Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Chad

Rapid influx of Sudanese refugees leaves thousands in desperate need in Chad.
Rapid influx of Sudanese refugees leaves thousands in desperate need in Chad. Photo: UNHCR/Caitlin Kelly

#Occupied Palestinian Territory

UN Relief Chief condemns attacks on civilians in Gaza

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said in a statement yesterday that attacks on civilians in Gaza – including the killing and injury of hungry people seeking food and those delivering aid – are unacceptable. 

Fletcher said UN convoys carrying humanitarian aid have been intercepted by armed Palestinian gangs, endangering staff and drivers. Meanwhile, civilians in desperate need of the limited food humanitarians are able to bring in have been shot by Israeli forces, crushed by trucks, or stabbed while trying to retrieve food.

He noted that other incidents have concentrated around militarized distribution centres, where starving people report Israeli forces opening fire on them. On Wednesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stated that Palestinians involved in their distribution were killed, injured, and captured by Hamas.

“Without immediate and massively scaled-up access to the basic means of survival, we risk a descent into famine, further chaos, and the loss of more lives,” Fletcher said. “Hunger must never be met with bullets. Humanitarians must be allowed to do their work.”

OCHA underscores that life-saving aid must reach people in need in line with humanitarian principles.*

Meanwhile, the blockade on fuel – imposed by Israeli authorities for more than 100 days – continues. Sufficient fuel supplies are paramount for keeping essential, life-saving services running in Gaza. These include intensive care units and critical health, water and sanitation services.

OCHA reports that Israeli authorities continue to deny many humanitarian movements aimed at providing support to the population within the Strip. Yesterday, they rejected eight out of 18 attempts by the UN to coordinate such movements, including efforts to retrieve wheat flour and fuel supplies. Four other missions were unable to be accomplished, either because of impediments or because organizers had to cancel them, which typically happens for security or logistical reasons. The remaining six missions – which included the movement of staff – were facilitated and accomplished.

Meanwhile, the telecommunications outage has massively disrupted humanitarian operations. Gaza remains without Internet or data connectivity after the last fibre cable route serving central and southern areas of the Strip was cut yesterday, following intense hostilities.

Restoring connectivity is urgent. Just hours ago, the Israeli military posted a warning on social media where areas marked in red on a map – apparently most of the Gaza Strip’s territory – are considered dangerous combat zones, calling on people to stay away from them. However, most people in Gaza have no way to access this announcement.

Humanitarian partners working on telecommunications continue their efforts to coordinate urgent repairs of the fibre cable routes in Gaza, including those that were previously damaged. However, they report that since April, the Israeli authorities have denied more than 20 requests by partners to carry out that work.

As the outage continues, partners are unable to communicate or coordinate response activities, and people in need remain isolated and without the information they need to access life-saving support and emergency services.

OCHA stresses that it is critical that repair of the lines is enabled immediately.

*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory with urgent support. 

#Chad

Humanitarian Coordinator warns eastern Chad ‘reaching a breaking point’

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, François Batalingaya, said today that the country is in crisis, with the situation in the east reaching a breaking point.

Briefing journalists in Geneva from N’Djamena, Batalingaya noted that the drivers of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Chad are clear. Climate shocks are intensifying. Last year’s floods affected nearly 2 million people and destroyed more than 400,000 acres of farmland.

Food insecurity continues to affect millions of people across the country. This year, more than 3 million people will struggle to feed themselves during the lean season which runs from June to August. This represents a staggering 400 per cent increase compared to 660,000 people in 2015.

However, Batalingaya stressed that this is only part of the story. Since the outbreak of war in neighbouring Sudan, more than 850,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed into Chad, joining the 400,000 existing Sudanese refugees who arrived in waves over the last 15 years – tripling the number in just two years.

Today, about 300,000 people are stranded at the border, waiting to be relocated inland. Tens of thousands, mostly women and children, are sleeping in the open without shelter, clean water or healthcare. They arrived with nothing, traumatized and hungry, recounting stories of mass killings, sexual violence and entire communities destroyed.

Chad kept its border opened despite its own challenges – but the country’s long-standing hospitality is under severe strain. Clinics are overwhelmed. Malnutrition is rising. Basic services are stretched to the brink, and cholera has now been detected in El Geneina in Sudan’s Darfur region, just 10 kilometres from Adre, the epicentre of the refugee crisis.

The UN and its humanitarian partners are mobilized and responding, but those efforts are limited by low levels of funding. This year’s US$1.4 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Chad is only 9 per cent funded.

In concrete terms, this means that of the 1.5 million people who urgently need potable water, only 105,000 are being reached – many with just 5 litres a day, well below the 15 litres standard.

Humanitarians on the ground are doing all they can, but without urgent funding they will not be able to scale up the response.

Batalingaya told journalists that the question concerning Chad today is not whether the alarm has been raised; it has. The question is now whether the world will respond – or look away.