Palestinian issues

Just 18 per cent of the $48.7 billion needed to humanitarian aid worldwide this year has been received, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. The consequences are particularly acute in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Mali, Myanmar and Sudan.

As more States recognize the State of Palestine and agree that it should become a full member at the United Nations, it is crucial to keep an eye on the political horizon, even amidst the current violence, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People heard today.

Recent escalation in the Middle East — particularly between Israel and Hizbullah along the Blue Line — is concerning, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the region told the Security Council today, as he also warned that ongoing hostilities in Gaza are further fuelling regional instability.

Following the completion of a technical assessment, the Secretariat of the United Nations has responded positively to a request of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela to deploy a UN Panel of Electoral Experts for the July 2024 presidential elections there.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today said it is stepping up support to assist some 8,000 Rohingya refugees who were affected on Wednesday by landslides in the Cox’s Bazar refugee settlement in Bangladesh.

Heavy flooding and landslides that hit Mexico and Central America earlier this week and 75 centimetres of rain is expected by week’s end, according to the UN’s humanitarian colleagues. More funding for the humanitarian response is needed, particularly as the 2024 response plans for region remain severely underfunded.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” conference, in Sweimeh, Jordan today:

After 247 days of war in Gaza, the Security Council today adopted by 14 votes in favour — with the Russian Federation abstaining — a resolution proposing a comprehensive three-phase ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, urging both Israel and Hamas to implement it fully and without delay and condition.

In Sri Lanka, the United Nations is supporting the Government in assessing and meeting the immediate needs of over 250,000 people impacted by the ongoing severe floods and landslides since 2 June.

Briefing the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question, the Special Coordinator for that region’s peace process urged Member States to support Gaza’s political future, work with the new technocratic Palestinian Government and develop a framework of its recovery, as many speakers, condemning the recent strike on Rafah, renewed calls for a ceasefire to enable humanitarian aid deliveries to the Palestinian people.