Escalation in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #2 as of 18:00, 8 August 2022
KEY POINTS
Following intense hostilities between Palestinian militant factions, led by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Israel between 5 and 7 August, a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and the UN came into effect on 7 August at 23:30.
The Israeli army and the PIJ have confirmed the end of their respective military operations.
OHCHR confirmed a total of 46 Palestinian casualties, including 16 children. MoH in Gaza reported 360 Palestinians injured, including at least 151 children, 58 women and 19 older persons.
Magen David Adom reported that 47 Israelis have been injured; Israeli authorities reported 70.
Israeli security started to gradually remove restrictions on crossings with Gaza imposed on 2 August, allowing limited movement of people and authorized commodities, including fuel.
The Gaza Power Plant, shut down since 6 August, resumed function on 8 August in the afternoon.
1,761 housing units have sustained damages. 450 Palestinians have been internally displaced, and 8,500 people have been impacted by the damages.
Gaza is slowly starting to return to routine life with the opening of public and private works, markets and educational facilities.
Escalation in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #1 as of 18:00, 6 August 2022
KEY POINTS
On 5 August, Israeli airstrikes were conducted in multiple locations in Gaza, including Gaza city, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis. Subsequently, several rockets were fired from multiple locations across Gaza towards Israel. Exchanges of fire continued throughout 6 August.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as of 6 August at 15:30, at least 15 Palestinians had been killed, including a 5-year-old girl, and about 125 injured. The UN has so far verified 14 of these casualties.
The Gaza Power Plant (GPP) shut down at noon on 6 August due to lack of fuel, causing rolling power cuts exceeding 20 hours per day. This places at severe risk the continuation of basic essential services.
The Israeli authorities have kept their border crossings with Gaza closed since 2 August, citing security concerns. As a result, people have not been allowed in and out, medical cases have been unable to exit and essential commodities, including food and fuel, have not entered.
Due to the limited availability of fuel, aggravated by the closure of Gaza’s crossings since 2 August, the general electricity supply in Gaza is already limited and expected to stop in the next days. This will seriously impact economic and social rights, including the supply of clean water, hygiene and healthcare. The right to health is already severely compromised due to longstanding shortages and the heavily restricted movement in and out of Gaza, including for patients who have been unable to travel for care outside of Gaza.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator issued a statement calling on all sides for an immediate de-escalation and halt to the violence, to avoid destructive ramifications, particularly for civilians.
Situation overview
On 2 August, Israeli forces arrested a senior operative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Jenin, West Bank. Subsequently, the PIJ warned in a statement that it would “respond to any aggression.” Later that day, the Israeli authorities imposed a complete closure of crossings with Gaza, preventing movement of people and essential commodities in and out, citing security concerns.
On 5 August at 16:00, Israeli forces conducted a targeted airstrike against a senior PIJ official, Taysir Al –Ja’bari, who was reportedly killed in the attack. Several Israeli airstrikes followed during the evening in multiple locations, including in Gaza City, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis, as part of an operation codenamed “Breaking Dawn”.
At about 21:00 on 5 August, several short- and long-term rockets were fired from multiple locations in Gaza towards Israel. Exchanges of fire continued throughout the day.
Airstrikes in the Gaza Strip resulted in death, injuries and the destruction of a number of residential buildings and rocket fire launched from Gaza resulted in the damage to one home in Israel, injured one person, two military and caused limited damage to property. According to the MoH in Gaza, as of 6 August at 15:30, 15 Palestinians had been killed, including a 5-year-old girl, and about 125 have been injured. According to Israeli media, two Israeli soldiers and one person have reportedly been wounded in southern Israel.
The humanitarian community is preparing for an eventual activation of the Inter-Agency Contingency Plan for the scale-up of the humanitarian response should the situation further deteriorate, and significant displacement occur. UNRWA has not yet opened any Designated Emergency Shelters (DES) for the displaced. Non-food items (NFIs) and ready-to-eat food Items are transferred across Gaza to be ready for distribution inside the DES in case of further displacement.
HUMANITARIAN NEEDS & RESPONSE Protection
The UN has verified 14 fatalities so far. The Gaza MoH has reported an additional fatality, not yet verified by the UN. Of them, at least two have been determined as civilians, including a 5-year-old girl. The injured reported by the Gaza MoH include at least 23 children and 13 women.
Protection Cluster partners are monitoring and documenting possible violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as well as the number of fatalities.
The Mine Action Area of Responsibility (AoR) has started implementing their Emergency Risk Education plan. The messages are to focus on preparedness and protection during the emergency, including safety tips while evacuating and seeking safety, and to be delivered through different mediums, including radio and social media.
The Child Protection AoR is assessing the impact of the escalating conflict on vulnerable groups, especially children, and foresees the need for expanded, structured and specialized child protection, mental health, and psychosocial support services. Remote counseling for children and their families including psychological first aid is being reactivated, including a hotline. Shelter
Forty families are known to be displaced since 5 August in host communities, including 30 families that we in the tower building in Gaza city that sustained damage due to an airstrike. The Ministry of Public Works and Housing confirmed that some 650 housing units have been partially damaged, of which 29 are unhabitable, 11 are totally destroyed, while the others sustained minor damage. Efforts are ongoing with Ministry of Social Development to assist those affected.
The Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) indicated that a number of electricity lines are being fixed after sustaining some damage.
Health
Medical and diagnostic devices are in some cases not functional due to the long-standing restrictions in bringing some supplies into the Gaza strip. Additionally, there are concerns regarding shortages of fuel for ambulances and for generators in hospitals.
Trauma care supplies are in place, but there is a chronic shortage of essential drugs in Gaza. According to the MoH, there is a shortage of 40 per cent in medications, 32 per cent in medical supplies, and 60 per cent in laboratory consumables.
UNRWA’s health centres were open normally on 6 August and received patients with no disruption.
The number of ambulances by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has increased from 11 to 23. PRCS has also increased the number of beds in Al Quds hospital and are ready to support Ash Shifaa hospital by receiving overflow cases in operating theatres in PRCS hospitals.
WHO has pre-positioned supplies in main hospitals and has previously provided training in mass casualty management. Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
No damage to water or sanitation infrastructure has been reported. Nevertheless, the announced power supply reduction plan in the Gaza Strip, due to lack of fuel, is anticipated to significantly interrupt the delivery of WASH services, including the reduction of water supply from the water wells and desalination plants, in addition to the reduction of the quality of the output of the wastewater treatment.
The replenishment of chemicals for the treatment of water in the desalination plant could be undermined because of lack of access and the entry of supplies to the Gaza Strip. Thus, WASH services providers will not be able to operate the WASH facilities with the required capacities if access constraints continue. Additionally, chemical stocks for the desalination plant need immediate replenishment.
Due to security concerns, the three main wastewater treatment facilities are being operated remotely.
If the electricity supply stops, the wastewater treatment plants will shut down, resulting in 100,000 cubic metres of raw wastewater being discharged to the sea every day. Food security
UNRWA’s food distribution centres were open normally on 6 August and received beneficiaries with no disruption. UNRWA’s current wheat stocks will only sustain a limited segment of the population for one week and a half.
Animal fodder and production is at risk due to the closure of the Israeli goods crossing. The overall capacity of fodder stockpiles in Gaza is no more than seven days. Most fodder traders have not been able to import fodders during the last week. The continued closure of the crossing will lead to a significant damage in this sector and severe lack of white meat in Gaza.
Education
As schools are closed on summer vacation until 28 August, no direct impact on schooling has been observed. At least five higher education institutions in the Gaza Strip have suspended operations until further notice. Reports indicate that at least one higher education institution was damaged in a bombardment that hit nearby.
Global sind 70,8 Millionen Menschen Vertriebene und ohne Bleibe („displaced people“); dies ist die höchste Anzahl seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Etwa 25,9 Millionen davon sind auf der Flucht und die Hälfte davon sind Kinder. Damit entstehen völlig neue Anforderungen an Bildung und eine Form von Bildungssystem, sowohl organisatorisch als auch inhaltlich und in der konkreten Praxis. Wie kann das Recht auf Bildung und eines der VN-Nachhaltigkeitsziele (Sustainable Development Goals, SDG) für Menschen auf der Flucht gerade in den Refugee Camps einigermaßen umgesetzt werden? Welche Erfordernisse ergeben sich daraus an die dort tätigen Lehrer und Lehrerinnen und wie kann dabei überhaupt strukturiert und geplant gearbeitet werden?
Das International Institute for Educational Plannung in der UNESCO und der Education Development Trust, finanziert von der Open Society Foundation, haben eine Studie zur Situation von Lehrplanung und Schuldbildung in den UNRWA-Schulen in Jordanien veröffentlicht.
“In fact, Goal 4 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seeks to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’, remains far out of reach for many of the world’s refugees. According to a recent report from the International Rescue Committee (IRC), refugees are largely excluded from SDG-related data collection, monitoring frameworks, and national reporting and development plans. As of 2018, only 63% and 24% of refugees had access to primary and secondary schooling respectively. There is therefore an urgent need to improve the equitable provision of quality education that is inclusive of refugees.
Effective teacher management is a key policy lever for ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality education systems. Research has shown that the quality of the teaching workforce is the most important factor affecting student learning among those that are open to policy influence. In crisis and displacement situations, the role of teachers is particularly significant; they are the ‘key to successful inclusion’ and are sometimes the only educational resource available to students. Teachers are a source of continuity in students’ disrupted lives; they play a key role in developing their social and emotional skills and in protecting and supporting their scholastic success. However, teachers working in refugee contexts are unable to play this crucial role without appropriate support and training to be able to handle the often overcrowded, mixed-age and multilingual classrooms. Although teachers and teaching practices have received increasing attention in education in emergencies research in the last few years, most of the data available about teachers of refugees are limited to numbers of teachers, qualifications and certification, and compensation. Indeed, it is understandable that these data are cited most often in the discourse, considering that mass shortages, particularly of qualified teachers, are a significant problem ‘across displacement settings, both at the onset of crisis and in cases of protracted displacement’.
More research is needed – particularly from the perspectives of teachers in refugee settings – to identify the many challenges they face and to support the development of strategies to overcome them. Challenges include a lack of appropriate preparation to provide psychosocial support and practise self-care, uncertain career opportunities, financial and social insecurity, language barriers, gender inequality, and a lack of coordination between the many non-governmental and governmental actors involved. As more emergencies become protracted crises and refugee populations continue to grow, there is an urgent need for evidence to guide the development and implementation of policies for the effective management of teachers working with the populations affected. Such research should pay attention to the dynamics and context of the displacement crisis, focusing on teachers in refugee settings rather than teachers of refugees, as not only can the global refugee crisis change from day to day with the outbreak of new crises, including climate-related emergencies, but sometimes host communities are just as vulnerable, if not more so, than their refugee peers. In other words, research is needed that will align with the ‘whole society approach’ advocated by the international community and support planning for the society as a whole instead of planning in parallel for the host community and the refugee community” S. 11-12.
Alle zwei Wochen bietet OCHA, das United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (hier das für Palästina zuständige Büro), ein Update über die von ihnen gesammelten Informationen.
Hier der Link zum Berichtszeitraum bis 10. Januar 2022
Ein Service der Deutschen Gesellschaft für die Vereinten Nationen (DGVN)
Spätestens mit der Gründung der Vereinten Nationen im Jahr 1945 stellte sich die Frage, wie die Arbeit der Weltorganisation finanziert werden sollte. Welche Ausgaben gehörten in den zentralen VN-Haushalt und welche nicht? In welcher Höhe würden die verschiedenen Mitgliedstaaten Beiträge zahlen? Wie sollte der Haushaltsprozeß gestaltet werden, in dem über Einnahmen und Ausgaben entschieden wird?
Derartige Finanzfragen sind seit jeher hochpolitisch, wie sich an den Unterorganisationen wie der UNRWA oder an der UNESCO sehen läßt. Neben einem Einmaleins zur VN-Finanzierung finden sich hier der umfangreiche und einzigartige DGVN-Datensatz zur Finanzierung des VN-Systems mit aktuellen Finanzdaten, die bis zur Gründung der Vereinten Nationen im Jahr 1945 zurückreichen.auch
MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
Erklärung des Generalsekretärs der Vereinten Nationen zum heutigen Tag
On this International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory — including East Jerusalem — continues to pose a significant challenge to international peace and security. Persistent violations of the rights of Palestinians along with the expansion of settlements risk eroding the prospect of a two-State solution.
The overall goal remains two states living side-by-side in peace and security, fulfilling the legitimate national aspirations of both peoples, with borders based on the 1967 lines and Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
I commend the generous donors who support UNRWA and call for Member States to provide timely and predictable funding to allow the Agency to conduct its vital work.
Together, let us reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, justice, security, and dignity for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Seit 1971 unterhalten die Europäische Gemeinschaft / EU und the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) eine strategische Partnerschaft mit dem gemeinsamen Ziel, humanitäre Entwicklungserfordernisse palästinensischer Flüchtlinge und Stabilität im Nahen Osten zu unterstützen.
Inzwischen ist die EU die größte multilaterale Unterstützerinstitution, die internationale Hilfe für mehr als 5,8 Millionen palästinensischer Flüchtlinge in Jordanien, Libanon, Syrien, Westjordanland und Gaza leistet.
Am 17. November 2021 unterzeichneten die beiden Vertreter der EU und der UNRWA eine Gemeinsame Erklärung über die weitere Unterstützung der EU für die UNRWA für die Jahre 2021 bis 2024. Josep Borrell, EU High Representative, hob hervor, daß UNRWA in den Kernbereichen bei der Versorgung von Millionen palästinensischer Flüchtlinge eine „essential role“ spiele.
Der Text der gemeinsamen Erklärung ist hier abzurufen:
Deutschland erhöht Unterstützung des VN-Flüchtlingshilfswerkes UNRWA
Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland wird das VN-Flüchtlingshilfswerk UNRWA mit weiteren 72 Millionen Euro unterstützen. Dies teilte Staatssekretär Miguel Berger gestern im Rahmen der virtuellen UNRWA-Konferenz in Brüssel mit. In dem Betrag sind zusätzliche 15 Millionen Euro zur Entlastung des Programmbudgets enthalten.
VN-Sonderberichterstatter für die besetzten Palästinensischen Gebiete, Michael Lynk äußert sich zum Siedlungsbau
Für die einen wird es der Ausdruck des ‚üblichen Israel-Bashings‘ der Vereinten Nationen sein, für die anderen Ausdruck der Wichtigkeit des (humanitären) Völkerrechts.
Sonderberichterstatter der VN wurde Michael Lynk im Jahre 2016, um die humanitäre Situation in den besetzten Palästinensischen Gebieten, die von Israel im Krieg von 1967 erobert wurden, zu beobachten und zu dokumentieren. Seit er ernannt wurde, haben ihm von den israelischen Behörden nicht gestattet, die Palästinensischen Gebiete zu betreten.
In einem Interview mit der Wochenzeitung Die Zeit erläutert Link seine Positionen, die von der Redaktion mit der Überschrift „UN-Gesandter will israelische Siedlungen als Kriegsverbrechen werten“ versehen wurde.
Weitere Informationen zur Arbeit der VN mit Blick auf die Palästinensischen Gebiete bietet auch diese Datenbank unter der Aufsicht des VN Hohen Kommissars für Menschenrechte.
Die Weltbank, die VN und die EU haben zwischen dem 25. Mai und 25. Juni 2021 ein Rapid Damage and Need Assessment (RDNA) gestartet. Dazu fand eine Reihe von Gesprächen statt, so mit der PA, Vertretern der Geberstaaten, diplomatischen Akteuren, gesellschaftlichen Gruppen, Vertretern des privaten Sektors. Für die humanitäre Soforthilfe wurde ein Bedarf von 98 Millionen US-$ ermittelt, um die Bevölkerung mit existentiell nötigen Erstmaßnahmen zu versorgen und Strukturen wieder aufzubauen, wie Trinkwasser, Abwasser und Sanitär, Gesundheitswesen, Bildung.
In dem 364,91 km² kleinen Gebiet leben laut pPalästinensischem Statischen Büro 2.077.357 Menschen (Ende 2020), also 5.693 Menschen je km². 41,2 Prozent der Menschen sind jünger als 15 Jahre. 2019 betrug das Bruttoinlandsprodukt pro Kopf 1.422,2 US-$, das in der West Bank 4.822,5 US-$ (zu konstanten Preisen, PCBS 2020. Palestine in Figures). Die Arbeitslosigkeitsrate lag im ersten Quartal 2021 bei 45,8 Prozent, die Armutsrate bei ca. 50 Prozent, und ca. 80 Prozent der Haushalte erhielten eine Form der Sozialunterstützung.
diak.org 