According to the UN human rights office, OHCHR, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, held separate phone calls on Tuesday with Lt-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the rival Rapid Support Forces.

Diplomatic approach

Mr. Türk urged them both to act immediately – and publicly – to de-escalate the situation, said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, who noted that the UN rights chief had previously approached the rival generals in November 2022.

“He warned both commanders that fighting in El-Fasher, where more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people are currently encircled and at imminent risk of famine, would have a catastrophic impact on civilians, and it  would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences,” Ms. Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.

“He reminded the commanders of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure strict compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and to put an end to any ongoing violations, as well as ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by their respective forces and allies.”

13 months of heavy fighting

Thirteen months of war in Sudan have left half of the population in need of humanitarian assistance – a staggering 25 million people, including 14 million children. Millions have been repeatedly displaced, becoming more vulnerable each time, and aid teams have warned repeatedly that famine is closing in, with the approach of the rainy season. 

The UN human rights office expressed concerns about the ongoing and lasting impact of conflict across Sudan, while highlighting the dire situation affecting civilians caught up in escalating violence in and around El Fasher in Darfur.

At least 58 civilians are reported to have been killed and 213 others since fighting dramatically escalated in the North Darfur town last week, OHCHR said.

Disease, famine closing in

Echoing concerns about the emergency situation, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, warned that diseases are closing in and people are “staring famine in the face”.

The UN-partnered response plan aims to reach and support 15 million of the worst-affected people but $2.7 billion is needed urgently to do so.

Today, humanitarians have received only 12 per cent of the total and without an immediate injection of funds, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke warned that aid teams “won’t be able to scale up in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation”.

He added that funding would be used to “bring in more food, health services, shelter, water and sanitation, but also for prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, help to the victims, and support for the re-opening of schools for out-of-school children”.

Fleeing to Uganda

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR,  also highlighted the need for sufficient funding as increasing numbers of Sudanese flee to neighbouring Uganda.

More than 33,000 are now in the country, 19,000 of whom have arrived in the capital, Kampala, since January. 

Uganda already hosts the highest number of refugees and asylum-seekers in Africa, 1.7 million people. On average, 2,500 people arrive in the country every week, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

Despite this, Uganda remains among the top 13 underfunded operations globally, UNHCR said.

Critical funding shortfall

Humanitarians are seeking $858 million this year to support 1.6 million refugees in the country, and 2.7 million people in host communities, but received just 13 per cent of the required funds. 

UNHCR warned that the continuous influx of people fleeing conflict, combined with funding shortfalls, is putting pressure on the protection and assistance services provided to both refugees and local communities hosting them.

The health sector has already been hard hit, with staffing numbers reduced and insufficient supplies to meet critical needs. Schools also are overcrowded and there are not enough teachers or educational materials, making it difficult for refugee children to get an education.

Furthermore, critical protection services have also been affected, as refugee registration is facing lengthy delays due to the lack of necessary materials and equipment that make the process smoother.

This past week, UNHCR and senior Ugandan officials visited key partners including the Governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as European Union institutions, to highlight the impact of reduced funding, and advocate for additional resources. 

OCHA warned that the maritime corridor cannot replace critical land routes, which are the quickest and most effective way of delivering humanitarian aid in the besieged enclave, where more than two million Palestinians desperately need food, shelter and other assistance. 

“Any and all aid into Gaza is welcome by any route,” spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva. “But, it is an addition, and it doesn’t take away the fact that land crossings will be more important.” 

Additional aid route 

The US military’s Central Command announced that the trucks began rolling at approximately 9am, local time, on Friday, and that no troops went ashore.

The floating dock was anchored to a beach in Gaza the previous day. With most border crossings to the enclave closed or unsafe, it will provide an additional path for aid delivery to the embattled enclave. 

The United Nations welcomes any effort towards ensuring that aid reaches Gaza, said UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, speaking in New York later on Friday.

“As such, we are grateful to the United States, as well as to Cyprus, with the support of other Member States, to sustain the maritime corridor as an additional route for aid to Gaza,” he said.

He explained that “after months of discussions with all relevant authorities, the UN has agreed to support in receiving and arranging for the dispatch of aid into Gaza from the floating dock, as long as it respects the neutrality and independence of humanitarian operations.”

Open all crossings 

Mr. Laerke said UN agencies are finalising their readiness plans for handling the aid once the floating dock is properly functioning, keeping in mind the need to ensure the safety of staff. 

“Community awareness and acceptance is paramount to ensure the safety and security of this operation,” he insisted. 

“However, getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute,” he said. 

“Land routes are the most viable, effective and efficient aid delivery method, which is why we need all crossing points to be opened.” 

Rafah displacement continues

Updating on the situation in Rafah, OCHA reported that nearly 640,000 people have been displaced from the area since the Israeli military offensive began.  Many have fled to overcrowded Deir al Balah governorate in central Gaza, where conditions are dire.

The ongoing influx of displaced people there, and in  Khan Younis, continues to strain humanitarian response, which is already overstretched.

“The situation is constantly shifting because of the fighting that is so intense,” Yasmina Guera, an OCHA humanitarian affairs officer in Rafah, told UN News on Friday.

“One of the challenges for the response is that the minute you put something in place, the minute you think you know something, you actually have to change everything again and you have to start from zero.”

OCHA said teams working on getting food to people in Gaza report that only five bakeries remain operational across the enclave – four in Gaza city and one in Deir al Balah. Nearly a dozen others have stopped working due to fuel and supply shortages, amid ongoing hostilities.

As a result, aid partners have been forced to conduct small-scale distributions with limited stocks, providing reduced rations and prioritizing Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.

Water and sanitation crisis

The ongoing displacement from Rafah to Khan Younis has exacerbated the water and sanitation crisis, with sewage overflow and solid waste spreading across roads, displacement camps, and the rubble of destroyed homes – with a catastrophic impact on health.

“Our colleagues working on ensuring that people in Gaza have adequate shelter say there are no remaining stocks of shelter materials inside Gaza,” OCHA said.

Fuel shortage

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that the biggest issue now is fuel. 

Spokesperson Tarik Jašarević reported that only 13 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are now partially functioning, emphasizing that fuel is required for electricity and to run generators.

He said health partners require between 1.4 million to 1.8 million litres monthly so that hospitals can function, but only 159,000 litres have entered Gaza since the border closure, “and that’s clearly not sufficient”.

“No matter where you look, no matter where you go, there’s destruction, there’s devastation, there’s loss,” said Yasmina Guerda, who recently returned to Gaza for a second deployment with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.

She spoke to UN News from Rafah, previously a refuge for more than a million Palestinians fleeing hostilities in other parts of Gaza. The start of Israeli military operations there has uprooted more than 600,000 people in just over a week.

Ms. Guerda frankly discussed the immense suffering and insecurity in Gaza, the critical lack of aid and basic services, and the difficulties facing humanitarians working amidst “the constant soundtrack of war”.

The mother of two young boys also urged people worldwide, who are upset over the conflict, to ask themselves “What can I do today at my level to help end this nightmare?”

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Yasmina Guerda: We would need to invent brand new words to adequately describe the situation that Palestinians in Gaza find themselves in today. No matter where you look, no matter where you go, there’s destruction, there’s devastation, there’s loss. There’s a lack of everything. There’s pain. There’s just incredible suffering. People are living on top of the rubble and the waste that used to be their lives. They’re hungry. Everything has become absolutely unaffordable. I heard the other day that some eggs were being sold for $3 each, which is unthinkable for someone who has no salary and has lost all access to their bank accounts.

Access to clean water is a daily battle. Many people haven’t been able to change clothes in seven months because they just had to flee with whatever they were wearing. They were given 10 minutes notice and they had to run away. Many have been displaced six, seven, eight times, or more.

One of the things that I find absolutely striking is the people’s determination to keep moving forward, to keep looking up no matter what.

I was walking through a camp recently and there were several families who had dug their own makeshift septic tank with spoons in the sand, grabbing pipes and toilet tanks from destroyed buildings so that they can have something that resembles a restroom, because the situation here for water and sanitation is extremely dire. Humanitarians are not allowed to import the supplies to build latrines in displacement sites, so every family has to find their own creative way to solve that. I have been around several humanitarian crises, and you don’t encounter this kind of grit everywhere.

UN News: You’re in Rafah. What is the level of destruction there and how close is the fighting? 

Yasmina Guerda: We are currently based in the western side of Rafah and the fighting is mostly in the east, and we hear the destruction that is happening. We go for reconnaissance missions which is, of course, extremely dangerous. Two of our colleagues went on a “recce” mission earlier this week and, unfortunately, one of them didn’t come out of it alive and the other had to be medically evacuated. So, the destruction in Rafah is happening. I haven’t personally seen it with my own eyes yet.

We have been able to see what has happened in the other areas that the Israelis have been attacking, so Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, and the northern parts of Gaza. What I can tell you is that there is rubble everywhere. The level of destruction is unimaginable, and the exception is to find buildings that are still standing. You’ll see a sea of rubble, and then every so often you’ll find a building that is still standing.

UN News: What are the challenges faced by humanitarian agencies in getting aid to civilians in need, particularly while civilians are on the move?

Yasmina Guerda: This is my second deployment to Gaza. I was here four weeks ago, and in four weeks everything has changed, including how you get in and out of Gaza and how you bring in supplies. Most of the population used to be in Rafah because that was the safer area back then. But now, of course, 630,000 people in 10 days have packed up whatever they had and gone north or towards the coastal areas.

The situation is constantly shifting because of the fighting that is so intense. One of the challenges for the response is that the minute you put something in place, the minute you think you know something, you have to change everything and start from zero. So that is extremely challenging, and it is slowing down the response a lot.

The second issue is that honestly, it’s extremely dangerous to be here and that is really putting the response on its knees. There are no safe places left in Gaza.

On the last week of my deployment, seven humanitarian colleagues, who also happened to be friends, were killed by Israeli airstrikes. And the day that I arrived for my second deployment, two humanitarians were again struck. We constantly have to be careful with every move. We have to notify the warring parties of every movement. We spend hours submitting paperwork, we spend hours waiting at checkpoints, and so often it is for nothing because many of the missions that we planned are not facilitated, so we can’t carry them out.

Then there’s all the other stuff that you can imagine. The very poor phone and Internet connectivity is making it very, very hard to coordinate amongst humanitarian actors. Living conditions are stressful due to the constant soundtrack of war – the drones, the airstrikes – and in some areas there are bodies in the streets that we have to remove to ensure that they get a dignified burial.

We see a lot of very difficult things. It’s very challenging mentally and emotionally, and I would say a lot of aid workers are tired, and it’s also, I think, hurting the response because this is a very challenging response. But the worst of all are the issues and hurdles that we face.

It’s really unprecedented how utterly difficult it is to bring staff and supplies into Gaza. This was always the case since 7 October, but since 7 May, when the main border crossing for aid closed – the Rafah crossing – our storage facilities have been destroyed and looted. There’s almost nothing left to distribute in Gaza. And so as soon as something comes into the Strip – and it’s a trickle – it has to go out for distribution, and of course, it’s nowhere near enough. We have to make very difficult choices every day, and we have to prioritize the most vulnerable. We have to deliver partial rations. And that’s honestly quite heartbreaking on a daily basis.

Two boys gaze out at the ocean at a beach, in Rafah, Gaza, April 2024.

UN News: Many people around the world are upset by the conflict and the destruction. What is your message to them? 

Yasmina Guerda: People here don’t understand how the world is allowing this to happen. When I entered Gaza the first time, the Ministry of Health had reported that about 29,000 people had been killed. By the time I left five weeks later, the number had risen to 34,000 reported killed. I calculated that this is about six people killed per hour on average, mostly women and children. We know that. We’re starting to identify bodies, and we’re letting it happen.

I’m lucky. I’m the mother of two little boys, they are two and four, and I’m terrified that one day they’re going to ask me how we couldn’t stop this; how the world didn’t stand in solidarity and voice their outrage loudly, and loudly enough to make it stop?

I don’t have an answer, and I think my message would be that people need to reach out to their decision-makers and demand that international law be respected, that the most basic human rights and the most basic human dignity be respected.

We’re not asking for much, just for the law that already exists to be respected because this war is a stain on us all, and it is everyone’s responsibility to work at all levels to make it stop now. That’s my message: that everyone asks themselves every day, “What can I do today at my level to help end this nightmare?”