Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, Haiti, Ethiopia
Occupied Palestinian Territory
In a statement today, the Humanitarian Country Team cited an incident in which humanitarian workers were targeted during a medical evacuation at Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis. The team referred to this as unacceptable.
On 25 February, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the World Health Organization, and OCHA evacuated 24 patients from Al Amal hospital. Despite prior coordination for all staff members and vehicles with the Israeli side, Israeli forces blocked the WHO-led convoy for many hours the moment it left the hospital. The Israeli military forced patients and staff out of ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes.
Three Palestine Red Crescent paramedics were subsequently detained while the rest of the convoy stayed in place for over seven hours. One paramedic has been released since the incident.
We and our partners call for the immediate release of the other two, and all other detained health workers.
The UN and Palestine Red Crescent Society had to leave another 31 patients at Al Amal hospital.
This is unfortunately not an isolated incident.
The UN and our humanitarian partners have consistently communicated the requirements for meaningful facilitation of relief efforts across Gaza to the Israeli authorities. We will continue our engagement with the Israeli forces for those requirements to be met, so that the critically needed humanitarian response is enabled.
Lebanon
OCHA is deeply concerned about the plight of civilians in the face of escalating hostilities along the border between Lebanon and Israel and beyond.
This includes Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley yesterday, as well as the killing of two paramedics and destruction of ambulances and vital medical infrastructure in the southern Lebanese village of Blida over the weekend. The World Health Organization condemned this incident, saying attacks on health care in Lebanon must stop.
OCHA in Lebanon warns that the humanitarian situation there remains dire, with nearly 90,000 people internally displaced in less than five months and dozens of civilian casualties reported as a result of the fighting. Unfortunately, the continued hostilities and related challenges are hampering our ability to safely provide much-needed assistance in border villages.
Haiti
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, will be the guest at tomorrow's daily press briefing held at noon at the UN headquarters in New York to update on the latest humanitarian situation.
Today in Port-au-Prince, the UN and our partners, together with the Government, launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan.
The Plan seeks to provide food, shelter, health, education and protection services for 3.6 million Haitians over the next 12 months, calling for US$674 million.
It also comes against the backdrop of a serious protection crisis for millions of Haitians. In 2023, the country saw the highest number of murders, kidnappings, lynchings and sexual assaults in the last five years. Nearly 1 in 2 Haitians are food insecure, and basic services are on the brink of collapse.
Ethiopia
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has allocated $17 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to respond to worsening food insecurity in the country.
The new funding reflects our deep concern over the impact of an El Niño-driven drought that is ravaging Ethiopia with parts of Afar, Amhara and Tigray hardest hit.
Food insecurity is only set to increase in the coming months. As the new drought intensifies, more than 10 million people across Ethiopia expected to need food assistance during the July to September lean season. Meanwhile, previous droughts and ongoing hostilities continue to have an impact – and projected flooding could bring further hardship.
OCHA underscores that there is a short window of opportunity to avert the worst impacts on communities battered by back-to-back shocks, including the conflict in northern Ethiopia between 2020 and 2022.
It is essential that this latest CERF allocation is followed up by additional funding from donors. Thanks to their generosity – and to the efforts to the Government of Ethiopia – some 6.6 million people are already being reached with food and cash assistance. However, to sustain and scale up the humanitarian food and non-food response across the country, more resources are urgently needed.
To that end, the humanitarian community and Government of Ethiopia yesterday launched a joint appeal for this year’s response, asking for $3.24 billion to address the needs of some 15.5 million people in need in 2024.