Israel

The Office of Internal Oversight Services has completed its investigation into the alleged involvement of 19 area staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in the 7 October 2023 armed attack in southern Israel. It found nine may have been involved and will terminate those individuals.

In Zimbabwe, 7.6 million people are at risk of acute hunger due to a historic El Niño-induced drought that has destroyed over half of the harvest. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and aid partners are supporting Government efforts to help affected communities and build long-term resilience.

Zamzam camp in North Darfur — which shelters over 220,000 displaced people — has now crossed the famine threshold, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, report on food security in Sudan. More than half the country’s population — 26 million people — now face acute hunger.

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

At least 53 Palestinian detainees are known to have died in Israeli military facilities and prisons since last October, according to a UN human rights office report published today on arbitrary, prolonged and incommunicado detentions, impacting thousands of Palestinians, including UN staff.

Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya has allocated $5.3 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support some 195,000 vulnerable Sudanese refugees and host communities in Libya. More than 15 months of conflict in Sudan has forced one fifth of the country’s population to flee.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more than 200,000 people — that is about 9 per cent of Gaza’s current population — have now been displaced over the last week in the wake of evacuation orders issued by the Israel Defense Forces.

In Chad, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the country is grappling with an array of challenges that are driving humanitarian needs. These include the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

Decrying legislative and physical attacks against the United Nations agency providing the backbone for the humanitarian response in Gaza, two senior UN officials urged the Security Council today to act in the face of flagrant violation of international humanitarian law in the Strip, as Council members discussed ways to address the catastrophe unfolding there.

In Ethiopia, since 23 July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have been on the ground in areas impacted by the landslide. The Organization, along with its partners, are already dispatching assistance, including food, nutrition, health and other critical supplies.