Middle East

In Sudan, humanitarian officials report that flooding is heightening the risk of cholera, and that it will continue to spread. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that in a month since the first suspected cases were reported, more than 650 cases and 28 deaths have been reported there.

With polio beginning to spread through the Gaza Strip, and humanitarian and health agencies overextended, an immediate humanitarian pause and a long-term peace deal are imperative, the Security Council heard today during an open briefing on the Palestinian question.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reports the situation along the Blue Line remains very tense, with daily exchanges of fire that have left destruction and claimed lives on both sides of the Blue Line.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) appealed today for $18.5 million to provide crucial healthcare services to migrants, internally displaced people, and host communities at risk of Mpox in East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the southern part of the continent.

In Ukraine, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator there condemned an overnight attack in the Donetsk region, in the eastern part of the country, where a transit centre for displaced people was damaged. The site in Pokrovsk Town was sheltering people who had fled earlier hostilities.

In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that repeated waves of displacement — combined with overcrowding, insecurity, crumbling infrastructure, active hostilities and limited services — is worsening the humanitarian situation there, which is already catastrophic.

In Nigeria, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is drawing attention to the plight of 3.7 million forcibly displaced people and the need to accelerate sustainable solutions for them.

The surge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a growing number of African countries is a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization warns. The Agency has released $1.45 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies and may release more in the coming days.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today said that one in five children – or 466 million children – live in areas that experience at least double the number of extremely hot days every year compared to just six decades ago.

The Israeli attack on the Al Tabi'een school in Gaza City on 10 August underscored the desperate need to reach a ceasefire, free the hostages, and scale up humanitarian aid to Gaza, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as delegates voiced concern over rising regional tensions.