Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Chad, Sudan

Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israeli bombardment continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, leading to civilian casualties and further displacement.

OCHA estimates that more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced this week in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah since Monday’s evacuation order. Hundreds of others remain stranded in eastern Khan Younis, as the fighting continues.

Once again, we underscore that all parties to the conflict must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by taking constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects. This includes allowing civilians to leave for safer areas and allowing their return as soon as circumstances allow. People must be able to receive humanitarian assistance, whether they move or stay.

OCHA says recent evacuation directives and intense hostilities have destabilized aid operations and hampered efforts to provide critical relief to civilians in Khan Younis.

This week, a dozen distribution points for food and eight for cooked meals were forced to halt their operations – and nutrition programmes at two shelters supporting more than 2,800 children and pregnant women were also disrupted.

Ten water and sanitation facilities were also impacted – including water reservoirs, desalination plants and sewage pumping stations that had to cease operations.

And six education partners in Khan Younis had to suspend activities, affecting some 20,000 children who had been benefiting from mental health and recreational activities, and about 1,500 children in 10 temporary learning spaces.

Meanwhile, OCHA says ongoing insecurity and the designation of only one access point for the entry and exit of humanitarian staff into and out of Gaza – that is the Kerem Shalom crossing – have hampered efforts to deploy additional emergency medical teams in Gaza. These workers are critically needed to help support the exhausted local health force.

A reminder that none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is fully functioning. Sixteen are partially functioning, but some are only providing minimal health-care services.

OCHA also says that access restrictions, ongoing hostilities, infrastructure damage and a lack of public order and safety continue to hamper efforts to pick up and distribute humanitarian supplies entering Gaza.

Since the start of the Rafah operation in early May, the volume of aid that could be retrieved from crossing points into Gaza has significantly decreased -- by 56 per cent since April.

Syria

OCHA warns that water and health needs in Syria are surging during the hot summer months, with this year’s humanitarian response still critically underfunded.

Access to water is limited due to power and fuel shortages. OCHA has received reports from north-east Syria that in the eastern Euphrates region of Deir-ez-Zor governorate, the water station can only run for three hours a day – and most residents cannot afford to buy enough water.

With electricity for cooling in short supply, dozens of drowning incidents have been reported in the Euphrates River, where residents have sought relief from the heat.

Meanwhile, in north-west Syria, water and sanitation support to nearly 200 displacement camps could be suspended if additional funding is not received by September. More than 600 other camps – which host upwards of 900,000 displaced people – still lack any access to this assistance.

This week, OCHA led a UN mission to northern Aleppo, in the north-west, to assess the impact of underfunding at a displacement camp and maternal hospital there. That facility, which serves nearly 50,000 people in the area, is in danger of running out of funding by the end of this month. As of June, more than 100 health facilities in north-west Syria had already suspended operations due to underfunding.

The humanitarian community in Syria continues to provide critical assistance with the available resources. This week, UNICEF and the World Health Organization supported the launch of a national vaccination campaign targeting more than 2.8 million children under the age of five, amid a sharp decline in vaccination rates.

But this year’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria for US$4 billion is only 21 per cent funded at $871 million – with the health, and water and sanitation sectors facing even larger funding gaps.

Ukraine

OCHA is deeply concerned by ongoing attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine – with hostilities overnight knocking out electricity to nearly 70,000 consumers in Kyiv and the northern region of Zhytomyr. That is according to the national power company.

OCHA stresses that it is critical to mobilize resources now to help families cope once winter comes.

The humanitarian community in Ukraine is already preparing. Earlier today, the UN and partners launched a winter response plan to support some 1.8 million of the most vulnerable people, mainly in front-line regions and areas bordering the Russian Federation.  

The appeal will complement the Ukrainian Government’s own efforts and seeks US$492 million to provide a range of critical assistance – including fuel, heating appliances, winter clothes, and cash to pay for heating. We and our partners will also support water and heating providers, insulate displacement sites, help health facilities keep services running, and support farmers with animal feed.

Ethiopia

The UN and partners continue to support the Government in responding to the devastating landslides in the South Ethiopia region.

This includes dispatching aid supplies, with shelter, nutrition and water sanitation and hygiene assistance among what is most urgently needed.

Search-and-rescue teams are still looking for missing people. It is extremely challenging to access affected areas, given the difficult terrain and heavy rains.

OCHA is leading a team of UN agencies on the ground to assess the impact of the landslides, including the scale of displacement. An estimated 600 people have been displaced so far.

Meanwhile, the Government is working to evacuate more than 5,600 of the most vulnerable people – including more than 1,300 children and upwards of 400 pregnant and breastfeeding women – to safer areas.

Chad

OCHA says Chad is grappling with an array of challenges that are driving humanitarian needs, including the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan. They account for about half of the 1.3 million refugees now living in Chad.

Ongoing violence in other parts of the country also continues to cause deaths and displacement. In recent weeks, inter-communal clashes in southern Chad have killed or injured dozens of people. Meanwhile, nearly 220,000 people remain displaced in the Lake Chad area owing to years of insecurity.

The country also faces persistent food insecurity, with malnutrition rates at a nine-year high. In February, the Government declared a nationwide food and nutrition crisis.

The humanitarian community in Chad continues to support the Government-led response, providing critical assistance to more than a quarter-million people in just the first three months of this year.

However, it is critical that these efforts are properly funded. While we welcome recent steps to scale up support to Chad – including $15 million provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund that we told you about earlier this month – additional resources are urgently required.

More than halfway into 2024, the Humanitarian Response Plan for Chad is just 23 per cent funded, leaving millions of people without the assistance they need.

Sudan

On Monday at 11 a.m., the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Toby Harward, will brief you on his recent visit to Darfur. Harward will be speaking from Chad’s capital N’Djamena.

He was in West and Central Darfur for about two weeks, where he heard from civilians displaced by the ongoing conflict and the aid workers on the ground working to provide food, water and health care to those in need.

The food security situation in Sudan continues to worsen and the rainy season is making it even more difficult to move humanitarian supplies, including across the border into Darfur from Chad.