Category: The Civic Circle

Highlights:
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Gaza
– Ukraine
– Haiti
– Afghanistan
– Sudan
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Burkina Faso and Nigeria
– Nepal
– Health
– Financial Contribution

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the Israeli military reportedly hit more buildings in Gaza City today. Families gathered in the open after being warned that one of those buildings would be hit. While the Israeli military had instructed them to move south to Khan Younis, OCHA says many of them were unsure where to go next.
Since yesterday, the entire city has been under a blanket displacement order. Issuing displacement orders does not absolve parties to a conflict of their responsibilities to protect civilians in the conduct of their hostilities.
Today and yesterday, our colleagues tracking the movement of people in Gaza recorded more than 10,000 displacements from northern to southern areas, mostly in the direction of Khan Younis. People are using any means possible, including donkey carts.
As some families flee, many others are unable to do so because of health and safety concerns or high transportation costs.
Today, several primary healthcare centres and outpatient therapeutic feeding programs in Gaza City had to suspend services amid ongoing strikes. And the UN Population Fund warns that some 55,000 women are having to navigate pregnancy and childbirth amid perilous and traumatic conditions. Midwives continue to provide care, often under fire and with only the light of a mobile phone.
OCHA reiterates that under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure must always be protected and should never be a target.  Civilian sites must also never be used to shield military operations.

GAZA
The Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which brings together UN agencies and more than 200 NGOs, today said that we are witnessing a dangerous escalation in Gaza city, where Israeli forces have stepped up their operations and ordered everyone to move south.
The team says that nearly one million people are now left with no safe or viable options – neither the north nor the south offers safety.
Leaving northern Gaza means paying prohibitive costs for transport and safe passage, navigating roads that are barely passable, finding a place to sleep either in the open air or in overcrowded displacement sites, and continued struggles to secure food, water, medical care, and shelter.
The Humanitarian Country Team adds that amid ongoing Israeli impediments, the current levels of humanitarian support are wholly insufficient.
Humanitarian access must be expanded and sustained to include direct routes to both the north and the south.

UKRAINE
The Secretary-General is following with great concern the reports that Russian military drones entered Poland overnight, in violation of Poland’s airspace, resulting in damage to residential areas in the country.
The incident, which reportedly took place during another large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine, again underlines the regional impact and real risk of expansion of this devastating conflict. There is an urgent need for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire and for a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in Ukraine – one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, its independence and its territorial integrity, in line with the Charter of the United Nations, international law and relevant UN resolutions.