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

Occupied Palestinian Territory

OCHA is alarmed that ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders in Rafah continue to force the closure of key humanitarian facilities.

According to partners working on nutrition, the Malnutrition Stabilization Centre in the Tal as Sultan area has completely ceased operations. Efforts are ongoing to relocate to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

There are reports from Tal as Sultan on the killing of two paramedics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society while trying to respond to a call in that part of Rafah on Wednesday. In a social media post, the World Health Organization said it mourns their deaths and stressed that health workers are protected under international humanitarian law and must always be able to safely perform their duties.

As the hostilities in Rafah intensify, only three field hospitals there are still operating, one of them only partially. These facilities are both overwhelmed and undersupplied.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East says that on Wednesday and Thursday alone, some 32,000 people were displaced from Rafah. This follows the displacement of about a million people from that governorate since the start of the Israeli ground operation there. Families are looking for safety, but no place in Gaza is safe from bombardment.

Internally displaced people who have sought shelter at sites in Khan Younis still don’t have enough safe drinking water. That is according to humanitarian partners working to improve water, sanitation and hygiene access, including through the establishment of 10 new water points in Khan Younis.

They report that overall, water production in Gaza is just one-fifth of what it was prior to the intensification of hostilities in Gaza in October.

Across Gaza, civilians face heightened health and environmental risks due to limited access to clean water, as well as sewage overflow, infrastructure damage, lack of hygiene items and fuel shortages. In Khan Younis, there are no functional sewage pumping stations, and displaced families are building their own makeshift latrines. 

Haiti

A humanitarian cargo flight operated by UN Humanitarian Air Service flew from Panama to Port-au-Prince airport yesterday, marking the first time a United Nations cargo flight has landed in Haiti's capital in three months. The cargo flight transported about 15 tons of medicines and medical supplies to support the operations of UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). This will support critical, lifesaving operations as insecurity continues to restrict people's access to healthcare, mainly in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite department.

Haitian authorities, WHO and local NGOs continue to provide a wide range of services to displaced people, including screening for malnutrition, cholera prevention and care, as well as psychosocial support.

We hope that with the gradual opening of the international airport more supplies could be brought in, for which donor support is much needed. The humanitarian response plan for Haiti is only 20 percent funded, with US$194 million received of the $674 million needed.

Sudan

The heads of UN and other aid agencies warned in a joint statement today that millions of people in Sudan are at imminent risk of famine amid intense fighting and access denials.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee, led by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, said that time is running out and without an immediate and major step change, we will face a nightmare scenario with a famine taking hold in large parts of the country.

With the conflict now in its second year, 18 million people are acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished.

Despite the tremendous needs, aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict.

To prevent the worst-case scenario, the agency heads called for immediate measures to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access; the immediate end of all acts of denying, obstructing and interfering with or politicizing humanitarian aid; the simplification of administrative and bureaucratic procedure; the de-escalation of the situation in Al Fasher; the adoption of a nationwide ceasefire and the stop of human rights violations.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The UN is deeply concerned by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

OCHA says that clashes have resumed in several parts of the towns of Masisi, Rutshuru and Sake. The fighting is also moving closer to the city of Kanyabanyonga and displacing civilians, many of whom have sought safety in nearby towns.

Kanyabayonga currently hosts more than 100,000 people who have fled violence in Rutshuru and Masisi.

Humanitarian operations in Kanyabanyonga have been suspended, and at least 48,000 people have been cut off from assistance in the past week.

The escalating violence risks worsening the already precarious humanitarian situation in North Kivu, which was hosting more than 2.7 million internally displaced people as of last month.

OCHA calls on all parties to the conflict to abide by international humanitarian law and take immediate steps to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Additional resources for the humanitarian crisis in DRC are also urgently needed. Five months into the year, the annual response plan is just 23 per cent funded, with $591 million received of the nearly $2.6 billion required.

Despite this, humanitarian actors reached more than 3.1 million people in DRC with vital humanitarian assistance as of March 2024, which is nearly a quarter of the target.

Ukraine

Ukraine's Humanitarian Coordinator, Denise Brown, condemned in a statement today the latest attack last night on a residential area of Kharkiv which killed and injured civilians, including children. Humanitarian colleagues also say that repeated strikes in the same area affected rescue efforts.  

Humanitarian workers on site provided essential aid including, emergency repair materials, food and drinks for affected people and rescue teams as well as psychological support. 

As of 30 May, local authorities reported the evacuation of over 11,000 residents in Kharkiv region due to intensive fighting close to the border with the Russian Federation.

Brown stressed that the escalation of hostilities in Kharkiv and other parts of the country continues to devastate the lives of families, making humanitarian response efforts even more critical and difficult.