The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory called on donors to immediately provide funding for emergency fuel to prevent emergency services in the Gaza Strip from shutting down. To ensure that a minimum level of essential services continues through the end of the year, $4.5 million is required.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that an estimated 200 to 250 civilian casualties have been reported in Afghanistan following recent fighting in Ghazni, which damaged the water system and electricity services. In support of Government efforts, humanitarian partners are on standby to scale up activities once safe, secure access is ensured for aid workers and people in need.
The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is providing logistical support and the World Health Organization is sending medical supplies and expertise to the Ministry of Health and its partners to facilitate ground operations in response to the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu Province.
Leading the response to the regional refugee crisis related to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration have launched regional appeals of $46 million and $32 million respectively to help Governments and host communities.
The Food and Agriculture Organization today warned that Fall Armyworm could threaten the livelihoods of millions of small‑scale farmers in Asia — where it’s been found for the first time — as this invasive pest is highly likely to spread further from India.
A new United Nations report has urged Somalia to build on the significant gains made in its peace process over the last five years and to ensure that future elections are not marred by the human rights violations and abuses seen during the 2016-2017 electoral process. It notes that, to date, only 2 of the 44 documented killings during that time have been investigated and prosecuted.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ramping up assistance to Ecuador, which declared a state of emergency in three provinces on Wednesday due to the influx of Venezuelans, some 547,000 of whom entered the country through the Colombian border. About 30,000 Venezuelans entered at a rate exceeding 4,000 per day in the first week of August.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it is gravely concerned about reports of Zambia’s forced return of a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker to his home country. A senior Zimbabwean politician expressed his intention to seek asylum at the border yesterday, but Zambia reportedly handed him over to Zimbabwe authorities today despite a court order to the contrary.
Emergency fuel stocks at a number of critical health, water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have almost run out, creating enormous risks for the population, according to United Nations humanitarian personnel. The immediate lack of fuel is due to Israeli restrictions on imports, which also apply to United Nations‑procured emergency fuel.
The United Nations refugee agency said today that more than 2,000 Somalis have returned home from Yemen since 2017, as part of an assistance programme carried out jointly with the International Organization for Migration and authorities in Yemen and Somalia. Yemen currently hosts more than 270,000 refugees, the vast majority of them Somalis.