Israel

In Haiti, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to reach hundreds of thousands of people with critical assistance. The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that more than 18,000 people were reached with cash transfers and, again yesterday, 210,000 children received a meal in their schools across the country.

The Head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) told the Security Council today that the Agency is the “backbone” of the humanitarian response in Gaza, noting that — while its mandate is supported by an “overwhelming” majority of Member States — it faces efforts to push it out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, in New York today:

The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vanessa Frazier (Malta):

Following Israeli airstrikes on 1 April that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, a senior United Nations official briefing the Security Council urged immediate concerted action to investigate, prosecute and stop such violations of international humanitarian law and to give humanitarian staff unimpeded access to those in need, as delegates raised concern about the imminent famine in the occupied territory.

Israel’s “live-streamed” genocide — supported by many Western States — must not go unpunished, participants heard in Geneva today during the second day of the two-day Conference of Civil Society Organizations working on the Question of Palestine — convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People — with speakers discussing best practices to ensure accountability and Israel’s compliance with the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

In Madagascar, the United Nations and its partners are supporting the Government’s response to Tropical Cyclone Gamane. According to the Government, the tropical cyclone — which hit the country on 3 April — killed 19 people, injured 3 others and left some 22,000 people displaced.

The response to the war in Gaza is the litmus test for the international justice system, participants heard in Geneva today, during the first day of the two-day Conference of Civil Society Organizations working on the Question of Palestine — convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People — with many highlighting the role of civil society in preserving international law and ensuring accountability.

While the humanitarian impact of the hostilities in Gaza has been cataclysmic and is worsening daily, violence and the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continue at alarming levels, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East told the Security Council today, as delegates raised concern over non-compliance with the organ’s demand for a ceasefire.