Today's top news: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The heads of UN and other aid agencies warned in a joint statement today that escalating conflict is driving record levels of displacement, hunger, and gender-based violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), led by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, said that without urgent international action, the situation threatens to push the DRC to the brink of catastrophe.

In the past few months alone, more than 700,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes, bring total displacement to 7.2 million people – an all-time high. Gender-based violence has surged to unprecedented levels. And more than 25 million people – a quarter of the DRC’s population – continue to face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity.

The IASC signatories called for stepped-up support to the Congolese people, particularly women and girls. This includes additional resources for the humanitarian response: The 2024 appeal for the DRC, for a total US$2.6 billion, is just 16 per cent funded to date.

Occupied Palestinian Territory

OCHA reports that yesterday, Israeli authorities blocked or excessively delayed the access of three quarters of all UN-coordinated aid missions to areas requiring coordination across Gaza.

One of those missions went to northern Gaza following full coordination with the Israeli authorities, but the team was forced to wait for a combined time of more than nine hours before departing, on the way north, and on the way back to Rafah.

Such delays put humanitarian missions in jeopardy and humanitarian workers in harm’s way, as fighting between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces often takes place near checkpoints.

Upon returning, that same mission collected the body of a boy who had apparently been killed near the checkpoint.

Ukraine

Another attack hit Odesa city, in the south of the country, last night. According to local authorities, civilians were killed and dozens of them were injured, including children. Homes, an education facility and other civilian infrastructure were also damaged in the attack. 

The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, strongly condemned the strike and said that such repeated disregard for international humanitarian law is unacceptable.

Since yesterday, aid organizations are on site, complementing the efforts of the first responders. They have provided first medical and psychological support and distributed repair materials to cover the damage.

This latest attack comes just two days after a strike in Kharkiv on 27 April which damaged a hospital. National NGOs are mobilized and assisting with the clearing of debris and delivering emergency shelter materials.

Also on 27 April, another set of attacks damaged energy facilities in the west and the east of the country, leading to rolling power outages. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (HRMMU) documented four waves of attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since 22 March.

These attacks continue to aggravate the suffering of Ukrainians, disrupting their already limited access to basic services.