But for an increasing number of Palestinians, including those who cannot hear orders or whose mobility is altered, follow these orders may be impossible. However, not doing it could cost them their life.

“In a normal situation, people with disabilities suffer the most. And in wartime, of course, the situation is even more important, “said Muhannad Salah al-Azzeh, member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during a public dialogue this week in Geneva.

The number of disabled people in Gaza increasing every day, Mr. Al-Azzeh said that the minimum safety level for people with disabilities was not maintained.

No replacement for broken hearing aid

More than 83% of people with disabilities in Gaza do not have the assistance devices they need, including wheelchairs, hearing aids and other tools. And for those who do it, the batteries that allow these devices to operate are very rare.

This makes it exponentially more difficult – if not impossible – for them to access health care and food.

This shortage comes in the middle of an increasing number of disabled people. The United Nations delegation and work agency in Palestine (UNRWA) estimates that in four Gazans has a new handicap following the war between Israeli forces and Hamas, which requires treatment and rehabilitation.

At least 35,000 people have “significant hearing damage” as a result of repeated explosions. And Ammar Dwaik, director general of the independent Palestinian human rights commission, said that On average, 15 children are newly disabled each day. According to certain rights groups, Gaza has the greatest number of children in modern history.

But with more than 134,000 people who have suffered conflict-related injuries-40,500 of which are children-the besieged and under-strengthered health system cannot follow.

“Hospitals, ambulances and medical and humanitarian staff have been systematically targetedWith more than 1,580 health workers and 467 humanitarian workers killed “,” UNRWA note.

Help out

The search for vital aid has become a very healthy perspective in Gaza. But for people with disabilities, is almost impossible, according to Hector Sharp, a representative of UNRWA at the Geneva meeting.

“Reach [the distribution points] And need to compete physically for this aid is difficult for all Palestinians, but even more for people with disabilities to whom Help is actually placed out of reach“Said Mr. Sharp.

The Gaza humanitarian fund, supported by the United States and Israel,, for example, has only a handful of distribution points throughout the Gaza Strip because it bypassing all the established United Nations and NGO operations, forcing people to travel long distances in the hope of receiving meager quantities of food.

If people with mobility disorders do not have families or friends ready to recover help for them, they can simply be unable to achieve itAccording to Mr. Al-Azzeh.

Key infrastructure destroyed

Since 1962, UNRWA has operated a rehabilitation center for visually impaired in the Gaza Strip. It was the only one and served more than 500 children at any time.

“” Today [the centre] is in the rubble“Said Mr. Sharp.

The destruction of other civil infrastructure throughout the strip – including schools and hospitals – hinders rehabilitation efforts for disabled people and further anchor societal exclusion.

UNRWA representative in Geneva noted the impact that closed schools will have on disabled children.

“For disabled children, the loss of inclusive education deepens systematic inequalities and presents them to an increased risk of social and economic exclusion for life,” he said.

Peace, the only answer

Despite the challenges, UNRWA has continued to provide services to disabled people, including more than 53,000 physiotherapy sessions and assistance or rehabilitation services for 8,500 people since the start of the year.

Tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, General manager of the World Health Organization (WHO), called on the Israeli authorities to allow more aidive devices and technologies for both people with existing handicaps and those who maintain new ones in the middle of the current conflict.

He also called on medical evacuations to be extended in order to allow disabled people to obtain specialized and specialized care. But ultimately, he said, the only lasting solution is to end the conflict.

“Peace is the only way to stop the suffering of Palestinians, including those who disabled.”

Recently, Israel has denied fewer humanitarian movements, but the approved missions “still take hours and the teams have been forced to wait on roads which are often dangerous, congestioned or impassable”, the United Nations Coordination Office Ochha said in his last update.

Between August 6 and 12, humanitarian workers made 81 attempts to coordinate the planned movements with the Israeli authorities, in particular to transfer fuel and staff.

Challenges to help delivery

Of this number, 35 were facilitated, 29 were initially approved but then hampered in the field, 12 were refused and five had to be removed by the organizers.

However, 14 of the missions that had been confronted with obstructions ended up continuing.

Almost three years have passed since hostilities broke out in Gaza following the attacks led by Hamas against Israel, which left around 1,200 dead.

Some 250 others – Israelis and foreign – were taken hostage. It is believed that 50 people are still detained in Gaza, including some who have been declared dead.

Desperate time, desperate measures

Famine in the enclave has now been at its highest level since the start of the conflict, according to The world gastronomic program (Wfp).

The update quotes the The Gaza health authorities, who documented 235 deaths related to malnutrition, including 106 childrenFrom August 13.

Despite the dissemination of hunger, the convoys of aid are limited every day and that the dangers persist while the trucks travel through the enclave ravaged by the war.

” In addition, Desperate crowds often unload the food supplies of trucks to feed their families – while looting also prevents the aid from reaching its planned destinations“Said Ocha.

Last month, the WFP collected 1,012 trucks carrying nearly 13,000 metric tonnes of food from Kerem Shalom and Zikim border passages with Israel. Only 10 arrived in the warehouses and the rest was discharged on the way.

Risks of food help to spoil

Although WFP and partners have enough food in the region or went there to feed the 2.1 million people in Gaza for at least three months, “the risk of deterioration and infestation of failed food supplies has increased considerably and some of them approach their expiration dates.”

Humanitarian workers continue to put pressure so that more aid and commercial goods are allowed to enter Gaza. Although more food is between, quality and quantity remain insufficient to meet the immense needs.

As of August 10, 81 community kitchens were preparing 324,000 individual meals per day – a “notable increase” compared to the 259,000 daily meals prepared two weeks ago, but below the more than a million daily meals distributed in April.

The heat is lit

Meanwhile, a heat wave aggravates the conditions because Gaza is currently experiencing temperatures that exceed 40 ° C or 104 ° F.

United Nations Palestine refugee agency UNRWA warned that dehydration increases due to the very limited water available.

As part of its current efforts to help the inhabitants of Gaza, UNRWA has provided water, sanitation and hygiene emergency services to around 1.7 million people Since the start of the war.

Temperatures skyrocketing because hundreds of thousands of gasans have no protection against heat. An Israeli ban on the entrance to shelter equipment has been in force for five months.

Ochha note That “almost everyone in Gaza has been moved at least once since the start of the war, and the makeshift shelters that they have managed to improvise or acquire have often been exhausted or abandoned in the precipitation to flee.”

The UN underlines that any effort or peace agreement must comply with the principles of Charter of the United NationsIncluding respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Addressing journalists on Thursday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric praised the “dialogue at the highest level” between the two permanent members of the Security advice.

The meeting should take place in Alaska at 11 a.m. local time (3 p.m. in New York). The state of the northern United States is separated from the continent by Canada, while Russia is just west through the Bering Strait and the International Date line.

Mr. Dujarric reaffirmed that the “[UN’s] The position concerning the war in Ukraine remains the same. »»

“” We want an immediate, complete and unconditional cease-fire as a first step in search of a just and sustainable and complete peaceWhoever supports Ukraine’s sovereignty, its territorial integrity and its independence in the internationally recognized border and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, international law and all relevant United Nations resolutions, “he said.

Asked about the information according to which the United States and Russia would meet without Ukraine at the table, Mr. Dujarric recalled the point of view of the UN principles according to which, to reach a lasting settlement, “it is useful to have all parts of the conflict at the table, at the same table. »»

“We will obviously look at what’s going on, and we look at what gets out of it. »»

The summit takes place in a context of worsening humanitarian conditions. According to the United Nations Coordination Office, OchhaHostilities continue to demand a heavy civil toll, destroying houses and infrastructure, forcing thousands of others to flee.

Between Monday and Wednesday, only Wednesday, more than 6,000 people evacuated their high -risk communities near fronts in the Donetsk region, either by organized evacuations or on their own will.

The United Nations Human Rights Surveillance Mission in Ukraine reported this week that July had seen the highest number of monthly civilian victims since May 2022, with 286 people killed and 1,388 injured.

Since Russia launched its large -scale invasion of Ukraine, the rights mission has documented the death of at least 13,883 civilians, including 726 children and 35,548 injured, including 2,234 children.

Many victims were Alawite, a minority community in Syria, to which the former Assad family belonged.

Some members of the community were said to have been killed in March by forces or individuals faithful to the new management of the country, the National Transitional Authority, led by interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

In response to “the arrest operation” launched on March 6, fighters faithful to the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad responded by capturing, killing and injuring hundreds of temporary government forces, the commissioners said.

The looting was also widespread, while the houses were on, leaving tens of thousands of displaced civilians, the commissioners continued.

In total, around 1,400 people were reported in the massacres that followed, mainly civilians.

“The vast majority were adult men, but the victims included around 100 women, the elderly and the disabled, as well as the children”, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.

Always a target

He also warned that The Allawite community which has formed the former power base of Mr. Al-Assad is still targeted today. Alawites represent around 10% of the majority Sunni country.

According to the latest report by the commissioners, the victims killed in March were murdered and tortured, while the bodies of the dead were also mutilated.

They added that certain acts had been filmed and published on social networks, as well as images of abused and humiliated civilians.

The President of the United Nations Panel, Paulo Pinheiro, condemned the scale and brutality of the violence which would have involved men allawites identified and distinguished before being taken to be slaughtered and killed in multiple villages and mainwites of the majority Allawites.

“” The bodies were left in the streets for daysFamilies prevented burials in accordance with religious rites, while others have been buried in joint pits without appropriate documentation, “said the commissioners’ report.

Meanwhile, hospitals have become overwhelmed “while corpses accumulated”.

Eyewitness

The latest report of the Commission is based on in -depth investigations, including more than 200 interviews with victims and witnesses, especially in Latakie and Tartus.

Investigators also visited three mass sites and met senior officials from the Syrian government.

Today, the Allawites communities still live in fear and face women in women, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances and looting and the occupation of their property, noted the investigators.

Protection must be a priority

They should be protected by the new authorities in charge of Syria, insisted the commissioners.

“” Affected communities must see an urgent action to increase their protection. Beyond the reference of the alleged perpetrators in criminal justice, individuals suspected of participation in violations at the events of March should be immediately withdrawn from active functions awaiting the investigation, “said Commissioner Lynn Welchman.

In addition, the screening processes must be extended so that the authors known or suspected of serious violations in the past are not recruited in the ranks of the interim government security forces, she maintained.

After 14 years of civil war which ended last December when the opposition forces, notably Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-led by the Prsident Al-Sharaa-Damascus, forcing Mr. Al-Assad, was caused to the unity of Syria.

“The extreme violence that occurred has deepened the existing fruits between communities, Contribute to a climate of fear and insecurity among many Syrians across the country“Said the commissioners.

“We call on the interim authorities to continue to continue the responsibility of all the authors, regardless of its affiliation or its rank,” continued Mr. Pinheiro. “While dozens of alleged authors of violations have since been arrested, the extent of the documented violence in our report justifies the enlargement of such efforts.”

Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, the lenders of peace with the provisional United Nations force in Lebanon (Unifil))) Roquette launchers have discovered, rocket shells, mortar tours, bombs fuses and a tunnel containing ammunition in separate incidents in the East and West sectors, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, told journalists in New York.

All discoveries have been referred to the Lebanese armed forces in accordance with the standard procedure.

Unifil also observed a continuous activity of Israeli defense forces, including an air strike in the western sector and artillery fire in the south of the Blue line – which separates the Israeli and Lebanese armed forces – in the east sector.

To strengthen Lebanese military capacities, the mission has trained personnel in surveying and eliminating explosive devices, securing contaminated sites and navigation on mined areas.

“Such training activities are now crucial, because the Lebanese armed forces engages daily in the identification and securing of areas contaminated by unplodced ammunition and explosive remains of the war,” said Dujarric.

Complex operational space

South Lebanon remains a difficult operational environment, where Unifil works to implement Security advice Resolution 1701This ended the hostilities of 2006 between the activists of Israel and Hezbollah.

The mission’s mandate includes monitoring the cessation of hostilities, supporting the deployment of the Lebanese armed forces in the South and helping to ensure that the area between the blue line and the Litani river remains free from unauthorized weapons.

The region has experienced recurring tensions, including a strong climbing last year marked by numerous Israeli air strikes and ground operations. These incidents have affected local communities and led to the United Nations several positions and injuries to several “peacekeepers” in the service of Unifil.

Unprecedented water crisis

The largest reservoir in Lebanon, Lake Qaroon, fell to its lowest level, said the Litani River National Authority.

Entrances during the wet season this year have only reached 45 million cubic meters, against an annual average of 350 million, after months of low precipitation and an intense heat wave.

The decline occurs in the midst of a broader national emergency.

In early July, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) – Group water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) reported This precipitation had fallen by more than half in many regions as well as a decrease in snow, and several tanks and aquifers were dried up.

Health risks increased

Drought affects all sectors, from agriculture and health care to education and local governance. It is estimated that 1.85 million people live in areas very vulnerable to drought, with more than 44% of the population dependent on expensive and often dangerous water truck services.

The serious pressure on public water systems has been aggravated by damaged infrastructure resulting from recent fights between Israel and Hezbollah and electricity shortages.

Health risks increases, in particular in overcrowded colonies with poor sanitation, where residents can use dangerous water sources, increasing the threat of water disease epidemics, warned the Wash cluster.

Food security

Drought also caused a sharp drop in food production and increased dependence on expensive imports, deepening food insecurity.

The risk of forest fire also rises due to prolonged dry conditions.

The Wash cluster warned that without urgent international support to restore water systems and protect vulnerable communities, the crisis could further destabilize an already fragile nation.

“This had 10 days in the context of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges and multilateral strains,” said Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (Dive). “However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to stay at the table.”

Addressing the media at the end of intergovernmental talks of the negotiation committee (INC) at the UN in the Swiss city, Ms. Andersen stressed how the Member States had expressed a clear wish to continue to engage in the process, recognizing their significant differences in plastic pollution.

“Although we have not won the text of the treaty that we hoped for UNEP, will continue to work against plastic pollution – a pollution that is in our groundwater, in our soil, in our rivers, in our oceans and yes, in our body”, “ She said.

World vision

“People demand a treaty,” continued the head of the United Nations agency, before highlighting the hard work that awaits us to maintain the momentum necessary to ink a binding international agreement.

The delegates of 183 nations attested the power of conjunction and the importance of the proposed agreement, with certain representatives of the Pacific Island – with dazzling fresh flowers in their hair – rubbing their shoulders with other participants, drained by the last negotiation session all night.

The fifth session of talks resumed-called Inc-5.2, after previous interviews in Busan, known as Inc-5.1-gathered more than 2,600 participants in the UN Palais des nations. In addition to the 1,400 delegates from countries, there were nearly 1,000 observers representing at least 400 organizations.

NGO voices heard

The session also involved the active Civil society participation – including indigenous peoples, waste pickers, artists, young people and scientists. They raised their voice through demonstrations, artistic facilities, information sessions and press events in and around the Palais des Nations.

The objective of negotiations was to agree on a text for the legally binding instrument to put an end to plastic pollution “and highlight unresolved problems requiring additional work before a diplomatic conference,” said UNP.

In addition to the meetings together in the vast assembly room of Geneva, four groups of contacts were created to tackle key problems, including plastic design, chemicals, production ceilings, finances and compliance instruments.

Despite “intensive commitment”, the members of the intergovernmental negotiation committee were unable to achieve consensus on the Proposed textsExplained the UNEP.

Call for action of the chair

“Not reaching the goal that we set can bring sadness, even frustration. However, this should not lead to discouragement. On the contrary, this should encourage us to regain our energy, to renew our commitments and to unite our aspirations, “said the president of the Inc, Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

“This has not yet occurred in Geneva, but I have no doubt that the day will come when the international community will unite its will and will join the hands to protect our environment and protect the health of our people.”

The INC process started in March 2022 when the The assembly of the United Nations environment adopted resolution 5.2 To develop a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

“While this session ends, we leave with an understanding of the challenges to come and a renewed commitment and shared to resolve them,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the INC. “Progress must now be our obligation.”