Gaza, Palestine, Sudan & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (16 Sep 2024)

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
-Gaza
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Sudan
-Ukraine
-Nigeria
-Typhoon Yagi
-SDG Advocates
-New Resident Coordinators
-International Days
-Briefings Tomorrow
-Financial Contributions

**Gaza
Sigrid Kaag, the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, told the Security Council today that time is slipping away as a man-made humanitarian crisis has turned Gaza into the abyss. She said that we need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and continuous humanitarian access to deliver aid at scale throughout the Gaza Strip.
Ms. Kaag said she visited Gaza a week and a half ago, and she reported that agreed pauses in fighting allowed parents and children to safely visit health centres and clinics, providing them with a brief glimpse of relief and respite.  This was during the polio vaccination campaign.
She added that the campaign shows that, even in the direst circumstances - with sufficient political will, and real time political commitment - humanitarian action is indeed possible.
Despite the complexity of the situation, Ms. Kaag said that her mission has negotiated and strengthened supply systems and additional routes to facilitate humanitarian delivery in a transparent and expedite way. But she added that effective humanitarian operations require the right quality, quantity, and a broad range of goods to meet the daily needs of civilians in Gaza. That goal is not being met, she said. Also briefing was the Executive Director of United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Jorge Moreira da Silva.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that ongoing issuance of mass evacuation orders without ensuring that those displaced have a safe and adequate places to stay continue to worsen the already dire humanitarian situation of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza.
As of today, over 55 evacuation orders remain in effect, covering over 85 per cent of the population of Gaza. The latest evacuation order was issued in northern Gaza on Saturday. Repeated displacements are also separating families, eroding social protection systems, particularly for women and children.
Despite the high surge in needs to protect women and children, multiple evacuation orders are also affecting the response and have delayed or interrupted support to people facing gender-based violence, by forcing the closure or relocations of services.
The World Food Programme (WFP) for its part says that on 14 September, which was Saturday, five out of six bakeries halted operations for 12 hours due to fuel shortages.  Four bakeries resumed operations at a reduced capacity yesterday after the Agency reallocated reserve fuel from its warehouse in the north of Gaza. One bakery remains out of business and the current fuel supply is sufficient for two more days at this limited capacity. Unless fuel is allowed into the north, all five bakeries remaining will be forced to stop.
For the first two weeks of September of the 94 planned humanitarian missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities for northern Gaza, only 37 were facilitated. That is or 39 per cent. In southern Gaza, just 50 per cent of the 243 coordinated humanitarian movements were facilitated. OCHA has not been able to access northern Gaza for 28 days. Aid convoys are being fired at or otherwise exposed to life-risking conditions, stopped or delayed for hours in combat zones.
Turning to the West Bank: Over the weekend, OCHA and UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency, carried out a preliminary assessment in Tulkarm Refugee Camp, following the deadly operations carried out by Israeli forces there last week. The team observed the extensive damage, thought to have been caused by shoulder-fired explosive projectiles and explosives. Nearly 40 residential structures were destroyed, displacing some 200 people, including 90 children. And at least 500 other structures were damaged.
The assessment team has mobilized humanitarian organizations from the UN and beyond to respond to people’s need for shelter, health, food, education and other basic necessities.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/ossg/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=16%20September%202024

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