Palestine, Philippines, Hurricane Melissa - Daily Press Briefing (07 November 2025) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: -Secretary-General/Belém Climate Summit -Occupied Palestinian Territory -UNIFIL -Philippines -Hurricane Melissa -West and Central Africa -Food Prices -International Day ---------------------------- SECRETARY-GENERAL/BELÉM CLIMATE SUMMIT The Secretary-General is in Brazil, where he is participating in the Belém Climate Summit. Today, he spoke at a thematic session on Energy Transition.  The Secretary-General noted that the global energy landscape is changing at lightning speed. Last year, he pointed out, ninety per cent of new power capacity came from renewables and global investment in clean energy reached two trillion US dollars – eight hundred billion dollars more than fossil fuels. The Secretary-General highlighted that renewables revolution is here, but we must go much faster – and ensure all nations share the benefits.  Also today, the Secretary-General held a bilateral meeting with the Vice-President of Türkiye, Cevdet Yilmaz. He also met Denis Sassou N’Guesso, President of the Republic of Congo.  Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General spoke at a thematic session on “Climate and Nature: Forests and Oceans”, where he stressed that protecting forests and oceans is not charity, it is a legal and moral responsibility – and smart economics. He called on all to honour that duty, by safeguarding these foundations of life, investing in nature’s recovery, and ensuring that people and planet thrive together – now and for generations to come. Yesterday, the Secretary-General also held a bilateral meeting with Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.  This afternoon, the Secretary-General is expected to speak at a session on 10 years of the Paris Agreement: NDCs and Financing. He will depart Belém tomorrow and will be back here in New York on Sunday.  OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY Turning to Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that despite significant progress on the humanitarian scale-up, people’s urgent needs are still immense, with impediments not being lifted quickly enough. Since the ceasefire and as of this Monday, the UN and our partners have collected from Gaza’s crossings more than 37,000 metric tonnes of aid – mostly food. That’s according to the UN 2720 Mechanism, which does not include bilateral donations and the commercial sector. Entry continues to be limited to only two crossings, with no direct access from Israel to northern Gaza or from Egypt to southern Gaza. This is on top of certain items and NGO staff not being let in. Our colleagues leading on the shelter response say that most displaced people remain in overcrowded makeshift sites – many of which were established spontaneously in open or unsafe areas. Hundreds of thousands of families face the onset of the rainy season without desperately needed protection from the elements. Our partners working on shelter support say that once impediments are lifted, they have enough materials in the pipeline to meet most of the needs of nearly 1.5 million Palestinians requiring such assistance. On the food front, there has been clear progress. Since the ceasefire, the World Food Programme has reached over one million people with food distributions, hot meals, bakery support, fortified snacks for children, expanded nutrition services, and digital cash assistance. WFP expanded storage capacity to three warehouses, reopened key roads, and reinforced retail networks to sustain food assistance. The agency says that food has been delivered in all parts of Gaza. UNIFIL You will have seen the statement issued on Thursday by the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in reaction to the latest Israeli airstrikes within UNIFIL’s area of operations in the southern parts of the country. UNIFIL says that these airstrikes constitute clear violations of Security Council resolution 1701. They come as the Lebanese Armed Forces are undertaking operations to control unauthorized weapons and infrastructure in the south Litani area. As you will recall, the cessation of hostilities agreement between Israel and Lebanon was reached a year ago. We continue to urge the parties to adhere to their obligations under resolution 1701 to avoid putting the current hard-won progress at risk. Full Highlight: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-07


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