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Gaza war: ‘Direct hits’ on more than 200 schools since Israeli bombing began   

Satellite imagery pointed to at least 53 schools “totally destroyed” since conflict erupted on 7 October 2023 and a near nine per cent increase in attacks on school premises since mid-February, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) and NGOs the Education Cluster and Save The Children. 

The “high trend of attacks on school facilities” has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, the report’s authors noted, amid “intense Israeli bombardment from air, land, and sea across much of the Gaza Strip”.

Widespread destruction

Of the 563 school buildings in Gaza, 165 of the 212 that received a direct hit are in areas designated for evacuation by the Israeli military. This includes 62 schools in southern Khan Younis governorate and 76 out of 94 schools in Gaza governorate, to the north.

More than one in two school premises run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugeees, UNRWA have also been hit (57 per cent), according to the report, along with Government buildings targeted by Israeli shelling or during the ground operation.

Highlighting the scale of the impact of the conflict, the UN-partnered report indicated that more than 625,00 students and 22,000 teachers previously attended 813 schools.

More updates to come…

 

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UN says 758 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse reported in 2023

The findings published on Tuesday state that although progress has been made since 2017 through the establishment of new frameworks, policies and procedures, sexual exploitation and abuse continues to occur across the UN system.

Rising crises, rising risks 

Risks increased significantly last year, with the unprecedented rise in humanitarian crises along with significant reductions in funding, especially in high-risk and complex contexts where the UN operates. 

Last year, 758 allegations were received, compared to 534 the previous year and 265 in 2018. 

Of the 2023 figure, more than half, 384, were related to UN staff and affiliated personnel.  The remainder concerned personnel from partners and non-UN military forces not under UN authority.

One hundred allegations were reported in peacekeeping and special political missions, compared to 79 in 2022. 

Some 143 identified victims were associated with these allegations -115 adults and 28 children.  

Most allegations, 90 per cent, related to the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, and another in the Central African Republic, known as MINUSCA. 

Prevention efforts continue 

The report contains updates on the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s strategy to improve efforts in preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse.

Our approach, which is centered on the rights and needs of victims, continues,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said during the daily media briefing in New York.

“We are intensifying efforts to uphold the rights of victims, and to end impunity. This also includes engagement with Member States to facilitate the resolution of paternity claims.” 

Guterres upholds accountability 

The Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator on improving UN response to sexual exploitation and abuse, Christian Saunders, has commissioned a comprehensive assessment to determine how to best integrate the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse in all UN activities and programmes.

The assessment will propose a strategy to ensure sustainable, effective prevention work across the UN system and options for predictable and adequate resourcing at headquarters and in the field.  

Sexual exploitation and abuse violate everything the United Nations stands for,” Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message accompanying the report. 

“It is up to all of us to eradicate sexual exploitation and abuse from our work, support victims, and hold perpetrators and their enablers to account.” 

IOM report: 1 in 3 migrant deaths occurs on the move

Last year was the deadliest on record, with 8,541 migrant victims. Nearly 60 per cent of deaths were linked to drowning

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So far in 2024, the trends are just as alarming. Along the Mediterranean sea route alone – while arrivals this year are significantly lower (16,818) compared to the same period in 2023 (26,984) – the number of deaths is nearly as high as before, with 956 registered since 1 January.   

Unidentified, under-reported 

IOM noted that that the number of unidentified deaths remains high – more than two in three migrants – leaving families and communities to grapple with the lack of clarity about what happened to a friend or relative. To date, the UN agency’s Missing Migrant Project data shows that the remains of 26,666 people who died while migrating have not been recovered.

“Despite the many lives lost whose identities remain unknown, we know that almost 5,500 females have perished on migration routes during the last 10 years and the number of identified children is nearly 3,500,” said Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General for Operations, commenting on the recent findings. However, the report suggests, the true number of deaths of women and children is likely far higher: there are more than 37,000 dead for whom no information on sex or age is available.   

Call for safe pathways 

More than one in three deceased migrants whose origin could be identified come from countries in conflict or with large refugee populations, the study finds. That highlights dangers faced by those attempting to flee conflict zones without safe pathways, the agency underscored. The deadliest route is the Central Mediterranean, where at least 23,092 people have died since 2014.

“The toll on vulnerable populations and their families urges us to turn the attention on the data into concrete action,” Ms. Daniels said, advocating for more detailed information collection that would facilitate creating safer migration routes for people fleeing conflict and distress in their home countries.

IOM has adopted a new Strategic Plan 2024-2028 that aims to save lives and protect people on the move as its first objective. To do so, the UN migration agency is calling on countries and other partners to work jointly to end migrant deaths and address the impacts of the tens of thousands of lives lost on migratory routes worldwide.  

ISIL growing stronger in Syria, as war enters its thirteenth year

This was a reminder of the ongoing impact of a conflict which has now dragged on for more than 12 years and rarely makes headlines, even though it continues to have a devastating effect on the civilian population. 

In early March, the United Nations Syria Commission of Inquiry released a report which detailed an escalation of fighting, attacks on civilians and infrastructure that could amount to war crimes, and a humanitarian crisis. Ninety per cent of the population is living in poverty.

Hanny Megally is the Deputy Director and Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, and he’s been a member of the Commission since 2017. He told UN News that, although it has been five years since ISIL last held territory in Syria, the group continues to gain strength.

Hanny Megally The country is crumbling, after 13 years of conflict, and some groups that we thought were defeated are coming back. And, in the meantime, none of the root causes of the conflict have been dealt with. ISIL has been growing in strength in Syria and, this year alone, there have already been more than 35 attacks. 

UN News Gaza has dominated the headlines ever since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, but just two days before that, on 5 October there was a very significant attack in the Syrian city of Homs, which triggered the current escalation of violence. 

Hanny Megally It was an attack on a ceremony at the military academy, attended by some senior representatives of the state. Recently graduated cadets were there with their families. Around 63 were killed and hundreds injured. The response from the Syrian state, with the help of the Russian airforce, was to hit over 2,300 targets within days, killing hundreds, mostly civilians, and displacing around 150,000 people. 

UN News The scale of activity by foreign powers detailed in your report is striking.

Hanny Megally You have Russia and Iran supporting the government; the United States and coalition partners essentially shoring up the autonomous Kurdish authority in the northeast; Turkey in the northwest supporting armed opposition groups; Israel targeting what they perceive to be pro-Iranian forces on the ground; and Jordan going after drug smugglers in the south.

UN News Has Syria has become the location for a series of overlapping proxy wars?

Hanny Megally I think it has. The sad thing is that the involvement of these states has prolonged the conflict. In essence, Syria has become a place where they can test out weapons, use old weapons that they no longer need to keep, and hit each other in way that would be much more serious if they were attacking each other directly.

UN News You also say that the events in Gaza [the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent assault on the Palestinian occupied territory] have elevated the risks of the conflict spreading further.

Five consecutive days of shelling and airstrikes caused damage in north-west Syria's Idleb area and the western Aleppo countryside. (Oct 2023)
© UNOCHA

Five consecutive days of shelling and airstrikes caused damage in north-west Syria’s Idleb area and the western Aleppo countryside. (Oct 2023)

Hanny Megally We have seen a big escalation over the last six months. Turkey is going after Kurdish PKK fighters, and they’re hitting infrastructure like power stations and water plants that are essential for the survival of the civilian population. In one attack more than a million people were without water for several days. There are also skirmishes between groups, whether in the Kurdish controlled areas with Arab tribes, or in the north, where groups supported by Turkey are beginning to fight amongst themselves. 

UN News 13 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes. How would you describe the effect the conflict has had on the civilian population?

Hanny Megally Consider 13 years of barrel bomb bombardments and fighting on the ground, and the destruction of much of the infrastructure, which is not being rebuilt because sanctions imposed by a number of states are preventing necessary materials from coming into the country.

Half of the hospitals have been destroyed and there’s been an exodus of medical staff. The economy is plummeting and people are voting with their feet and leaving the country. 

Reception centre for displaced families in northern Idlib, Syria.
© UNOCHA/Bilal Al-Hammoud

Reception centre for displaced families in northern Idlib, Syria.

UN News According to media reports, ISIL actually controls aspects of life in camps for displaced people in Syria [Al Hawl and Al Rawj], and there seems to be no distinction between people who are ISIL sympathizers and people who have been victims of ISIL.

Hanny Megally After the military defeat of ISIL, the Syrian Democratic Forces took around 9,000 men who were considered to be fighters, or to have had connections with ISIL, into detention, along with their families. At one point the numbers in the camps rose to over 70,000 and now it’s around 47,000. 

Those who have been there say the conditions are the worst they’ve ever seen. These are not refugee camps, they’re more like prisons, but they are guarded from the outside, which has allowed extremist elements to take control. 

At the moment, around 30,000 children are living in these camps, and they’re in legal limbo. When they reach puberty, they are considered to be have reached fighting age or be a risk to others, and they are removed from the camps.

Imagine what this is like: you’re in your teens and you’re removed from your mother. You’re put in a rehabilitation centre and you have no idea what happens next. When you reach 18, they may move you to a prison with adults that are considered fighters or supporters of ISIL. It’s not a solution, and it’s creating a problem which will come back to haunt us, in terms of being a breeding ground for terrorism.

UN News You’ve been cataloguing the suffering of Syrians for many years. Given everything you’ve seen, is there any hope for Syria? 

Hanny Megally Part of the problem is the involvement of the foreign armies in Syria. The outside interference is not bringing solutions. It’s prolonging the situation, creating a stalemate and a never-ending cycle of violence. If everybody left, the Syrians would likely sort the problems out themselves. 

UN News What’s the next step for the commission? 

Hanny Megally We’re asking the world not to forget about Syria, because it risks being left behind at a point where violence is back on the increase. We’re seeing ISIL back on the rise, a weakened state that’s essentially losing control, even if it controls more territory, delegating power to non-state actors. Syria needs help now and, above all, a ceasefire. 

Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza

Francesca Albanese was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where she presented her latest report, entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’, during an interactive dialogue with Member States.

“Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of, and to present my findings,” she said. 

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“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide…has been met.” 

Three acts committed 

Citing international law, Ms. Albanese explained that genocide is defined as a specific set of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. 

“Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent, causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,” she said.  

Furthermore, “the genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians,” she continued. 

‘A tragedy foretold’ 

“For over 76 years, this process has oppressed the Palestinians as a people in every way imaginable, crushing their inalienable right to self-determination demographically, economically, territorially, culturally and politically.” 

She said the “colonial amnesia of the West has condoned Israel’s colonial settler project”, adding that “the world now sees the bitter fruit of the impunity afforded to Israel. This was a tragedy foretold.” 

Ms. Albanese said denial of the reality and the continuation of Israel’s impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council resolution, adopted on Monday, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

Arms embargo and sanctions against Israel 

“I implore Member States to abide by their obligations which start with imposing an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel, and so ensure that the future does not continue to repeat itself,” she concluded. 

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts like Ms. Albanese receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council. They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work. 

Israel ‘utterly rejects’ report 

Israel did not participate in the dialogue but issued a press release stating that it “utterly rejects” Ms. Albanese’s report, calling it “an obscene inversion of reality”. 

“The very attempt to level the charge of genocide against Israel is an outrageous distortion of the Genocide Convention. It is an attempt to empty the word genocide of its unique force and special meaning; and turn the Convention itself into a tool of terrorists, who have total disdain for life and for the law, against those trying to defend against them,” the release said. 

Israel said its war is against Hamas, not Palestinian civilians. 

“This is a matter of explicit government policy, military directives and procedures. It is no less an expression of Israel’s core values. As stated, our commitment to uphold the law, including our obligations under international humanitarian law, is unwavering.”

‘Barbaric aggression continues’: Palestine Ambassador 

The Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, noted that the report provides the historic context of genocide against the Palestinian people. 

He said Israel “continues its barbaric aggression” and refuses to abide by the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), issued in January, to take provisional measures in order to prevent the crime of genocide. Israel has also refused to abide by UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, including the one adopted on Monday, he added.  

“And this means that all recommendations in the report of the Special Rapporteur shall be implemented, and practical measures should be taken to prevent the export of weapons, to boycott Israel commercially and politically, and to implement mechanisms of accountability,” he said.

Displaced Palestinians walk through the Nour Shams camp in the West Bank.
© UNRWA/Mohammed Alsharif

Displaced Palestinians walk through the Nour Shams camp in the West Bank.

Israeli settlement expansion 

Separately, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, presented a report on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory during the period from 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023.

“The reporting period has seen a drastic acceleration, particularly after 7 October 2023, of long-standing trends of discrimination, oppression and violence against Palestinians that accompany Israeli occupation and settlement expansion bringing the West Bank to the brink of catastrophe,” she said.

There are now around 700,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, who live in 300 settlements and outposts, all of which are illegal under international humanitarian law. 

Expansion of existing settlements 

The size of existing Israeli settlements has also expanded markedly, according to the report by the UN human rights office, OHCHR.

Approximately 24,300 housing units within existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank in Area C were advanced or approved during the reporting period – the highest on record since monitoring began in 2017.  

The report observed that policies of the current Israeli Government “appear aligned, to an unprecedented extent, with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to steadily integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel,” Ms. Al-Nashif said.

Transfer of power 

During the reporting period, Israel took steps to transfer administrative powers relating to settlements and land administration from the military authorities to Israeli government offices, whose primary focus is to provide services within the State of Israel.

“The report therefore raises serious concerns that a series of measures, including this transfer of powers to the Israeli civilian officials, could facilitate the annexation of the West Bank in violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations,” she said. 

‘Dramatic increase’ in violence 

There was also a dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, accelerating their displacement from their land, in circumstances that may amount to forcible transfer. 

The UN recorded 835 incidents of settler violence in the first nine months of 2023, the highest on record. Between 7 and 31 October 2023, the UN recorded 203 settler attacks against Palestinians and monitored the killing of eight Palestinians by settlers, all by firearms.  

Of the 203 settler attacks, more than a third involved threats with firearms, including shooting. Furthermore, almost half of all incidents between 7 and 31 October involved Israeli forces escorting or actively supporting Israeli settlers while carrying out attacks. 

Blurred lines 

Ms. Al-Nashif said the line between settler violence and State violence has further blurred, including violence with the declared intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land.  She reported that in cases monitored by OHCHR, settlers arrived masked, armed, and sometimes wearing the uniforms of Israeli security forces. 

“They destroyed Palestinians’ tents, solar panels, water pipes and tanks, hurling insults and threatening that, if Palestinians did not leave within 24 hours, they would be killed,” she said.

By the end of the reporting period, Israeli security forces had reportedly handed out some 8,000 weapons to so-called “settlement defence squads” and “regional defence battalions” in the West Bank, she continued. 

“After 7 October, the United Nations human rights office documented cases of settlers wearing full or partial Israeli army uniforms and carrying army rifles, harassing and attacking Palestinians, including shooting at them at point-blank range.” 

Evictions and demolitions 

Israeli authorities also continued to implement eviction and demolition orders against Palestinians based on discriminatory planning policies, laws and practices, including on the grounds that properties lacked building permits.

Ms. Al-Nashif said Israel demolished 917 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank, including 210 in East Jerusalem, again one of the fastest rates on record.  As a result, more than 1,000 Palestinians were displaced. 

“It is noteworthy that out of the 210 demolitions in East Jerusalem, 89 were self-demolitions by their owners to avoid paying fines from the Israeli authorities. This epitomizes the coercive environment that the Palestinians live in,” she said. 

The human rights report also documented Israel’s ongoing plan to double the settler population in the Syrian Golan by 2027, which is currently distributed among 35 different settlements.

Beside settlement expansion, commercial activity has been approved, which she said may continue to limit the access of the Syrian population to land and water.

 

 

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UN report: Credible allegations Ukrainian POWs have been tortured by Russian forces

According to the Monitoring Mission, interviews conducted with 60 recently released Ukrainian POWs painted a harrowing picture of their experiences in Russian captivity.

“Almost every single one of the Ukrainian POWs we interviewed described how Russian servicepersons or officials tortured them during their captivity, using repeated beatings, electric shocks, threats of execution, prolonged stress positions and mock execution. Over half of them were subjected to sexual violence,” said Danielle Bell, the head of HRMMU.

“Most POWs also recounted the anguish of not being allowed to communicate with their families and being deprived of adequate food and medical attention.”

Credible allegations

The report documented “credible allegations” of executions of at least 32 Ukrainian POWs,  in 12 separate incidents between December and February. HRMMU has independently verified three of these incidents.

HRMMU also noted findings from interviews with 44 Russian POWs in Ukrainian captivity, stating that while the POWs did not make any allegations of torture at established internment facilities, several provided credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment while in transit having been removed from the battlefield.

Violations in Russian-occupied territory

In addition to the findings on POWs, the report detailed continued violence against civilians in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, citing, among other violations, killings, arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of expression.

The report highlighted the Ukrainian Government’s continued prosecution and conviction of individuals for activities allegedly conducted under Russian occupation.

Civilian casualties remained high during the December 2023-February 2024 period, with conflict-related violence leading to the deaths of 429 civilians and injuring 1,374.

A significant intensification of missile and other aerial munitions (such as suicide unmanned aerial vehicles), together with attacks by Russia in late December and January, caused a spike in civilian casualties in areas far from the frontline, while the overall civilian casualty numbers remained comparable to the previous period.

Ukrainian cities under attack

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine reported that attacks continued in the south and east of the country on Monday and Tuesday, impacting civilians and critical infrastructure.

Several people were injured in the cities of Odesa and Kharkiv, according to local authorities.

Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power, mainly in Odesa and Kharkiv Regions. Authorities estimate that restoring the power to its full capacity will take months. Humanitarian organizations are on the ground, providing emergency aid to people affected.

World News in Brief: Malnutrition crisis risk grows in Haiti, clashes in DR Congo, peacebuilding in Colombia

Findings from the recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis indicate an alarming 19 per cent increase in the number of children estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in Haiti this year.

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Around 1.64 million people are facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity, (IPC Phase 4), which increases the risk of child wasting and malnutrition.

The ongoing armed violence across Artibonite department and the West department, which encompasses Port au Prince, has restricted aid delivery and severely weakened an already fragile healthcare system, posing an imminent threat to the lives of over 125,000 children at risk.

“The violence and instability in Haiti have consequences far beyond the risk of the violence itself”, said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

The situation is creating a child health and nutrition crisis that could cost the lives of countless of children, she added.

‘Thousands of children on the brink’

“Thousands of children are on the brink, while life-saving supplies are ready to be delivered if violence stops and roads and hospitals are opened. This malnutrition crisis is entirely human made,” Ms. Russell said.

“Basic security is urgently needed for the people of Haiti, for the life-saving services they rely on, and for humanitarian workers to reach children and families in desperate need.”

Since January, the deteriorating security situation has continued to worsen the humanitarian crisis, with serious consequences for UNICEF’s ability to store, deliver and resupply aid.

Despite the highly volatile environment, UNICEF is doing all it can to protect families and provide life-saving support, including for those who are trapped and cut off from essential services.

The agency is calling for accelerated efforts by the international community to protect civilians, restore law and order and keep humanitarians safe; an immediate flexible funding boost; and protection for schools, hospitals and other key spaces for children. 

DR Congo alert as violent clashes cause new misery in North Kivu 

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Clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have now uprooted 5.7 million people across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces.   

In an alert, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that the violence has reached a devastating new level, with people forced to flee indiscriminate bombing and abuse.

As part of the humanitarian response, UNHCR and partners have provided emergency shelters to more than 40,000 of the most vulnerable people arriving in Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

Trauma and exhaustion 

Thousands of core relief kits and 1,000 tarpaulins have also been distributed to those now sheltering outside protection sites. But people are desperate, and the needs are huge, said UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh:

“Families continue arriving at sites traumatized and exhausted by the attacks, scarred physically and psychologically. Many report being abused – some sexually – during their flight.”

Mr. Saltmarsh called for concerted international action to address the crisis and noted that UNHCR has received just 14 per cent of the $250 million required for its response in the DRC this year.

Colombia: UN expert calls for new policy to cement peace agreement

An international UN human rights expert on Tuesday called on Colombia to implement the historic 2016 Peace Agreement as a new State policy, to help ensure all dialogue processes with non-state armed groups adopt a human rights approach focused on victims.

Antonia Urrejola told the Human Rights Council that obstacles to implementing the accord still remain and made recommendations that could contribute to peacebuilding.

She said there had been progress in some areas of the Peace Agreement, which brought decades of full-scale armed struggle between rebels and government forces to an end, notably in rural reform and transitional justice.

Her report also highlights that 80 per cent of the signatories to the Agreement remain committed to being reintegrated into society, despite the obstacles, and risks to their lives.

UN agencies in Colombia come together through a CERF-funded emergency response project, in Litoral del San Juan, on the border between Chocó and Valle del Cauca.
© PAHO/Karen González Abril

UN agencies in Colombia come together through a CERF-funded emergency response project, in Litoral del San Juan, on the border between Chocó and Valle del Cauca.

Ms. Urrejola is a Chilean national and human rights lawyer who served as Foreign Minister of Chile for three years from March 2022. Her position was mandated by the Council to examine obstacles to implementing the Peace Agreement.

Roadmap needs course correction

The 2016 Peace Agreement provides a roadmap to address the structural causes of the conflict and ensure non-repetition, the report notes, emphasizing that the State’s human rights obligations must be implemented progressively and independently of the political climate of the day. 

“The stigma attached to the peace signatories was reinforced, their internal division accelerated, and their reintegration, as provided for in the Agreement, was affected”, the report contends.

“At the same time, it created doubts about the suitability and impartiality of the members of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace”.

Ms. Urrejola called for the creation of a new high-level Government position to oversee the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement and government approach, ensure effective institutional coordination and provide adequate financial resources.

She also requests the Government to implement, as a priority, a policy for tackling organized crime: “The dismantling of criminal structures and the fight against corruption are fundamental pillars for the consolidation of peace.”

Gaza: ‘Double-digit’ number of children reported killed overnight

The continuing violence came despite an immediate ceasefire call for the remainder of Ramadan from the Security Council on Monday, prompting urgent appeals from UN aid agencies for the resolution to be respected immediately, to prevent more people dying.

Speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder said that 13,750 children have now been killed according to Gaza’s health authorities, amid Israeli airstrikes and bombardment launched in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel on 7 October.

Citing reports of “a double-digit number of children killed overnight”, Mr. Elder noted that this had happened “only hours after the (Security Council) resolution was passed”. 

Khan Younis flattened

The southern Gazan city of Khan Younis “barely exists anymore”, the UNICEF spokesperson added, before describing the “utter annihilation” of constant Israeli bombardment which has left an unreported number of children and families buried under the rubble of their homes. 

“In my 20 years with the UN I have never seen such devastation, it’s just chaos, ruin, debris and rubble every single direction, everywhere I look,” he said, reporting on his latest aid mission to the north.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis – “such a critical place for children with the wounds of war” – is now no longer even operational, the UNICEF official reported, adding that only one-third of Gaza’s hospitals are “partially functional” now. 

North in crisis 

Further north, where a UN World Food Programme (WFP) aid mission secured the passage of 96 trucks carrying relief supplies on Monday – for the first time in five days – Mr. Elder described seeing people making “that universal signal of hand to mouth, desperately asking and seeking for food”.

This is despite the fact that hundreds of trucks containing lifesaving humanitarian aid remain over the border in Egypt, UN agencies have pointed out.

Citing respected food insecurity analysis published recently warning of Gaza’s “catastrophic decline into imminent famine”, the UNICEF official also noted that the agency’s own data indicated that one in three children under two years old now suffer from acute malnutrition. Before the conflict, fewer than one in 100 children under five were malnourished, Mr. Elder said.

“This speaks to utter deprivation, this speaks to the devastation of things children rely on – water and health systems – but it also speaks to what the numbers speak to, which is a lethal lack of food and nutrition aid still not getting to the north.”

Before the war, around 500 commercial and humanitarian trucks reached the enclave every day, but the average today is around one-third of that number but there have also been periods of “weeks where nothing got into the north”, the UNICEF official added.

Health crisis

Echoing deep concerns about the desperate scenes unfolding in Gaza, UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jazarevic reported that most patients at Al Amal hospital in the south have now left the facility.

Media reports indicated that an evacuation order for the facility was issued by the Israeli military, amid intense hostilities in the west of Khan Younis. The situation is also believed to be dire in northern Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital which was also the target of an Israeli military raid, but WHO does not have access there, Mr. Jasarevic said.

“You have health workers dying, you have hospitals that are under siege, you have people who are looking for shelter in these places and if you can’t get a shelter at a hospital where else can you go?” he told journalists in Geneva.

Media reports indicated airstrikes overnight into Tuesday near the southernmost city of Rafah where some 1.5 million people now shelter, many after being uprooted from their homes elsewhere in the enclave.

The UN aid coordination, OCHA, also urged Israel to lift its ban on aid deliveries to the north by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, echoing earlier calls by the UN Secretary-General.

“We need to dispel this notion that their obligation of getting aid in somehow stops with getting a few trucks – a fraction of what is needed – across the border and then once it’s in there as I have seen reported, then it’s not our problem any more, it’s the UN humanitarian agencies’ problem. That is not correct.”

He added: “You cannot claim to adhere to these international provisions of law when you block UNRWA food convoys, when you just last week denied five missions to the north, when we have now reports of Israeli attacks on warehouses and the police that are supposed to help secure this aid inside Gaza.”

 

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UN pays tribute to victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Addressing a commemorative meeting to mark the International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade, Assembly President Dennis Francis highlighted the harrowing journeys endured by millions during the so-called Middle Passage, emphasizing the stripping of their identities and dignity.

“It is inconceivable that the enslaved were cruelly regarded as mere commodities for sale and exploitation,” he said.

“Together with their children born into slavery, perpetuating the vicious cycle of bondage and suffering – enduring untold horrors at the hands of their oppressors,” he added.

Pursuance of justice

Assembly President Francis paid tribute to revolutionary figures such as Samuel Sharpe, Sojourner Truth, and Gaspar Yanga, who bravely fought for freedom, paving the way for abolitionist movements and inspiring generations to challenge injustice.

He emphasized the ongoing impact of slavery’s legacy, calling for accountability and reparations as essential components of pursuing true justice, stressing the urgent need to address systemic racism and discrimination faced by people of African descent, both historically and in contemporary society.

“It is incumbent upon States, institutions, and individuals to acknowledge their roles in perpetuating these legacies of injustice – and to take meaningful steps towards reparatory justice,” he said.

Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly, addresses a commemorative meeting to mark the International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly, addresses a commemorative meeting to mark the International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Echoes continue today

Also on Monday, Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General, delivered a message on behalf of the UN chief, further amplifying the call for remembrance and justice.

Reading the Secretary-General’s message, Mr. Rattray echoed the sentiments of honouring the millions who suffered under the brutal regime of slavery.

“For four hundred years, enslaved Africans fought for their freedom, while colonial powers and others committed horrific crimes against them,” he said.

“Many of those who organized and ran the Transatlantic slave trade amassed huge fortunes,” he continued, noting that the enslaved were deprived of education, healthcare, opportunity, and prosperity.

“This laid the foundations for a violent discrimination system based on white supremacy that still echoes today.”

Mr. Rattray underscored the need for reparatory justice frameworks to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination, urging united effort towards a world free from racism, discrimination, bigotry and hate.

“Together, as we remember the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, let’s unite for human rights, dignity and opportunity for all.”

Israel’s new aid ban on UNRWA in Gaza ‘a wrong move’: UN coordinator

On the heels of Israel’s announcement on Sunday that it would no longer approve aid shipments into northern Gaza by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, UN Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick cautioned of current catastrophic food shortages and growing hunger across the enclave while offering swift solutions to averting a looming famine.

Any interruption to a food supply that’s already very fragile is a wrong move,” he told UN News

“We’ve seen a 70 per cent decrease in people’s ability to sustain themselves,” he said, emphasizing that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report issued last week showed an imminent famine and the deterioration of malnutrition rates, in the north in particular.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick (second left) visits the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip.
© UNOCHA

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick (second left) visits the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Situation worsens in the north

Prior to the war, around 700 trucks delivered commercial and humanitarian goods into Gaza every day to serve the needs of the 2.3 million residents, but now 250 aid trucks enter Gaza “on a good day”, and in the north, the situation is worse, the UN Coordinator said.

“We are lucky getting 10 to 15 trucks in at any point in time over a two-day period,” he said. “We’ve had conversations with Israel to see if we can find a way to pass through this and to see if we can get the trucks we need every day into Gaza.”

Meanwhile, the trickle of aid entering the enclave has been handled by the main humanitarian actors – the World Food Programme (WFP), the non-governmental organisation World Central Kitchen and UNRWA – alongside such groups as the Catholic Relief Services, he said, but much more is needed to satisfy a population growing more hungry by the day.

A worker unloads ready-to-eat rations from a truck close to Alexandria, Egypt, in preparation for delivery to Gaza.
© WFP/Amira Moussa

A worker unloads ready-to-eat rations from a truck close to Alexandria, Egypt, in preparation for delivery to Gaza.

‘We can satisfy all the needs’

Israel’s scanning and inspection regime can only handle a daily maximum of 250 trucks, and right now only Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings are operating. Unless more corridors are opened, from Jordan to the Ashdod Port, “we are never going to get to 700 trucks” needed in Gaza daily.

“We can satisfy all the needs that are required there, but that means Israel has to allow those [entry points] to open up, and they also have to allow longer working hours in Kerem Shalom,” he said.

But, right now, it’s not a situation “we can see is going in the right direction”, he said, noting that the IPC famine report indicates that the current supply is not working.

We are not supplying enough to turn the corner on this,” he said. “We have to do more to do that.”

Ample aid urgently required

A sufficient volume of aid is needed now, he said.

“I don’t particularly care whose organisation brings the food; all I’m looking for is to make sure that we get more food than are currently getting in,” he said.

Since his weekly visits to Gaza began in December, including two to the north, he said conditions are “absolutely shocking”.

“I saw directly the impact of the lack of food supply on children in the Kamal Adwan Hospital” in northern Gaza, he said of last week’s visit, noting that the facility had recorded and reported 20 child deaths due to malnutrition. “I went to the children’s ward, and it’s absolutely shocking to see what’s there.”

Every single child had nutritional deficiencies, some with such complications as hepatitis A to intestinal infections, and there were not enough incubators for newborns in need, he said, adding that some young patients are being transferred to the south for care.

“One of the children I saw there, because the mother was so malnourished, the child was born two days earlier and was only about 1.2 kg in weight,” he recalled, saying the conditions are clear indications that food insecurity and malnourishment “is starting to hit that population very hard”.

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‘Joint failure’ if famine alerts remain unheeded

Politics are the reason why humanitarian workers are not getting the cessation of hostilities required to be able to get more access and more lifesaving aid across the borders, he said.

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But, he continued, there has been “ample warning given to everybody who’s watching this situation, and everybody’s watching it”.

The IPC famine report is a “wake-up call” showing that “if we don’t do it, it’s a flag of our joint responsibility and also a joint failure that we haven’t been able to get this done,” he stressed.

Threats of a Rafah incursion

As for southern Gaza, where more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, along Egypt’s border, he cautioned that “we are living a sort of hand-to-mouth existence.

“In the current context, unless there was a ceasefire, we can’t bulk up the support into Gaza the way we need it,” he said, noting that Israel’s threats of a large-scale military operation in Rafah could force almost one million people to move.

If there’s an incursion, it will break the back of our response,” he warned. “We cannot cope with that. There’s nowhere in the world you can cope with that number happening that quickly.”

Ceasefire is critical now

Ending hostilities now is critical alongside Israel lifting restrictions so enough aid can enter Gaza, he said.

If military activity stopped, the roads would be free and we can supply very, very fast throughout the south and clearly into the north as well,” he said.

The ceasefire is the most important thing we need right now to get that supply to all those people who we know are really struggling now.”

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