— As much needed aid starts to trickle into besieged Gaza, a war over facts is ratcheting up as conflicting narratives about the situation on the ground are being fuelled by social media.
Harmful disinformation about the ongoing conflict in the wake of the 7 October attacks by Hamas against Israel continues to circulate online, with potentially dangerous consequences on the ground.
While misinformation refers to the accidental spread of falsehoods, disinformation can be circulated intentionally by State or non-State actors, including during an armed conflict, to influence public or political opinion; it can affect all areas of development, from peace and security to humanitarian aid.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 272023 (IPS)* – Last August, 91 UN member states, “in a demonstration of solidarity and commitment”, signed a U.S.-Led Joint Communiqué condemning the Use of Food as a Weapon of War.
A young girl eats bread distributed by World Food Programme, at a school shelter in Gaza. Credit: WFP/Ali Jadallah
Roughly 345 million people – in 79 countries – face acute food insecurity, often caused or exacerbated by armed conflicts, the US said, pointing out that the joint communiqué was born out of the United States’ resolve to once again use its UN Security Council presidency to draw attention to conflict-induced food insecurity.
Geneva/Cairo/Port Sudan, 16 October 2023 (IOM)* – Six months into the conflict, Sudan has become the largest internal displacement crisis in the world with over 7.1 million people displaced within the country, 4.5 million of whom have been displaced since violence erupted in mid-April, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Ali, originally from Khartoum, is now forced to sleep in the open air in Northern Sudan. Shelter is among the most pressing needs for millions displaced by the violence. Photo: IOM Sudan/Noory Taha
Approximately three million are originally from Khartoum, the capital and the epicenter of the conflict.
Marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Mr. Guterres pointed out that nearly 700 million people are living on less than $2.15 per day and over a billion don’t have access to basic needs like food, water, health care and education.
Billions more lack sanitation and access to energy, jobs, housing and social safety nets, he added.
Distress is being deepened by conflicts, the climate crisis, discrimination and exclusion – particularly against women and girls, the UN chief said.
Less than a kilometre from Gaza, pallets of food, fuel, water, and medicine are among the hundreds of tonnes of lifesaving aid packed into a long convoy of trucks idling on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, as drivers await Israel’s green light so they can reach 2.3 million besieged Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war.
As humanitarians continued to echo the UN Secretary-General’s urgent calls on Israel to open a safe aid delivery corridor, Gaza will soon run out of basic supplies, according to UN agencies on the ground, who raised alarms about a looming unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
(UN News)* — The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday [] for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza.
The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired.
IDILIB, SYRIA, Oct 13 2023 (IPS)* – Seven-year-old Salim al-Bakkar was orphaned in the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, 2023.
Earthquake orphans are cared for at the Kuramaa Center in the Idlib Governorate, Northern Syria. Credit: Sonia Al Ali/IPS
Saved by members of the civil defense team who pulled him from the rubble, doctors had to amputate his left leg – which had been crushed in the 7.7 magnitude quake that killed more than 55,000 people and destroyed at least 230,000 buildings.
Salim, from Jenderes, north of Aleppo, Syria, was pulled from the rubble but, suffering from crush syndrome, had his leg amputated.
The shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant will exacerbate an already desperate humanitarian crisis for more than 2.2 million people trapped in the Gaza Strip, amid a massive bombing campaign by Israel that has killed at least 1,350 people and injured more than 6,000 people.
The airstrikes were launched in retaliation to the attack on 7 October by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups from Gaza who fired indiscriminate rockets and sent fighters into southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring more than 2,700 and taking hostages, including many civilians.
13. Oct 2023 — We are alarmed by Israel’s call for over a million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza in less than 24 hours.
Israel must rescind this order immediately. Demands for the population in its entirety to relocate in such an immediate manner put at risk the lives of those forced to flee.
The Government of Israel has not provided any assurances for their safety while in transit or for the safety of civilians remaining in the Gaza Strip as fighting continues.
Humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza are reporting an unfolding humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 