Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Haiti, Ukraine

Crowding at a displacement site in Solino, Haiti, highlights the devastating impact of forced migration driven by armed violence.

Hundreds of people, including women and children, take refuge at a displacement site in Solino, Haiti, amid ongoing armed violence. Photo: IOM/Antoine Lemonnier

#Occupied Palestinian Territory

UN and partners boost healthcare in Gaza

OCHA reports that humanitarian assistance efforts continue to scale up across the Gaza Strip.

Today, 594 trucks entered Gaza, according to information obtained by the UN on the ground through interactions with the Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire deal.

The UN is preparing to support the third polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, which is set to resume on Saturday. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have warned that the current environment in Gaza creates ideal conditions for further spread of the poliovirus, as transmission can happen in overcrowded shelters and when water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure is damaged.

The UN and its partners are helping health facilities across Gaza restore their services and increase capacity. WHO is supporting with supplies and equipment, ensuring a three-month stock. In North Gaza, Kamal Adwan Hospital has now opened an outpatient department.

Yesterday in Gaza city, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) opened a field hospital. PRCS has also opened multiple primary healthcare centres in Gaza – three in North Gaza and three in Rafah. Another partner, Medical Aid for Palestinians is restoring the new maternity building at Al Shifa Hospital.

Meanwhile, the UN Population Fund reports that nearly 2,400 postpartum kits have been distributed to all hospitals that provide maternity services over the past two weeks.

Since the ceasefire came into effect, the UN and its partners have reached nearly everyone in Gaza with food parcels, with most families receiving more than one month of rations. To keep hunger at bay, it is critical to help families replenish their food stocks.

Today, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, visited Gaza, alongside the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope. They visited several areas in the south and spoke to affected people, who said they urgently need shelter support. Hadi and Pope also met with humanitarian partners, staff and heads of aid agencies to discuss the ongoing response.

Humanitarian Fund supports displaced families in West Bank

OCHA remains concerned that operations by Israeli forces in the West Bank continue to involve lethal, war-like tactics that seem to exceed law enforcement standards. These operations have resulted in fatalities, injuries and the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

To support displaced families, the Humanitarian Fund for the Occupied Palestinian Territory this week redirected funding for existing projects to provide cash assistance, rental subsidies, and essential items, including food.

#Haiti

Thousands flee violence in Port-au-Prince

OCHA says that armed violence in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince continues to drive displacement and exacerbate humanitarian needs.

According to IOM, more than 6,000 people have been displaced in just over three weeks in and around the capital.

An outbreak of violence in Kenscoff, on the city’s outskirts, on 27 January is still ongoing and has displaced more than 4,000 people.

Meanwhile, violence in other parts of the city has displaced almost 2,000 people since 14 February.

Partners also report that last week, armed groups set fire to the Université d’État d’Haïti Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The hospital had been closed since February 2024 due to attacks.

Nationally, only 27 per cent of health facilities with beds are fully functional.

An estimated 4.2 million people, more than a third of Haiti’s population, will require humanitarian health assistance this year.

#Ukraine

UN aid convoy reaches front-line community in Kherson region

OCHA reports that a UN inter-agency convoy delivered medicines, charging stations, power banks, blankets, hygiene items, solar lamps and clothing to a front-line community in Kherson region, in the south of Ukraine, today. This marks the fourth convoy to the region this year.

Front-line communities in the Kherson region continue to be severely affected by ongoing hostilities. Homes and critical infrastructures have been damaged and livelihoods disrupted, aggravating an already dire humanitarian situation amid a harsh winter.

Providing aid in front-line areas remains dangerous. Yesterday, a local non-government organization (NGO) vehicle came under a drone attack on its way to evacuate an older woman with limited mobility from a front-line location in the Dnipro region. The mission was part of a project to support evacuations funded by the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. The project helps vulnerable people to leave high-risk areas for safer locations in Ukraine. According to the NGO, this was the 65th incident involving its assets or personnel since the escalation of the war in 2022. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, condemned the attack and called for respect for international humanitarian law.

Another attack in Odesa City yesterday left around 5,000 people without electricity and damaged a hospital, a kindergarten and civilian buildings. After two days of drone strikes, nearly 50,000 residents remained without power, according to authorities. In Kherson city, a ten-story apartment building was partially destroyed by a missile strike. According to local officials, six injured people were rescued from the debris, including two children.