Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Colombia

#Occupied Palestinian Territory
OCHA says the UN and its partners are seizing every opportunity presented by the ceasefire to step up support to people across the Gaza Strip. This includes increasing the flow of incoming supplies and deliveries, as well as scaling up storage capacity, repair work, life-saving services, and needs and damage assessments.
Today, 808 trucks entered Gaza, according to information obtained by the UN on the ground through interactions with the Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire deal.
OCHA says the UN and its partners are dispatching incoming supplies to designated emergency shelters and distribution centres across the Gaza Strip. They are distributing food parcels and flour and working to reopen bakeries.
Yesterday and Monday, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) distributed 118 trucks of more than 53,000 food parcels to communities in Khan Younis and to UNRWA shelters in Deir al Balah.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says that 20 trucks carrying critical supplies – including for safe births, emergency obstetric care, postpartum kits, contraceptives and winter items – were offloaded in Deir al Balah yesterday. Twenty more trucks carrying UNFPA assistance are entering northern Gaza today.
The UN Office for Project Services is distributing fuel to ensure that critical services such as healthcare and water pumping and desalination can run on back-up generators in the absence of electricity.
The UN and partners are also supporting infrastructure repairs, including to water wells and desalination plants.
Humanitarian partners are carrying out rapid assessments in newly accessible areas to identify people’s most urgent needs, including water, hygiene, sanitation and healthcare. They are also stepping up disease surveillance efforts.
The UN and its partners are setting up trauma stabilization points to handle emergency cases and mobilizing specialized care teams.
Meanwhile, OCHA warns that the ongoing operation by Israeli forces in Jenin is putting people's safety and welfare at risk while destroying infrastructure as basic as roads, electricity and water pipes. Ten people have reportedly been killed, with dozens more injured.
The operation, which started yesterday, has involved air strikes and other lethal war-like tactics that seem to exceed law enforcement standards. OCHA is receiving reports of more people being forced out of the camp, citing the ongoing Israeli operation and lack of water.
OCHA warns that since yesterday, the Jenin Government Hospital has been disconnected from the water grid and electricity network. It relies on dwindling water reserves from emergency tanks that were installed just weeks ago in preparation for such situations, through an allocation by the OCHA-managed Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund.
Humanitarian partners are set to refill water and full reserves at the hospital as soon as they secure access to the facility.
#Syria
OCHA says that the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to support the response across Syria as security permits.
From 14 to 20 January, 44 trucks carrying over 1000 tons of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) have crossed from Türkiye to northern Aleppo through the Bab Al-Salam border crossing.
UNICEF, WFP and the World Health Organization (WHO) – with the support of community health workers – continue to screen children and breastfeeding women for malnutrition across the country. Nearly 67,000 children and over 27,000 women have been screened since the beginning of December last year. During the same period, more than 800 children and 500 women were admitted for treatment. In the cities of Homs and Hama, UNICEF and its partners have deployed mobile teams to provide nutrition services to returnees, following the return of thousands of families.
WHO is training paramedics in the north-west on mass casualty management and pre-hospital trauma life support. In the north-east, more than 20 medical mobile units are providing primary health consultations and support for critical cases in collective centers in Ar-Raqqa, Al-Hasakeh governorates and Ain al-Arab district. Over the past week, more than 6,300 patients received medical consultations.
However, underfunding is affecting the health response. OCHA reports that in the north-west, nearly half of 60 emergency obstetric and newborn care facilities are facing imminent financial risks, putting the survival of pregnant mothers and newborns at risk.
#Sudan
OCHA is increasingly concerned over a series of reported drone attacks on critical civilian infrastructure in the northern, eastern and central areas of Sudan.
Today, an attack reportedly targeted the um Dabakir power station around Kosti, south of Khartoum. This follows another reported strike on a power station in Northern State earlier this week, which disrupted electricity and water supplies to the capital Dongola and surrounding areas.
Attacks were also reported over the weekend. This included an attack on a hydroelectric facility at the Girba Dam in Kassala state on 18 January, which knocked out power to hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as drone attacks that same day on power stations in Gedaref and Sennar states.
A week ago, a reported attack on the Merowe Dam, which is the largest dam in the country, severely disrupted water and electricity in Khartoum, Northern and River Nile states.
OCHA is deeply concerned about the impact that these attacks are having on civilians in Sudan, as major cuts to water and power risk depriving people of access to critical health services and safe water supplies.
OCHA stresses that under international humanitarian law, the parties have a clear obligation not to attack objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. They must also take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize incidental civilian harm.
#Somalia
The UN and its partners – together with the Government – today launched Somalia's 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. It aims to support some 4.6 million of the most vulnerable people in the country with humanitarian and protection assistance.
These efforts will require US$1.43 billion. Somalia continues to face a complex, protracted humanitarian crisis fueled by conflict, insecurity, poverty, widespread displacement, climate shocks, disease outbreaks, and a lack of access to basic services. About 5.98 million Somalis are estimated to need humanitarian assistance in 2025, with women, girls and marginalized communities particularly vulnerable.
Despite major access challenges, humanitarian organizations managed to reach 3.5 million people in Somalia last year with at least one form of assistance.
The country is now experiencing widespread dry conditions following poor October to December rains. At least 4.4 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity, and 1.6 million children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition through July.
#Colombia
The UN and its partners are supporting the Government’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to people affected by the fighting the Catatumbo region in the north of Colombia.
At least 80 people were killed and more than 44,000 people were displaced and confined to their communities in less than five days due to the clashes. The UN and its humanitarian partners are scaling up the response in this region as much capacity, resources, and access allow.
Earlier today, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombia, Mireia Villar Forner – together with the Government – launched the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan for Community Priorities. It seeks $342 million to address the urgent needs of 2 million of the most vulnerable people in the country, where more than 9 million people need assistance this year.
The plan focuses on empowering local communities and responders, particularly in critical areas such as the Pacific region and the border with Venezuela. Women, children, and indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities remain the most affected by conflict and climate-related emergencies in Colombia.