News in Brief 28 February 2024 |

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Gaza: Famine is imminent, warn UN humanitarians 

“Famine is imminent in northern Gaza” – that’s the latest dire warning from the UN humanitarians the World Food Programme (WFP), after nearly five months of war in the enclave that have killed nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Addressing the Security Council in New York on Tuesday, WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau said that famine was a real prospect by May, with half a million people at risk, if nothing changes. 

Mr. Skau said that the UN agency was ready to expand operations rapidly if there is a ceasefire agreement, as he called for a safe operating environment for aid teams and for the port of Ashdod and the Karni crossing to be opened. 

A “working humanitarian notification system” and stable communications networks were also crucially important, the WFP official insisted. 

Latest UN assessments indicate that almost the entire population of 2.2 million people needs food aid, but no humanitarian convoys have reached northern Gaza since 23 January, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

All parties to Gaza crisis may have committed war crimes

Staying with Gaza, where all parties to the conflict have been responsible for “clear violations of international humanitarian law including possible war crimes”, according to the UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk.

In his latest report on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory scheduled to be delivered to the Human Rights Council late on Wednesday evening, Mr. Türk repeats his condemnation of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October and his call for the immediate release of Israeli hostages.

He also underscores how Israel’s “massive military response” had caused “unprecedented destruction and suffering” which had led to the dire humanitarian crisis being endured by Gazans.

“Clear violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes, have been committed by all parties,” the report from his office OHCHR insists, before calling for further investigations to establish accountability and overcome “entrenched impunity”.

Among the actions expected of the warring parties, the report from the UN rights chief urges Palestinian armed groups in Gaza “to ensure the humane treatment and immediate release of all hostages”, to stop firing “indiscriminate projectiles” at Israel – and to withdraw fighters from buildings used by civilians.

The High Commissioner’s report also urges Israel to “immediately end all practices of collective punishment” of Gazans including the “complete siege” and ensure “immediate access to humanitarian and commercial goods throughout Gaza, commensurate with the immense humanitarian needs”.

Turning to the Israeli military, Mr. Türk’s calls for the return of all Palestinians uprooted from their homes by the war and for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law by ending the use of explosive weapons “with wide area effects” in built-up areas.

UN aid agencies call for Ethiopia funding boost

Ethiopia’s humanitarian crisis is rarely in the headlines but that’s no reason to ignore the plight of more than 10 million people there who face going hungry, UN aid teams said on Wednesday.

More than $3 billion is required to help Ethiopia, the UN aid coordinating office OCHA said on Twitter, as it reiterated the massive scale of needs caused by conflict, droughts and flooding linked to climate change, disease outbreaks and a stalled economy.

One of the priorities for the UN and its partners which include the Ethiopian Government is to mobilize an early response to intensifying drought that’s been driven by the El Niño weather system.

The bone-dry conditions have deeply impacted communities in northern Ethiopia and threaten to double malnutrition rates, OCHA warned in its Humanitarian Response Plan.

The UN aid office also noted that robust measures have been implemented to ensure that aid reaches “those who need it most” after last year’s confirmed reports that relief supplies were being diverted.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.