Syria, Palestine, Somalia & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (27 March 2024)

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
-OPT
-UNRWA
-Syria
-Somalia
-Cameroon
-Zero Waste
-Senior Personnel Appointment
-Post-Genocide Reconciliation Rwanda Exhibit
-Financial contribution
-Guest - today

OPT
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that they helped evacuate civilians on Monday from Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, which is in southern Gaza, amid intense military operations there.
OCHA – together with the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the International Committee for the Red Cross – moved out six patients and a companion, more than two dozen staff, and the bodies of two people killed inside the hospital. As of yesterday, Al Amal Hospital had ceased to function.
According to the World Health Organization, two-thirds of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are now non-functional. Two are minimally functional, and 10 are partially functional – four in the north and six in the south.
OCHA’s Head of the Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Andrea De Domenico, was able to visit one of the four partially functional hospitals in northern Gaza, which was the Kamal Adwan, and he was able to do that visit last week. He said the hospital is receiving about 15 malnourished children a day and is struggling to maintain services. The hospital’s only generator has been heavily damaged, and health workers and patients desperately need food, water and sanitation assistance.
According to the World Food Programme, roughly 70 per cent of the population in northern Gaza is facing catastrophic hunger. However, efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to the north have been impeded by access constraints and the ongoing fighting. This month, the World Food Programme was only able to send 11 convoys to the north – bringing food to some 74,000 people. Given the colossal needs, daily deliveries will be needed to halt famine.

UNRWA
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency], thanked Germany today for its contribution of 45 million Euros for UNRWA’s activities in Jordan, in Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.
He said on social media that with these new contributions, Germany is now among UNRWA’s top donors.
He added that the solidarity of Germany is a proof of the commitment to supporting Palestine refugees and their right to a dignified life.

SYRIA
The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, deplored in a statement yesterday the killing of a humanitarian staff member in Deir-ez-Zor City, which is in the north-east of Syria, and that came as a result of ongoing hostilities.
On Tuesday, 26 March, a colleague from the World Health Organization was killed when his building was among those hit by multiple airstrikes across Deir-ez-Zor Governorate. Several other civilians were also reportedly killed in the attacks, according to what local sources are telling us.
Mr. Abdelmoula said this attack is a reminder of the daily continued danger and devastation that civilians are facing in Syria as the crisis has now entered its 14th year. He called on all parties to the conflict to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects in their military operations, of course in accordance with international humanitarian law.

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

Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Website:
https://www.un.org/sg/en/spokesperson/