Syria: Recent violence underscored fragile situation - OCHA Briefing | United Nations

Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, echoed concerns about instability and funding shortfalls. She said recent violence underscored the fragile situation. “Last week’s attack in Palmyra, and other suspected ISIL attacks in recent months, also illustrate the fragile situation in many areas,” she said, adding that such violence undermines prospects for development and investment. Msuya warned that aid operations are being constrained by lack of resources. “With our humanitarian appeal for 2025 only 30 per cent funded, there are millions more people that we can’t help,” she said, noting reductions and disruptions in critical assistance. Civil society voices also addressed the Council. Mariam Jalabi, co-founder of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement, appealed to Syrians at home and in the diaspora to continue pursuing justice and accountability. She called on Syrians to “celebrate the anniversary of our liberation” and to ensure that “the voice of the Syrian people be the source and compass of all authority.”


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Syria: Serious obstacles remain - DPPA Briefing | United Nations

“Syrians have made great strides since a year ago, but serious obstacles remain,” UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council. Briefing the Council, she said the Syrian government has restored state institutions, begun integrating armed factions under a single command, issued a constitutional declaration and formed a new cabinet, with indirect legislative elections held in October. DiCarlo also pointed to shifting international dynamics. “Many countries have lifted bilateral sanctions on Syria,” she said, noting that the US Congress had repealed the Caesar Act and that the Security Council last month adopted resolution 2799, removing designations on President Sharaa and Interior Minister Khattab. However, she warned that security risks persist, particularly in southern Syria. “Israeli airstrikes and incursions in the south have aggravated the security situation,” DiCarlo said, citing a late-November incursion into the town of Beit Jinn that, according to Syrian authorities, killed 13 people and displaced families. She reiterated the Secretary-General’s call on Israel to refrain from violations of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity.


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The situation in Gaza - Press Conference | United Nations

Press conference by Antoine Renard, World Food Programme’s (WFP) Palestine Representative, on the situation in Gaza following his recent visit to the Strip.


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The Kavernacle: Mr Beast is Evil

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Palestine, Colonialism & other topics - Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Occupied Palestinian Territory - Colonialism - Syria/Security Council - Sudan - Haiti - Venezuela - Aviation - International Days - Guest Today OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that UN agencies and more than 200 international and local non-governmental organizations issued a statement yesterday urging the international community to take immediate and concrete actions to press the Israeli authorities to lift all impediments to NGO operations and humanitarian access across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, especially in the Gaza Strip. They warned that restrictive policies – including a new registration system for international NGOs that relies on vague and politicized criteria – are undermining relief efforts and risk the collapse of the humanitarian response. They also stress that many essential supplies such as food, medicine, hygiene items and shelter materials remain stuck outside Gaza - and that dozens of international NGOs face deregistration and forced closure by year’s end. The loss of NGO capacity would severely disrupt life-saving services including healthcare, nutrition treatment, water and sanitation, and emergency shelter at a time when needs are acute and alternatives cannot fill the gap. The UN and our partners continue our efforts to scale up assistance across the Gaza Strip despite these challenges, with a focus on providing winter support to mitigate the impact of harsh weather conditions. Our partners say that since the ceasefire came into effect in mid-October and as of Tuesday, they have distributed multi-purpose cash assistance to nearly 139,000 households, compared with over 40,000 in September. Each household received digital payments equivalent to about 378 US dollars. Altogether, more than 305,000 households in the Gaza Strip have received at least one payment this year. Our partners providing education services report that on Tuesday, they distributed hygiene materials to more than 90 temporary learning spaces across the Strip, benefiting nearly 115,000 school-age children. These supplies are particularly critical during the winter rainy season, as they improve sanitation conditions and reduce health risks in overcrowded spaces. Also on Tuesday, three new temporary learning spaces were established in northern Gaza – two in Gaza City and one in North Gaza governorate – bringing the total number of operational learning spaces across the Strip to more than 400. Several multi-purpose tents were also installed to foster safer learning environments for enrolled students, many of whom are receiving education for the first time. Finally, our health partners report that constraints affecting the entry into Gaza of emergency medical teams have eased somewhat in recent weeks. Denial rates have fallen to about 20 per cent, compared with 30 to 35 per cent before the ceasefire. There are currently more than 340 emergency medical team staff in Gaza. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-12-18


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Israel on Middle East - Media Stakeout | United Nations

Informal comments to the media by Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, on the situation in the Middle East.


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Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica – Press Briefing | United Nations

Briefing by Dennis Zulu, UN Resident Coordinator in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands, on the impact of Hurricane Melissa.


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#Yemen on the brink: Secretary-General urges restraint

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Yemen’s leaders to return to the path of peace and release all UN personnel detained there, following a briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday. Since 2014, Yemeni government forces supported by a Saudi-led military coalition have been battling Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran and control the capital, Sana’a.


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UN Chief on Yemen - Security Council Media Stakeout | United Nations

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all parties in Yemen to “exercise maximum restraint, de-escalate tensions, and resolve differences through dialogue.” He also strongly condemned the continued arbitrary detention of UN staff and partner personnel.


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The new UN Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents - Press Conference | United Nations

Press Conference by Anna Joubin-Bret on the new UN Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents.


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Gaza: Ceasefire remains fragile - Special Coordinator Briefing | United Nations

“On 11 December, the Israeli cabinet decided to approve or regularize 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank,” a senior UN official told the Security Council, warning that settlement activity this year has reached record levels. Briefing the Council, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the decision included the settlements of Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank, which had been evacuated by Israel in 2005. He said that “in 2025, settlement advancement reached its highest level since UN tracking began in 2017,” urging Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, and recalling the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of 19 July 2024, which obliges Israel “to cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers, and end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory promptly.” Alakbarov also raised concerns over developments in East Jerusalem, telling Council members that “on 8 December, Israeli authorities forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, seizing property and replacing the UN flag with an Israeli flag.” He recalled that the Secretary-General strongly condemned these actions and emphasized that the “compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference.” Turning to the humanitarian situation, Alakbarov said UN winterization efforts were underway, “distributing tents, blankets and other essential supplies, reaching people where they are.” However, he warned that “conditions remain dire, and the risk of hypothermia is increasing with the onset of winter weather,” confirming that the first hypothermia-related death of a two-week-old newborn boy from Khan Younis, was confirmed earlier today.


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