The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic deployed a rapid reaction force near Ndélé, Bamingui-Bangoran Prefecture, to protect civilians amid reports of possible attacks by armed groups. The Mission continues to reinforce community protection, including in Ouadda-Djallé, Vakaga Prefecture, through early warning training.
Palestinian issues
The Bureau of the United Nations General Assembly Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is following with grave concern the latest developments in Gaza.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting today to assess a fragile truce between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza after three days of deadly fighting, with the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process calling on all sides to abide by the agreement and delegates denouncing the deliberate targeting of civilians, notably children.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched an appeal for $10.7 million to deliver life-saving health care in the next six months to over 2 million women and girls in Sri Lanka, where the health system risks collapsing amid debilitating power shortages and a lack of critical supplies and equipment.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Addressing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians as they arise cannot replace efforts to resolve core issues driving the conflict, a senior United Nations official for the region told the Security Council today, as Council members stressed the need to implement a two-State solution while other delegates criticized the organ’s inability to meaningfully resolve a crisis that has persisted for over 70 years.
Security Council members today expressed their alarm with the escalating tensions and violence plaguing the occupied Palestinian territories as a top United Nations envoy laid out the troubling trends that are undermining prospects for a peaceful two-State resolution of the conflict.
Ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) ministerial meeting on global food security, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today appealed for $1.2 billion to meet urgent needs of 8 million children at risk of death from severe wasting.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in New York today: