Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Afghanistan and Pakistan
– Cameroon
– Madagascar
– Madagascar/Humanitarian
– World Food Day
– Follow-up to Question
– Financial Contribution
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General is in Washington DC today where she is attending the Fall Meetings of the World Bank/IMF. She is doing that on behalf of the Secretary-General. While there, she will engage in discussions with Finance Ministers, leaders of International Financial Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks to advance the commitments from the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
Earlier this morning, she spoke at the Fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting where she welcomed the G20 Africa Engagement Framework proposed by South Africa’s Presidency. She also spoke alongside Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados at an event on international cooperation to deliver on reform of the international financial architecture.
This afternoon, we expect Ms. Mohammed to speak at the 112th meeting of the World Bank/IMF Development Committee Ministerial Meeting where she will highlight the United Nations’ strong partnership with the Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She will also reiterate our call on accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals over the remaining five years.
She will be back in New York tomorrow morning.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, while traveling from Cairo to Rafah, spoke of how vital that route is as a lifeline for life-saving aid going into Gaza.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes that supplies from Egypt still need to take a long detour and be inspected on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, pending the opening of the Rafah crossing for more direct access. Mr. Fletcher stressed the need for all the crossings to open to allow for a massive scale-up and start turning the situation on the ground around.
Speaking from Cairo yesterday, he underscored that humanitarian teams have been preparing for this moment and now need sufficient access to deliver the large amounts of assistance that are needed.
The humanitarian community cannot deliver at the scale necessary without international NGO presence and engagement. Currently, the Israeli authorities do not issue visas for a number of international NGOs and do not authorize many of them to send supplies into Gaza.
That being said, humanitarian teams inside Gaza continue to make the most out of the opportunities afforded to them by the ceasefire.
To give you some examples, on Tuesday alone, 21 of our partners distributed nearly 960,000 meals through 175 kitchens. Bakeries that we support produced over 100,000 two-kilogram bread bundles. UNICEF distributed more than one million baby diapers. And the World Health Organization delivered three truckloads of surgical and other essential medical supplies from their warehouse in Deir al Balah to the central pharmacy in Gaza City.
The WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros said those medical supplies will be transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital and will meet the needs of about 10,000 people. WHO also deployed an international emergency medical team to boost orthopedic surgery and trauma care in Gaza. And their teams set up two new operating theaters, and they are planning to add 120 more inpatient beds to Al-Shifa to expand the hospital’s capacity.
OCHA tells us that teams from across the UN system have now finished clearing the main roads leading to the Erez and Zikim crossings in the north in anticipation of their potential re-opening, which would allow, of course, aid to be brought in directly into northern Gaza where it is desperately needed. Today, we have teams checking the Salah Ad Din road, which has not been used for months.
Also on Tuesday, we had colleagues from multiple UN agencies visit the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza city – which was severely impacted by the recent military operation.
Our teams also met there with returnees and with those who have remained all along and heard from them how determined they are to rebuild their lives. Their main humanitarian priority was access to water, alongside food, shelter and the removal of debris. Those who have lost their homes were staying in tents, while those who returned to homes that were still inhabitable have begun clearing rubble and cleaning up.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-10-16