Today's top news: Israel & Occupied Palestinian Territory, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan
#Israel & Occupied Palestinian Territory
UN Relief Chief fast-tracks funds for Gaza aid scale-up
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today allocated an additional US$11 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) 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.
Fletcher emphasized that this new funding will help plug urgent gaps in the response – but warned that without fresh contributions to CERF, critical aid cannot keep flowing to people who rely on it.
While in Sharm el-Sheikh ahead of the summit in Egypt today, he said that the release of the Israeli hostages and transfer of Palestinian prisoners are a critical step in the implementation of the peace deal. Fletcher stressed that this is a moment of precarious hope for so many Israelis and Palestinians, affirming that the humanitarian scale-up planned by the UN and its partners in Gaza is well underway.
Meanwhile, OCHA notes 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 support – including food, water, health services, shelter supplies, hygiene items, protection support and other critical help.
The UN 2720 Mechanism reports that it has secured Israeli approval for more aid, bringing the cleared pipeline to 190,000 metric tons, as of yesterday. These supplies are across the region – in Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and the West Bank – and ready to move. Some is already en route, as the UN and its partners continue to bring supplies into Gaza on a regular basis.
OCHA says that yesterday, cooking gas entered Gaza for the first time since March. More tents for displaced families, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicine also crossed into Gaza throughout the day.
Inside Gaza, humanitarians are now able to move more easily in many areas, and teams are reaching people in places that had been cut off for up to several months. With the easing of movement and access restrictions in multiple places, humanitarians were able to pre-position medical and emergency supplies where they are needed most and assess key roads for explosive hazards.
Partners are working to increase production of meals in community kitchens in the north, as thousands of people have already returned to that part of Gaza. The UN and its partners are helping kitchens and bakeries serve hundreds of thousands of meals and bread bundles every day, as well as trucking drinking water to places where people are staying.
Since Friday, and as of yesterday, partners monitoring displacement recorded nearly 310,000 movements of people from southern to northern Gaza and about 23,000 movements in other directions.
Partners working in education are checking school buildings in Gaza city to determine their suitability for learning.
This is just the beginning. As part of the humanitarian community’s plan for the first 60 days of the ceasefire, the UN and its partners will expand the scale and scope of their operations to deliver life-saving aid and services to virtually everyone across Gaza*.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Gaza and the West Bank with urgent support.
#Central African Republic
Deputy Relief Chief meets top officials to discuss humanitarian efforts
The Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya, is visiting the Central African Republic this week.
Today in the capital Bangui, she met with Prime Minister Féllix Moloua to discuss the Government’s work to bridge humanitarian, development and peace efforts.
She also met with Josiane Lina Bemaka-Souï, the Minister for Humanitarian Action, to explore ways to deepen collaboration on humanitarian work, durable solutions and access.
Later this week, Msuya will meet with communities and partners working on humanitarian issues.
The humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic remains dire, with two out of every five people in the country in need of humanitarian assistance – while one in five is displaced, either within the country or across borders.
#Sudan
Humanitarian Coordinator condemns targeting of civilians in North Darfur
OCHA is once again sounding the alarm over the escalation of violence in El Fasher, the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, condemned in the strongest possible terms the repeated and deliberate targeting of civilians in the state. On Friday and Saturday, at least 57 civilians were killed by drone attacks – reportedly carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The attacks struck a location where displaced people were sheltering in the Daraja Oula neighbourhood of El Fasher. UNICEF says that at least 17 children were reportedly killed, including an infant who was just seven days old, and the International Organization for Migration reports that about 500 people were displaced from the site.
This incident follows a series of reported attacks by the RSF last week that left scores of civilians killed and injured. This included an attack on the Saudi Hospital, the last functioning major medical facility in the city.
In recent days, there have also been reports from local community leaders of further civilian casualties in an alleged drone strike on Al Koma, east of El Fasher, in an area held by the RSF. In June, five humanitarian workers were killed in the same area in an attack on an aid convoy en route towards El Fasher.
Brown reiterated her appeal for an immediate end to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, stressing that hospitals, shelters, and places of refuge must never be targeted. She called for thorough, impartial investigations and accountability for those responsible for the attacks in El Fasher.
The UN and its humanitarian partners remain committed to supporting the people of El Fasher and all those affected by the conflict across Sudan, but the humanitarian community requires safe and unhindered access. Civilians must be protected and above all, the people of Sudan need the violence to stop.
#South Sudan
Floods affect hundreds of thousands of people
OCHA reports that flooding continues across South Sudan due to heavy rains and rising water levels along the Nile River.
As of yesterday, humanitarian partners say that the number of people impacted by the floods has more than doubled over the past three weeks, with nearly 890,000 people now affected. The vast majority of these people are in the states of Jonglei and Unity. Nearly a third of those affected have been displaced and are seeking shelter on higher ground.
The floods have caused extensive damage to homes, crops, schools, health facilities, and road and other critical infrastructure – further complicating humanitarian access. Some flooded areas in the south of the country are now accessible only by canoe.
Despite these challenges, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to deliver life-saving assistance – including shelter, food and nutrition support, cash assistance, health support, and water and sanitation services. They have also distributed sandbags and other flood control materials.
Above-average rainfall is expected across most of South Sudan, heightening flood risks.
As of today, the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan – which seeks $1.7 billion to assist 5.4 million people – is only 30 per cent funded, with $504 million received. This is down from 43 per cent at the same time last year. This underfunding hampers the ability to scale up emergency interventions, pre-position supplies and sustain operations.