UNICEF calls for a ceasefire to protect children as physical injuries and psychological suffering rise dramatically
UNICEF/UNI655861/ChoufanyAmir, 8 years old was injured on the 23rd of September, in South Lebanon during the dangerous escalation of the conflict in Lebanon. Now, he is being treated at one of Beirut’s public hospitals.
AMMAN, 4 October 2024 (UNICEF)* – More than 690 children have reportedly been injured in Lebanon as the conflict has dramatically escalated in recent weeks.
Since 20 August, the number of children injured in the conflict has increased drastically, bringing the total number injured in the last year to 890 as of 2 October, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
In the capital Khartoum, WFP’s Jon Dumont finds a war-shattered, hungry city
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The broken doll at Khartoum’s Omdurman market. Photo: WFP/Jonathan Dumont
(WFP)*, 1 October 2024 — Walking through Khartoum’s shattered streets a few weeks ago, I spotted this doll’s head — eyes wide open, red mouth eerily smiling — lost in the rubble of the city’s once-iconic Omdurman market.
(UN News)* — Some Palestinian orphans in Gaza have gotten a glimmer of hope as the tragedies triggered by the grinding nearly year-long war continue to deplete the Strip.
UN News/Ziad Taleb | Orphaned children gathered in an open space in the Al-Baraka camp in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
The latest death toll has surpassed more than 41,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – the majority of them women and children – while most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced and trapped in only 10 per cent of the territory, but in this grim situation, new initiatives aim at radiating even the slightest sliver of light amid the darkness of war.
(UN News)* —The UN chief has strongly condemned the killing of several Palestinians, including women and children, who died when a residential building in Tulkarem camp in the West Bank was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday [3 ] night.
UNRWA | A person pointing to a damaged building in the Tulkarem camp. (file)
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At least 18 people were killed, and many more fatalities could be trapped under the rubble of the three-storied building, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
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The killings “marked yet another escalation of the violence”, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday [4 October 2024].
(UN News)* — People in Lebanon uprooted by Israeli airstrikes including in central Beirut have described being forced to flee “total destruction”, amid fresh reports of Hezbollah projectile attacks into Israel and close-quarter clashes along the UN-patrolled line of separation between the two countries.
In the Lebanese capital, UN humanitarians reported “another night of strikes” and ongoing attacks, as aid workers continued trying to help all those in need. This was “despite their own families being displaced and searching for safety”, said the UN’s top humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza.
()* — The UN-designated human rights expert on Sudan has called for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied militias, to take immediate steps to protect civilians in greater Khartoum amid escalating violence and alarming reports of summary executions.
The warning on Thursday [3 October 2024] comes as the SAF launched a major offensive last month to regain control of key areas currently held by the RSF. The two armies led by rival generals have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023.
Armed conflict puts children at an increased risk of grave violations while their risk of being trafficked similarly increases, including in transitional periods, a new UN study has revealed.
The report – the first of its kind – analyses the links between child trafficking and the six grave violations against children caught up in war.
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They are recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.
2 October 2024 (UNHCR)* — Since a deadly escalation of the conflict in Lebanon began just over a week ago, the Government estimates that more than 1 million people have already been forced to flee their homes – the worst displacement in decades.
The attacks are the most intense since 2006, with Israeli airstrikes hitting dozens of towns across the country, including South Lebanon, Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
(UN News)* —Action is needed now to stop the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea from “becoming mass graves for migrants”, two UN agencies on warned the Security Council.
“The scale of this tragedy, its impact on survivors, families and communities and the frequency with which we witness deaths in transit constitute an intolerable and utterly soluble, humanitarian crisis,” said Pär Liljert, director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN, referring to one of the world’s most deadly routes for migrants and refugees, as they attempt to reach countries of the European Union.
For anyone — including a Jew like myself — who hasn’t stubbornly closed their eyes and covered their ears over the past eleven months, one thing should be obvious: it’s simply absurd to label outrage, protest, and despair over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza as “antisemitism.” Period.
23 Sep 2024 – It is irony at its most bitter. Not so very long ago, hundreds of white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. With tiki-torches held high, they chanted “Jews will not replace us!”
And yet here we are, seven years later, and apparently these fanatical card-carrying antisemites have indeed been “replaced” in the minds of many Americans. Why?
Because a deceitful campaign now portrays anti-genocide college students (including many Jews) as the leading purveyors of “the world’s oldest hatred.”
But for anyone — including a Jew like myself — who hasn’t stubbornly closed their eyes and covered their ears over the past eleven months, one thing should be obvious: it’s simply absurd to label outrage, protest, and despair over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza as “antisemitism.” Period.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 