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UN PhotoOHCHR / GAZA FAMINE RISK SPOKESPERSON
STORY: OHCHR / GAZA FAMINE RISK SPOKESPERSON
TRT: 03:17
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 MARCH 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exteriors, Palais des Nations
2. Med shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The projected imminent famine in Gaza can and must be prevented. The alarm bells sounded over the past months by the UN, including our Office, have not been heeded. This catastrophe is human-made and was entirely preventable.”
3. Med shot, briefing room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a result of Israel’s extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure.”
5. Med shot, briefing room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Dangerous coping strategies are already emerging, in the face of starvation. Law and order is breaking down as people become increasingly desperate, and children have reportedly been sent to make the dangerous journey from northern to southern Gaza, unaccompanied in the desperate hope that they will find food and support among the 1.8 million people already displaced there.”
7. Med shot, briefing room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation to ensure the provision of food and medical care to the population commensurate with their needs and to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations to deliver that assistance.”
9. Med shot, briefing room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“There needs to be full restoration of essential services, including the supply of food, water, electricity and fuel.
11. Med shot, briefing room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“And there needs to be an immediate ceasefire, as well as the unconditional release of hostages.”
13. Med shot, briefing room
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“It's heart-breaking, preventable and must stop. The suffering, and you've heard us say this before, the suffering of the people in Gaza is unconscionable. It really is. It is a collective stain on humanity.”
15. Med shot, briefing room
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, UN Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We've watched malnourished children suffering. We know of amputations without anaesthesia. Children, as the high commissioner said, I've been heading south unaccompanied. Can you imagine the fear? Can you imagine the desperation?”
17. Wide shot, exteriors, Palais des Nations
Briefing journalists today (19 Mar) on the risk of famine in Gaza, Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights office said, “The alarm bells sounded over the past months by the UN, including our Office, have not been heeded. This catastrophe is human-made and was entirely preventable.”
The UN Human rights spokesperson stated, “The situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a result of Israel’s extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure.”
Laurence said, “Dangerous coping strategies are already emerging, in the face of starvation. Law and order is breaking down as people become increasingly desperate, and children have reportedly been sent to make the dangerous journey from northern to southern Gaza, unaccompanied in the desperate hope that they will find food and support among the 1.8 million people already displaced there.”
“Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation to ensure the provision of food and medical care to the population commensurate with their needs and to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations to deliver that assistance,” Laurence said.
“There needs to be full restoration of essential services, including the supply of food, water, electricity and fuel. And there needs to be an immediate ceasefire, as well as the unconditional release of hostages,” Laurence said.
“It's heart-breaking, preventable and must stop the suffering, and you've heard us say this before, the suffering of the people in Gaza is unconscionable. It really is. It is a collective stain on humanity,” he said.
Laurence added, “We've watched malnourished children suffering. We know of amputations without anaesthesia. Children, as the high commissioner said, I've been heading south and unaccompanied. Could you imagine the fear? Can you imagine the desperation?”
