The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza owing to a negative vote of the United States — a permanent member of the Council — marking the second time Washington, D.C., has blocked such a text since early December 2023.
Following a surge of hostilities in Ukraine over the weekend, humanitarian organizations have provided materials for emergency repairs to houses. Meanwhile, the UN and its partners are addressing the impact of oil spillage on water sources in Kharkiv after a strike on an oil storage facility in that area on 9 February.
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that as intensified air strikes on Rafah continue, people are reportedly moving out of Gaza’s southern-most governorate towards Deir al Balah.
The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, today echoed the concerns of other senior UN officials about the reported plans for a full military incursion in Rafah, stressing the risk it would create for the commission of atrocity crimes is serious, real and high.
In war-torn Sudan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 3.5 million children are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year. The Agency and its partners have secured ready-to-use therapeutic foods through July and are scaling up their response to prevent a massive loss of lives.
A spate of recent attacks on United States facilities and personnel in three Middle Eastern countries and Washington, D.C.’s retaliatory air strikes, alongside the ongoing Red Sea crisis, threaten to further exacerbate an already volatile regional situation, a senior United Nations official today warned the Security Council.
The massive humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza risk deepening, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will likely be forced to close operations by the end of the month if donor funding remains suspended, UNRWA Head Philippe Lazzarini warned today.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the 2024 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is the beating heart of all humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and decisions to withhold funds from the Agency must be revoked, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the Security Council today, underscoring that an investigation into the alleged involvement of some UNRWA employees in the 7 October attack on Israel are under way.
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is strengthening its presence near the borders with Sudan, and peacekeepers are intensifying their patrols in Abiemnom County in Ruweng State and in Mayom County. A priority is to enhance security along the main supply route, which is vital for the transport of humanitarian aid.
