Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine

Humanitarians assess the damage to an apartment building in Ukraine's Kharkiv city following a recent attack. June 2024. Photo: OCHA/Maka Khazalia.

Occupied Palestinian Territory

OCHA warns that access constraints and security concerns continue to hinder efforts to scale up food and nutrition assistance in Gaza, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in need. The inability of humanitarian agencies to consistently and safely transport aid commodities from the Kerem Shalom crossing, combined with the continued closure of Rafah crossing, has compounded the challenges facing aid operations.

As of yesterday, fewer than half of the 86 coordinated humanitarian missions to northern Gaza planned for this month were facilitated by Israeli authorities. More than a quarter were impeded, 12 per cent were denied access, and 12 per cent were canceled due to logistical, operational or security reasons.

In one incident yesterday, a humanitarian mission returning to southern Gaza after delivering fuel and medical supplies to Gaza city in the north was delayed for more than 13 hours at an Israeli military checkpoint, putting the convoy in danger of being caught in crossfire.

OCHA says planned humanitarian missions requiring coordination to areas in southern Gaza also continue to face impediments and access denials.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 10,000 people need medical evacuations outside Gaza. Earlier today, the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for their sustained medical evacuation and timely passage via all possible routes.

Pediatric patients are among those who need to leave Gaza for specialized care. Yesterday, WHO and partners transferred five of these patients – four with cancer and one with second-degree burns – from Al-Ahli hospital to Nasser Medical Complex, where they will continue to receive care until they can depart Gaza.

The team also delivered medical supplies to cover the health needs of some 20,000 patients at Al-Ahli and As-Sahaba hospitals, as well as 19,000 litres of fuel.

Ukraine

Repeated attacks on the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine over the weekend caused scores of civilian casualties, damaged homes and temporarily left some parts of the city without electricity and water.

According to humanitarian partners on the ground, on 22 June, several attacks on Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, struck residential areas, damaging an apartment block, dozens of houses, an education facility and public transport. According to authorities, more than 60 civilians – including children – were killed or injured.

Complementing the efforts of first responders, humanitarian partners provided medical and psychological assistance, food and blankets, among other supplies.

Strikes have also impacted energy facilities in several regions in the west and southeast of Ukraine, causing additional power cuts on top of previously scheduled outages, according to authorities and partners on the ground.

Meanwhile, today, explosions damaged warehouses and reportedly injured several civilians in Odesa City, in the south of Ukraine, according to authorities and partners on the ground. Our partners are distributing materials to cover the damage for the families whose apartments nearby were damaged by the blast wave.