Today's top news: Lebanon, Syria, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Myanmar
#Lebanon
OCHA says that despite the challenges and a tense security situation in Lebanon, humanitarian organizations continue to deliver aid in coordination with national and local authorities.
Today, a joint mission comprising UN and non-governmental organization partners delivered 12 trucks of aid to the towns of Rmeish, Ain Ebel and Debel in the south of the country. The supplies included food, water, hygiene kits and will support more than 4,000 people. This was the first mission there since July 2024.
UNICEF has also delivered 33 tons of lifesaving medical supplies to the Ministry of Public Health, including emergency health kits to ensure safe deliveries for pregnant women, as well as essential medicine.
To maintain these efforts, we urgently need additional funding is urgently needed. While commitments are appreciated, immediate contributions to the US$426 million Flash Appeal – which is 12 per cent funded – are vital to continue the response.
#Syria
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners continue to support new arrivals at five Syrian border points.
Since the start of the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, UNHCR and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has distributed relief items to more than 250,000 people at the Syrian crossing points, including hygiene kits, blankets, winter clothes, food and water. UNHCR has also established a dedicated help desk at the border crossing point for UNHCR and Syrian Arab Red Crescent lawyers to organize legal counseling and assistance for new arrivals.
The Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, allocated yesterday $8 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support the response to these newly arrived people.
The funds will help to scale up the emergency response, including shelter, food, protection and cash assistance both at the border crossings and in destinations area in Syria.
Meanwhile, OCHA warns that the main road through the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing between Syria and Lebanon remains impassable for vehicles following an airstrike on 4 October.
This has significantly affected the movement of civilians fleeing hostilities in Lebanon, with people now faced with crossing on foot around large craters left by the attack or resorting to longer journeys through other routes. This has also disrupted a vital route to transport commodities between the two countries and has caused delays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the area.
Still in Syria, OCHA reports that a missile strike yesterday in the densely populated Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus hit a residential and commercial building, about half a kilometer away from a UN office. The attack claimed seven lives, including women and children and left several others injured.
All parties should respect their obligations under international law – including international humanitarian law, as applicable – and all concerned should avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure.
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Gaza
In Gaza, OCHA – alongside the World Health Organization and the UN Mine Action Service – made a third attempt to reach Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, following Israeli orders for its immediate evacuation.
While they had received assurances that their high-risk mission would be facilitated, Israeli forces ordered them to wait for five hours in a holding point south of Jabalya due to the intensity of the fighting nearby.
Members of the mission suggested several alternative routes and means of reaching the hospital, but none was accommodated. Ultimately, they had to abort the mission and return.
The team, which included seven ambulances and three UN vehicles, say that despite the risks of entering a combat zone, they had planned to evacuate 13 patients and international members of emergency medical teams who had no other way of leaving the area.
OCHA notes that even if such a mission can be completed successfully, patients requiring intensive care cannot be evacuated because all ambulances equipped for such purposes in Gaza have been either damaged or destroyed.
OCHA stresses once again that life-saving support must be facilitated in Gaza, and all assurances of safe access must be reliably delivered upon. Medical facilities must never become battle grounds and must always be protected.
West Bank
OCHA reports that during the first week of October alone, Israeli forces killed two dozen Palestinians, including four children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. During this period, another 130 Palestinians, including at least 16 children and six paramedics, were injured, either by Israeli forces or settlers.
Also, in the first week of October, OCHA’s latest reporting documents nearly two dozen attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, resulting in injuries and property damage. Roughly a dozen of these incidents took place within the context of the olive harvest season.
Yesterday, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Muhannad Hadi highlighted concerns related to the upcoming olive harvest while leading a diplomatic visit to Kifl Haris village in the Salfit governorate, alongside humanitarian and development partners.
Representatives of eight Member States joined him and heard from Palestinian farmers how Israeli-imposed access restrictions and attacks by Israeli forces and settlers have undermined their ability to harvest.
Hadi stressed that the annual olive harvest is a key economic, social and cultural event for Palestinians, and that last year, nearly 10,000 hectares of olive groves remained unharvested. The Humanitarian Coordinator has allocated $750,000 from the Humanitarian Fund to support olive farmers this year, saying they must have unimpeded and safe access to their groves.
#Sudan
OCHA reports that despite challenges in moving aid across conflict lines in Sudan, the UN and humanitarian partners were able to reach South Kordofan yesterday with some 210 metric tons of supplies. The seven-truck convoy led by UNICEF crossed multiple conflict lines to reach four towns in the state, including the capital Kadugli, with nutrition, water, sanitation, health and education support.
Extreme hunger and malnutrition are rising rapidly in these areas, which have been isolated for months due to the ongoing conflict. Access has been extremely challenging for humanitarian organizations due to insecurity, movement restrictions and heavy rains. Trade links have also been severely disrupted, driving up prices for food and other staples to some of the highest levels seen in the country.
More than 1.3 million internally displaced people across Greater Kordofan, including the Nuba Mountains, are facing acute hunger.
Humanitarian organizations are urgently trying to scale up assistance to people in need across Sudan. We once again remind the parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and facilitate aid operations – including by ensuring that both humanitarian supplies and personnel can move unhindered across conflict lines and across borders.
#Myanmar
In Myanmar, while civilians continue to face the dangers of an expanding conflict, humanitarians say that an estimated 1 million people are also suffering from the impacts of deadly flooding.
Since 9 September, torrential monsoon rains and the remnants of Typhoon Yagi have submerged 70 out of the country’s 330 townships. The flooding caused significant damage, especially in the Northwest, Southeast, and Rakhine State, resulting in substantial livelihood losses for vulnerable communities.
To strengthen emergency relief efforts, the Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya allocated US$4 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund on 30 September.
Meanwhile, the conflict persists in the Northwest, Northeast, Southeast and Rakhine State, forcing civilians from their homes and resulting in casualties.
Humanitarian organization responding to people affected by floods and conflict are hindered by damaged roads and bridges, restrictions imposed by parties to the conflict, violence and severe underfunding.
The $994 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan remains is currently just under 30 per cent funded with $284 million received. More resources are urgently needed so that our partners can respond to surging needs.