(UN News)* — Between 2006 and 2024, over 1,700 journalists have been killed around the world, and around 85 percent of the cases did not make it to court, according to a report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The dangers faced by journalists, including risks to their lives, are highlighted each year on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which falls on November 2.
GENEVA, 25 October 2024 (UNICEF)* – “Children are being medically evacuated from Gaza at a rate of fewer than one child per day. If this lethally slow pace continues, it would take more than seven years to evacuate the 2,500 children needing urgent medical care.
UNICEFFILE Photo, 9-year-old Jouri in the European Hospital, Khan Younis, Gaza on 9 April 2024. The bones in Jouri’s right arm, wrist and the right side of her face had several breaks, likely requiring further surgery. She had serious open wounds that were yet to receive reconstructive surgery – the hospital was not able to do this so was forced to focus on keeping the wound clean.
(UN News)* —Monday ’s vote by the Israeli Knesset banning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) contradicts principles of the UN Charter, violates Israel’s obligations under international law, and sets a dangerous precedent, the head of the Agency, Philippe Lazzarini has warned. The UN chief pledged later he would take the issue to the General Assembly.
“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine refugees,” Mr. Lazzarini said in a post on X, following reports of the long-anticipated vote being taken by Knesset members, passing by a margin on 92-10.
25 Oct 2024 – Western publics are being subjected to a campaign of psychological warfare, where genocide is classed as ‘self-defence’ and opposition to it ‘terrorism.’
Israel knew that, if it could stop foreign correspondents from reporting directly from Gaza, those journalists would end up covering events in ways far more to its liking.
They would hedge every report of a new Israeli atrocity – if they covered them at all – with a “Hamas claims” or “Gaza family members allege”.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 2024 (IPS)* – As it continues to leave a mounting trail of death and destruction in Gaza, Israel has come under severe attack from the international community, including the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, Western allies, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and scores of human rights experts.
(UN News)* —The UN’s top humanitarian official warned on Saturday [] that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying, calling for an immediate stop to “blatant disregard for basic humanity” by Israeli forces.
UN | Aftermath of an Israeli strike at a site where displaced civilians were sheltering in northern Gaza. (file)
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“What Israeli forces are doing in besieged north Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” said Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement posted on the social media platform X.
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Hospitals have been hit, health workers detained and first responders prevented from rescuing people trapped under the rubble, she noted. “Shelters have been emptied and burned down…families have been separated, and men and boys taken away by the truckload,” she added.
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:
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 .
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.