This includes restrictions on the entry of supplies, such as new materials needed to maintain and repair sewer networks.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to improve water purification capacity at the Al Bassa desalination plant in Deir Al-Balah by transferring specialized equipment to the facility, according to aid partners, while installation of the Al Manshia desalination plant in Gaza City has begun.
Violence and displacement in the West Bank
OCHA also updated on the situation in the West Bank, where ongoing operations by Israeli forces and settler violence continue to put Palestinians at risk and deepen humanitarian needs.
Six Palestinians – four of them children – were killed in the last two weeks, five of them by Israeli forces and one by an Israeli settler. Three Israelis were injured by Palestinians during the same period.
At the same time, OCHA also expressed deep concern about the ongoing displacement in the West Bank, with more than 100 Palestinians uprooted due to demolitions.
This includes 50 people – including 21 children – displaced in a single Israeli demolition of a four-story building in the Silwan neighborhood on Monday for lacking an Israeli-issued construction permit, which is nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.
Mothers in Aleppo, Syria, wait for their children to be tested for malnutrition.
Millions of people in Syria need humanitarian assistance
Humanitarian needs remain severe across Syria: 16.5 million people – or almost two-thirds of the population – continue to require assistance, according to OCHA.
The country continues on a path of political transition after the overthrow of the Assad regime last December.
Contamination from explosive devices remains a significant threat, OCHA said. Last month, 21 people were killed and more than 60 injured, half of them children.
In addition, some 2.5 million children remain out of school and 40 percent of schools are not operational.
Since January, the UN and its partners have reached more than three million people each month with humanitarian assistance.
OCHA and its partners continue to coordinate with authorities and monitor developments in the city of Aleppo, where a ceasefire agreement was reached on Monday night following recent hostilities.
The fighting was related to tensions over the incorporation of the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the armed forces.
The fighting led to the bombing of multiple neighborhoods, causing further displacement. Two civilians were killed and several more were injured, according to health authorities
Burundi: lawyers sanctioned for cooperating with the UN, according to the committee
A committee appointed by the UN Human Rights Council warned that Burundi has acted in violation of the Convention against Torture.
The UN Committee against Torture (CAR) announced its decision on Tuesday after reviewing the petition case of four lawyers who were punished for collaborating with the Committee in 2016 during its assessment of the country’s compliance with the Convention.
They had contributed to a joint civil society report presented to the Committee and three of them traveled to Geneva for the review process.
The lawyers said they had participated in peaceful demonstrations in 2015 opposing then-President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term, which they considered unconstitutional.
The demonstrations were violently repressed by the authorities, and security forces attacked protesters and political dissidents. The lawyers publicly condemned the violent crackdown and, amid the crackdown, fled Burundi and went into exile fearing for their safety.
In violation of international law
The Committee said the State party refused to participate in the second half of a scheduled two-day session to object to the Committee’s use of information submitted by civil society. On the same day, the prosecutor of the Court of Appeal in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, formally requested the lawyers’ disqualification.
The experts concluded that Burundi’s actions violated the Convention against Torture and, in particular, article 13 which stipulates that complainants are protected from intimidation.
“The Committee reiterated that all States have an obligation to refrain from intimidating or retaliating against persons seeking to cooperate with the Committee,” said member Todd Buchwald.
Ten experts sit on the Committee, which receives its mandate from the Human Rights Council.
They are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.