Gaza, Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Secretary-General/Gaza - Occupied Palestinian Territory - Lebanon - Madagascar - Security Council - Sudan - South Sudan - Central African Republic - Haiti - Antibiotic Resistance - Disaster Risk Reduction SECRETARY-GENERAL/GAZA The Secretary-General welcomes the continued implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, based on the proposal by US President Donald J. Trump, including the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees. He commends the Governments of Qatar, Egypt, the United States and Türkiye for their persistent mediation efforts and acknowledges the indispensable role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in ensuring that all releases take place safely and humanely. With the ceasefire in effect, the people of Gaza and Israel are beginning to glimpse the fragile hope of calm after months of devastation. The United Nations and its partners are rapidly scaling up operations across Gaza. UN agencies are reaching communities in areas that were cut off for months, delivering life-saving assistance. These efforts mark an essential first step in stabilizing conditions and restoring basic human dignity, but the needs remain vast, and sustained access and funding are critical. The Secretary-General calls on all parties to consolidate the ceasefire and transform it into lasting peace. He appeals to regional and international actors to seize this moment of respite to restart a credible political process that can deliver the outcome of two independent, sovereign, democratic States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within their secure and recognized borders on the basis of pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states – in line with international law, UN resolutions and other relevant agreements. Mr. Guterres made a phone call this morning from Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where he is attending the summit under way today, in which he told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that he welcomed the release of the remaining live Israeli hostages from Gaza. The Secretary-General recalled the many meetings he had with hostage families and survivors, during which he heard of their unbearable pain.  OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today allocated an additional $11 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support the immediate scale-up of humanitarian operations in Gaza ahead of winter. This follows last week’s $9 million allocation to ensure sufficient fuel supplies to keep life-saving services running across the Strip, bringing total recent CERF funding for Gaza to $20 million. Mr. Fletcher warned that without fresh contributions to CERF, critical aid cannot keep flowing to people who rely on it. Speaking from Sharm el-Sheikh ahead of the summit in Egypt today, Mr. Fletcher stressed that this is a moment of precarious hope for so many Israelis and Palestinians, and he added that the humanitarian scale-up planned by the UN and its partners in Gaza is underway. Meanwhile, the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that, under the humanitarian plan for the initial 60 days of the ceasefire, the UN and its partners will deliver life-saving assistance and services to people across the Strip, wherever they need our support, including food, water, health services, shelter supplies, hygiene items, protection support and other critical help. Our colleagues from the UN 2720 Mechanism report that they have secured Israeli approval for more aid, bringing our cleared pipeline to 190,000 metric tonnes, as of yesterday. These supplies are across the region, in Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and the West Bank, and are ready to move. Some is already on the way. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=13%20October%202025


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