Arab League calls for urgent relief for Gaza, Sudan, Yemen

The Arab League called on Monday for urgent relief to address the difficult humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and Sudan, and the disaster due to torrents and floods in the Yemeni governorates of Hodeidah and Hajjah.

In a statement coinciding World Humanitarian Day 2024, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector of Arab Legue, Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, warned that the risk of a polio virus outbreak in the Gaza Strip could put the lives of thousands of children at stake, stressing the need to support the Palestinian Ministry of Health with urgent serums and vaccinations to confront the spread of this epidemic, and also to allow medical teams to move freely inside the Strip to vaccinate children.

Abu Ghazaleh affirmed the Arab League’s support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), hailing its efforts despite all the pressures it is subjected to by the occupying power to obstruct its work within the Strip. She called on all international parties and donor countries to provide the necessary support to the UN agency.

She added that nearly 25.6 million people in Sudan, more than half the population, were facing acute hunger, with over 755,000 people on the brink of famine, according to the Integrated Phase Classification Famine Study Committee. In this regard, she noted that relief workers still face major challenges in providing humanitarian access, due to the ongoing conflict and insecurity in the country.

Abu Ghazaleh warned that the collapse of the health sector in Sudan due to the ongoing conflict has led to the spread of many diseases and epidemics, the latest of which is the outbreak of cholera since last month in many areas, amid a severe shortage of vaccinations. She called on the World Health Organization and all parties to quickly provide the necessary vaccines to limit the spread of this deadly epidemic.

Meanwhile, she said that the General Secretariat received this month an urgent relief appeal from the Republic of Yemen to provide relief to those affected by the torrents and floods that hit the governorates of Hodeida and Hajjah, and to urge regional and international partners and international and humanitarian organizations to support the efforts of the Yemeni government to confront this disaster that exceeds its capacity in the affected areas.

World Humanitarian Day was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2008 to be observed on Aug. 19 of each year.