State of Palestine

The following statement was issued today by UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:

Ending a two-day mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag called on the international community to urgently tackle the crisis in the country, where over 13 million people need humanitarian aid.

Civilian returns to Iraq’s newly accessible areas continue to increase since the conclusion of major counter‑Daesh military operations late last year; 3.2 million previously displaced people have now returned home, surpassing the total number of displaced in the country for the first time since the crisis began four years ago.

United Nations humanitarian flights to Yemen resumed on 25 November, with two commercial vessels having arrived in Hodaidah carrying 35,020 metric tons of wheat and flour.  Three vessels carrying nearly 65,000 metric tons of food have been cleared by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism and are awaiting permission from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to enter the port.

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, marking the seventieth anniversary of General Assembly resolution 181 at the Queens Museum, in New York today:

Late on Tuesday morning, 29 August, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres travelled by car from Jerusalem to Ramallah.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled to Gaza by the Erez crossing on Tuesday morning, 28 June, where he visited the building site of the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Limbs, which is scheduled to be built later this year.  He was also briefed on other infrastructure projects funded by Qatar.

On Wednesday, 21 October, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled by car from Jerusalem to Ramallah, where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Having arrived in Israel from Egypt on Sunday, 12 October, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled by car from Jerusalem to Ramallah on Monday morning, 13 October.

Upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel — the fourth stop on his Middle East journey — in the early afternoon of Tuesday, 22 July, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was greeted by Ya’akov Peri, Minister of Science and Technology. From the airport, the Secretary-General travelled by road directly to Tel Aviv to meet at the Ministry of Defense with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.