World News in Brief: Schools closed in West Bank, AI in healthcare, Indigenous rights
For more than a year, six schools established by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have been inaccessible, and another six have been closed, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York. Ten schools in Area C of the West Bank were recently abandoned due to settler attacks and access restrictions, he added. On Wednesday, Suzanna Tkalec, the UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, led a joint humanitarian mission to a former UN school in Gaza currently hosting 18 displaced families. Mr. Dujarric said that according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, those families’ living conditions have been undermined by a lack of access to humanitarian aid. “Our humanitarian partners are committed to mobilizing assistance to address the community’s most urgent needs,” he said. Aid reaches thousands in the Occupied Palestinian TerritoryEven as the Israeli military continues to strike Gaza and launch raids into the West Bank, humanitarian workers continue to provide lifesaving assistance. The UN’s partner organizations have distributed more than 378,000 items, including tarpaulins, cleaning kits and jerrycans to civilians in Gaza in the past month. In the West Bank, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) provided food vouchers and cash assistance to about 286,000 people in June. The UN is concerned, however, that the required supplies may not be available by the winter season without increased support. “Without additional funding, depleted stockpiles cannot be replenished, putting vulnerable families at even greater risk, particularly as humanitarians prepare for winter,” Mr. Dujarric said.
