Iran/Middle East, Occupied Palestinian Territory & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right. Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. You've been more patient than usual. In a short while, we'll be joined by our guest, our friend Sarah Hendricks, who, as you know, is UN Women's Director of the Policy Program and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women.

She will be here to brief you on the global launch of the Secretary General's report entitled Ensuring and Strengthening Access to. To justice for All Women and Girls. And that comes, of course, ahead of International Women's day and the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. We, of course, continue to follow developments in the Middle east very closely. You'd been asking me about the Secretary General's contacts and what I can share with you at this point is that yesterday afternoon he accepted a request to meet with a permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ambassador Amir Saeedi Iravani.

During the meeting, the Secretary General reiterated his position as stated. During Saturday's Security Council session, he expressed his hope for a swift end to the conflict and a return to dialogue in the interest of regional stability. The Secretary General also met yesterday with Omar Said. Omar Al Kateri, the Permanent Representative of Oman to the United Nations. During the meeting, they discussed the situation in the region and the urgent need to end the current military activities and escalation and return to dialogue.

Also, of course, in the interest of regional stability. The Secretary General expressed his appreciation for Oman's important role in the negotiations and the Sultanate's commitment to diplomacy. In a short while, he'll be meeting with Abdulaziz Al Wasil, the permanent representative of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia. These diplomatic engagements come amidst continued regional tensions.

As we all can see, the Secretary General continues to be very concerned about the situation in Lebanon, where the Lebanese people are once again in the crosshairs of conflict. He's particularly concerned about the impact of civilians of hostilities on the civilian population. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that more than 50 people have been killed and hundreds more have been injured in the past two days. That's what local authorities in Lebanon are telling us. Overnight and throughout the day today, widespread Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, Baalbek, Shouf and the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing further casualties and significant destruction.

Yesterday, three paramedics were killed and six injured while responding to an airstrike in Lebanon. In southern Lebanon, our peacekeeping colleagues at UNIFIL tell us that continued exchanges of fire crossed the Blue Line, including Hezbollah's rocket fire towards Israel and Israel Defense Forces airstrikes and extensive fire north of the Blue Line. Peacekeepers have observed Israeli Defense Forces vehicles moving north of the Blue Line at several locations reaching up to 1km beyond the Blue Line and firing towards those surroundings. We also know with serious concern the IDF statement calling for evacuation of residents of south Lebanon to north of the Litany River. Forced displacement orders continue to be issued, including one today covering the entire area south of the litany river, approximately 850km, and homes to hundreds of thousands of people.

Civilians are continuing to flee in Lebanon, often with little more than clothes they are wearing and what they can carry. Since the onset of the renewed hostilities, at least 80,000 people have sought refuge in collective shelters in Lebanon. That's what the local authorities are telling us. However, we believe this represents only a fraction of all the people who have been forced to flee. Our partners are working closely with national and local authorities.

Rapid response teams are assessing needs and distributing emergency supplies in affected areas and collective shelters. So far, our partners, working in food security, have reached more than 20,000 displaced people with hot meals and over 15,000 with ready to eat food across Lebanon. Our health partner, working with the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, are providing medicine and scaling up mobile primary health care services in shelters and other locations. Water and sanitation partners are supporting the continued operations of of critical water and wastewater facilities, including by providing fuel to operate those stations. Even prior to this escalation, the humanitarian community was aiming to reach 1.5 million vulnerable people with humanitarian aid through the $1.6 billion 2026 appeal.

Our partners are now responding with fewer financial and human resources than in previous years. Years that of course, limits the scale and speed of assistance. At a time when needs are rising sharply, urgent additional funding and capacity are required to sustain and expand lifesaving operations. All UNIFIL positions remain manned and remain in place along the Blue Line. The mission's operational activities prioritizes monitoring and logistical movement, including resupply.

UNIFIL continues to assess the situation to ensure the safety and security of personnel. International law is not a mystery. We talk about it every day. It is not a secret. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times by all parties to a conflict.

As we have said before, we very much welcome the decision by the government of Lebanon earlier this week to accelerate efforts towards asserting the state's monopoly of arms across Lebanon. It is imperative that Hezbollah respect the government's decision as well as security council resolution 1701. And we also call once again on Israel to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon as well as Security Council Resolution 1701. Both our special Coordinator and our UNIFIL force commander will continue to work with the parties towards that end. We urge all involved to exercise maximum restraint.

Also on the humanitarian front, OCHA tells us that operations across the Middle east region are being significantly impacted by the current hostilities. Disruption to shipping and travel routes are not only affecting humanitarian supply chains, but also the movement of aid workers and also threatening to supply food insecurity and in many areas across the region. Turning to Gaza, our Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for the Organized Palestinian Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramiz Al Akbarov welcomed yesterday's reopening of the Karim Shalom Kerim Abu Salem crossing and the entry of critical supplies, including fuel into Gaza. Mr. Lakhbarov stressed that maintaining a steady and predictable flow of supplies that in sufficient quantities and resuming medical evacuations is critical to alleviating the continued suffering of the Gaza population. As we mentioned yesterday, coordinated movements within Gaza have resumed yesterday.

Trucks carrying wheat, carrying flour, carrying wheat flour, carrying canned foods and ready to eat food rations as well as other items supplied by our partners, all registered under Security Council Resolution 1727. 20 mechanisms were offloaded at Karim Shalom. In a tweet this morning, Jorge Moreira da Silva, the head of UNOPS, said his colleagues delivered 400,000 liters of fuel yesterday to key distribution points in Gaza. He said this is an encouraging development following the temporary closure of the Gaza crossings. But Mr. Morada Silva added that as we have been saying here every day, much more is needed and today we and our partners successfully coordinated with the Israeli authorities three missions to Karim Shalom Kareem Abu Salam to collect cargo and to monitor operations there.

Teams collected tents, items for babies, educational supplies, hygiene supplies, medicines and other items. Meanwhile, our partners leading on displacement sites management said Yesterday more than 900 out of 1500 sites across Gaza are at risk of flooding if the rainy season continues. These sites host hundreds of thousands of people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. As you can imagine and as we've been saying in the past months, flooding could worsen the already dire situation on the ground. As you will recall, we and our partners have been supporting people, excuse me, supporting people choosing to temporarily relocate from high, particularly from high risk flood prone areas.

Eight temporary sites have been identified by municipalities are now operating across Gaza to support voluntary relocation from flood prone areas. However, as we've said, we and our partners still do not have the tools and the materials to make shelters that are longer lasting. The entry of these supplies continues to be heavily restricted and they're difficult to find on the local markets. These include Toolkits, timber and cement to repair homes, heavy machinery to clear rubble and to make more space for dignified housing. Our humanitarian colleagues once again underscore that more crossings must be open and a sustained flow of supplies, including fuel, must enter Gaza in a safe, predictable manner so aid agencies can continue to scale up humanitarian operations.

Turning to the clashes on the Afghan Pakistan border, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that hostilities along that border have now continued for seventh straight day. OCHA says that access to areas by clashes areas. Access to areas impacted by the clashes remain limited, so casualties reports cannot yet be independently verified. Excuse me. Schools and markets in several border districts remain closed amid continued instability.

While mortar fire has forced families to flee villages in northwest Pakistan. Our colleagues noted that aid workers continue to help people who need humanitarian aid in the south of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. But some of their work in border areas have been temporarily suspended. In Afghanistan, cross border shelling and airstrikes have reportedly caused civilian casualties and damaged homes. In Nangarhar Province, it is reported that shelling near Torqham border crossing injured five civilians, including children, while another mortar strike in Nazian district injured two people and damaged homes.

And here too, international law is no secret and it is clear civilians must be protected at all times, as well as civilian infrastructure. For its part, the International Organization for Migration pointed out that Afghanistan is facing one of the largest returnee displacement crises globally, with more than 5 million returnees recorded over the last two years, including 2.6 million last year alone. Any additional conflict driven displacement or sudden large scale returns would place severe strain on local services, border infrastructure and host communities, further eroding the already limited capacity. IOM added that the escalation has also severely affected internally displaced federal families in Kunar Province, many of whom were uprooted by recent earthquakes in Afghanistan and living in temporary settlements. And our humanitarian colleagues call on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, ensure rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.

And as we move closer to the annual meeting of the Commission of the Status of Women as well as International Women's Day, we want to sadly focus on the heinous murder of a prominent women's rights activist in Baghdad. We joined Volker Turk, our High Commissioner for Human Rights, in condemning the killing of Yanar Mohammed. This is tragic news for women's human rights defenders in Iraq, in the region and beyond. Our human rights colleagues tell us that they work closely with Ms. Mohammed and her organization. She was engaged tirelessly with dedication to provide protection to many women victims of domestic and social violence.

We sent our condolences to her family and brave colleagues and called the authorities in Iraq for a prompt and transparent investigation to hold the perpetrators to account. And turning to Haiti, as you know, Alexandre Decroux, the administrator of UNDP, was in Haiti. He just wrapped up a two day visit today. While there, he reaffirmed the UNDP's commitment to supporting the country's development priorities amid ongoing challenges. During his meeting with the Prime Minister, Alix Didier Fils Aimee, the administrator highlighted what he described as renewed commitment in the partnership between undp and Haiti.

Mr. Decoud also discussed his organization's efforts to give to the government's plans excuse me, will to give to the government's plans to organize election later this year. He also emphasized a close link between security and development, development which have to be tackled simultaneously. He also met with the ministers of justice, defense and the head of the national police. In his meetings with industry leaders, Mr. Decroux discussed ways to forward, excuse me, discussed ways to create an enabling private sector environment. He encouraged young community leaders to take up their role in building an inclusive Haiti and assured them of the UN's steadfast support in Haiti's young people who make up more than 50% of the population.

Mr. Decroux reiterated that all support by the UN Development Program must be Haitian led and that the vision for stabilizing the country must be Haitian owned. As we speak, he's on his way to Jamaica where he'll meet with communities still struggling from their recovery from Hurricane Melissa. Today marks 62 years since what? 62, Georgia. I'm looking at you.

62 years since Security Council established the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. As we mark this anniversary, Kasim Dian, the special representative of the Secretary General in Cyprus and head of the UN mission there, noted that peacekeeping has helped Cyprus avoid a return to violence for more than six decades, adding that the hope that one day it will no longer be needed is precisely while it must remain until peace is achieved. Mr. Dian pointed out that peacekeeping rarely makes headlines when it is successful and its achievements are often in the crises that never unfold. He underscored that the mission supports intercommunal initiatives, engages communities and encourages cooperation on practical issues, efforts that may appear modest or essential to building trust. Trust and building trust.

Peace, he added, is not achieving only at negotiating tables. It is nurtured in everyday interactions between people. Mr. Dian said the anniversary is also a moment of solemn remembrance. Since 1964, 187 men and women serving with the UN mission have lost their their lives in the service of peace. A quick update from our good friends at the Peacebuilding Front Fund.

The Secretary General has approved a request by Papua New guinea to renew eligibility for the Peacebuilding Fund's Peace Building and Recovery Facility for an additional five years until the end of 2030, based on a multi stakeholder consultations with the government, civil society partners, the donor community and the wider UN system. The renewed support aims to advance joint efforts by the government and the UN in the context of the Bougainville post referendum peace process and the delivery of peace dividends. And it will also strengthen work on conflict prevention, reconciliation, climate resilience and peace in the highlands, as well as grassroots reconciliation, inclusive governance and local peace economies. In addition, the Peacebuilding Fund will help reinforce national prevention capacities, human rights efforts, women and youth peace security agendas. We have some money today.

We have 76 members. States paid up in full. This one's a little easy for you. I hope it is. Almost three quarters of the world's alpacas can be found in this country.

Yes. Okay. What? Your fourth winning this year.

See if you can go for a bonus.

What river begins its journey high up in the mountains of Peru?

What river starts? Come on.

Amazon. The Amazon.

So we thank our friends in Lima for their payment to the regular budget.

Now that we have money, I can answer questions. Efraim, do you have a question or do you yield? Okay, Edie,

thank you. Steph. The Secretary General has called, as you have said today, for a return to dialogue. Are there any efforts underway that the Secretary General knows of or is involved in trying to return to dialogue to end this war?

This is indeed something he is pushing with all the parties he's speaking with.

But I have nothing to share with you that would give some optimism to that at this point.

And a second question on unifil. Can we get an update on what UNIFIL is able to do and is doing under the current circumstances?

Sure. We can give you a bit more detail as soon as we get information, but I think the important thing is that despite the ongoing exchange of fire, they are continuing in their posts.

They're continuing to fulfill their mandate. Obviously, I think some of their operations in terms of support of the LAF in, in handing over weapons caches and all that has been hampered, but they are continuing the observation part of their mandate. Amelie.

Thanks, Steph. On Gaza, sorry if I missed it, but you mentioned the reopening of Kerem Shalom.

But what about Rafah? There were sources this morning saying that UN convoy have been able to go through and that the, the Rafah crossing is reopened.

I don't have anything on Rafah, but we will, we will check. Benny Avni.

Thank you.

Does your representative in Yemen have any information about what the Houthis are planning to do in this war at all?

No. I mean, if you think that the Houthi de facto authorities brief us ahead of whatever they may want to do, then you'd be wrong, Benny. No, you do not. We very much hope that we don't see the reopening of activities, especially in the Red Sea.

But I have no information to share with you on that.

And connected with that. Since you mentioned the activity in the Red Sea, is there any reaction to the fact that the Iranians at least say that they closed the Straits of Hormuz and that traffic is reduced there?

Well, I mean, for us it's very clear that the Strait of Hormuz is an international navigation waterway. Any closure of that is a very serious concern which will have an impact on the global, globally, including and especially on the economy.

It's important for states to exercise restraint and fully respect the international law, including freedom of navigation. And that's what I can tell you.

And one more, I'm sorry to take everybody else's time on Lebanon. Do you think that this is a start, I mean, you see from the Lebanese government and especially from the. Even Amal is denouncing Hezbollah for starting to, you know, for joining in the war.

Does UNIFIL have any orders, the UN have any, any understanding of what actually happened there, why Hezbollah decided to join the war?

Listen, we don't have any particular contact or insights on the military actions of parties such as Hezbollah. We do note the very strong statement from the Lebanese government earlier this week about reasserting its authority and the monopoly of arms over all of Lebanon, including the area south of the Litany. I think it is very important that the international community support the Lebanese government and let it expand its authority without external interference. Islam.

Thank you, Stefan. NATO downs Iran missile heading to Turkish airspace. In the meantime, Secretary of War stated today that confirmed actually a US Submarine sunk Iranian ship first time after the World War II. As well as hags had stated that they are going to attack Iran deeper and wider in the light of Secretary General's constant call about not widening the war. How you comment on these new developments?

Well, I mean, listen, we're like you. We're seeing this increase in military rhetoric. We're seeing the increase of military activity, we're seeing the expansion of this conflict to other areas. You mentioned the Turkish airspace. I think that was the first time that's happened since this conflict started.

In this conflict, like many others, like every other conflict, let's be clear. The Secretary General is not the one with his finger on the trigger. Right? He will continue to push for diplomacy, a return to negotiation, respect for international law and trying to convince enough countries to move in that direction.

Do you have any comment?

Sorry? Do we have any comment? Also, according to the reports US is working on to involve Kurdish forces in Iran to. Against. I mean, we've seen these reports.

I think what is important is that the unity of Iran, like every other country, be respected. Noreen.

Thanks, Stefan. In light of the situation in the Middle east over the last few days, there have been some calls for an emergency special session at the General Assembly. Now, according to the UN Charter, a special session can be convoked by the Secretary General at the request of the Security Council or at the request of a majority of member states at the un. Has the Secretary General yet received any such requests from a member state?

I don't.

As far as I know, and my knowledge is not all encompassing, as surprising that may sound to you, I do not know, but I will find out. Okay, Mr. Vacara. And then Penn.

Thank you, Stefan. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, that we see him often in the United Nations. He just wrote that the US Objective is not the security of the American people. The objective is the global hegemony. The attempt is to destroy the United nations and the international rule of law.

Any comment on that?

I'm not a commentator of commentators.

No, but

you've heard me. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Stefano, What I want to say is that Jeffrey Sachs is an academic that we see often here. And he also meets often with the Secretary General. He is speaking in his own personal capacity.

Okay. But then he also adds this UN Security Council emergency meeting referring to the one on Saturday will likely be remembered as the day the United nations ceased to function from its headquarters on American soil. An international organization dedicated to the peaceful settlement of disputes cannot credibly operate from a country that wages a illegal wars.

We continue to operate. Mr. Pani.

No, I'm sorry. I have another thing. Two days. Two days ago I asked a question that was about the meeting of the Security Council on children and Conflict. You Hans.

You know, listen to the Carlo. I saw. I hope. God. I listened to the speech of the Carlos.

Then I also yesterday saw that somebody asked what I wanted to ask. I wasn't here. But Somebody asked, I'm not satisfied with the answer. And the reason is that specific question. The Security council meeting was 48 hours after the attack.

She used the Carlo used alleged event. Alleged attack. Now we know that UN cannot know who did it. Maybe cannot know if we're the Americans.

They said, given that the question was asked yesterday, what is your question?

At that time the world knew what happened, that more than 150 children died, why the Carlos spoke at that moment in that way and why she didn't address directly the fact that actually was a fact that 150 children had died.

I think, Mr. Carlos, we stand by what Ms. Carlo said in the way she said it. And I would also refer to the answers I gave yesterday, which I know don't satisfy you and I apologize for that. But I can only go so far in satisfying everybody. Pan thank you.

Staff. For two days there have been no meetings scheduled for the Security Council. So it's the Secretary General concerned about the inability of the Security Council in responding to the crisis in the Middle east.

And as he has a message for the Security Council members and particularly the presidency.

Thank you. You know, frankly, we've been concerned about the lack of unity in the Security Council for some while now in dealing with a number of issues. I think Security Council has a primary responsibility in the maintenance of people peace and security. And we encourage members to find common ground to that end.

Efraim, quick follow up on Stefano's question as well. We saw yesterday and this morning pictures of over 100 small graves for the little girls who were killed in Iran. And it's drawing condemnation from all over the world, including from UN Geneva and Rosemary Decalo who was speaking on behalf of the Secretary General. Her words are still stuck with us. She said allegedly possibly we are aware reports.

Would you like to reword, given the immense videos and what we're seeing about this story, over 150 little girls that would you like to reword that sentence? Maybe a stronger condemnation?

I think yesterday these are all fast moving stories. We stand by what she said during the meeting. I think yesterday I addressed this very clearly and I stand by what I said yesterday.

We have our human rights colleagues, including the High Commissioner who spoke very vividly about this and we stand by their by their comments and there will need to be accountability for those who are responsible for these deaths.

One quick question on Lebanon as well. Israel has struck a hotel in a Christian neighborhood and a receptionist has died. The hotel apparently was housing also hundreds of displaced people from the south. Do you have any comment on that attack.

I think it, it's covered by what I said earlier. I mean, we're very concerned about the continued destruction and we condemn any killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Let's go online. I see Mr. Klein, and then we'll go to our guest who's been very patient.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yep. Okay, thank you. As you've noted and Secretary General and noted himself, he has called repeatedly for negotiations return to the negotiating table. And in fact, he's. He said prior to the attack that negotiations are the only sensible course forward.

United States and Iran, through indirect negotiations, had at least three sessions of negotiations prior to Saturday's attack. And the. One of the US negotiators, Steve Whitehouse, reported that during the last one, the third session, the Iranian negotiators essentially said that they had the inalienable right to enrich all of their nuclear fuel that they possessed, including the fuel enriched is 60%. Joe, I've read. I've read all these statements.

What is the question, sir?

Well, I have to lay the predicate. I'm sorry, but my question is how long does the Secretary General think the negotiation should have continued when one party at least determined that the other party was storing for time and acting in bad faith and a very dynamic situation where they were building up their ballistic missile capabilities, potential attack and continuing to enrich the uranium?

Look, I mean, Joe, it is. It is not for the Secretary General to provide justification for the.

For the military action that we've seen over the last few days. He has stayed in close touch with the Omani representatives, whether it's the Foreign Minister, the permanent representative here. He has a high level of trust and respect for the Omani efforts. But the Secretary General wasn't in the room, so the sides will make the statements that they made. We continue to believe that negotiations is the way to solve this current conflict.

Well, I'm not asking for a justification for the military operation. Obviously that's not something that you can present. I'm only asking how open ended should negotiations be in a context like this. How open are you, Joe?

Diplomacy takes time.

Diplomacy takes courage, and it takes time. We're not a party to these negotiations, but we encourage those who are to restart and renew Abdel Hamid. And then we'll go to our guest. Thank you, Stef. I have two questions.

One is there is a report today by the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Organization in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. It talks about torture. It has details of how Palestinian prisoners were tortured and subject to sexual harassment and killing, etc. And the report recommends that Smotrich and Ben Rafir should be arrested by the ICC prosecutor. Do you agree with the content of the report and what do you say to that?

We have seen reports from the Office of the High Commissioner to this end. We've always supported his work. And as we've always said, they will need to be, and there needs to be accountability for everything that we have seen in this conflict. Your second question. My second question.

You know that what happened in Lebanon, there are thousands. 80,000 people had been displaced and many civilians were killed. This is called collective punishment. Isn't collective punishment considered a war crime? Does that mean Israel is committing war crimes in Lebanon or not?

I will let legal experts and journalists such as yourselves draw these conclusions. We are, I think, being very transparent in what we're seeing and calling it out. Thank you. Thank you. Very quick one.

And I will ask you to stay for a guest, please.

Sure. Just, you know, Iran appears to have expanded its retaliatory attacks with neighboring countries accusing it of attacking not just US assets, but also civilian infrastructure. My question is, can you, as the United nations, confirm that Iran has in fact targeted or attacked or hit civilian infrastructure in those countries?

Well, I mean, we don't have.

We're aware of all of these reports. We don't always have the forensic capabilities to make these conclusions during an active conflict. But I think it's been very clear that civilian infrastructure has been hit throughout the conflict. All right, I'll be right back.