Palestine, Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (20 January 2025) | United Nations

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Trip Announcement - Secretary-General/Middle East - Occupied Palestinian Territory - Lebanon/Israel - Syria - Syria/Humanitarian - Sudan - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Ukraine - Briefings tomorrow - Honour Roll Trip Announcement The Secretary-General will leave tonight to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On Wednesday, he will be delivering a special address focusing on “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age”, the theme of this year’s Forum. In his remarks, the Secretary-General is expected to highlight how, despite progress on many fronts – including technological leaps - many of our world’s problems are getting worse. He will call on the leaders gathered in Davos to shift their collective efforts into overdrive and to improve collaboration to address two existential threats: the climate crisis and ungoverned artificial intelligence. While at the World Economic Forum, the Secretary-General is also scheduled to have a series of meetings with leaders from governments and the private sector. Before coming back to New York, Mr. Guterres will attend the annual retreat with his Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys. Secretary-General/Middle East The Secretary-General spoke at this morning’s Security Council meeting on the Middle East, saying that in Gaza, at long last, the ceasefire and hostage release deal offer a ray of hope. He noted that yesterday, the first three female hostages were released as part of the first phase. Ninety Palestinian prisoners were also released by Israel. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General added, more than 630 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday, at least 300 of them to the north. Mr. Guterres urged the parties to ensure that this deal leads to the release of all hostages and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. For our part, he added, the United Nations will do all we can to advance these efforts -- in particular, to scale up humanitarian aid across Gaza, fully aware of the significant obstacles, challenges and constraints that we face. The Secretary-General informed Council members that he had just returned from Lebanon, where he met with the Lebanese leadership along with the UN family, including UN peacekeeping troops. A new dawn is rising in Lebanon, he said, with a government hopefully soon in place where all Lebanese will feel represented, and a State that will be able to guarantee security to all its citizens. The Secretary-General said that he had seen firsthand the dramatic human impact and destruction caused by the conflict. Israelis were also victims, suffering loss and displacement. He said he fervently hopes that all from both sides will soon be able to return to the areas where they lived and resume their daily lives. The Secretary-General also told the Council that, following the fall of the brutal previous regime and years of bloodshed, there is a possibility of promise for the people of Syria. We cannot let the flame of hope turn into an inferno of chaos. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=20%20January%202025


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