Health

In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the catastrophic situation there is the worst since the war began. Strikes have continued across Gaza, particularly in north Gaza, where the last remaining partially functioning hospital, Al Awda, was forced to evacuate last night.

UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo helped the country’s armed forces Wednesday respond to armed clashes in Ituri Province near a market in Fataki that caused civilians to flee. Earlier this week, they enrolled over 1,000 ex-combatants from the Zaire armed group into community reinsertion projects.

A new World Meteorological Organization report forecast global temperatures will continue at or near record levels in the next five years, increasing climate risks and impacts on societies, economies and sustainable development, with an 86 per cent chance that at least one year will be over 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

In Myanmar, a new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the vast majority of the country’s people are united in their defiance of military authoritarianism and violence.

In Chad, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Thomas Fletcher has allocated $2.5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to urgently respond to the massive influx of refugees and returnees in the east of the country from Sudan. This brings CERF's total allocation to Chad this year to $16 million.

In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, yesterday and today, Israeli authorities granted access to Kerem Shalom so that UN teams could reach additional humanitarian supplies that crossed into the Strip on Monday and Tuesday.

Today in Geneva, Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) formally adopted by consensus the world’s first Pandemic Agreement. The landmark decision culminates more than three years of intensive negotiations launched by Governments in response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the seventy-eighth World Health Assembly, in Geneva, Switzerland, today:

Israeli authorities have temporarily allowed the UN to resume limited aid delivery into Gaza following 11 weeks of complete blockade, and amid a spike in the military offensive, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said today.

In Syria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more than 670,000 people have been displaced since November 2024, while over 1 million people have returned to their areas of origin. Meanwhile, the UN and its partners continue to deliver aid across the country despite reduced funding.