Top UN officials engaged key actors amid the spiralling
Israeli-Palestinian conflict while UN peacekeepers detected
rocket and artillery fire exchanged across the Israel-Lebanon
border ahead of Sunday’s Security Council emergency closed-door
meeting on the unfolding crisis.
As the 15-member Council prepared to meet, UN agencies were
reporting that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands
injured following the early Saturday morning rocket fire into
Israel by Palestinian militants.
The ensuing Israeli response to the Hamas attacks included
airstrikes in Gaza, where the UN agency operating
there, UNRWA, had reported massive
damages alongside rising death tolls.
The UN agency is currently sheltering 73,538 internally displaced
people in 64 of its schools in all areas in the Gaza Strip. An
UNRWA school sheltering 225 people was "directly hit" and
severely damaged, but no casualties were recorded, the agency
said.
New reports emerged of alarming food scarcity and clashes across
the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel-Lebanon border: Rocket, artillery fire
Early Sunday, the UN peacekeeping operation in
Lebanon, UNIFIL, “detected several
rockets fired from southeast Lebanon toward Israeli-occupied
territory in the general area of Kafr Chouba and artillery fire
from Israel to Lebanon in response”, according to the mission.
The UN Security Council-mandated
mission, operating along an area known as the “Blue Line”, was
deployed in 1978 to restore peace between Israel and Lebanon.
“We are in contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue
Line, at all levels, to contain the situation and avoid a more
serious escalation,” UNIFIL said in
a statement. “Our peacekeepers
remain in their positions and on task.”
UNIFIL said peacekeepers continued to work, “some from shelters,
for their safety”.
“We urge everyone to exercise restraint and make use of UNIFIL’s
liaison and coordination mechanisms to de-escalate to prevent a
fast deterioration of the security situation,” the mission said.
In ‘close contact’ with key actors
At the same time, the UN chief of the Middle East Peace Process,
Tor Wennesland, “is in close contact” with the United States,
European Union, Qatar, Egypt, and Lebanon “to discuss the ongoing
war” in Israel and Gaza, according to a social media post by
his office, UNSCO.
“Priority now is to avoid further loss of civilian life and
deliver much needed humanitarian aid to the Strip,” the UNSCO
post said, adding that the “UN remains actively engaged to
advance these efforts”.
Calls to protect civilians
Top UN officials have called for an immediate cessation of
violence.
UN Secretary-General António
Guterres on Saturday condemned “in the strongest terms”
the attack by Hamas against Israeli towns, UN Spokesperson
Stéphane Dujarric said, urging “maximum restraint” and that “all
diplomatic efforts” are made “to avoid a wider conflagration”.
“Civilians must be respected and protected in accordance with
international humanitarian law at all times,” the UN chief said
in a statement.
UN agency raises alarm over food scarcity
As the conflict intensifies, civilians, including vulnerable
children and families, face mounting challenges in accessing
essential food supplies, with distribution networks disrupted and
production severely hampered by hostilities, according to the
World Food Programme (WFP).
“WFP urges safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to affected
areas, calling on all parties to uphold the principles of
humanitarian law, taking every necessary measure to safeguard the
lives and well-being of civilians, including ensuring access to
food,” the agency said.
From Gaza, UNRWA reported that food operations remain on hold
until further notice, with 14 distribution centres now closed.
Some 112,759 families, or 541,640 individuals, had not yet
received food assistance, the agency said.
