Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Noon Briefing by Daniela Gross, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
Secretary-General/Gaza
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Secretary-General/Travels
Security Council
Security Council/Libya
Global Health Challenges/Extreme Heat
Senior Personnel Appointment
International Days

SECRETARY-GENERAL/GAZA
In a statement issued early this morning, the Secretary-General said that just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: “famine”. This is not a mystery, he said; it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself.
The Secretary-General noted that famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival. He pointed out that people are starving, children are dying and those with the duty to act are failing.
The Secretary-General said that as the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law, including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population. He stressed that we cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.
No more excuses, the Secretary-General said, adding that the time for action is not tomorrow, it is now. He emphasized that we need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages and full, unfettered humanitarian access.
There have been also several other statements on this, including from our Emergency Relief Coordinator, UN Agencies and our UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. All of those statements are available online.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Now on the humanitarian side, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs remind us, again today, that civilians are bearing the brunt of this war. As strikes continue to intensify across the Strip, casualties are flooding hospitals’ emergency departments.
We and our partners continue to warn of the catastrophic consequences that the intensification of the ongoing offensive in Gaza city would have for civilians. Overnight and into today, multiple strikes were reported in the Jabalya Al Balad and An Nazla neighbourhoods. Our partners monitoring population movements in the Strip say that as a result, about 900 people reportedly left, heading towards the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and western Gaza city.
Once again, we remind parties to the conflict of their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers and those who cannot or choose not to move. As we have said before, those fleeing must be allowed to do so safely. They must also be allowed to return if they wish to do so, as the situation allows. OCHA reiterates the urgency of ensuring people have access to aid and basic services, whether they leave or stay. Supplies must be allowed to enter Gaza through all available crossings and corridors. We and our humanitarian partners must have safe, predictable and sustained access to deliver aid at scale to people in immense need of assistance.
Our colleagues working on health remind us that nearly half of all hospitals and field hospitals are located in Gaza city and account for 40 per cent of the total inpatient bed capacity in all of the Gaza Strip. Expansion of military operations would further cripple the collapsing healthcare system.
Many medical facilities in the south are operating several times over their bedspace capacity. Partners stress that access to healthcare must be immediately restored to avert more preventable deaths.

Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=22%20August%202025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gub0nUBK58I

Source: United Nations (video statements)

It’s Famine in Gaza says Tom Fletcher, the Head of OCHA.
More than half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released today by the United Nations. Briefing journalists on Friday at UN headquarters in Geneva, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said it was a famine that could have been prevented ‘if we had been allowed.’
‘Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel. It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food, in a fertile land’, he added.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qyqVEo3nQgU

Source: United Nations (video statements)

@unitednations
▶ https://youtu.be/hRXeJ7IVaYk
When war comes home, with Yacoub El Hillo | United Nations ‘Awake at Night’ podcast teaser

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Yacoub El Hillo spent more than thirty years serving refugees and displaced people in some of the world’s worst conflict zones. But when cataclysmic war erupted in his hometown of Khartoum, Sudan, the Regional Director for Africa at the United Nations Development Coordination Office (DCO) had to help his own family flee the violence.

“I don’t think there’s any home in Khartoum that was spared … the assumption is that everything is gone.”

Having served in more than 16 duty stations, from Liberia to Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan, Yacoub El Hillo has rarely seen any conflict as devastating as the one currently decimating Sudan.

In this episode, he reflects on the scale of the human suffering there, looks back on a rich and varied career with the UN, and shares why all nations deserve a chance to strive for a brighter future.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tMy6Y6vAgBw

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Briefing by Mr. Geir Pedersen, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, on the situation on the Middle East – Security Council, 9983rd meeting.

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The UN Special Envoy for Syria briefed the Security Council on Thursday, saying that amid a strained ceasefire and military skirmishes in Syria, the political transition “remains on a knife’s edge”.

Geir Pedersen told ambassadors that in Sweida governate, where sectarian violence in July also spurred conflict in the capital Damascus, the 19 July ceasefire has come under strain, but the conflict has not resumed so far.

However, “we are still seeing dangerous hostilities and skirmishes on the margins of Sweida, and violence could resume at any moment,” he said.

In northeast Syria, efforts to implement the 10 March agreement between the interim security forces and the mostly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue. Just this month, there have been spikes in violence between the two militaries in the Aleppo governorate.

While attempts to convene the two sides outside of the country have been unsuccessful, Mr. Pedersen welcomed reports of contacts between officials.

Despite these security incidents, Mr. Pedersen stressed that the situation has been relatively calm this month, applauding the efforts of those who have worked to tamp down hostilities.

However, in terms of the political situation, “the country remains deeply fragile and the transition remains on a knife-edge.”

After 13 years of civil war, Mr. Pedersen underscored the need for an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition that enables the Syrian people determine their own future peacefully, independently and democratically.

“Syrians need to feel that this transition is not a series of ad hoc arrangements and isolated institutions, but a clear and comprehensive path, based on inclusion and transparency, to implement the principles of resolution 2254,” he said.

To encourage the voluntary, safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons, Mr. Pedersen stressed the need for coordinated support to repair Syria’s depleted infrastructure.

“The best way to secure such support is through a genuine political transition that lays the path for long-term stability and sustainable governance. Indeed, without credible reforms, stronger institutions, and a firm commitment to the rule of law, international support risks being squandered or misdirected,” he stressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70ohRCUfBY