humanitarian crisis – News Agency nabakhabar

Red Crescent Warns of Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Strip, as Nearly 850 Palestinians Martyred in Israeli Air Strikes

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 23:50:37 +0000

The ongoing military attack launched by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip since Saturday has resulted in 849 deaths, including more than 150 children and 105 women, and six healthcare workers, and the injury of more than 4360 civilians according to the latest update, WAFA news agency reported.

The PRCS said in a statement that the IOF continues to violate International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provisions by targeting civilians and civilian objects, and destroying the infrastructure in the Strip, which restricts the PRCS’ movement and ability to carry out its humanitarian mission.

It said it also views with the utmost concern the statements of Israeli occupation authorities regarding the full blockade on the Strip, banning the entry of food, water, and fuel, which constitutes collective punishment for more than two million Palestinian civilians, stressing that PRCS and other humanitarian organizations suffer from a shortage of essential supplies needed to continue providing their services, as a result of this illegal blockade.

In the same context, PRCS warned of the serious escalation of IOF violations against medical teams in the occupied Palestinian territory, where PRCS has recorded 23 violations against its medical missions since Saturday. Among those, PRCS recorded seven violations in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the injury of five paramedics, one of whom is in critical condition, and material damage to six ambulances, in addition to serious damage to PRCS’ headquarters in Northern Gaza and damage to the emergency operations room at PRCS’ main headquarters in the Southern governorates of the Strip as a result of the IOF ongoing indiscriminate bombardment.

PRCS also recorded 16 violations in the West Bank, including targeting ambulances with live ammunition, threatening and detaining medical teams, and denying or delaying access to the sick and wounded. In a serious incident that occurred on Monday in Ramallah governorate, one of the PRCS’ medical teams was physically and verbally assaulted, held for half an hour, had their phones confiscated, and was explicitly threatened with death.

PRCS called on the international community to hold Israeli occupation authorities accountable for the grave breaches of IHL, which may amount to war crimes. It further called to provide protection and safe access to the sick and wounded for medical and humanitarian workers, to intervene urgently to stop the humanitarian crisis, and open a safe humanitarian corridor, to ensure the entry of fuel and essential supplies for the operation of humanitarian facilities, and transfer of the sick and wounded who need to receive treatment outside the Strip, in adherence with their legal obligations according to international law.

A senior health ministry official in Gaza said the medical facilities in the besieged Strip are on the verge of collapsing.

“We have a shortage of medication, medical supplies, and reagents required to operate the labs,” Medhat Abbas, director-general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera.

“The situation is very complicated. We have received thousands of wounded. This is putting a lot of strain on the facilities here.

“Our capacity is only 2,000 beds. We are about to collapse. The shortage of medication is [because] we are consuming in one day what we consume in a month. The situation is so bad. Five of our ambulances [have been] attacked and five of our colleagues killed. There is no safe route for health professionals to move.”

The post Red Crescent Warns of Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Strip, as Nearly 850 Palestinians Martyred in Israeli Air Strikes appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Aid groups sound alarm in Libya as hopes fade for flood survivors

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 15:12:42 +0000

Aid groups have warned of the growing risk posed by the spread of disease that could compound the humanitarian crisis in Libya, as hopes dwindled of finding more survivors days after deadly flooding.

Sunday’s flood submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea after two upstream dams burst under the pressure of torrential rains triggered by the hurricane-strength storm.

Conflicting death tolls have been reported, with officials in the east of the divided country giving different estimates, and one speaking of at least 3,840 dead.

In Al Bayda, 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Derna, locals had already begun cleanup efforts, working to clear roads and homes of the mounds of mud left behind by the deluge.

Aid organizations like Islamic Relief and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have meanwhile warned the upcoming period could see the spread of disease as well as grave difficulties in delivering aid to those most in need.

Islamic Relief warned of a “second humanitarian crisis” after the flood, pointing to the “growing risk of water-borne diseases and shortages of food, shelter and medicine”.

“Thousands of people don’t have anywhere to sleep and don’t have food,” said Salah Aboulgasem, the organization’s deputy director of partner development.

“In conditions like this, diseases can quickly spread as water systems are contaminated,” he added. “The city smells like death. Almost everyone has lost someone they know.”

MSF meanwhile said it was deploying teams to the east to assess water and sanitation.

“With this type of event we can really worry about water-related disease,” said Manoelle Carton, MSF’s medical coordinator in Derna, who described efforts to coordinate aid as “chaotic”.

However, the Red Cross and the World Health Organization pointed out that contrary to widespread belief, the bodies of victims of natural disasters rarely pose a health threat.

Appeals for aid

An AFP journalist in Derna said central neighborhoods on either side of the river, which normally dries up at this time of year, looked as if a steam roller had passed through, uprooting trees and buildings and hurling vehicles onto the port’s breakwaters.

The spokesman for the east-based rival Libyan National Army, Ahmed al Mesmari, on Friday night said the flood had affected “over 1.2 million people”.

“Everything was washed away… The waters have completely cut off the roads in these regions,” he added.

Stephanie Williams, a US diplomat and former UN envoy to Libya, urged global mobilization to coordinate aid efforts in the wake of the flood in a social media post.

The United Nations launched an appeal for more than $71 million to assist hundreds of thousands in need and warned the “extent of the problem” remains unclear.

“We don’t know the extent of the problem,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said Friday in Geneva, as he called for coordination between Libya’s two rival administrations — the UN-backed, internationally recognized government in Tripoli and one based in the disaster-hit east.

But the scale of the devastation gave way to shows of solidarity, as volunteers in Tripoli gathered aid for the flood victims in the east.

“Everyone in Tripoli is mobilized, and they’re bringing us goods. Tomorrow, we hope that aid will be sent to Derna,” said Mohamed Omar Benour, one of the volunteers. “We hope everything goes well, and may God help everyone.”

Teams from the Libyan Red Crescent were “still searching for possible survivors and clearing bodies from the rubble in the most damaged areas” of Derna, its spokesman Tawfik Shoukri told AFP on Friday.

Other teams were trying to deliver much-needed aid to families in the eastern part of the city, which had been spared the worst of the flooding but was cut off by road, he added.

He pointed to the “very high” level of destruction in the city but refused to give figures for the number of victims.

The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said “over 38,640” people had been left homeless in eastern Libya, 30,000 of them in Derna alone.

The post Aid groups sound alarm in Libya as hopes fade for flood survivors appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Fighting eases in Sudan after truce, but humanitarian crisis continues

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 27 May 2023 17:00:24 +0000

Khartoum has been calmer as a seven-day ceasefire appeared to reduce fighting between two rival military factions although it has not yet provided the promised humanitarian relief to millions trapped in the Sudanese capital.

On Saturday, witnesses said that Khartoum was calmer, although sporadic clashes were reported overnight and in the afternoon in the city’s southern districts and Omdurman across the Nile.

In a statement on Saturday, the RSF accused the army of violating the ceasefire and destroying the country’s mint in an air strike. The army had accused the RSF on Friday of targeting the mint.

The army said meanwhile that its call on Friday for army reservists was a partial mobilisation and constitutional measure, adding that it expected large numbers to respond to the call.

Those who remain in Khartoum are struggling with failures of services such as electricity, water and phone networks. Looters have ransacked homes, mostly in well-off neighbourhoods. Food supplies are dwindling.

On Saturday, Sudanese police said they were expanding deployment and also called in able retired officers to help.

“Our neighbourhood has become a war zone. Services have collapsed and chaos has spread in Khartoum,” said 52-year-old Ahmed Salih, a resident of the city.

“No one is bothered to help the Sudanese people, neither the government nor internationally. We are humans, where is the humanity?” he added.

Thousands of South Sudanese flee fighting in Sudan to return home

Bureaucratic, security issues

A truce signed on Monday by the two fighting parties – Sudan’s army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – aimed to secure safe passage for humanitarian aid and lead to wider talks sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The UN and aid agencies say that despite the truce they have struggled to get the bureaucratic approvals and security guarantees to transport aid and staff in safer parts of the country to Khartoum and other hot zones. Warehouses have been looted.

The UN World Food Programme on Saturday tweeted that it had begun providing food aid to people in Khartoum, but added that “safety, security, and access are critical so we can increase our support to 500,000 people”.

The conflict, which erupted on April 15, has killed at least 730 civilians and caused 1.3 million Sudanese to leave their homes, fleeting either abroad or to safer parts of the country.

The post Fighting eases in Sudan after truce, but humanitarian crisis continues appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Many people in retaken Ukrainian areas ‘unable to meet even their most basic needs’: UN

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 13:29:54 +0000

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is continuing, with around half of the population in the Kharkiv region needing food assistance, according to the United Nations.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that many of those living in areas retaken by Ukraine’s counteroffensive are “unable to meet even their most basic needs.”

“Nearly 140,000 people are believed to remain in the towns, villages and settlements in areas where control has changed, but they have extremely limited access to food, water, gas, electricity and medical services,” said Jens Laerke, an OCHA spokesperson.

In Izium, eastern Ukraine, only around 9,000 people from its original population of 46,000 residents have remained in the town. Those who stayed are now “completely dependent” on aid, says the OCHA.

“Markets and shops in Izium have been destroyed, or are closed. Families gather in the main town square to exchange their possessions and supplies to meet their basic needs,” Laerke added.

In the town of Kupiansk, which is in the eastern Luhansk region, only 4,000 of its original 28,000 residents have stayed in their homes.

Though fighting is still taking place in the area, the OCHA said it is able to deliver water, food, medicine, health services and essential household items to those in need.

The International Monetary Fund has also responded to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. It has agreed to give Kyiv around €1.3 billion for its food crisis assistance program.

The post Many people in retaken Ukrainian areas ‘unable to meet even their most basic needs’: UN appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Iran, UN Discuss Yemen, Afghanistan, JCPOA

News Agency nabakhabar — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 19:37:56 +0000

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres talked about various issues at a telephone conversation, including the Vienna talks on the revival of the JCPOA and the ways to resolve the crises in Yemen and Afghanistan.

In the telephone conversation with the UN chief on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister pointed to the situation in Yemen and an escalation of attacks on the civilian areas, reiterating Iran’s ongoing approach to supporting a political solution to end the war in Yemen.

Amirabdollahian referred to the UN’s approach on terminating the blockade as well as bringing about a ceasefire and holding political talks in Yemen, urging the secretary-general to play a more active role in the efforts to lift the siege and put an end to the large-scale bombardment of civilian regions.

Iran’s foreign minister also stressed the necessity of paying special attention to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the situation of the displaced persons, adding, “Over the past months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has hosted about 800,000 newly-displaced people, something that demands serious international cooperation and efforts.”

Amirabdollahian once again stressed the need for the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan and voiced Iran’s preparedness to facilitate the dispatch of humanitarian aids by other countries and international bodies.

He further pointed to the talks in Vienna aimed at removing the sanctions against Iran, described the process as positive, and reiterated the Islamic Republic’s serious determination to reach a good agreement in the shortest time possible.

Amirabdollahian reaffirmed the lack of trust in the White House’s rulers and emphasized the need for America and the Western side to adopt practical, tangible and verifiable measures in order to prove the possibility of achieving a lasting and reliable deal.

For his part, Guterres welcomed and praised Iran’s constructive positions in support of achieving peace and ending military attacks in Yemen as well as its attention to humanitarian issues and the start of political negotiations to resolve Yemen’s problems.

The UN secretary-general also stressed the necessity of continued efforts to establish an inclusive government comprised of various groups and ethnicities in Afghanistan and to prepare the ground for all Afghan citizens, particularly women and children, to enjoy human rights and have access to education.

Guterres finally welcomed any progress in the process of nuclear negotiations on the removal of sanctions in Vienna and said the United Nations has constantly supported the achievement of the nuclear deal and international peace with all its resources and capabilities.

The post Iran, UN Discuss Yemen, Afghanistan, JCPOA appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

G-20 leaders affirm cooperation on humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

News Agency nabakhabar — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 18:36:11 +0000

Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies agreed Tuesday on the need for the international community to work together to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and promote human rights in the country including for women and ethnic minorities, the White House said.

During a virtual summit hosted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the G-20 leaders also discussed counterterrorism efforts, including against threats from an Islamic State affiliate, and ways to ensure safe passage for foreign nationals and Afghans with documentation seeking to depart the war-torn country, the White House said in a press release.

Afghan women, holding placards, gather to demand the protection of Afghan 
women's rights in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul on Aug. 17, 2021. 
(Anadolu Agency/Getty/Kyodo)

The leaders “reaffirmed their collective commitment to provide humanitarian assistance directly to the Afghan people through independent international organizations, and to promote fundamental human rights for all Afghans, including women, girls, and members of minority groups,” it added.

Afghanistan’s economy has all but collapsed following the Taliban’s return to power on Aug. 15, and there are concerns over a regression of human rights, particularly for women, and fears the country could revert into a hotbed of terrorism.

The virtual summit came ahead of an in-person gathering of G-20 leaders set for the end of the month in Rome.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country will provide a total of $200 million this year, including $65 million through international organizations, and stressed the importance of maintaining economic activity and basic services, according to the Foreign Ministry.

“Protecting the human rights of all Afghans, particularly women’s right to receive education and work, is crucial for the future development of Afghanistan,” the ministry quoted Kishida as saying during the meeting.

The Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 before being ousted by the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is not recognized by the international community as a legitimate government.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview that the G-20 should set conditions for formally acknowledging Taliban rule and that his country would push for ensuring gender equality.

Building consensus within the G-20, which includes both advanced and emerging economies, is often difficult as the United States remains at odds with China and Russia over economic and security issues.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not join the emergency summit.

The summit was also attended by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has said Afghanistan is at a “make-or-break” moment, as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

“Without food, without jobs, without their rights protected, we will see more and more Afghans fleeing their homes in search of a better life,” Guterres said Monday.

The post G-20 leaders affirm cooperation on humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

US to cut off support for Saudi-led operations in Yemen amid humanitarian crisis

News Agency nabakhabar — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 18:42:53 +0000

The US has announced an end to its support for Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen, citing the role the bombing campaign has had in creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The announcement was made by the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in a preview of a speech Joe Biden is due to deliver at the state department,

A bipartisan majority in Congress has already voted to cut off support to the Saudi campaign, citing the civilian death toll and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist, by Saudi security agents, in 2018. But Donald Trump used his veto to block the move, and its supporters were unable to muster the two-thirds vote in Congress needed to override the veto.

The US will also freeze arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and name a special envoy to Yemen, to put more pressure on the Saudis, Emiratis and the Houthi forces they are fighting, to make a lasting peace agreement.

“We have spoken with both senior officials in the UAE and senior officials in Saudi Arabia,” Sullivan said. “We are pursuing a policy of no surprises when it comes to these types of actions.”

The announcement and Biden’s speech caps a whiplash fortnight of dramatic foreign policy changes since his inauguration.

The distancing of Washington from Riyadh is one of the most conspicuous reversals. Donald Trump and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, treated Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as a major ally in their campaign to cripple Iran through sanctions. To that end, Pompeo used emergency powers to sidestep Congress to keep arms supplies flowing to the Gulf.

Blinken by contrast, spoke bluntly, about Saudi culpability in the Yemen war. He has so far made over 25 introductory calls to counterparts around the world, and the Saudi foreign minister has not been among them. Biden’s director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, pledged to produce a declassified account of Khashoggi’s killing, which is expected to incriminate the Saudi crown prince.

The post US to cut off support for Saudi-led operations in Yemen amid humanitarian crisis appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.