UN News Today 16 August 2024 |

The perpetrators of a deadly rampage through a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank must face justice to deter future attacks, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted on Friday.

Echoing widespread condemnation of the attack reportedly by Israeli settlers on the village of Jit on Thursday which left a Palestinian man dead and about a dozen injured, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani called the incident “horrific”.

“We have been reporting for the past years about settlers attacking Palestinian communities in their land in the West Bank with impunity and this really is the crux of the matter, the impunity that the perpetrators of such actions have been enjoying.”

According to the human rights office, 609 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank including East Jerusalem since Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel on 7 October. This number includes 146 children, eight women and at least four people with disabilities.

Ms. Shamdasani cited reports indicating that in similar attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the Israeli security forces stood by or even distributed weapons to settlers. “There is clearly a State responsibility in this regard,” she insisted.

New evacuation order in Gaza add pressure on those seeking shelter

Meanwhile in Gaza, new evacuation orders from the Israeli military on Friday threatened to uproot communities once again in eastern Deir al Balah, northern Khan Younis, western Gaza City and other areas, humanitarians warned.

The Israeli Defense Forces announced the latest move in response to rocket attacks into Israel and other terrorist activity.

Responding to the development on Friday, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said that the evacuation orders applied to areas “even inside the so-called ‘humanitarian zone’ in Al Mawasi, where people struggle to find space.

Gazans “remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale”, UNRWA maintained, in a post on X.

According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, nearly 84 per cent of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military. It is estimated that up to 1.9 million people in Gaza – or nine in 10 – are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced – some up to 10 times.

Sudan: aid teams hail reopened border crossing from Chad

Finally to Sudan, where UN aid teams have welcomed the news that a critical humanitarian corridor from Chad into western Sudan is to open, allowing desperately needed access to displaced communities facing famine.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), more than half of the population – some 25 million people – face acute hunger, after more than 16 months of civil war.

Just two weeks ago, famine was confirmed in Zamzam displacement camp near El Fasher, the wartorn capital of North Darfur.

WFP said that the opening of Adre crossing is hugely significant because the only other crossing from Chad at Tine is flooded and impassable from heavy rains.

“Around 30 trucks full of WFP assistance have been unable to cross a flooded seasonal river for nearly a month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli:

“As we speak, two convoys with nearly 6,000 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies for around half a million people, are being loaded, destined for risk-of-famine areas in north, central and west Darfur states as soon as official government communication and clearances are received.”

Despite the welcome development, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan remains massive, as millions of displaced people face an uptick in disease linked to poor nutrition caused by the war.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), in the conflict hotspots, up to 80 per cent of hospitals are no longer functional.

“People are dying simply from a lack of access to basic and essential health care medication,” said WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris, who cited reports of cholera, measles, malaria, dengue and meningitis in several states across Sudan.