News in Brief 2 January 2024 |

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations. 

Everyone is hungry in Gaza now: UN humanitarians

UN agencies repeated dire concerns for people in Gaza on Tuesday, amid reports of continued Israeli bombardment of the southern towns of Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, clashes on the ground and the rocket fire into Israel.

The latest warnings from UN relief agency for Palestinians UNRWA and the UN World Food Programme, WFP, highlighted the threat of starvation and disease.

Heavily built-up areas including Rafah are now home to tens of thousands of people who’ve fled intense bombing campaigns in the enclave’s north and centre.

In a post on X, the World Food Programme said that “everyone in Gaza is hungry” and that people “often go the entire day and night without eating”. 

Ukraine communities facing ‘vast’ surge in attacks from Russia

To Ukraine, where the UN aid office OCHA has reported that “vast aerial assaults” from Russian forces have caused death and destruction for the third day in a row.

The intensifying offensive comes nearly two years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In a statement on Tuesday, the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned the attacks by Russia on Ukraine’s cities.

Several children were killed in successive days of attacks along with the destruction homes and other public buildings and services, Ms. Brown said.

The UN humanitarian coordinator noted with concern that many parts of the capital, Kyiv, were now without electricity or water.

And in the eastern Donetsk region, where hostilities have left hundreds of thousands of people without power, Ms. Brown said that the humanitarian community continued to stand with the people of Ukraine.

During the last meeting the Security Council in 2023, senior UN political affairs official Khalad Khiari condemned attacks against the Russian city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border. 

At least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in that attack.

Myanmar refugees to receive boosted aid voucher

Critical food aid support is to be stepped up to many hundreds of thousands of Myanmar refugees sheltering in neighbouring Bangladesh, the UN World Food Programme, WFP, has announced.

“The entire Rohingya population” from Myanmar will benefit, according to the UN agency, which increased the value of its monthly food voucher from $8 to $10 per person on 1 January.

Food vouchers were previously worth $12 but WFP was forced to reduce their value in March 2023 to $10 because of funding gaps. A further reduction to $8 was implemented in June.

Last year was marked by a sharp rise in the number of Rohingya refugees struggling to eat a decent meal, to nine in 10 by last November.

WFP thanked donors for their support and said that it will also gradually begin distribution of fortified rice to the Rohingya population, starting in one or two camps and eventually extending to all camps in Cox’s Bazar complex and in Bhasan Char island.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.