OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Good afternoon, everyone. In Gaza today, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that relentless hostilities and recurrent evacuation orders are driving a seemingly endless cycle of displacement and making it increasingly difficult for people to access the humanitarian assistance they need to survive after 10 months of war.
To give you just one example: when malnourished children in Gaza have to flee suddenly, it is extremely challenging for humanitarian partners to monitor and follow up with the necessary services and for displaced families to carry the malnutrition prevention and treatment supplies they need.
Repeated displacement – coupled with insecurity, access constraints, and other challenges – also continue to hamper the early detection of children and women in need of nutrition services. These factors also constrain partners’ ability to scale up their operational presence and store life-saving supplies.  
The UN and our humanitarian partners in Gaza remain committed to delivering critical assistance to people across the Strip wherever and whenever possible.
Our partners working on the shelter response in Gaza continue to monitor the movement and needs of newly displaced people in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis and provide support. Since 22 July, they have provided hundreds of tents to families displaced in southern, central and northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, between 22 July and this past Sunday, 48 of our partners working on the health response in Gaza reached more than a quarter-million people across the Strip. There are also more than a dozen emergency medical teams supporting local health-care workers, including three in northern Gaza.
However, ongoing hostilities and the constant bombardment of Gaza have caused numerous mass casualty incidents in recent weeks that have stretched humanitarian organizations’ ability to respond to trauma and emergency cases.
Poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions – coupled with overcrowding – is also driving disease outbreaks.
Today, the World Health Organization said it is working with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health on a range of measures, including polio vaccination campaigns, following the detection of a variant of poliovirus type 2 in environmental samples in Gaza. Although no clinical cases have been detected, the risk to children is high – and we must move rapidly to prevent and contain the spread of the virus. 
Turning to the West Bank, OCHA’s latest report says the killing and displacement of Palestinians – and the demolition of their homes and destruction of the public infrastructure they rely on – continue unabated. Between 30 July and 5 August, 16 Palestinians – including two children – were killed by Israeli forces, nine of them by airstrikes. Another 56 people were injured. During that same period, Israeli settlers also perpetrated more than two dozen attacks against Palestinians, causing injuries and damage to property. The full report is available online.

SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, Sima Bahous, the Executive Director of UN Women, briefed Security Council members on the topic of Women Peace and Security: ‘Sustaining Commitments in the Context of Accelerated Drawdown of Peace Operations.’
Ms. Bahous expressed concern at the potential effects of multiple recent decisions to shrink or close peacekeeping and special political missions. 
These decisions are made even as the number and intensity of conflicts and insecurity grow and are too precipitous to allow for the proper involvement of women or the prioritization of gender equality. 
Ms. Bahous also underscored that women and issues of gender equality more broadly are often under-represented or absent in negotiations with host governments over mission drawdowns or departures. She called on the Security Council to ensure that UN transitions safeguard gender equality gains and women’s meaningful participation in all possible ways.
Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, also briefed Council members and said that rushing through a transition process against a background of a tense political climate can jeopardize hard won peace gains, including progress on gender equality.

ZIMBABWE
Turning to Zimbabwe, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the food security situation in the country is deteriorating rapidly following a historic drought caused by El Niño. 
More than half of the harvest was destroyed, and some 7.6 million people are now at risk of acute hunger.
UN Assistant Secretary-General and Climate Crisis Coordinator, Reena Ghelani – alongside the Assistant Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Valerie Guarnieri – recently concluded a week-long mission to assess the impact of the drought and they called for more international support for the humanitarian response.
As you might recall, authorities in Zimbabwe declared a nationwide state of disaster in April. According to their latest figures, at least 57 per cent of people in rural parts of the country – some 5.9 million people – are expected to be food insecure during the peak hunger period between January and March of next year.
The drought has strained Zimbabwe’s economy, with more than a fifth of school-aged children now out of school. It has also led to critical water shortages.
The UN and partners continue to work with the Government to support response efforts. However, the $429 million flash appeal launched in May – which aims to assist more than 3 million people – is only about 11 per cent funded.

SOUTH SUDAN
Turning to South Sudan, where our peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), today visited Tambura County in Western Equatoria.
The high-level visit is the latest in a series of interventions by stakeholders to reduce tensions and prevent conflict following outbreaks of violence in April 2024 and in 2021, which caused significant loss of life, destruction of property, and widespread displacement. During discussions with local authorities and communities, the delegation called for grievances to be resolved through dialogue and stressed the importance of peacebuilding initiatives that address the root causes of conflict.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Our colleagues in the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA,  this week launched several projects aimed at enhancing civilian mobility, safety, and regional accessibility. 
Among the key developments are the construction and rehabilitation of bridges in several localities across the Sangha-Mbaéré prefecture. 
The Mission is restoring two ferry services in the Ouaka and Sangha-Mbaéré prefectures to improve accessibility across the regions. 
These initiatives, to be implemented in the next months, are expected to ease patrol operations, facilitate humanitarian access, and boost local economic activity. The initiatives highlight the Mission’s support to the country’s efforts to restore its state authority and deliver basic services to civilians affected by conflict.

MYANMAR
In Myanmar, the World Food Programme has launched an emergency relief response for more than 100,000 people impacted by ongoing floods. 
Driven by intense monsoon rains since late June, severe flooding has affected over 200,000 people in Myanmar, with many temporarily displaced.
WFP teams are now on the ground delivering assistance to at least 120,000 people in Bago, Kachin, Kayin, Magway and Sagaing. The support provided includes cash, rice, special nutritious foods and fortified biscuits.
As flooding continues in different parts of the country, WFP continues to monitor the situation and prepares to further expand its flood response as needed.