(UN News)* — The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, has strongly condemned the forced entry by Israeli security forces into three of its schools in occupied East Jerusalem, describing it as a violation of children’s right to education and safety.
WFP Video | Gaza faces severe shortages of food, water and medicine. (file)
According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday [] while classes were in session, forcing more than 550 Palestinian girls and boys – some as young as six – out of their classrooms.
(UN News)* — Students displaced by the war in Gaza have been channeling their anguish into art in psychosocial support sessions provided by the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
UN News | Fatima Al-Za’anin, a displaced Palestinian girl from Beit Hanoun (Gaza), speaks about her drawings in an art exhibition organized by UNRWA in Gaza City as part of its mental health and psychosocial support services.
Their paintings and drawings range from a portrait of an esteemed Palestinian poet and family members killed in conflict, to a sky blackened by thick smoke – and a child crying in front of his mother’s corpse.
(UN News)* — Grim details emerged on Wednesday of Israeli airstrikes on a UN-run school in Gaza sheltering 2,000 displaced people, which reportedly killed 30 Palestinians sheltering there.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, maintained that Israeli forces hit the school in Al Bureij, Middle Gaza, at around 6pm on Tuesday and again at 10.20pm
“The school sustained severe damage and a fire broke out in the shelter, making it difficult to evacuate the casualties. Residents had to open a hole in the wall to evacuate the dead and wounded,” UNRWA told UN News.
(UN News)* —The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN said on Tuesday .
“It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid and we have warned against that for a very long time. Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
(UN News)* —The UN Secretary-General is alarmed by reports of Israeli plans to expand ground operations and prolong its military presence in Gaza, a spokesperson for António Guterres said on Monday .
“This will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza,” said UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, responding to a journalist’s question during the regular media briefing in New York.
“What’s imperative now is an end to the violence, not more civilian deaths and destruction. Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian State.”
()* — “After losing my leg in the war, I returned to photojournalism not just for work, but because I have loved photography since childhood,” said Palestinian reporter Sami Shahada.
UN News | Palestinian journalist, Sami Shehada lost his leg in an attack in Gaza.
Mr. Shahada lost his leg due to a severe injury he suffered in Nuseirat in central Gaza in April 2024, but he picked up his camera and returned to document the tragic events that have been unfolding in Gaza.
He will not let his disability stop him from working. “It is impossible for me to leave photojournalism, even if I face all these obstacles,” he said.
(UN News)* — Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) on said.
Speaking from Gaza City OCHA spokesperson Olga Cherevko told journalists in Geneva that a friend of hers “saw people burning a few days ago from the explosions – and there was no water to save them.”
(UN News)* — The UN’s top humanitarian official on Thursday [] issued a stark warning over the continuing blockade of aid into Gaza, calling on Israel to lift restrictions that have left civilians without food, medical care, and hope.
In a powerful statement, Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, condemned Israel’s decision to halt humanitarian assistance as a “cruel collective punishment” of the Palestinian population.
(UN News)* — After suffering almost 18 months of deadly bombardment, displacement and lack of access to basic services, the embattled people of Gaza face yet another challenge: the threat of insects and rodents.
UN News | Environmental health workers from UNRWA spray insecticides amongst shelters for displaced people.
One displaced woman told UN News’s correspondent in Gaza: “In all camps, we suffer from biting insects, especially fleas,” adding that:
“our children suffer from severe pain due to itching and stinging.“ We tried to treat it in simple ways, but the right medicines are not available at the medical centre.”
(UN News)* — The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday [condemned the two-month Israeli blockade that has left families eating barely enough to survive amid daily bombings – and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help.
“The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people,” said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 