Attacks on a clinic and UN staff member were reported during a resumed polio vaccine campaign in besieged northern Gaza, Israeli forces continued airstrikes on Lebanon on Sunday and in Yemen, a new water project launched a "lifeline" for populations fleeing conflict.
Gaza: Health teams under attack
The northern Gaza polio vaccine campaign began Saturday and is scheduled to continue through Monday, with UN agencies and partners fanning out across the ravaged north during agreed upon humanitarian pauses to ensure safety for civilians and aid workers.
The goal is to reach more than 100,000 children with the final vaccine dose to ensure that the paralysing virus does not spread across the Strip or the region. Eradicated 25 years ago, polio resurfaced earlier this year as the ongoing war in Gaza devastated health conditions and services.
This weekend, amid unparalleled operational and security challenges, more than 58,600 children received a second polio vaccine dose on Saturday, the UN Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) operating in Israeli-occupied Gaza reported.
Those challenges continued Sunday.
"This has already been a deadly weekend of attacks in north Gaza," UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement late Saturday.
'Beyond time to end this war'
In the past 48 hours alone, Ms. Russell said that over 50 children have reportedly been killed in Jabalia, where strikes leveled two residential buildings sheltering hundreds of people, and a polio vaccine centre in northern Gaza was also hit, injuring six people, including four children.
In addition, she said the "personal vehicle of a UNICEF staff member working on the polio vaccination campaign came under fire by what we believe to be a quadcopter while driving through Jabalia-Elnazla", damaging the car but leaving the staff member uninjured.
"The attacks on Jabalia, the vaccination clinic and the UNICEF staff member are yet further examples of the grave consequences of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip," she said, asking Israel for an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack on a UN agency staff member and that actions are taken to hold accountable those found responsible.
"UNICEF also calls on Member States to use their influence to ensure respect for international law, prioritising the protection of children," she said. "It is beyond time to end this war."
Second year without school
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA , said on Sunday that children are now losing a second year of schooling due to the ongoing devastating war in Gaza.
The agency, which serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, faces a ban by Israel, whose parliament adopted two laws last week that could end UNRWA's critical efforts across Palestinian territory occupied by Israel - Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr. Lazzarini recalled that children and their education are not featured in any discussions when "experts" or politicians talk about replacing UNRWA.
"In the absence of a functioning state, there is no alternative [to UNRWA]," he said in a social media post . "Until October last year, UNRWA provided learning to over 300,000 boys and girls in Gaza. In the West Bank, nearly 50,000 children go to our schools."
'Millions of lives will hang by a thread'
UNRWA is the only UN agency that directly provides education in UN schools, he said, noting that "our schools are the only education system in the region that includes a human rights programme and that follows United Nations standards and values."
"Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of learning in the foreseeable future, the UN agency chief said, adding that without learning, children "slip into hopelesness, poverty and radicalisation".
"Without UNRWA, the fate of millions of people will hang by the thread," he continued. "Instead of focusing on banning UNRWA or finding alternatives, the focus should be on reaching an agreement to end this conflict. This is the only way to prioritise the return to school for hundreds of thousands of children, currently living in the rubble. It's time to prioritise children and their future."
Lebanon: Civilians bear brunt of airstrikes
Continued bombing in Lebanon is being reported by UN agencies on the ground on Sunday.
The UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA , said the country is facing "a humanitarian crisis as relentless attacks take a devastating toll".
Civilians are bearing the brunt of the escalating violence, OCHA said on Sunday, which added that growing needs require more contributions to help partners save lives.
UN agencies have been delivering support to civilians. Since late September, it has distributed, among other things, 4.4 million meals, 121,500 food parcels and 1.4 million litres of bottled water to conflict-affected populations.
Efforts also included the delivery of 447,000 litres of fuel to water pumping stations so they can continue to operate.
