“This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done,” Mr. Guterres said via a statement from his spokesperson Farhan Haq.  

The top UN official leading efforts to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, echoed those comments and also welcomed the announced 96-hour “humanitarian pause” in war-shattered Gaza. 

“This pause must be used to its fullest extent to facilitate the release of hostages and alleviate the dire needs of Palestinians in Gaza.”

The development comes as UN humanitarians reiterated that they remain ready to seize the opportunity to ramp up lifesaving aid to the enclave.

‘Ocean of need’

Following the four-day ceasefire announcement the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued fresh calls for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access in the Strip.

“The fighting needs to stop so that we can quickly scale up our response,” said Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “We cannot keep providing drops of aid in Gaza in an ocean of need.” 

Meanwhile, WHO said that a new evacuation was under way at Gaza City’s embattled Al-Shifa hospital, with more to follow in northern Gaza.

‘Senseless conflict’

According to media reports, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was due to begin within 24 hours of its announcement. In his statement, Mr. Wennesland welcomed the efforts of the Governments of Egypt, Qatar and the United States in “facilitating” the agreement.

WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, said that any news of a humanitarian pause and of a release of hostages was welcome, but that a true end to the fighting was needed. 

At the same WHO press conference in Cairo, Dr. Al-Mandhari called for a “permanent ceasefire” and said that the parties to the conflict should “put the welfare and health of their people as their first priority”.

The UN health agency official also led a minute of silence to honour WHO staffer Dima Alhaj, killed in Gaza on Tuesday, along with many relatives. “As we grieve, we are reminded of the senseless nature of this conflict and of the fact that in Gaza today nowhere is safe for civilians, including our own UN colleagues,” he said. 

Since the start of Israel’s retaliation of Hamas’ 7 October massacres which left 1,200 dead in southern Israel and some 240 hostages abducted, 108 UN staff members have been killed in the Strip.

New hospital evacuations under way

Dr. Peeperkorn revealed on Wednesday that a mission was under way in close coordination with humanitarian partners the Palestinian Red Crescent and Médecins Sans Frontières, to evacuate patients and health workers remaining in Al-Shifa. 

The mission follows the initial inter-agency evacuation of 31 premature babies on Sunday. Out of the 220 patients and 200 health workers still at the hospital, the priority evacuees would be 21 dialysis patients, 29 patients with spinal injuries and those in intensive care, Dr. Peeperkorn said.

He also informed that in the meantime, the UN health agency has received evacuation requests from three other hospitals in northern Gaza: Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital, and planning was under way, with WHO and its partners sparing no efforts to “make sure this happens in the coming days”.

He explained that such evacuations are only undertaken upon request and as a last resort.

Attacks on healthcare

Dr. Al-Mandhari deplored the fact that even hospitals are not being protected from the “horrors” of the conflict in Gaza. WHO has documented 178 attacks on healthcare in the Strip since 7 October and out of the enclave’s 36 hospitals 28 are not functional anymore, his colleague Dr. Peeperkorn told journalists. 

The eight remaining hospitals, all in the south, are “overwhelmed”, he said, and all efforts must be made to keep them functional and expand their bed capacity.

The enclave had some 3,500 hospital beds prior to the current escalation and that number is now down to less than 1,400. 

Much more aid required

The perspective of a ceasefire has raised hopes for improved access to desperate Gazan civilians and an increase in the volume of relief items coming through.

According to UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA, the aid trucks which have been entering Gaza since 21 October represent barely 14 per cent of the monthly volume of humanitarian and commercial transport reaching the enclave before the start of the current hostilities; this excludes fuel, which had been completely banned by the Israeli authorities until just a few days ago.

OCHA said that on Tuesday, 63,800 litres of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, following an Israeli decision from 18 November to “allow the daily entry of small amounts of fuel for essential humanitarian operations”.

The incoming fuel is being distributed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to support food distribution and the operation of generators at hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, shelters and other critical services.

No food in the north

News of the ceasefire agreement came amid fears of hunger spreading in the north, which has been sealed off from the south by Israeli military operations. Humanitarian agencies have been unable to deliver assistance there since 7 November. Due to the lack of cooking facilities and fuel, “people are resorting to consuming the few raw vegetables or unripe fruits that remain available to them”, OCHA said, while no bakeries are open. 

OCHA also warned that livestock in the north “is facing starvation and the risk of death” due to the shortage of fodder and water, and crops are being “increasingly abandoned”.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said 10 days ago that it considered the entire civilian population in Gaza to be food insecure.

Mental health needs ‘skyrocketing’

The distress caused by constant bombing, displacement and massive overcrowding in the UNRWA shelters, in some of which 400 people have to share a toilet, has been taking a heavy psychological toll on Gazans. OCHA said that mental health care needs are “skyrocketing”, especially for the most vulnerable: children, persons with disabilities and those with pre-existing complex conditions. 

“Only limited psychosocial support services and psychological first aid is being provided in some shelters across Gaza where protection actors are sheltering and have capacity to respond”, OCHA said. Many services have reportedly been destroyed and many staff are unable to work.

OCHA also highlighted an increase in the movement of unaccompanied children and separated families. The UN Office said that an interagency plan is being developed to respond to this situation, including the registration of cases.

Humanitarians stand ready

The OCHA chief, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, issued a statement welcoming the agreement.

“I hope it brings some respite to the people of Gaza and Israel and some relief to the hostages and detainees who will be released and to their families.   I also hope it allows grieving families to honour their dead and bury them with dignity,” he said.

Humanitarian agencies are mobilized and ready to increase the volume of aid brought into Gaza and distributed across the Strip, he added.

He said that as they wait for the pause to come into effect, they renew their call for full adherence to international humanitarian law, safe and unimpeded access to deliver aid to people in need, protection of civilians, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
 
 

Briefing the Security Council, Sima Bahous, Catherine Russell and Natalia Kanem – heads of UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), respectively – also welcomed the agreement on the release of some of the hostages taken during the Hamas attack on Israel and emphasized the need for a lasting truce.

They also stressed the importance of Security Council resolution 2712 that was adopted last week and calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout Gaza to save and protect civilian lives.

‘They continue caring’: UN Women head

Speaking first, Ms. Bahous highlighted the intensity of violence in Gaza and the devastating impact on its population, in particular women and girls, who are estimated to account for 67 per cent of the 14,000 fatalities in the enclave.

She also expressed deep concern for pregnant women and those who delivered babies without medical supplies, painkillers, anaesthesia for C-sections, or water.

“Yet, they continue caring for their children, the sick, the elderly, mixing baby formula with contaminated water, going without food so that their children can live another day, enduring multiple risks in severely overcrowded shelters,” she said.

Working under severe constraints

Ms. Bahous said that Gaza’s only two women’s shelters are now closed but women-led organizations continue to operate there, though under severe constraints, using their networks to source and distribute emergency items and to document and respond to protection concerns.

In her briefing, the head of UN Women also spoke of an escalation in the West Bank, where demolitions of public infrastructure, revocation of work permits, increased settler violence, and detentions have “significantly impacted” the lives and livelihoods of women.

She also said that UN Women met with Israeli women who shared their work in documenting gender-based atrocities, as well as sharing their hope for peace, with women – both Israeli and Palestinian – at the table.

Most dangerous place to be a child: UNICEF chief

Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, highlighted the severe impact of the crisis on children and noted that over 5,300 Palestinian children have been reported killed in 46 days, accounting for 40 per cent of deaths in the enclave.

“This is unprecedented. In other words, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child,” she said.

She added that the children who survive the war are likely to see their lives irrevocably altered through repeated exposure to traumatic events.

“The violence and upheaval around them can induce toxic stress that interferes with their physical and cognitive development,” she said, noting also that one million children – or all children inside the territory – are now food insecure, “facing what could soon become a catastrophic nutrition crisis.”

True cost measured in children’s lives

Ms. Russell also emphasized that the “true cost” of the war will be measured in children’s lives: those lost to the violence and those forever changed by it.  

“Without an end to the fighting and full humanitarian access, the cost will continue to grow exponentially,” she said, adding that the destruction of Gaza and killing of civilians will not bring peace or safety to the region.  

“The people of this region deserve peace. Only a negotiated political solution – one that prioritizes the rights and wellbeing of this and future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children – can ensure that,” she said.

Joy overshadowed by death, destruction: UNFPA head

Also briefing, Ms. Kanem outlined the challenges in Gaza, emphasizing the critical lack of healthcare, with hospitals shutting down, leaving thousands of pregnant women and those who delivered recently at risk.

“At a moment when new life is beginning, what should be a moment of joy is overshadowed by death and destruction, horror and fear. The situation is most dire for women facing obstetric complications – some 15 per cent of pregnant women,” she said.

“Their lives are at risk due to severely limited access to healthcare and emergency obstetric care,” she added.

Ms. Kanem also voiced deep concern over lack of clean water and sanitation, which creates multiple health risks, including for women who have no access to menstrual hygiene.

Lack of food and water across Gaza will have adverse impacts on the health and wellbeing of pregnant and breastfeeding women who have higher daily water and caloric intake requirements, she said.

An urgent test of humanity

The head of UNFPA underscored the need for protection of humanitarian workers in Gaza, “who risk their lives in the service of others”, and mourned the loss of over 100 staff members of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA), and scores of aid workers killed in the conflict.

In conclusion, she emphasized that the fate of humanity does not belong in the hands of those wielding weapons, “it rests with women and young people and allies standing together waging peace.”

“In this urgent test of humanity, women and girls desperately need peace to prevail. I call upon the Security Council to do everything in your power to make that peace happen,” she said.