Today's top news: Ukraine, Hurricane Beryl, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Bangladesh
Ukraine
A wave of deadly strikes hit several cities across Ukraine this morning, killing and injuring scores of civilians, including children.
Kyiv experienced several attacks, which impacted several residential homes.
The children’s hospital in the centre of the city was severely damaged as children were receiving treatment. In a statement, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, said it is “unconscionable that children are killed and injured in this war.”
OCHA says that rescuer workers, hospital staff and volunteers are currently clearing the rubble and searching for people trapped under debris.
Our health partners are helping to move patients to other facilities, providing psychosocial support and assisting with other urgent needs. They are also in contact with the hospital to coordinate any additional support required.
Humanitarian workers are on-site at the hospital to provide water and psychosocial support, among other assistance.
Authorities report that at least 22 civilians were killed, including 2 children, and 82 others injured in Kyiv alone, with another private hospital having been damaged in another part of the city.
Deadly strikes also hit Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro cities in the Dnipro Region, central Ukraine, and Pokrovsk and other towns in the Donetsk Region, in the east of the country. According to authorities, more than 60 more civilians were killed or injured.
Humanitarian workers are supporting the efforts of first responders.
Hurricane Beryl
The UN continues to support authorities, the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency and our partners respond to the impacts of Hurricane Beryl.
Clean water, shelter, food and health are the priority needs identified in the parts most impacted by the hurricane in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica.
In Grenada, the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, as well as northern Grenada, have been the most affected areas.
Assessments are continuing amid damage to logistics, power and communications services. Some parts of Grenada are also still experiencing power cuts.
Several of these islands’ airstrips have suffered damage, and some islands can only be accessed by smaller boats, which are hampering logistics efforts.
Our partners are setting up 36-bed field hospital in Carriacou in Grenada
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Union Island is most affected, with 98 per cent of homes and infrastructure either heavily damaged or destroyed.
A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team was deployed to Grenada over the weekend and set up a base camp in Carriacou. The team is working with the country’s national disaster management agency to set up an on-site operations coordination centre near them. The UNDAC team will also support registration of humanitarian agencies coming into the island.
A second UNDAC team and a World Food Programme team are also on the ground in Union Island, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to support bolstering government-led coordination there.
Still on Union Island, relief items will be distributed tomorrow with regional and national authorities. The UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, Simon Springett, is travelling on boat today to Union, Canouan, Bequia and Mayreau.
An UNDAC team has also arrived in Jamaica and is supporting the Government’s assessments.
Occupied Palestinian Territory
OCHA reports that people are being displaced from parts of Gaza city after Israeli authorities issued new evacuation orders yesterday and today. These areas had already been subject to a blanket evacuation order issued in October for all of northern Gaza.
The affected neighbourhoods are home to more than 60 schools, as well as two partially functional hospitals, six medical points, and two primary health centres.
Staff and patients have reportedly left hospitals in and around the areas designated for evacuation.
Meanwhile, OCHA reports that active hostilities, damaged roads, access limitations, and the lack of public order and safety continue to hamper movement along the main humanitarian cargo route from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to Khan Younis and Deir al Balah. This has resulted in critical shortages of fuel and aid to sustain humanitarian operations. It is also increasing the risk that stranded supplies – especially food – will spoil in the summer heat.
Humanitarian partners say these shortages forced them to reduce food rations in central and southern Gaza last month – and undermined their ability to keep bakeries and community kitchens running.
Just 3 of the 18 bakeries they support in Gaza are still operational, all of them in Deir al Balah. The lack of fuel has forced 9 bakeries that were working at partial capacity to completely cease their operations.
Bangladesh
Ahead of anticipated flooding across Bangladesh, US$6.2 million was disbursed from the Central Emergency Response Fund on 4 July to support most vulnerable families.
Through anticipatory action, the funds will allow the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund and the World Food Programme to reach 400,000 people in the country’s north with cash transfers, water purification supplies, agricultural support, and information on gender-based violence, among other support.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis, said that anticipatory action can significantly reduce the impact of disasters on families and support a faster recovery, adding that families are empowered to make their own decisions on how best to protect their homes and livelihoods.