Amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment and incursions across southern Lebanon, countless families have been uprooted, many seeking refuge in the coastal city of Saida.
24 October 2024 — Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) mobile medical teams have been visiting several locations in the southern city, offering general healthcare, medication, and mental health support to people displaced by the violence.
Here are some of the testimonies of our patients there:
Some parts of the world are burning. Some parts are drowning and people everywhere are struggling to cope and in many cases to survive – particularly and always the poorest and most vulnerable: Inger Andersen
(UN News)* — Annual greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high, and urgent action must be taken to prevent catastrophic spikes in temperature and avoid the worst impact of climate change, according to a new report released on Thursday [] by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
(UNEP)* 24 October 2024 — Lead may be present in everything from cookware and cosmetics to paint and plumbing. Yet there is no safe level of exposure to the heavy metal, which causes more than 1.5 million deaths annually and can trigger developmental disorders in children.
Lead particles contaminate the air, water and soil, reducing crop productivity and harming biodiversity. Lead also disproportionately harms those in low- and middle-income countries.
18 Oct 2024 – Dozens of Greek dockworkers blocked the loading of ammunition destined for Israel in protest against the Gaza genocide, coast guard and union officials said today.
(UN News)* — An immediate ceasefire is needed in Gaza as the enclave faces the additional threat of polio spreading, if the final phase of a vaccination campaign continues to face delays in reaching the besieged north, where the “nightmare is intensifying”, top UN officials stressed on Thursday .
(UN News)* — The proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled last year compared to 2022, accounting for 40 per cent of all deaths in war, while UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence increased by 50 per cent.
— Recently I learned a new word – “permacrisis” – a frightening concept of the endless loop of problems the world faces today, like being on a rollercoaster that never stops.
The conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of children and their families.
UNICEF/UNI652312/Choufany
23 October 2024 (UNICEF)* — “We could see the rockets above us. We saw them while we were running,” Zeinab says as she recalls the moments after she fled from her aunt’s home. “We saw them and just kept running.”
Zeinab is one of the more than 1 million people in Lebanon who have been displaced by the catastrophic escalation of hostilities.
EAST JERUSALEM/AMMAN/GENEVA, 23 October 2024 (UNICEF/WHO)* – Due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza, including the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and partners have been compelled to postpone the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was set to begin today.
UNICEF/UNI637065/El Baba
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This final phase of the ongoing campaign aimed to vaccinate 119,279 children across northern Gaza.
(UN News)* — The head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA appealed on Tuesday [] for an immediate truce in northern Gaza in a social media post describing how “three weeks of non-stop bombardments” by Israeli forces have impacted the region.
UNRWA staff report that they cannot find food, water or medical care, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
‘Just waiting to die’
“The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied,” he said.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 