Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sahel, Haiti, Ukraine
Occupied Palestinian Territory
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said the deadly Israeli airstrike on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East school in Nuseirat Refugee Camp was yet another tragedy proving that there is nowhere safe for civilians in Gaza.
In a social media post yesterday, Griffiths stressed that the rules of war must be respected and civilians must be protected. He called on states to use their leverage – including diplomatic and economic pressure, conditioning arms exports, and cooperation in fighting impunity.
OCHA reports that escalating hostilities are crippling the provision of health care across Gaza, amid supply shortages and reduced bed capacity.
Partners working on the health response warn that the few hospitals that are still partially functioning in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of casualties from ongoing airstrikes. The situation is especially severe at Al Aqsa hospital, with one of the facility’s two generators now out of service.
Since the start of the military operation in Rafah and the closure of the Rafah crossing exactly a month ago, all medical evacuations outside of Gaza have been suspended -- heightening the suffering of chronically ill and critically wounded patients, including amputees in need of rehabilitative care.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1,200 patients – an average of 50 each day – have been unable to leave Gaza to receive treatment abroad, as of 30 May. WHO estimates that at least 14,000 patients need medical evacuation outside Gaza, with this number expected to increase due to shrinking hospital bed capacity.
Meanwhile, UNICEF reports that the ongoing conflict and restrictions in Gaza are preventing families from meeting their children’s food needs. Nine of every 10 children in Gaza are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. That’s according to data that UNICEF collected between December and April.
Sahel Region
Nearly 33 million people in the Sahel region need lifesaving assistance and protection.
A new report says that, despite its vast socioeconomic drive and potential, the region is facing a complex web of interconnected crises, marked by persistent political and social instability, a deteriorating security situation, and climate change.
The report highlights some key areas of concern including the Liptako Gourma region (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) and the Lake Chad basin (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria), with spillover effects increasingly felt in the Gulf of Guinea’s coastal countries and Mauritania.
The UN and humanitarian partners need US$4.7 billion this year to support 21 million people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon’s Far North Region, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. As of today, just 16 per cent of the funding - or $761 million - has been received.
Haiti
Humanitarians continue to sound the alarm on the dire food security in Haiti.
The latest joint World Food Programme (WFP)/Food and Agriculture Organization report adds Haiti to the list of countries of greatest concern due to the escalation of violence generated by armed groups. The country is now considered a hotspot where the risk of famine is present, with populations already in acute food insecurity requiring urgent humanitarian action.
Amid this difficult context, our humanitarian colleagues continue to support people in the capital and across the country.
From 1 to 6 June, as part of its emergency response, WFP distributed more than 38,000 hot meals to over 8,700 IDPs in 8 sites of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone.
Over the past week as well and across the country, it also distributed cash assistance some 27,000 people.
Since March 1st, WFP has distributed more than 1 million meals in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Last week, the Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization provided to Haitian health authorities 3.8 tons of water, sanitation and hygiene supplies and equipment for operations in 44 IDP sites in Port-au-Prince.
Ukraine
The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, today warned that few parts of Ukraine have been spared from attacks, with the escalation of fighting in the Kharkiv Region over the past month having the heaviest impact.
Briefing the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the country, Msuya said it is deeply concerning that systematic attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are continuing, with millions of people facing another year – and potentially another winter – of suffering and deprivation.
The Assistant Secretary-General underscored that the UN and partners remain committed to supporting those whose lives have been torn apart by the war in Ukraine, and she urged the Security Council and all Member States to do everything in their power to ensure respect for the rules of war and pursue peace.