Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
**Programming Note
A little programming note for you so you know what is coming. I think after I am done, the Permanent Representative of Israel, Danny Danon, is expected to speak at the Security Council stakeout.
Tomorrow, around 12:30 p.m., the Secretary-General of the United Nations is expected to be the Security Council stakeout to speak to you. I think you can expect [he will speak about] the situation in the Middle East and we expect him to take some questions. In this case, since the boss is speaking, I will not be speaking of course.
We expect Sharon Birch, the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, to brief on Thursday of this week.
And just wanted to go back to tomorrow again. At 1:30 p.m., there will be a press briefing by Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, as you know this is Special Rapporteur season as they are all coming here to brief the General Assembly Committee, so a number of them will be here in the next few weeks.
**Secretary-General/Middle East
As you will have seen, in a video message, the Secretary-General said that today, October 7, marks one year since the horrific events that took place when Hamas launched a large-scale terror attack in Israel, killing over 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals, including children and women. He said that this is a day for the global community to repeat in the loudest voice our utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of Hamas, including the taking of hostages.
The Secretary-General demanded once again the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Until then, Hamas must allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the hostages.
He said the war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon. The Secretary-General asserted that this is time for the release of the hostages. Time to silence the guns. Time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region. Time for peace, international law and justice.
You will find messages throughout the UN system marking one year since the 7 October attacks.
Among those is a statement by the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, saying that, during his engagements with Israeli officials and other stakeholders, the Special Coordinator expressed his condolences to the families of those killed in the attacks, with his profound sympathy for the families of those who were abducted. He reiterated his commitment to mediation efforts towards a ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Joyce Msuya, the Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, also said that today it has been 12 months of unrelenting tragedy that must end. She calls for the hostages to be released and treated humanely; for civilians to be protected and have their essential needs met; for Palestinians arbitrarily detained to be released; for humanitarian workers to be safeguarded and have their work facilitated; for perpetrators to be held to account for any serious violations of international humanitarian law; and for the assault on Gaza to stop.
** Occupied Palestinian Territory
On the ground, our OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) colleagues remain very concerned that areas north of Wadi Gaza that are increasingly being cut off, compounded by the issuance of evacuation orders for the vast areas there. This is putting pressure on more than 400,000 people to move south to Al Mawasi, an area that is overcrowded, polluted and lacking in the basic services that people need.
Southern Gaza is completely overwhelmed and cannot accommodate more people.
As of this morning, initial information indicates that more than 50,000 men, women and children have been displaced within northern Gaza, and some patients have left hospitals in the evacuation zone. Many others in the north, especially in the Jabalya camp, are trapped in their homes, unable to leave safely. So far, few families have crossed Wadi Gaza heading South.
We and our partners are continuing to not only closely monitor the movement of people, but also to provide displaced families with the necessary assistance as needed. However, OCHA stresses that ordering civilians to evacuate does not keep them safe if they have no safe place to go and no shelter, and food, medicine or water to survive.
OCHA warns that the situation in northern Gaza is increasingly dire — with residential areas being attacked, hospitals ordered to evacuate, and electricity still cut off. As heavy bombing and ground operations in the north continue, medical facilities and other essential services there are at risk of shutting down. Bakeries are already closing, with workers displaced along with their families. No fuel or commercial goods are allowed in, and aid workers are only able to bring in a trickle of humanitarian aid through Israeli checkpoints in parts of the north.
Meanwhile in the south, there is no shelter stock as the rainy season approaches, and health supplies are running low.
Israeli authorities have allocated a single, unsafe road for aid workers to bring in supplies from the Kerem Shalom crossing, where they face active hostilities and violent, armed looting, fuelled by the collapse of public order and safety.
Nevertheless, we and our partners continue to provide life-saving assistance wherever we can to Palestinians in Gaza. UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) says that since last 7 October, it has provided more than 5.6 million medical consultations across Gaza. The agency has also reached nearly 1.9 million people with two rounds of flour over the past year, with nearly 367,000 [families] receiving three rounds of the distributions.
** Lebanon
Turning North, to Lebanon, the Special Coordinator for the United Nations, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, continues her close engagements with all actors, urging for an immediate ceasefire and that space be created for diplomatic initiatives.
We note that heavy strikes in both directions across the Blue Line have continued through the weekend and today, with casualties reported from Israeli strikes including in Beirut and southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities have also reported dozens of fatalities and hundreds of injuries since 3 October of this year.
UNIFIL in southern Lebanon have continued to observe heavy exchanges of fire over the weekend, including this morning. Airstrikes as well as ground incursions by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) targeted multiple areas across the Blue Line.
The Mission also reports that Hizbullah launched dozens of attacks over the same period, including to repel ground incursions by the IDF and target areas in northern Israel itself. Several people were reportedly injured following Hizbullah’s strikes on Haifa. That’s what we are getting from local officials. Due to the security situation, UNIFIL personnel had to take shelter in bunkers since early morning today.
And in a statement the peacekeeping mission issued over the weekend, UNIFIL notes their deep concern with respect to recent activities by the Israeli army immediately adjacent to one of the peacekeeping Mission’s position, southeast of Marun ar Ras in Sector West, which is inside Lebanese territory.
UNIFIL said this is an extremely dangerous development and that the IDF has been repeatedly informed of this ongoing situation through the regular communications channels. It is unacceptable to compromise the safety of UN peacekeepers carrying out their mandate handed over to them by the Security Council, and UNIFIL reminds all actors of their obligations to protect United Nations personnel and United Nations property.
**Lebanon/Humanitarian
On the humanitarian front in Lebanon, we continue to be worried about the attacks on the health system. According to the Lebanese authorities, 36 incidents targeting health care facilities have been reported between 8 October 2023 and 4 October 2024. At least 96 primary health care centres, and three hospitals, have been forced to close due to the hostilities. Attacks have not only impacted facilities but also health personnel with the World Health Organization putting the number of health workers on duty killed in the same period to 77. Our health partners are supporting the Lebanese health authorities and delivering additional trauma and emergency kits to hospitals. They are also providing medicines.
Water infrastructure is also affected to date, with at least 25 water facilities damaged. That impacts 300,000 human beings.
We and our partners are also providing hundreds of thousands of drinking water to people in collective shelters.
Ongoing hostilities and displacement orders continue to displace people, particularly from the south of the country and the capital’s southern suburbs. The International Organization for Migration has recorded more than 540,000 displaced people since October 8th [2023].
Food partners report that since September 23rd, more than 500,000 received hot meals. Partners are also delivering other essential supplies.
We and our partners, in close collaboration with the Government of Lebanon, continue to lead and coordinate relief efforts for displaced and affected people.
The Flash Appeal we issued last week for $426 million is currently 12 per cent funded with only $53 million in the bank. We urge donors to give. Give in cash and give quickly.
**Sudan
Turning to Sudan, another grave humanitarian crisis. Our colleagues at OCHA tell us they are deeply concerned about the worrying situation in the capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, where we are seeing reports of continued clashes posing a risk to hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain in the area.
And as you know, famine conditions have already been confirmed in the Zamzam camp for displaced people, which is just outside of El Fasher, and we think that other camps in the area also are likely to have famine conditions.
Our colleagues in Sudan are closely following the developments and continue to advocate for an immediate stop to the fighting, and for the protection of civilians and humanitarian access — of both supplies and personnel — throughout the country.
In the first few days of October alone, tens of thousands of people have been displaced across Sudan due to fighting. This includes in North Darfur, West Darfur and Sennar states, where airstrikes, clashes between rival forces, and insecurity near villages and markets have displaced as many as 42,000 people, both within Sudan and across borders. That is what the International Organization for Migration is telling us.
We are also closely monitoring the cholera outbreak in Sudan. As of Saturday, 21,000 cases of cholera had been reported over the past two months, including more than 600 fatalities from cholera. That's what WHO and Sudan's Ministry of Health are telling us.
Over the weekend, however, UNICEF was able to charter a plane, which carried 1.4 million doses of oral cholera vaccines. That plane arrived in Port Sudan to bolster the response, which aims to vaccinate more than 1.8 million people in the most affected states — which are Gedaref, Kassala and River Nile State.
**Deputy Secretary-General/South Africa
Our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is wrapping up her visit to Johannesburg, in South Africa.
She arrived there yesterday to discuss South Africa’s priorities and their vision for their forthcoming chairmanship of the G20 summit, as well as national efforts to drive sustainable development. While there, she held meetings with officials, including with the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, [Roland Lamola] and the Minister of National Treasury, [Enoch Godongwana]. The Deputy Secretary-General expressed the UN’s full support for South Africa’s G20 Presidency in 2025 and the effective participation of the African Union. She also met with women leaders from all sectors and met with the UN country team. Later today, she will go to Baku, in Azerbaijan to take part in the Pre-Cop meeting for the UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held later this year.
**International Days
Two international days.
Today is World Habitat Day.
By 2030, 60 per cent of urban residents will be under the age of 18, and this year’s theme is "Engaging youth to create a better urban future". In his message, the Secretary-General says the theme highlights the vital role of young people in creating a better urban future.
The other international day is one that makes me feel good. It is World Cotton Day. Cotton is also a major source of income. A single tonne of cotton provides year-round employment for five people on average, often in some of the world’s most impoverished regions.
**Questions and Answers
Spokesman: Edie?
Question: Thank you very much, Steph. First, on Gaza, with all the impediments that you read off going on in the north and the evacuation orders, is anything actually getting through? And is there any fuel?
Spokesman: Very little is coming in. There is not enough fuel. As always, when the fuel supplies get low, people start rationing. So you're trying to stretch out whatever you have, but there is a lack of fuel, and there's a lack of aid coming in.
Question: And on Darfur, can you tell us, well, whether Mr. Lamamra is actually, and the broader Sudan, is he actually engaged in any new diplomatic efforts to get both sides together?
Spokesman: He continues his efforts. It's not that there's something new. It is the continuation of what he's been doing. Michelle, then Maggie.
Question: Thank you, Steph. First of all, on Gaza, did the Secretary-General speak with any Israeli leaders today? The President, Prime Minister?
Spokesman: No, he had been in touch through other means, not by phone with the President, but this was a few days ago, but nothing to report today.
Question: And has there been any communication between, I guess, peacekeeping, UN specifically with Israel to talk about what's happening with UNIFIL?
Spokesman: Yes, General Aroldo Lázaro [Head of Mission of UNIFIL] speaks regularly with his Israeli counterpart, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, our Special Coordinator, also has contacts with her Israeli counterparts. The messages are the same and frankly, they're the same for all the parties, is to silence the guns. But we have been in touch specifically with the IDF regarding the situation that I refer to in Sector West.
Question: And apologies if you might have answered this. Is the Secretary-General going to the Israeli event this afternoon in [Inaudible]?
Spokesman: I don't believe anyone from the UN has been invited, but we can double-check.
Question: Okay. And sorry, last one. Sudan. Do you have any kind of update on how much aid is getting through at Adre?
Spokesman: I do not, but hopefully someone else in the UN system has. And we will get that to you. Margaret?
Question: Thank you, Steph. So further on the UNIFIL situation, you're saying silence the guns. So are you saying that Israel shouldn't be invading south Lebanon exactly?
Spokesman: We're saying we want to see a stop to the exchange of fire across the Blue Line, whether it's the IDF and the Israeli military hitting targets in Lebanon, including in Beirut, whether it's the incursion, whether it's Hezbollah continuing to fire rockets into northern Israel near Haifa. We want to see a return to a cessation of hostilities. We want to see the full implementation of 1701, which we have talked about ad nauseam, frankly, without much movement. And the hundreds of thousands of people who've been displaced on both sides of the Blue Line should be able to return home and live in their homes in peace, whether in southern Lebanon or in northern Israel.
Question: And then you mentioned evacuation orders. In Lebanon, every evening, basically, the Israeli spokesperson issues in Arabic, maps and evacuation orders, mostly for the southern suburbs at night. And then maybe within an hour, the bombings start. In your opinion, is that in the UN's opinion, an evacuation order or a forcible displacement or how do you see that?
Spokesman: Look, people need to be safe, whether they choose to move or they choose to go. We've referred to them as evacuation order. The fact that if people don't leave, it doesn't mean that the combatants don't have a responsibility to keep people safe. Okay. Yes, madam.
Question: Thank you. After a year of ongoing genocide in Gaza and after this human disaster, perhaps the largest in the recent history, the Israeli occupation has not stopped. Instead, we are witnessing a new war in Lebanon. Yesterday, Israel used internationally banned weapons and bombing Beirut. Are we facing a historic moment where the UN admits its failure to protect civilians and hold criminals accountable?
Spokesman: Well, you know, when people talk about the failures of the UN, my question back to you is which UN are you speaking about? Are you speaking about the inability of the Security Council to come together on critical issues? Are you speaking about Member States not respecting and not implementing resolutions? Are you speaking about Member States not upholding the rulings of the International Court of Justice, which every Member State has signed up to? Are you speaking about the Secretary-General feeling that you think he's not doing enough or his humanitarians are not doing enough? So I think those types of questions are extremely valid, but I think one has to examine which part of the organization you're speaking about. Abdelhamid, and then Iftikhar. I have not forgotten you, Iftikhar.
Question: Thank you, Stephane. Since you stopped mentioning the number of Palestinian victims, I always ask you this question. Do you know that 51 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours, especially in Jabalia refugee camp?
Spokesman: Yes, we are aware and we regularly mention the number of victims.
Question: I'm waiting for one briefing that you mentioned the number of victims. My second question about the statement of the Secretary-General. I read it again and again and I found it unbalanced. It didn't mention the suffering of the Palestinian people, didn't mention the destruction. It didn't mention the attacks on hospital. It didn't mention the number of UN staff killed. It didn't mention the 70 per cent of [inaudible]. Why? My question...
Spokesman: Yes, what is the question? Sorry.
Question: My question is that a balanced statement that represents the highest moral office in the world of the Secretary-General?
Spokesman: Well, this was a statement from a Secretary-General, which I will remind you, about a week ago, was declared persona non grata by the government of Israel. It was a message on October 7th, for October 7th, for the terror attacks, for those who suffered greatly, who were killed, to the hostages. It also refers to the greater violence we have seen following October 7th in Lebanon and Israel.
Question: On October [crosstalk]
Spokesman: One second, Abdelhamid. What he said in no way negates or ignores what the Secretary-General has said since October 7th, speaking about the Palestinian people, speaking about Lebanon. The message yesterday was a message in time referring to the horrific terror attacks by Hamas. It does not mean in any way, shape or form that the Secretary-General has changed or altered his opinion on everything that has happened. And I understand people have different views, but people need to look at the body of what the Secretary-General has said and then make your own judgment. But to judge the Secretary-General, just for one thing, he didn't say on a specific date, I think is not the way to go.
Question: Just a follow-up, if you don't mind.
Spokesman: Never.
Question: I mean, on 24 October 2023, the Secretary-General spoke to the Security Council and he said October 7th did not come from vacuum. I know he was attacked for that statement, but he never repeated it. On this occasion, talking only about October 7th, without mentioning the context, without mentioning occupation, settlement attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The siege on Gaza for 17 years would make it just as if October 7th...
Spokesman: Abdelhamid, you and I can disagree and you would not have written the statement the way the Secretary-General read it out. I think the statement, if you look at it, talks about what has happened and the suffering since October 7th. He stands by the statement that he delivered to mark today as he stands by everything else he has said. Iftikhar, and then I will go back to you two.
Question: Thank you, Steph. Does the Secretary-General have any comments on the terror attacks near Karachi International Airport in which two Chinese nationals also died?
Spokesman: Yes. We condemn this act of terror that we saw in Pakistan. Civilians should never, ever be targets. And we extend our condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and government of both Pakistan and the People's Republic of China. Margaret, then Michelle.
Question: Okay. I'm just still trying to figure out about UNIFIL. 1701 is currently in tatters because everybody is all over the place down there. You said that UNIFIL is in their barracks today because of the situation. So really, what are they there to do right now? Are they there to deter a further ground invasion? Are they there to protect civilians?
Spokesman: I think you could possibly imagine what the situation would be if they weren't there. I mean, I think that's a good analysis piece. They continue to observe, report back. They're continued to implement their mandate that was given to them by the Security Council. Michelle?
Question: Just following up on what you said about the Secretary-General being PNGed last week.
Spokesman: Yeah.
Question: At the time, you said it was a political statement. It was a tweet. And I know the UN doesn't recognize it anyway, but did you receive any formal communication on that?
Spokesman: No, ma'am. Okay, have a great day. We will confirm the time and place for tomorrow morning, and I think Ambassador Danon will be starting in just a few minutes.
Question: [inaudible].
Spokesman: Tomorrow at the stakeout. Yes. Yeah. We will not confirm the place. We will confirm the time.