Interviews

UN humanitarians carried out an emergency fact-finding mission to central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital on Christmas Day, in response to fears of mass casualties after reports that three refugee camps were hit by Israeli airstrikes.

Doctors at the hospital, which was already at full capacity, reported seeing “100-plus patients” brought in with serious injuries in just the first 30 minutes, with around the same number of dead bodies.

Since the military incursion into Gaza, which followed deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel on the seventh of October, 135 staff members of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, are known to have been killed, the most ever in one incident.

Despite the danger and extremely difficult working conditions, UNRWA is continuing to assist those caught up in the fighting through no fault of their own. And the task is monumental. Nearly two million people have been displaced across the Strip, many forced to move repeatedly in search of safety.

Cemeteries in Gaza are being raided for wood as people affected by the ongoing bombardments look for ways to cook food and feed themselves; that’s according to the World Food Programme’s Samer Abdel Jaber who has just visited the south of the enclave. 

The conflict in Gaza began after the October 7^th attacks by Hamas on Israel which left at least 1200 people dead.

Khaled Mohamed of UN News asked Samer Abdel Jaber what he witnessed on his visit.

In an exclusive interview with UN News, Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights, underlined that accountability is key and a fundamental “missing link” in most conflicts around the world which simply perpetuates cycles of violence.

“It is absolutely critical that accountability is part of any future arrangement because we know that if impunity reigns, and if the facts are not told and if the truth is not told, we will have grievances going on and on and on,” he said, referring to the latest bloody cycle of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Sixteen year-olds in Gaza are now in the middle of the fourth war of their short lifetimes, a leading UN humanitarian has told UN News, pointing out that for the youngest, it’s causing unimaginable trauma.

Gemma Connell of UN humanitarian coordination office OCHA, is in Rafah, where she has spent the past week and says that for mothers, they’re also enduring terrible suffering and loss of dignity that is life-altering.

Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has told UN News that the Security Council must insist on the release of all Hamas hostages in Gaza, and the unhindered and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Clear and unequivocal language on the phasing out of fossil fuels is the only way forward to prevent the human rights crisis that is caused by climate change. 

This is the message from Benjamin Schachter, the UN human rights office Environment and Climate Change Team Leader, who is coordinating the OHCHR delegation at the COP28 climate conference, now underway in Dubai, UAE.

As the focus at COP28 turns to food and agriculture, the spotlight is on smallholder farmers in developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, clinging on to their livelihoods amid drought and floods.

Taking 5 per cent of global military expenditures and directing it towards education and the climate crisis, would free up $100 billion a year to respond to climate change.

Speaking to UN News on the sidelines of COP28 conference in Dubai, Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of the UN global fund for education, sent a strong message to countries as she launched an appeal for $150 million to empower teachers and millions of children affected by forced displacement and climate change.