Seven months of an escalatory trajectory in Yemen — accompanied by threats of a full-scale return to war — reached a new and dangerous level, the Organization’s senior official for that country warned the Security Council today, as he expressed deep concern about a drone attack on Tel Aviv by the Houthis on 19 July and the subsequent Israeli retaliatory attacks on Hudaydah port on 20 July.
In Ethiopia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN agencies are conducting a humanitarian assessment today of the displacement and damage caused by heavy rains and landslides impacting over 14,000 people, with the aim of bringing food, medicine and water, sanitation and hygiene support.
In the wake of the Houthis’ 19 July attack on Tel Aviv and Israel’s 20 July retaliation against the port of Hudaydah in Yemen, two senior United Nations officials stressed the urgent need to avoid regional escalation before the Security Council today, as members expressed similar concern but disagreed over the party ultimately responsible for the latest developments.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today released its World Forests report, which says that forests face increasing climate-related stress amid growing demand for their products. The report also warns that climate change is making our forests more vulnerable to stressors such as wildfires and pests.
The Secretary-General said today that 195 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff members have been killed, the highest staff death toll in UN history. UNRWA’s $1.2 billion appeal to cover critical humanitarian needs until year’s end is less than 20 per cent funded.
The Security Council today decided to extend, until 14 July 2025, the mandate of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), which was established on 16 January 2019 following intra-Yemeni peace consultations held in Stockholm, Sweden.
Condemning continued attacks on merchant and commercial vessels from Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen, perpetuating an unstable and volatile situation in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways, the Security Council today adopted an updated resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately cease all such aggression.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, warns that the humanitarian nightmare in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in Sudan, is worsening by the hour, stressing that civilians must be protected, aid must be able to reach them and the fighting must stop now.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today released a report showing that forced displacement surged to historic new levels across the globe last year, and into 2024.
There is an urgent need to address recent concerning developments in Yemen, which compound existing obstacles to lasting peace in the country, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, pointing to the detention of UN colleagues and a slew of stringent banking directives expected to worsen the already dire humanitarian emergency gripping the country.
