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WHO Calls for Humanitarian Corridor Into Gaza as Israel Pounds Besieged Enclave

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
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WHO Calls for Humanitarian Corridor Into Gaza as Israel Pounds Besieged Enclave

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called for a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip as Israel imposes a siege on the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

A WHO spokesperson said it had reported 13 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since the weekend.

Nearly 200,000 people, or nearly a tenth of the population, have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip since the start of hostilities, said the UN's human rights office, warning that the enclave is poised for water and electricity shortages due to an Israeli blockade.

"Displacement has escalated dramatically across the Gaza Strip, reaching more than 187,500 people since Saturday. Most are taking shelter in schools," Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, told a Geneva briefing, saying further displacement was expected.
Israeli air operations have struck residential buildings, including large tower blocks, as well as schools and UN buildings across Gaza, resulting in civilian casualties, the United Nations Human Rights chief said on Tuesday, citing information gathered by his office.  

"International humanitarian law is clear: the obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects remains applicable throughout the attacks," Volker Turk said in a statement.  

In response to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's announcement of a tightened blockade for the Gaza strip, Turk said that "sieges" that endanger the lives of civilians are prohibited under international law. 

The United Nations humanitarian office said that nearly 200,000 people or nearly a tenth of the population, have fled their homes in Gaza since the start of hostilities and is poised for shortages of water and electricity due to a blockade. 

"Displacement has escalated dramatically across the Gaza strip, reaching more than 187,500 people since Saturday. Most are taking shelter in schools," Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, told a Geneva briefing, saying further displacement was expected as clashes continue. 

A World Health Organization spokesperson said it had reported 13 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since the weekend and said that its medical supplies stored there had already been used up. 

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Arab World

An International Conference Rallies Aid for Sudan After 2 Years of War, but Peace Is Elusive 

A Sudanese evacuee carries her son as they leave the USNS Brunswick at Jeddah Port, Saudi Arabia, May 4, 2023. (AP)
A Sudanese evacuee carries her son as they leave the USNS Brunswick at Jeddah Port, Saudi Arabia, May 4, 2023. (AP)
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An International Conference Rallies Aid for Sudan After 2 Years of War, but Peace Is Elusive 

A Sudanese evacuee carries her son as they leave the USNS Brunswick at Jeddah Port, Saudi Arabia, May 4, 2023. (AP)
A Sudanese evacuee carries her son as they leave the USNS Brunswick at Jeddah Port, Saudi Arabia, May 4, 2023. (AP)

Diplomats and aid officials from around the world are meeting Tuesday in London to try to ease the suffering from the two-year-old war in Sudan, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 14 million and pushed large parts of the country into famine.

The one-day conference, hosted by Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and the African Union, has modest ambitions. It is not an attempt to negotiate peace, but an effort to relieve what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Attendees include officials from Western nations, international institutions and neighboring countries – but no one from Sudan. Neither the Sudanese government nor the rival paramilitary it is fighting has been invited.

“The brutal war in Sudan has devastated the lives of millions – and yet much of the world continues to look away,” said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who visited Chad’s border with Sudan in January. “We need to act now to stop the crisis from becoming an all-out catastrophe, ensuring aid gets to those who need it the most.”

Sudan plunged into war on April 15, 2023, after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fighting broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing at least 20,000 people – though the number is likely far higher.

Over 300 civilians were killed in a burst of intense fighting in the western region of Darfur on Friday and Saturday, according to the UN.

Last month the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the RSF still controls most of Darfur and some other areas.

The war has driven parts of the country into famine and pushed more than 14 million people from their homes, with more than 3 million fleeing the country, to neighboring countries including Chad and Egypt. Both sides in the war have been accused of committing war crimes.

The World Food Program says nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger.

Aid agency Oxfam said the humanitarian catastrophe risks becoming a regional crisis, with fighting spilling into neighboring countries. It said that in South Sudan, itself wracked by recent war, “the arrival of people fleeing Sudan’s conflict has put more pressure on already scarce resources, which is deepening local tensions and threatening the fragile peace.”

The US, which recently cut almost all its foreign aid, is expected to be represented at the London conference.

Ahead of the meeting, Lammy announced 120 million pounds ($158 million) in funding for the coming year to deliver food for 650,000 people in Sudan, from Britain’s increasingly limited foreign aid budget.

In February the UK cut its aid budget from 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product to 0.3% to fund an increase in military spending. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Sudan, along with Ukraine and Gaza, will remain a priority for British aid.