Today's top news: Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, Sudan
Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory
OCHA is marking one year of unimaginable suffering since the 7 October attack in Israel, a horrific event that foreshadowed the devastation brought on by the Israeli response in Gaza.
The Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, says it has been 12 months of unrelenting tragedy that must end. She calls for the hostages to be released and treated humanely; for civilians to be protected and have their essential needs met; for Palestinians arbitrarily detained to be released; for humanitarian workers to be safeguarded and have their work facilitated; for perpetrators to be held accountable for any serious violations of international humanitarian law; and for the assault on Gaza to stop.
Further on Gaza, OCHA is deeply concerned that areas north of Wadi Gaza are increasingly being cut off, compounded by the issuance of evacuation orders for vast areas there. This is putting pressure on more than 400,000 people to move south to Al Mawasi, an area that is overcrowded, polluted and lacking in the basic services that people need to survive. Southern Gaza is completely overwhelmed and cannot accommodate more people.
As of this morning, initial information indicates that more than 50,000 people have been displaced within northern Gaza and some patients have left hospitals in the evacuation zone. Many others in the north, especially in Jabalya camp, are trapped in their homes, unable to leave safely. So far, few families have crossed Wadi Gaza southward.
The UN and humanitarian partners continue to closely monitor the movement of people and will provide displaced families with the necessary assistance as needed.
However, OCHA stresses that ordering civilians to evacuate does not keep them safe if they have no safe place to go and no shelter, food, medicine or water to survive.
Even if they stay in an area of heightened hostilities, civilians must continue to be protected. And wherever civilians are, their essential needs must be met, including through humanitarian assistance.
OCHA warns that the situation in northern Gaza is increasingly dire, with residential areas attacked, hospitals ordered to evacuate, and electricity still cut off. As heavy bombing and ground operations in the north continue, medical facilities and other essential services there are at risk of shutting down. Bakeries are already closing, with workers being displaced along with their families. No fuel or commercial goods are allowed in, and aid workers are only able to bring a trickle of humanitarian aid through Israeli checkpoints to some parts of the north.
Meanwhile in the south, there are no shelter stocks as the rainy season approaches, and health supplies are running low. Israeli authorities have allocated a single, unsafe road for aid workers to bring in supplies from the Kerem Shalom crossing, where they face active hostilities and violent, armed looting, fuelled by the collapse of public order and safety.
Repeated displacement orders have severely disrupted aid efforts, and these directives now apply to more than 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip.
Nevertheless, we and our partners continue to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, wherever and whenever possible.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that from 7 October last year to 22 September this year, it has provided more than 5.6 million medical consultations in Gaza.
The agency says it has also reached more than 380,000 families – nearly 1.9 million people – with two rounds of flour over the past year, with almost 367,000 families receiving three rounds.
Also over the past year, UNRWA says some 700,000 people internally displaced in Gaza – including hundreds of thousands of children – have benefited from nearly 259,000 psychosocial support sessions and activities.
Since October of last year, UNRWA has also maintained and rehabilitated eight wells, ensuring that more than 600,000 displaced people had access to water.
Lebanon
OCHA says that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon continues to rapidly deteriorate driven by increasingly intense exchange of hostilities across the Blue Line, with airstrikes expanding geographically, affecting civilian and civilian infrastructure.
We continue to be concerned over attacks on the health system. According to the Lebanese authorities, 36 incidents targeting health care facilities have been reported between 8 October 2023 and 4 October 2024. At least 96 primary health care centers, and three hospitals have been forced to close due to the hostilities. Attacks have not only impacted facilities but also health personnel with the World Health Organization putting the number of health workers on duty killed in the same period to 77.
Water infrastructure is also affected with to date, at least 25 water facilities damaged affecting more than 300,000 people.
The ongoing hostilities and displacement orders continue to displace people, particularly from the south of the country and the capital’s southern suburbs.
The International Organization for Migration has recorded more than 540,000 displaced people, since 8 October last year.
The UN and partners in Lebanon, in close collaboration with the Government of Lebanon, continues to lead and coordinate relief efforts for displaced and affected populations.
Food partners report that since 23 September, more than 500,000 received hot meals. Partners also delivered food parcels and bread.
On the health front, health partners are supporting the Lebanese health authorities and delivering additional trauma and emergency surgery kits to hospitals. They are also providing medicines.
The UN and partners are also providing hundreds of thousands of potable water to people in collective shelters.
The US$426 million Flash Appeal for Lebanon is currently 12 per cent funded with $53 million received.
Sudan
OCHA is alarmed by an intensification of conflict in Sudan now that the rainy season is coming to an end.
In the first few days of October alone, tens of thousands of people have been displaced across the country due to fighting. This includes in North Darfur, West Darfur and Sennar states, where airstrikes, clashes between rival forces, and insecurity near villages and markets have displaced as many as 42,600 people, both within Sudan and across borders. That figure is according to the International Organization for Migration.
We are also deeply concerned about the worrying situation in North Darfur’s capital city of El Fasher, where we are seeing reports of continued clashes posing a risk to hundreds of thousands of civilians remaining in the area. As you know, famine conditions have already been confirmed in Zamzam displacement camp, just outside El Fasher, with similar conditions likely in other camps in the area.
The UN is closely following developments and continue to advocate for an immediate stop to the fighting and for the protection of civilians and humanitarian access – of both supplies and personnel – through all necessary routes.
We are also closely monitoring the cholera outbreak in Sudan. As of Saturday, nearly 21,000 cases of cholera had been reported over the past two months, including more than 600 deaths. That's according to the World Health Organization and Sudan's Ministry of Health. Over the weekend, a UNICEF-chartered plane carrying 1.4 million doses of oral cholera vaccines arrived in Port Sudan to bolster the response, aiming to vaccinate more than 1.8 million people in the most affected states – Gedaref, Kassala and River Nile.