UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the [ceasefire] agreement, urged that it be upheld, stated that humanitarian agencies are prepared to deliver aid, urged countries to provide the desperately needed support and UN bodies to ensure its safe and unimpeded delivery, and noted: “We call for accountability for the atrocities committed… This is a moment of hope and opportunity, but we should be under no illusions how tough it will still be to get support to survivors. The stakes could not be higher.”

Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, decried recent Israeli attacks on aid to Gaza: an airstrike injuring 3 at a known WFP food distribution point; soldiers firing on a clearly marked UN convoy at a checkpoint; armed gangs hijacking fuel tankers in the absence of Israeli control. “These incidents are part of a dangerous pattern of sabotage and deliberate disruption.

Sick From Genocide 1/6/2025: The JVP Health Advisory Council urges all to support this powerful campaign being organized by Doctors Against Genocide, Health Care Workers 4 Palestine, Labor for Palestine, The Do No Harm Coalition , and over 50 other international organizations. January 6 is a day when many will take a mental health/sick day from work to pause, reflect and organize healthcare workers and allies to END THE GENOCIDE in Gaza.

Israel weakened IDF mechanisms designed to protect civilians during combat and vastly expanded the set of military targets it sought to hit in pre-emptive airstrikes, while simultaneously increasing the number of civilians that officers could endanger in each attack. In some cases, senior commanders approved attacks on Hamas leaders despite knowing they would be risking the lives of over 100 civilians

Human Rights Watch published a report, titled 'Israel's Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza,' that highlights severe water shortages in Gaza, alleging Israeli actions may amount to genocide.

The UN and partners estimate that at least US$6.6 billion is required to address the humanitarian needs of 3.3 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

“For more than 50 days, people in North Gaza have been under siege. North Gaza has effectively been inaccessible to the UN. Our requests for access have been repeatedly and systematically denied by Israeli forces with devastating consequences: families are trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded cannot reach hospitals, and basic supplies—water, food, medical care—have run out.”

While hoping that the ceasefire in Lebanon will take hold, the expansion of the war to the West Bank, Syria and Yemen remains a health and human rights emergency.

Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, denounced the lack of security around aid deliveries to Gaza: “The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt. The survival of two million people hangs in the balance. Bakeries are closing one after the other for lack of flour or fuel to operate power generators”.

Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the UN on 12 Nov 24. She denounced illegal and inhumane Israeli activities in Gaza and the West Bank, including attempts to close UNRWA, and urged all UN members to take action to stop it.

More than 42 people killed and others injured in multiple attacks on homes and IDP shelters in Beit Lahiya. Cadavers and wounded remain trapped under the rubble or in the street. Dozens killed in Jabalya Refugee Camp and Tal Az Za’tar area. 

A genocide inside a genocide is unfolding in North Gaza as Israel bans UNRWA.

The extension of the war to the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen is a health and human rights emergency, and an escalation that threatens world war. 

Photo credit: Omar Elqataa

Israel launched a major military operation in Jabalya, displacing over 50,000 people. Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT, stressed: “A military siege that deprives civilians of essential means of survival is unacceptable.“ 

Image: Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents after an Israeli airstrike hit the Al Aqsa Hospital courtyard in Deir al-Balah, October 14, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Of all the grim distinctions of the yearlong war in Gaza that followed the Hamas attack on Israel last Oct. 7, one may stand out for its deadly singularity: Palestinian civilians there have nowhere to go. Barricaded by barbed-wire fences, tanks and soldiers, they have been effectively imprisoned for 12 months in a 141-square-mile strip of land between Egypt and Israel that has become a killing zone.

As the 1-year anniversary of the Gaza war approaches, the Health Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace released a statement demanding a ceasefire, an end to military aid to Israel, and the recognition of Palestinian self-determination. 

On 9/23/24, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on the situation in the OPT released a statement prior to the 79th UN General Assembly calling for an end to the “appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.” The statement summarizes the incomparable damage of 11 months of conflict and calls for a sustained, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. 

Ground incursions and heavy fighting continue, especially in Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, Gaza City & Rafah. The extension of the war to the West Bank and Lebanon is extremely alarming. 

Defense for Children International: "Targeting Childhood: Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank," details and analyzes 141 Palestinian child fatalities since 10/7. They found that 20% of the Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 2000 were killed after October 7, 2023, at a rate of one child every two days.

The extension of the war to the West Bank is extremely alarming.  Jenin is once again the epicenter of a massive military offensive, with hundreds of troops, backed by armored vehicles, fighter jets and drones, raiding the city along with Tubas, Tulkarem, and elsewhere. Many of the same tactics used by the Israeli military in 2002 and since are being repeated in this latest assault: killings, arrests, home demolitions, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and attacks on hospitals.