"In December,...civilian casualty figures reported by #Hamas...indicated discrepancies...reported numbers, particularly those of women and children compared to men and combatants, are significantly exaggerated.
A May 9 OCHA update...significantly altered the portrayal of casualty figures...the #UN effectively conceding the untrustworthiness of Hamas figures...parroted by various media outlets."
"The claim that the vast majority of casualties (approximately 70%) are women and children has been reported widely by the international media, which cite the Gaza Health Ministry as their source while frequently failing to mention that it’s run by Hamas.
Despite these revisions being available on OCHA’s website for days, the international media has blithely continued to regurgitate erroneous statistics in countless articles."
„UN-coordinated food convoys are three times more likely to be denied access to north Gaza than other aid convoys, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday.“
#ICJ declines new protections for #Rafah despite ‘perilous situation’ in city
The International Court of Justice on Friday declined #SouthAfrica’s request to introduce additional safeguards for Palestinians ahead of Israel’s planned offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are seeking #refuge from Israeli bombardment.
In its response to a Feb. 12 request from South Africa, the ICJ said the “perilous situation” in Rafah required Israel to abide by its previous ruling last month, which included taking “all measures within its power” to prevent the crime of #genocide and to allow more aid into Gaza.
The situation in Rafah is becoming increasingly dire, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its most recent update, with people “desperate, hungry, and terrified” ahead of the expected attack. #OCHA said that the number of aid trucks allowed to enter the #Gaza Strip had declined over the past week, with only 20 entering on Thursday, a sharp decline from the average of 133 per day from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8.
The United States and other nations — including Israel’s most vital allies — have publicly opposed the military campaign in Rafah, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu remains adamant about it.
„Any move by Israel to extend its full-scale invasion of Gaza into the massively overcrowded southern city of Rafah could lead to war crimes which must be prevented at all costs, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], said on Tuesday.“
Some 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance in the western outskirts of Khan Younis in recent days, the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, has said in its daily update.
“They were displaced from western Khan Younis city in recent days amid evacuation orders and continued hostilities,” OCHA said.
The latest UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) situation report notes:
Half of all pregnant women in shelters in Gaza are suffering from thirst, malnutrition, and no access to medical care, while 50 percent of all displaced children are in danger of dehydration, malnutrition, respiratory and skin diseases, severe cold, and newborn infants are not being vaccinated.
"That such a brutal conflict has been allowed to continue and for this long – despite the widespread condemnation, the physical and mental toll and the massive destruction – is an indelible stain on our collective conscience."
On 16 December, Israeli forces withdrew from Kamal Adwan hospital after four days of besieging the facility. According to initial reports by media and video footage, an Israeli military bulldozer flattened the tents of a number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside the hospital, killing and wounding an unconfirmed number of people. The MoH in Ramallah has called for an investigation into the incident.