This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Gaza: Aid missions under constant threat, warns UN aid chief 

Desperately needed aid operations in Gaza must be protected from attack, the UN’s top UN aid official has warned, amid new reports on Thursday that Palestinians were killed and injured while waiting for supplies in Gaza City.

Six are believed to have died in the Gaza City incident and 83 more were wounded, as they waited for aid at Kuwait Roundabout, according to news reports.

The development came after relief chief Martin Griffiths condemned the bombardment of a warehouse and food distribution centre in southern Rafah on Wednesday that killed at least one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and injured 22 others.

“How are we to maintain aid operations when our teams and supplies are constantly under threat?” the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said, before calling for the war to stop.

Echoing that, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that the warehouse hit in the Israeli attack was located in eastern Rafah and was one of the agency’s “very few remaining” distribution points.

Mr. Lazzarini warned that “food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine”.

Graphic photos from the warehouse showed a box of supplies covered with blood near the entrance to the facility. But there was minimal damage there and aid is still being sent out, according to UNRWA.

Haiti crisis: UN mission announces airbridge to facilitate aid relief 

To Haiti, where out-of-control gang violence has created a humanitarian crisis that the UN aims to alleviate with the creation of an airbridge to neighbouring Dominican Republic.

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti said on Wednesday that the air bridge would enable the transport of aid and ensure the safe relocation of staff.

On the ground, relief agencies remain deeply concerned about the welfare of civilians reliant on aid. 

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 400 incidents hampering access have been recorded across the country since the start of 2024, including more than 70 in the first week of March. 

The situation remains unstable in the Caribbean island nation following the recent resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, particularly in the communes of Carrefour, Port-au-Prince and Cité Soleil, while the airport, schools and health facilities remain closed in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. 

According to the UN migration agency, IOM, 362,000 people are displaced in Haiti, including 15,000 newly homeless in Port-au-Prince. 

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered 75,000 meals to people affected by the recent violence.

Some 5.5 million people – almost half the population – need humanitarian aid. But the UN’s 2024 humanitarian appeal for $674 million is funded at less than three per cent. 

Human Rights Council: Climate crisis a principal factor in global hunger emergency

Our world has the capacity to feed everyone, but more than 780 million people still suffered chronic hunger last year with climate change one of the main reasons why, the UN’s deputy human rights chief said on Thursday.

In a call to all countries to improve levels of welfare protection to people in need, Nada Al-Nashif warned that vulnerable communities had few defences against heatwaves, droughts, sea-level rise and flooding – all linked to the climate crisis. 

Citing data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, Ms. Al-Nashif said that last year, more than 333 million people faced acute levels of food insecurity. That’s an increase of almost 200 million people compared with pre-pandemic levels. “Others faced famine, and even starvation” in 2023, she told the Human Rights Council in Geneva:

“Instead of meeting our Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030, FAO estimates that in 2030, despite some progress, almost 600 million people will still be suffering from hunger.”

Solutions to the hunger crisis include greater investments in food security by governments, the Deputy High Commissioner insisted.

But she also noted that some 3.3 billion people today live in countries that have to pay more money to service foreign debt than they spend on education or health.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.