Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia

Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said yesterday there has been no let-up in the atrocities inflicted on the ground since 7 October, with more than 25,000 people reportedly killed, including two mothers ever hour. In a social media post, Mr. Griffiths said hospitals are overcrowded, besieged and under fire; homes have been reduced to rubble; and places of safety have become places of danger.

Civilians have been severely impacted by escalating hostilities yesterday in the Khan Younis area. Dozens of people were reportedly killed, including displaced women and children, and several homes and other buildings were destroyed. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that Israeli forces had surrounded their ambulance headquarters in Khan Younis, restricting ambulances from providing support in the area. Israeli forces reportedly struck the vicinity of Al Amal hospital and the ambulance headquarters. As intense fighting continued in the area, patients and displaced people sheltering there could not leave. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that attacks on health care continue to rise. In the Gaza Strip, more than 300 attacks have been verified since the beginning of the hostilities on 7 October. In the West Bank, too, WHO reports a significant rise in attacks against health care, with more than 330 attacks reported since 7 October.

Humanitarian health partners report a severe shortage of medical staff in some of the hospitals in Gaza. Only 12 medical doctors are still working at Al Aqsa hospital, which is about 10 per cent of the doctors who operated there before the start of the hostilities.

In north Gaza, the UN and partners managed to visit the Al Shifa hospital yesterday, after five days of denied and aborted missions. They delivered fuel, which is in extremely short supply. Thousands of people have sought shelter at the hospital, where equipment, water and food are also scarce. As we have told you, the intense hostilities and repeated access denials continue to severely constrain our access to northern Gaza.

Despite major obstacles to the humanitarian response, we and our partners continue to address the acute famine risk across the Gaza Strip. Between 15 and 21 January, about 1.2 million people were reached with at least one form of food assistance. More than half of those distributions were made in Rafah and 21 per cent in Khan Younis, in the south. Over a quarter of that assistance reached Deir al Balah in central Gaza, with 14 per cent going to the northern governorates.

Sigrid Kaag, Jamie McGoldrick

Sigrid Kaag, the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, and Jamie McGoldrick, the Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim, today visited Rafah in Gaza. They met with civilians and saw UN humanitarian operations. 

While in Gaza, they also met with UN agencies, INGOs and Palestinian relief workers.

Ukraine

The Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Denise Brown, condemned in a statement the latest wave of aerial attacks this morning on Kyiv and Kharkiv - Ukraine’s largest urban centres - and Pavlohrad Town in Dnipro causing massive damage, killing or injuring civilians. 

In the capital, Kyiv, the attacks caused damages to civilian buildings just next to the United Nations office. Ms Brown said that civilians who were just preparing for work or getting children ready to go to schools ended up hospitalized because of the attacks. 

In Kharkiv, humanitarian colleagues on the ground tell us that many buildings were impacted, and civilians killed and injured, as rescuers are trying to find people under the rubble of a residential building. The attacks left more than 11,000 consumers– families, business, institutions – without electricity this morning, according to the Energy Ministry. Water and gas supply were also affected – on a day when temperatures are below freezing in the city. 

The attacks also caused loss and destruction in the Dnipro Region. 

Meanwhile, in the east and the south of the country, fierce fighting and hostilities continue to take a heavy toll on civilians. Over the past 24 hours alone, dozens of homes have been damaged in the Donetsk Region, according to local authorities.

On the response side, the UN and our humanitarian partners are providing emergency assistance, including first aid, psychosocial support and materials for emergency repairs.

Democratic Republic of the Congo 

The flood situation in the country remains dire, with nearly half of the 26 country’s provinces affected, including the capital, Kinshasa.

According to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), more than 400,000 households need emergency assistance, including food, shelter and healthcare support.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, visited affected communities in Kinshasa last week and expressed deep concern over the precarious living conditions in flood-affected areas. Some families live in their flooded houses, increasing the risk of waterborne disease, which could potentially overwhelm an already strained healthcare system. 

We and our humanitarian partners are working closely with the Congolese authorities to develop an emergency response plan and mitigate a public health crisis.

Humanitarian organizations are providing emergency health assistance such as healthcare to the injured and implementing measures to prevent the risk of outbreaks of diseases.

The UN and its partners are active on the ground, supporting local organizations carry out assessments.

Somalia

Cholera and acute watery diarrhoea are spreading in Somalia. 

More than 470 cases were reported during the second week of January, including at least nine deaths. 

Most of these cases were in Hirshabelle State in central Somalia, where there was severe flooding during the Deyr rainy season late last year. 

The current outbreak is a continuation from 2023, when more than 18,300 cases were reported – more than half of them in children under the age of five. 

We and our partners are scaling up the response in flood-affected districts, including by setting up new treatment centres in Belet Weyne, Bulo Burto and Daynile districts. Community education and public awareness efforts are also underway, with health workers and outreach teams being deployed. 

Alongside Somalia’s Ministry of Health, the humanitarian community in the country has activated a national cholera task force and developed a six-month plan to scale up the response, which will require some $5.6 million. 

We and our partners are also preparing for further flooding expected during the April to June rainy season, but underfunding for the humanitarian response is a critical concern. Last year’s appeal for $2.6 billion to help 7.6 million people was less than 44 per cent funded, with $1.1 billion received.