Security Council, Occupied Palestinian Territories & other topics | Daily Press Briefing

Highlights:

Security Council
This morning, the Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, briefed Security Council members on the situation in Syria.
Mr. Pedersen outlined some elements for immediate action - among them getting the Constitutional Committee back on track. And today, he issued formal invitations for the ninth round in Geneva for the Constitutional Committee to meet in late April.
He appealed to the Syrian parties to respond positively and to all key international stakeholders to support the UN’s actions as a facilitator and refrain from interfering regarding a venue the Syrian parties themselves had formally agreed on.
For his part, Mr. Griffiths spoke about the humanitarian situation.
He said that a staggering 16.7 million people now require humanitarian assistance – that’s nearly three-quarters of the population.
But this year, Syria’s humanitarian outlook remains bleak. He underscored that the humanitarian community remains committed to assist people in need across Syria. “But we cannot do so unless we have the required funding,” he said.
This afternoon, the Security Council will reconvene at 3:00 p.m. for a briefing on the “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict - Resolution 2417: Update on Food Security Risks in Gaza.”
Director of Operations at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ramesh Rajasingham; the Food and Agriculture Oganization’s Deputy Director-General, Maurizio Martina, and the World Food Programme’s Deputy Executive Director, Carl Skau, are all expected to brief.

Occupied Palestinian Territories
UNRWA says that none of the humanitarian convoys have been able to reach the north of the Gaza strip since 23 January.
The Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said yesterday there has been a sharp decrease in the delivery of aid into the Gaza strip.
The UN system needs more entry points into the Gaza Strip, including from the north. The UN needs safe routes for convoys and speedy passage through checkpoints.
The World Food Programme says that the Agency has food supplies at the border and, with certain conditions, it would be able to scale up to feeding 2.2 million people across Gaza. Almost 1,000 trucks carrying 15,000 metric tonnes of food are in Egypt ready for entry.
Also today, the Humanitarian Country team - in a statement - denounced an incident in which humanitarian workers were targeted during a medical evacuation at Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis. This was flagged at the bi-weekly Geneva briefing.

Lebanon
Lebanon/Humanitarian
Haiti
South Sudan
Ethiopia
Nigeria
Non-communicable diseases
Senior personnel appointment

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=27%20February%202024