Climate, Palestine, Sudan & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (22 July 2025) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: Secretary-General/Climate Security Council Occupied Palestinian Territory U.N.E.S.C.O. Sudan South Sudan Democratic Republic of the Congo Afghanistan Ukraine Haiti Guests SECRETARY-GENERAL/CLIMATE This morning, the Secretary-General delivered a special address on ‘A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the Clean Energy Age'. He underscored that already, the carbon emissions saved by solar and wind globally are almost equivalent to what the whole European Union produces in a year. But, he said, this transformation is fundamentally about energy security and people’s security and that it’s about smart economics. The Secretary-General said that the energy transition is unstoppable but is not yet fast enough or fair enough. SECURITY COUNCIL The Secretary-General spoke at today’s Security Council meeting on multilateralism, and he warned that around the world, we see an utter disregard for international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law, international humanitarian law, and the UN Charter itself, without any accountability. He drew attention to what he called the horror show in Gaza, where malnourishment is soaring, starvation is knocking on every door and now we are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles. Mr. Guterres said he is appalled that UN premises have been struck, among them facilities of the UN Office for Project Services and the World Health Organization, including WHO’s main warehouse. This is despite all parties having been informed of the locations of these UN facilities. He reminded the Council that these premises, like all civilian sites, are inviolable and must be protected under international humanitarian law without exception. He noted that today marks three years since the signing of the Black Sea Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Federation, efforts that show what we can achieve through mediation and the good offices of the United Nations, even during the most challenging moments. The Secretary-General said that we must work to ensure that the Security Council reflects the world of today, not the world of 80 years ago. The Council should be made more representative of today’s geopolitical realities. And we must continue improving the working methods of this Council to make it more inclusive, transparent, efficient and accountable, he added. OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY Turning to the Gaza Strip, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that intense hostilities continue with no let-up, as does the rapid collapse of the last lifelines keeping people alive. Earlier today, local health authorities said that, in just the past 24 hours, more than a dozen children and adults had died from hunger. Hospitals have admitted people in a state of severe exhaustion caused by a lack of food, and others are said to be collapsing in the streets. This is on top of continued reports of people being shot, killed or injured while simply trying to find food, which is only being allowed into Gaza in far too small quantities. OCHA warns that in many cases where UN teams are permitted by Israel to collect supplies from closed compounds near Gaza’s crossings, civilians approaching the trucks come under fire despite repeated assurances that troops would not be present or engage. We can’t stress this enough: This unacceptable pattern is the opposite of what facilitating humanitarian operations should look like. Absolutely no one should have to risk their lives to get food. Hospitals have been overwhelmed with over 2,000 trauma injuries over the past four days alone; that’s according to the local authorities. Some have reported not having enough intravenous fluids. And due to lack of fuel, the Nasser Medical Complex and the oxygen unit supplying hospitals in the south are at risk of shutting down. Regarding the attacks on UN facilities yesterday in Deir al Balah, the World Health Organization (WHO) tells us that, in addition to air strikes that caused fire and damage, Israeli troops entered the premises. Women and children were forced to evacuate on foot toward Al Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated and screened at gunpoint. WHO said that one of their employees remained in detention as of earlier today; this is out of four people detained – two personnel and two family members. WHO added that their main warehouse that is now destroyed and looted had been a key hub for medical supplies, most of which are now depleted. They said the attack fits a broader pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=22%20July%202025


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