State of Palestine

In Abyei, the United Nations Interim Security Force there reported that they are continuing to patrol in order to protect civilians and are engaging with community leaders and local authorities to de-escalate intercommunal tensions.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released its Global Waste Management Outlook 2024. The report, titled “Beyond an age of waste: Turning rubbish into a resource”, provides the most substantial update on global waste generation and the cost of waste and its management.

The Director of Coordination for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in a briefing yesterday to the Security Council, reported that at least 576,000 people in Gaza — one quarter of the population — are one step away from famine.

Three senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today of imminent famine in the Gaza Strip, urging immediate action to avert humanitarian disaster in a territory where many Council members alleged the use of hunger as a weapon of war.

In Ethiopia, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator has allocated $17 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address worsening food insecurity in the country. The new funding reflects the Organization’s deep concern over the impact of a new El Niño-driven drought that is impacting Ethiopia.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Mission there reports that after a brief lull in violence in the country, there were renewed and intense clashes on 25 February between the M23 armed group and the Congolese armed forces, west of the town of Sake in North Kivu.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva released a horrific report today that details violations and abuses by both sides in the conflict in Sudan since April 2023, resulting in thousands of civilians killed, millions displaced, property looted, and children conscripted into fighting.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report today on how attacks on Red Sea shipping are reshaping global trade routes. Higher fuel consumption from rerouted trade could result in a 70 per cent rise in greenhouse-gas emissions for these trips, and shipping costs have skyrocketed.

A full-scale Israeli military operation in the densely populated Rafah area — where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering near the only point of entry for goods — would be devastating, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East told the Security Council today, as he appealed for additional access points to northern Gaza to increase the flow of aid and reduce congestion in the south.