<\/p>\n
Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Occupied Palestinian Territory<\/u><\/p>\n And on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that they are now in Jenin, together with partners, to assess humanitarian needs in the refugee camp following the end of the Israeli operation there.<\/p>\n The repair of water and electricity networks and provision of shelter for those who have lost their homes will be among the top priorities in the coming days.<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you, Farhan.\u00a0 On Palestine, to what degree you think Israel listened to calls from SG to avoid civilians, if when in its recent attack, 80\u00a0per cent of the houses in the Jenin camp destroyed or damaged, 4,000\u00a0displaced and more than 120\u00a0civilians, either killed or injured, including five children killed?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 We\u2019re certainly very disturbed by all of the accounts that civilians were killed and injured.\u00a0 I\u2019d also refer you, beyond what the Secretary-General said on Monday, to what was said by the High Commissioner for Human Rights about this.\u00a0 We always want in all such operations for care to be taken to avoid places of high civilian concentration and to avoid facilities like hospitals.\u00a0 And it\u2019s clear that in this case, over these days, there were accounts of civilian infrastructure and hospitals being hit.<\/p>\n Betul?<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Just a follow-up.\u00a0 If I may?\u00a0The mayor of Jenin said that ±¬ÁÏÍø and specifically, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) failed to provide the support in face of this attack.\u00a0 Do you have any comment on that?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, the ±¬ÁÏÍø Relief and Works Agency, ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA, was trying very hard to maintain its facilities.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t able to keep all of its schools and hospital facilities open, given the fighting.\u00a0 But now we are trying our best to again have facilities be open.\u00a0 And as I pointed out, we\u2019re trying to step up and first assess needs and provide humanitarian aid to Jenin.<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thanks, Farhan.\u00a0 Back to Jenin, was ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA given a warning from Israel about this operation, and if they were, would that rise to the level of reaching the Secretary-General?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m not aware that any of the ±¬ÁÏÍø agencies were given advanced warning.\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 There\u2019s some talk that the ±¬ÁÏÍø was surprised at the brutality of the raid by the Israelis.\u00a0 Is that a correct way to summarize the Secretary-General\u2019s reaction to it?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 [\u2026] I wouldn\u2019t use the word surprised.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen, unfortunately, too many examples of this violence in past years.\u00a0 But certainly, it is alarming\u00a0\u2014 the scale of violence in terms of the effect on civilians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \/…<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Farhan, thank you.\u00a0 First, I have a follow-up regarding the attacks on the infrastructure in Jenin by Israeli army because I didn\u2019t hear you condemning that.\u00a0 Do you condemn it?\u00a0 Do you believe\u2026 What\u2019s your position on that?\u00a0 And also, since this destruction was made mainly by the Israeli army, do you believe they should pay for compensation for the destruction of schools, hospitals, et cetera? \u00a0I have another question.<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, regarding the attacks, certainly, we believe that any attacks on civilian infrastructure could be violations of international humanitarian law; and as you know, the Secretary-General on Monday\u00a0issued a statement<\/a>\u00a0saying that any military operations must show full respect for international humanitarian law.\u00a0 That does not seem to have been the case.<\/p>\n Yeah.\u00a0 What was your next question?\u00a0 [cross talk]<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 There was the other part of my question regarding compensation when it comes to this destruction of infrastructure.<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think that\u2019s an issue that will have to be resolved between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, how they\u2019ll deal with that.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 My question is the Palestinian President and also the Palestinian Ambassador, not only this time, but in other times, talked and called for protection of the Palestinian people, people who are under occupation.\u00a0 Does the Secretary-General believe that the Palestinians who are under occupation need to be protected?\u00a0 And if so, what is he doing about that?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, I think the views that we have had about the situation of Palestinians under occupation is something that is a matter of public record and is part of the statements and reports we\u2019ve put out over the years.\u00a0 And so, I\u2019d just refer you to those.<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t\u2026 because actually, you didn\u2019t answer my question, because the Secretary-General has a report about the protection of the Palestinian people, that\u2019s sitting\u2026 that he was required to provide in 2018 to the Security Council, and he did that.\u00a0 And since then, the Security Council didn\u2019t discuss that issue, the issue of protection of the Palestinian people.\u00a0 So, the question is, why isn\u2019t he pushing for at least discussing this issue in the Security Council or even in the General Assembly, if the Security Council is failing to do that?\u00a0 It is his own report.<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, first of all, he did submit the report.\u00a0 They have it, and we report regularly, as you know, to the Security Council; indeed, the next one will probably be just a few days from now about the situation in the Middle East.\u00a0 So, we continue to raise our concerns about the situation of the Palestinian people, and it\u2019s up to the council members to respond.<\/p>\n Abdelhamid?<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0Yeah.\u00a0 I have few follow-ups on the question of Jenin and related issues.\u00a0First, the SG issued a statement made of two lines, expressing concern and calling for the operation to abide by international humanitarian law; that\u2019s all.\u00a0 And Mr.\u00a0Tor Wennesland issued a statement in the early hours of the operation in which he said eight people were killed, including militants.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he said.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t mention including children.\u00a0 So, knowing what you know now, do you think that the SG and his Special Coordinator should reissue a statement condemning what happened in the refugee camp, knowing now there are 12\u00a0people killed including four children, at least, destruction of the infrastructure, including electricity, water pipes, attacking two hospitals, expelling about 12,000\u00a0from the refugee camp\u00a0\u2014 and knowing all this destruction?\u00a0 All these information doesn\u2019t require another statement similar to that of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, in which he said attacking by air force the populated area is equal to killing by intention?<\/p>\n Deputy Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Well, as you yourself just noted, the High Commissioner for Human Rights has also issued a statement.\u00a0 That\u2019s also part of the statements that have come out from the ±¬ÁÏÍø system.\u00a0 Different agencies as well, including the Relief and Works Agency, have their statements.\u00a0So, there\u2019s a spectrum of statements that are issued and I think they together characterize our response to the situation.<\/p>\n \/…<\/p>\n For information media. 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