Noon briefing by Florencia Soto Nino, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights
- Secretary-General/Iran.
- Gaza.
- Security Council.
- Central African Republic.
- Noon briefing guests/Tomorrow.
Secretary-General/Iran
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack today on a memorial ceremony in Kerman city in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which reportedly killed more than 100 people and injured many more.
The Secretary-General calls for those responsible to be held accountable.
The Secretary-General expresses his deep condolences to the bereaved families and the people and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and he wishes the injured a speedy recovery.
Gaza
Yesterday, a team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) visited a hospital in Khan Younis after it was struck, reportedly killing five people, including a five-day-old child. A training centre run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society within the Al Amal hospital was severely damaged.
During their mission, OCHA and WHO staff witnessed extensive damage and displacement of civilians. Some 14,000 internally displaced people were sheltering at the hospital when it was hit. WHO says many have now left, and those who remain are terrified for their safety and planning to relocate.
OCHA has warned that Gaza is a public health disaster in the making, and recent mass displacement across southern Gaza is fueling disease outbreaks.
More than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported since October 7th, with some 180,000 people suffering from upper respiratory infections. There also have been more than 136,000 cases of diarrhea reported – half among children under the age of five.
Humanitarian partners continue to address the critical lack of hygiene and safe drinking water in Gaza, despite ongoing challenges to response efforts. Since October, some 1.4 million people in Gaza have been reached at least once with some water and sanitation assistance. This includes the distribution of more than 120,000 cubic metres of water. Nearly 140 sanitation units have also been installed or rehabilitated at shelters for internally displaced people.
The UN humanitarian partners are also providing health care at shelters, with the help of 150 medical teams.
Work continues to expand access to primary health care services by increasing the number of medical points serving internally displaced people, as less than half of the 325 designated shelters have them.
Meanwhile, the UN and its humanitarian partners have been unable to deliver urgently needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of Wadi Gaza for three days due to access delays and denials, as well as active conflict.
This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight trucks of food for people who currently face catastrophic and life-threatening food insecurity.
Humanitarian organizations are calling for urgent, safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access to areas north of Wadi Gaza, which has been severed from the south for more than a month.
Security Council
Today at 3:00 p.m., Security Council will convene to discuss threats to commercial shipping in the Red Sea under the agenda item Maintenance of international peace and security. Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari will brief.
Central African Republic
In the Central African Republic, where, following a violent attack two weeks ago that caused the death of 23 civilians in the in Lim-Pendé prefecture, in the country’s northwest, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republicare (MINUSCA) is continuing to provide protection to the population and helping to secure this area to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. According to initial assessments, people living there are in urgent need of shelter, food and medicine.
The Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping mission, Lieutenant General Humphrey Nyone, recently visited the area with representatives of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), to express their solidarity and determination to protect civilians in the region.
The Mission is calling on all parties not to deliberately target civilians and to refrain from any escalation that could worsen the vulnerability of communities as well as the security and stability in the region.
Full Highlights
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...
