horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks. There are reports that some of those who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded, or killed. The latest reports say the hospital was surrounded by tanks.
(2 hours ago)
WHO is gravely concerned about the safety of health workers, hundreds of sick and injured patients, including babies on life support, and displaced people who remain inside the hospital.
WHO again calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza as the only way to save lives and reduce the horrific levels of suffering.
.@WHO has lost communication with its contacts in Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. As horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks continue to emerge, we assume our contacts joined tens of thousands of displaced people and are fleeing the area.
(2 hours ago)
There are reports that some people who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded and even killed.
Over the past 48 hours, Al-Shifa Hospital–which is the largest medical complex in Gaza–has been reportedly attacked multiple times, leaving several people dead and many others injured.
The intensive care unit suffered damage from bombardment, while areas of the hospital where displaced people were sheltering have also been damaged. An intubated patient reportedly died when electricity was at one point cut.
The last reports said that the hospital was surrounded by tanks.
HAPPENING NOW AT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY: Hundreds of Jews and allies are holding an emergency sit-in, taking over the island to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. We refuse to allow a genocide to be carried out in our names. Ceasefire now to save lives! Never again for anyone!
(Nov 6, 2023)
Gaza death toll tops 10,000; UN calls it a children‘s graveyard
(06.11.2023)
A Reuters journalist in Gaza said Israel‘s overnight bombardment by air, ground and sea was one of its most intense since the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas killed 1,400 people in Israel and seized more than 240 hostages.
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled enclave said at least 10,022 people in Gaza have since been killed, including 4,104 children.
US Veto a Ceasefire at the UN Security Council AGAIN!
UN Security Council fails once again to pass Israel-Hamas resolution
„We talked about humanitarian pauses, and we’re interested in pursuing language on that score,“ said U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood following the meeting.
Netanyahu to ABC‘s Muir: ‚No cease-fire‘ without release of hostages
(06.11.2023)
„Well, there‘ll be no cease-fire, general cease-fire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages,“ Netanyahu responded. „As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there. We‘ve had them before, I suppose, will check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave. But I don‘t think there‘s going to be a general cease-fire.“