It’s another day of intense activity across the UN as the crisis in the Middle East stemming from the war in Gaza continues, both in the region and at UN Headquarters in New York. The Security Council is due to meet at the top of the hour to review the world court’s provisional ruling on genocide allegations, and the UN chief will brief the top UN committee on Palestinian rights with the latest on the struggle to stop the fighting and provide lifesaving humanitarian relief in Gaza. Follow lives updates here…
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, will brief the Security Council in the meeting starting at 11:00 AM New York time while Secretary-General António Guterres is due to brief the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which is convening elsewhere in the building.
Later in the day, we expect more details on the UN chief’s meeting Tuesday night with more than 30 donor countries to the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, some of whom have suspended funding pending the investigation into alleged collusion by a dozen UNRWA workers in the 7 October terror attacks.
The UN”s top humanitarian officials and chiefs of leading NGOs warned overnight of the “catastrophic consequences of defunding UNRWA in even the short-term.
“Withdrawing funds from UNRWA …would result in the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, with far-reaching humanitarian and human rights consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and across the region,” warned the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), headed by relief chief Griffiths.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless and “on the brink of famine”, they said, since Israeli bombardment and a ground invasion began after Palestinian militants massacred some 1,200 people in Israeli communities and took more than 250 others hostage on 7 October.
Long road to reconstruction
The UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, is also due to publish its latest report into the devastating impact of war on the society and economy of Gaza since the fighting began. They’ll be outlining how reconstruction can begin when the fighting finally stops. That’s due to be released around 12:00 PM.
