Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan

#Occupied Palestinian Territory

Aid organizations today delivered about 15,000 litres of fuel to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Balah, according to OCHA.

UNICEF warns that oxygen generators at the hospital will shut down without consistent fuel delivery, putting the lives of more than 20 newborn babies at risk.

It is absolutely critical that more fuel enters Gaza and that humanitarian organizations can work in safety as hostilities intensify.

In northern Gaza, just one hospital remains partially functional. However, the Al Awda facility is currently inaccessible.

Gaza’s remaining health facilities are struggling to operate amid ongoing shortages of fuel, equipment and medical items.

OCHA reports that since the start of the Rafah operation, the entry of aid supplies into Gaza has been extremely limited.

Between 7 and 23 May, just over 900 aid trucks, including about 800 carrying food supplies, have entered Gaza through all operational points of entry.

#Haiti

Humanitarian colleagues say that the prices of staple foods remain high in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas amidst an already dire food security situation.

In mid-April, the cost of the food basket in the Ouest Department, where Port-au-Prince is located, was 20 per cent higher than in January. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the situation has not improved since. The resurgence of gang-related violence has added upward pressure on prices due to a scarcity of essential products caused by a decrease in the number of traders in markets and increasing household demand.

If domestic agricultural production does not improve and insecurity persists, prices of staple foods are likely to remain high for the rest of 2024.

The number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC 3 and 4) is expected to reach a record level of 5 million, or half of the population, by the end of June.

Since early March, the World Food Programme has supported nearly 100,000 displaced people in 80 sites in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area with 885,000 hot meals.

#Myanmar

The humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is deepening, with entrenched conflict putting civilians at grave risk. The fighting is driving record levels of displacement and a worrying resurgence in inter-communal tensions.

The humanitarian situation in Rakhine is particularly alarming. Despite soaring humanitarian needs, access restrictions remain severe. 

At the height of the dry season, water scarcity and cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea have been widely reported. An estimated 1.6 million people lack access to hospital care in central and northern Rakhine.  

As the monsoon season approaches, strong winds and heavy rain have already hit several townships in Chin, Magway, Sagaing, and northern Shan in recent months, damaging and destroying civilian properties and other structures. 

Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners in Myanmar continue to deliver assistance to people in need, reaching almost 1 million people during the first quarter of 2024, despite underfunding and soaring inflation.

This year’s humanitarian appeal for Myanmar is just 11 per cent funded, with just US$110 million received of the $993 million required.

#Sudan

In Sudan, OCHA reports that the humanitarian situation for an estimated 800,000 civilians in Al Fasher and surrounding areas in North Darfur continues to deteriorate as armed clashes continue. 

The fighting, including the use of heavy weaponry in densely populated areas, has reportedly caused hundreds of civilian casualties and forced thousands of people to flee since 10 May.

Humanitarian partners have received reports that basic necessities, including water, are out of reach for a growing share of the population in Al Fasher due to the ongoing fighting. Key roads out of the city are either blocked, subject to significant barriers, or unsafe due to the presence and activities of armed groups.

In Al Fasher South Hospital, the only working hospital in the state, only around 10 days of supplies are left, with an urgent need to restock the hospital.

Humanitarians are trying to reach the city, but the current security situation is making this all but impossible. More than a dozen trucks carrying aid for more than 121,000 people have been trying to reach Al Fasher for over a month.

Looking at the wider Darfur region, despite insecurity and severe access constraints, a WFP convoy of trucks carrying 1,200 metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies for some 117,000 people was able to cross into North Darfur yesterday from Chad, via the Tine crossing. It is critical that these trucks are allowed to safely and directly continue to their final destinations in Central and South Darfur.

While we welcome, this latest development is not sufficient to address Sudan’s spiraling hunger crisis. In order to stave off famine in Darfur and across the country, all cross-border and cross-line routes must be open for humanitarian movements, including the delivery of seeds. 

As OCHA’s Operations and Advocacy Director, Edem Wosornu, told journalists during a briefing at UN headquarters yesterday, it is critical that farmers are able to plant their crops. “If we lose the farming season, we will lose a lot of lives,” she said. “This is a man-made potential famine.”