There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence — including rape and gang-rape — occurred across multiple locations of Israel and the Gaza periphery during the attacks on 7 October 2023, a senior United Nations official reported to the Security Council today, as she presented findings from her visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Israel
In Mozambique, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) today warned that more than 110,000 people have been displaced since the end of 2023 by the resurgence of attacks by non-State armed groups in a distressing escalation of the situation in the Cabo Delgado Province.
In Somalia, the deputy heads of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization arrived in the country today on a joint mission to urge continued global support for Somalis suffering from the impact of hunger, conflict and climate change.
The use of the Security Council veto by the United States to block an Algerian draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza only emboldens Israel to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, speakers warned the General Assembly today, stressing that the humanitarian situation in the enclave is catastrophic and worsening as a result.
Lamenting the Security Council’s inability to call for a ceasefire while the entire world demands one, speakers in the General Assembly today drew attention to the mounting death toll and famine in Gaza, while Israel condemned the United Nations for collaborating with terrorists.
In Abyei, the United Nations Interim Security Force there reported that they are continuing to patrol in order to protect civilians and are engaging with community leaders and local authorities to de-escalate intercommunal tensions.
Three senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today of imminent famine in the Gaza Strip, urging immediate action to avert humanitarian disaster in a territory where many Council members alleged the use of hunger as a weapon of war.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report today on how attacks on Red Sea shipping are reshaping global trade routes. Higher fuel consumption from rerouted trade could result in a 70 per cent rise in greenhouse-gas emissions for these trips, and shipping costs have skyrocketed.
A full-scale Israeli military operation in the densely populated Rafah area — where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering near the only point of entry for goods — would be devastating, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East told the Security Council today, as he appealed for additional access points to northern Gaza to increase the flow of aid and reduce congestion in the south.
The UN team in Costa Rica is presenting a “Preparedness and Response Plan for People in Transit” to partners this week, which aims to boost assistance to vulnerable refugees and migrants. Over 500,000 people entered Costa Rica from Panama in 2023 — more than double the number of those who did so in 2022.