Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Hurricane Beryl, Ukraine

Occupied Palestinian Territory

OCHA says civilians in Gaza from north to south remain trapped in an endless cycle of death and displacement.

With each new evacuation order, families in Gaza are forced to make impossible choices: stay, amid active hostilities – or flee to areas with little space and services, and no guarantee of safety. Many are having to make this choice again and again, having been displaced multiple times, often without any of their belongings.

OCHA says the horrors witnessed in recent days only underscore what we have said repeatedly over the past nine months: There is no safe place in Gaza – neither shelters nor hospitals, nor the so-called humanitarian zones.

The Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Scott Anderson, visited the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Saturday, following the deadly attack on the Al-Mawasi area. In a statement, he said the health facility, which admitted well over 100 of those severely injured, was overstretched, and the air “was filled with the smell of blood.” Briefing journalists from Gaza earlier today, Anderson underscored that “a complete ceasefire” is urgently needed.

OCHA reiterates its call for all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. They must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects, including by ensuring safe passage for those who flee. Wherever they are in Gaza, civilians must receive the essentials they need to survive, such as food, shelter and health care.

Making sure civilians in Gaza get the life-saving support they need means ensuring safe and unimpeded humanitarian operations. OCHA says the UN and our humanitarian partners continue to assist families who are being displaced from northern Gaza to areas in the south.

A team from OCHA carried out a mission today aimed at supporting the scaling up of services at points where those families are arriving in the south. Humanitarian partners are registering displaced people so that support can be provided to them wherever they seek shelter in areas south of Wadi Gaza. OCHA is also planning missions to areas east of Salah Al Deen road to assess people's needs there.

Hurricane Beryl

Two weeks since Hurricane Beryl's first impact, the UN system in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica - led by the UN Resident Coordinators and supported by UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams - continue to work with authorities to complete needs assessments on the ground.

In Jamaica, the Government is carrying out several country-wide damage and needs assessments. Jamaica’s civil protection authority is finishing a country-wide initial damage assessment, while OCHA, the World Food Programme and UNDAC are supporting the Government’s assessment of damage to homes, which is expected to wrap up shortly.

In Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, humanitarian teams continue to face communications, logistics and access challenges in the islands affected by the hurricane but have identified restoring water supply and the provision of sanitation services as among the top priorities.

We and our partners will continue to support both countries through the recently launched response plan which seeks US$9 million in funding and aims to help 43,000 out of the 82,000 people potentially affected by Hurricane Beryl in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ukraine

The attacks in Ukraine today and over the weekend continued to impact civilians in front-line areas. Authorities reported some 70 civilian casualties in all. 

They said that on Saturday, an attack on a railway in the Kharkhiv Region of eastern Ukraine caused nearly 30 civilian casualties, including children. A second attack reportedly killed two first responders who were on the ground. Local authorities and humanitarian partners on the ground said the strikes also damaged scores of civilian buildings, as well as railway infrastructure.  

Heavy fighting also continued in the Donetsk region. In the town of Myrnohrad, multiple strikes killed and injured civilians, including a child, and damaged more than a dozen homes, a school, a bus and shops, according to the local authorities.  

Aid workers mobilized emergency assistance for people affected by that attack, working with first responders and local authorities to deliver support, including first aid, psychosocial assistance, and shelter materials for emergency repairs of damaged homes. 

Separately, a repair team for a private energy company in the Donetsk Region came under shelling on Saturday. The company, DTEK, said it was the fourth such incident in the last month.