Lebanon, Yemen, Haiti & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (19 Sep 2024) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
-Lebanon
-Security Council
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Yemen
-Haiti
-Mali
-South Sudan
-Sudan
-Ukraine
-Report on the Work of the Organization
-Senior Personnel Appointment   
-Art Exhibition
-Financial Contributions
-Briefings

Lebanon
Special Coordinator, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has been in constant contact with all concerned actors to urge for restraint and calm as well as to support diplomatic efforts to end the cycle of violence urgently.
The UN continues to urge the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and return to a cessation of hostilities to restore stability.

Security Council
Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the Security Council by VTC this morning on the Secretary-General’s latest report on Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), which calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” and to “fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.”
Settlement activity has, nevertheless, continued, the Special Coordinator said.
Mr. Wennesland informed the Council that the Secretary-General reported that the level of suffering witnessed in Gaza is unprecedented in his mandate as Secretary-General of the United Nations. To address the colossal humanitarian needs and improve the intolerable conditions of civilians, the Secretary-General said, Israel must fully open all crossings into Gaza.
It must also facilitate the immediate, safe, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip, in accordance with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
Mr. Wennesland began by expressing his grave concern over the growing risk of a widescale regional escalation. The series of explosions across Lebanon and rockets fired toward Israel in recent days adds to the volatility. He calls on all sides to refrain from steps that will further worsen the situation and take immediate steps to deescalate.

Occupied Palestinian Territory
On Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that as of 15 September, there were 15 Emergency Medical Teams supporting local health workers, including three in northern Gaza. So far in 2024, 37 Emergency Medical Teams embedded in hospitals throughout the Strip have provided over 1.4 million consultations.
However, due to obstacles hindering the entry of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the backlog of health supplies and equipment waiting to enter continues to grow, while health facilities within the Gaza Strip are facing increasingly severe supply shortages. Public health-care facilities in southern Gaza are reporting an over 70 per cent shortage of critical medical items.
The UN’s health partners say that the waiting list for the medical evacuation of critically ill and injured patients out of Gaza continues to grow due to the lack of a systematic referral mechanism.
As of 12 September, out of more than 14,000 patients for whom medical evacuation has been requested since October 2023, just over 5,000 - or 35 per cent - have been evacuated abroad. Only 219 patients were allowed to leave Gaza by Israeli authorities since the closure of the Rafah Crossing in May 2024.
Meanwhile, with the approaching cold and rainy weather, shelter partners report that they are unable to import enough material to provide sufficient protection from wind, rain or flooding. Access constraints continue to limit the entry of shelter items entering Gaza.
Partners are trying to find ways to maximize the response such as prioritizing the entry of sealing-off kits over tents, since more of these can be transported on a single truck. But this is the bare minimum and insufficient to match the needs of repeatedly displaced families.
Humanitarian partners also finalized a preliminary mapping of displacement sites which may face flooding during the approaching winter season. 38 makeshift and 13 scattered sites in the Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, and the northern governorates are deemed likely to experience flooding with varying degrees of intensity.
Once again, OCHA reiterates that it is critical that humanitarian organizations can reach all parts of Gaza, wherever they are needed.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/ossg...