OCHA head visits Middle East says ‘We must be practical, innovative, persistent’

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher on Monday arrived in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory for a week-long visit, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has reported.

OCHA said that Mr. Tom Fletcher is in the region as a fragile ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas continues to hold in Gaza, after rising violence in the West Bank.

He will engage with authorities, aid partners and those on the frontlines of the humanitarian response.

“Humanitarian needs are huge – we must be practical, innovative and persistent,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

Mr. Fletcher held discussions with Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several Palestinian ministers.

He met Dr. Younis Al-Khatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, to discuss the challenges that emergency responders are facing.

He wrote in social media post “Palestine Red Crescent teams have been saving lives under impossible conditions, showing extraordinary courage – too many paying the ultimate price”.

Mr. Fletcher is scheduled to meet Israeli and Palestinian officials and visit areas in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel to better understand obstacles facing aid partners, and strengthen humanitarian coordination, OCHA said in a statement.

UN and partners are expanding life-saving aid operations as more humanitarian supplies enter Gaza.

They are assessing the needs of Palestinians across the enclave and adapting the response accordingly.

OCHA noted that displaced people continue to move between southern and northern Gaza as they reunite with family and start rebuilding their lives.

The latest figures indicated that over 545,000 people are estimated to have crossed from the south to the north over the past week, while more than 36,000 people have been observed moving in the opposite direction.

OCHA said that the partners working in the protection sector have distributed identity bracelets to more than 30,000 children under the age of four to help prevent family separation.

“This effort was critical, as partners reportedly received more than 250 young children who had been separated from their caregivers while crossing to the north,” OCHA said.

In North Gaza governorate, protection partners said three temporary sites have been established in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and Jabalya, each of which can host 5,000 people.

 UNFPA has reported the expansion of protection services for women in Jabalya, as well as in Gaza city.

WFP noted that prices have started to fall since the ceasefire took effect and as more humanitarian commodities enter Gaza, although they still remain above pre-conflict levels.

OCHA said that one-third of households reportedly have better access to food, but consumption remains significantly below levels prior to the crisis. “For most households, the primary obstacle is lack of cash,”.

The partners working on education report that some 280,000 school-aged children in Gaza have registered in the e-learning programme run by UNRWA.

OCHA reported on the situation in the West Bank, where an ongoing operation by Israeli forces in Jenin and Tulkarm has expanded to nearby Tubas governorate, resulted in death, destruction and displacement.

The agency warned that “once again that lethal, war-like tactics are being applied, raising concerns over the use of force that exceeds law enforcement standards.”

Israeli It noted that dozens of families have fled the camp, feared a larger Israeli operation.

Israeli forces reportedly destroyed 20 residential structures in the Jenin refugee camp where over 50 families were living.

They conducted house-to-house searches in the town of Tammun, displaced 15 families and blocked the town’s entrance.

OCHA reported that the Palestinian death toll in recent Israeli operations in the West Bank now stands at 39 since 21 January, the day when the operation in Jenin began.

“Meanwhile, tight movement restrictions across the West Bank continue to hamper access to basic services, leaving Palestinians queuing for hours at Israeli checkpoints or forced to take significantly longer detours,” the agency added.