29 August 2017 – The United Nations is reacting to the devastating images from Tropical Storm Harvey, which has affected an area the size of Spain in the southern United States, and which is likely to worsen in the coming hours as the rain continues.

&#8220Shocked at the images of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation,&#8221 Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Tweet.

The Secretary-General, who is currently in the Middle East on an official visit with Israeli and Palestinian authorities, added that his thoughts are with all the victims and the first responders.

The storm is presenting a &#8220nightmare scenario,&#8221 according to the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and bringing &#8220catastrophic and life-threatening&#8221 flooding.

Clare Nullis, a WMO spokesperson told journalists in Geneva that rivers are rising and the disaster is &#8220far from over.&#8221

&#8220Harvey has caused so much rainfall that the National Weather Service has had to update the colour charts on its graphics in order to effectively map it,&#8221 Ms. Nullis said, &#8220introducing a new colour category for rainfall totals above 30 inches or 76 centimetres.&#8221

Although the storm is no longer classified as a hurricane, it is moving slowly and generating heavy rainfall.

&#8220The priority for now is to save people’s lives and get them out of harm’s way,&#8221 said Ms. Nullis.

The UN disaster risk reduction office today extended condolences to the families and friends of the people killed, and said the destruction caused by Harvey is already in the millions of dollars.

&#8220Hurricane Harvey has revealed how exposed even high-income countries are when building takes place on a grand scale along coastlines exposed to tropical storms. There is no doubt that along with failings in risk governance, climate change is intensifying the cocktail of man-made risk to an unprecedented degree,&#8221 said UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Robert Glasser.

He noted the impact of displacement caused by flooding &#8211 the most common natural hazard &#8211 and stressed the importance of building outside of flood plains.

29 August 2017 – The United Nations aid chief released today $45 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to four countries &#8220struggling in crises away from the headlines&#8221 &#8211 Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan &#8211 where more than 21 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance.

The allocation for these neglected emergencies will sustain and scale up critical aid operations by humanitarian partners in these countries, where life-saving needs are alarmingly high but funding is critically low, according to a press statement form the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

&#8220This funding is a lifeline for millions of people who struggle in crises away from the headlines. Focusing largely on longstanding conflict-related crises, this allocation will address the most urgent needs of affected people, said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mr. Stephen O’Brien.

Thanking all donors to the CERF, he added that such funding allows their contributions to go further, &#8220reaching those who need our help the most.&#8221

&#8220The spotlight on underfunded emergencies is unique to the mandate of CERF, enabling urgent response to where the needs are greatest and not to where the noise is loudest. A bigger CERF is critical to address our common goal to leave no one behind. I urge your continuous support,&#8221 said Mr. O’Brien.

A large portion of these funds will reach people affected by displacement &#8211 one of the most pressing humanitarian challenges in today’s world, OCHA explained. The funds will enable humanitarian partners to provide critical health care, food assistance, access to clean water and sanitation and other types of humanitarian aid. However, it addresses only a small portion of the urgent humanitarian needs in the countries.

29 August 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today reiterated his call for a political solution to the Middle East conflict that would end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and would create an independent Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

&#8220It is my deep belief that it is essential to restart a serious and credible political process of negotiation aiming at that objective &#8211 the two-state solution &#8211 as it is also important to create conditions on the ground to improve the situation of Palestinian populations,&#8221 Mr. Guterres said at a press conference in Ramallah after meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

&#8220A two-state solution that will end the occupation and, with the creation of conditions, also the suffering even to the Palestinian people, is in my opinion the only way to guarantee that peace is established and, at the same time, that two states can live together in security and in mutual recognition,&#8221 Mr. Guterres said.

He said that Israel’s settlement activity represented a major obstacle to the implementation of the two-state solution although there are other obstacles.

The UN chief also expressed a concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and pledged to support the effort towards creating conditions for a unified Palestinian leadership both in West Bank and Gaza.

To a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest comments on settlements in West Bank, Mr. Guterres said &#8220it is clear that there is a disagreement on that matter.&#8221

&#8220We believe that settlement activity is illegal under international law […] it is an obstacle to the two-state solution,&#8221 he added.

Visit to Yasser Arafat Museum

Also today, the Secretary-General visited Yasser Arafat Museum.

&#8220When visiting this museum, there are of course many emotions and many feelings, but the most important of them is the feeling of the suffering of the Palestinian people,&#8221 Mr. Guterres told reporters.

For many years, in different capacities as Prime Minister of Portugal and as president of an international political organization, he has closely followed the peace process, in its hopes and frustrations, he said.

&#8220I have a dream, a dream to see in the Holy Land two states: A Palestinian state and an Israeli State, living together in peace and security, in mutual recognition and allowing for this kind of suffering not to be possible anymore,&#8221 the Secretary-General stated.