Ms. Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division, OCHA, on behalf of Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Ms. Joyce Msuya - Briefing to the Security Council on Gaza, 9 October 2024

New York, 9 October 2024

As delivered

Madam President, Members of the Security Council,

Thank you for this opportunity to update you on the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – both Gaza and the West Bank.

The past year has brought unimaginable suffering. It has been one year since the horrendous attack by Hamas and other armed groups in Israel. And rockets continue to be fired indiscriminately into Israel.

Few times in recent history have we witnessed suffering and destruction of the size, scale, and scope that we see in Gaza. In the past year, this Council has been briefed repeatedly on the horror unfolding in Gaza, at least monthly on average.

Once again, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. Unfortunately, much of what I am about to say mirrors what we reported a month ago. Widespread suffering persists while the humanitarian situation worsens.

The recent evacuation orders by Israeli authorities for large areas of northern Gaza, along with intensified ground operations, risk more death, destruction and yet another mass displacement of civilians.

Once again, utter chaos ensues as the world watches on.

Before we turn to the situation, we express, deep concern about the ongoing legislation to stop the activities of UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency]. This would be disastrous for the provision of aid and essential services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Nearly every one of the more than 2 million people in Gaza receives some form of aid or service provision from UNRWA, along with nearly one million Palestine refugees in the West Bank. If approved, such legislation would diametrically be opposed to the UN Charter and in violation of Israel’s obligations under international law.

Madam President,

Over the past year, relentless Israeli-issued displacement orders have affected almost 84 per cent of Gaza’s territory. Around 90 percent of Gaza’s population is internally displaced.

Hundreds of thousands of people are pressured to move south to Al Mawasi, but southern Gaza cannot accommodate more people.

In Al Mawasi – where civilians were told to go –12 Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least 26 others injured when two tents were struck in the camp at Al Mawasi on 1 October.

Evacuation orders are meant to protect civilians, but the exact opposite is happening. As we have said so many times, there is no safe place in Gaza.

Three of the ten partially functional hospitals in the north have been ordered to evacuate all patients without providing alternatives for relocating them. We have not been able to get fuel to other hospitals in the north.

There has been no electricity since October last year. Without electricity, or fuel for the generators, everything shuts down: medical facilities, water, sanitation, and other essential services.

And bakeries are closing, deepening the already high levels of food insecurity.

As this conflict persists, civilians must have the essentials for their survival. They must be allowed to seek protection. Those displaced must be guaranteed the right to voluntarily return.

Madam President,

Severe impediments on the entry of essential commercial supplies and humanitarian access continue.

For instance, in September, humanitarian workers spent a total of 212 hours – that’s nearly 9 days’ worth of waiting -- to receive a green light from Israeli authorities to undertake life-saving missions.

And in the past week, there have been no humanitarian movements to the north, while both land crossings have been closed for supplies entering Zikim and Erez.

The north of Gaza has been cut off, putting at risk the second round of the polio vaccination campaign, scheduled for mid-October.

Further, essential commercial supplies entering Gaza have drastically reduced in the past week.

In recent days, on average 50 truckloads of goods enter each day– quantities that do not begin to meet needs. Humanitarian assistance cannot be a substitute for the flow of commercial goods; and vice-versa.

Aid workers are only able to deliver a trickle of humanitarian aid through Israeli checkpoints.

These are life threatening restrictions.

People are traumatized, hungry, digging with their bare hands in rubble for their loved ones.

They are increasingly frustrated about the international community’s failure to stop the hostilities. And, as the situation worsens, this anger is increasingly being directed at humanitarian workers.

The lack of adequate humanitarian access means that food insecurity and diseases are spreading fast.

The severe lack of shelter supplies is likely to worsen health conditions and further undermine the dignity of vulnerable populations, potentially leading to life-threatening conditions, this coming winter.

Humanitarian partners report that women and children are hard-hit by the trauma of this war.

Each day, according to UNRWA,10 children are losing one or both of their legs. Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history. Women are three times more likely to miscarry, and three times more likely to die from childbirth.

And, yet humanitarians are not giving up.

Madam President,

We also remain deeply concerned about the worsening situation in the West Bank.

Over the past year, Israeli military operations, along with rampant settler violence and house demolitions, have led to a sharp rise in fatalities, widespread destruction and forced displacement.

Just last week, on 4 October, 18 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in an airstrike on a residential building in Tulkarm refugee camp; this was the single deadliest incident carried out by Israeli forces in the West Bank since OCHA began systematically documenting casualties in 2005.

In the West Bank, the use of lethal force must comply with international human rights law and the standards governing law enforcement. Tactics typically used during hostilities in armed conflict raise concerns about the excessive use of force.

We urge full respect for international law and compliance with the determinations of the International Court of Justice.

Maximum influence must be exerted to alleviate the suffering of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

We cannot claim ignorance to what is happening—nor can we afford to look away.

That is why we repeat our calls for the Security Council, and Member States, to take action.

This includes ensuring respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law by exerting necessary pressure and cooperating in pursuing accountability for international crimes.

This means ensuring that all hostages are released.

This means ensuring civilians are protected, and their essential needs for survival met, wherever they are, whether they evacuate or not.

This means ensuring that humanitarian operations are protected and facilitated, including in accordance with the provisional orders of the International Court of Justice, for all civilians in need.

Urgent diplomatic efforts are needed to de-escalate the situation in the Occupied Palestinian

Territory and to prevent a wider regional descent into bloodshed.

Member States must take steps to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a path towards sustainable peace.

These atrocities must end.

Thank you.