HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ,
DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 7 AUGUST 2025
HUMANITARIAN FUNDING
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today warned that more than halfway through the year, the humanitarian funding landscape remains dire. As of now, less than 17 per cent of the $46 billion required to meet global humanitarian needs in 2025 has been received. This marks an alarming 40 percent drop compared to the same time last year.
This funding shortfall is a stark reminder that millions of vulnerable people will go without the aid they desperately need. As we have repeatedly warned, the UN and its partners are being forced to do more with less – at tremendous cost to people.
In June, facing the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian system, OCHA launched a hyper-prioritized global appeal to help 114 million people by targeting the most urgent needs within the broader 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that starvation and malnutrition, especially among children, continue to deepen. UN partners working in nutrition report that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached the highest levels recorded to date. In July alone, nearly 12,000 children aged 6 to 59 months were identified as acutely malnourished out of 136,000 screened. Of these, over 2,500 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition - the most life-threatening form. Forty children required hospitalization in stabilization centres.
The proportion of children with severe acute malnutrition is rising. In June and July, 18 per cent of all acutely malnourished children had severe acute malnutrition, compared with 12 per cent between March and May.
Humanitarian access constraints are adding to the malnutrition crisis. In July, our partners were only able to reach three per cent – or 8,700 – of the 290,000 children under the age of five who require feeding and micronutrient supplements. This is due to the severe shortage of lipid-based nutrient supplements entering Gaza.
This marks a dramatic collapse in the malnutrition prevention programme. From April to June, an average of 76,000 children – or a quarter of those in need were reached each month.
The distribution of other key nutrition supplies – for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers – has also declined sharply. UN partners working in nutrition reiterate that the overall volume of nutrition supplies entering Gaza remains far below what is needed to prevent a further deterioration of the nutrition situation.
More than 1 million shelter items and 2.3 million items such as tents, tarps, and sealing-off materials have been procured and are currently stranded in Jordan and Egypt, as Israeli authorities have not approved their entry. No shelter materials have entered Gaza since 2 March, despite the immense needs.
Existing stocks are fully depleted, and the shelter crisis continues to worsen. Most families in Gaza are living in severely overcrowded, unsafe, and undignified conditions, some with no shelter at all.
An assessment in July of 44 displacement sites in Gaza City found that 43 sites – almost all – had families with no shelter. Eleven per cent of more than 6,500 surveyed households were reported to be living out in the open. The shelter situation is also further deteriorating due to ongoing bombardment, displacement orders and insecurity, which continue to displace families and disrupt humanitarian operations.
Overall, since the Israeli announcement of the tactical pause to allow safe passages for our convoys, our colleagues tell us that realities on the ground remain largely the same. Aid that has entered remains by far insufficient and our convoys continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
While fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete. As previously mentioned, some of the missions have taken more than 18 hours to be completed, and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable.
Yesterday, five out of 11 missions requiring coordination with Israeli authorities were facilitated. These included the collection of food from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
Another four missions were impeded but were eventually fully accomplished. These included collection of fuel from Kerem Shalom crossing and transfer of fuel from southern to northern Gaza. While limited quantities of fuel have been entering Gaza over the past week, fuel supplies remain critically limited and unpredictable, significantly undermining the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver and sustain lifesaving services.
One of these four missions was the medical evacuation of 15 children to Jordan, accompanied by 42 people, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO). While this is a positive step, the agency still reminds us that there are more than 14,800 patients in Gaza who still urgently need specialized medical care.
With regard to commercial goods, several trucks containing food items have been entering Gaza over the past days. The UN will continue to monitor the situation and keep you posted, but as we have said repeatedly, what we need is unimpeded and predictable humanitarian access into and within Gaza, in parallel with the flow of commercial goods. These entries have resulted in different types of food returning to markets and a slight decrease in prices.
LEBANON
In southern Lebanon, the peacekeepers of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continue to observe Israel Defense Forces ground and air military activities, including airstrikes by fighter jets yesterday in Sector East. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, Israeli air strikes yesterday led to fatalities, including one child. The UN once more urges the parties to refrain from any activities that may endanger civilians.
In a major operation to find unauthorized weapon caches and infrastructure, UNIFIL peacekeepers - working in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces - were deployed over a 320 square kilometer area in Sector West this week. The discoveries included networks of seven fortified tunnels, three bunkers, artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells and rockets, anti-tank mines, and about 250 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mortar shells and rockets were also found in Sector East. In addition, unexploded ordnance was discovered in different areas, including an anti-tank mine and rockets in Sector West and mortar rounds in Sector East. They were all referred to the Lebanese Army.
UNIFIL demining teams recently completed the clearance of mines and vegetation around five Blue Line markers ahead of the markers' refurbishment. These are among about 10 markers damaged or destroyed during recent hostilities. Clearance operations around the remaining markers will begin next week.
SECURITY COUNCIL
This morning, the head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Leonardo Santos Simão, briefed the Security Council. He told its members that the security situation in the region remains of paramount concern. He said terrorist activity has surged in scale, complexity and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative internet communication, and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime.
Growing insecurity, Mr. Simão added, compounds an already dire humanitarian situation, and climate change continues to exacerbate those dynamics.
Regarding the Women Peace Security and the Youth Peace Security Agendas, Mr. Simão reported that all countries in the region have National Action Plans on Security Council Resolution 1325, and several have made progress through legal reforms, gender strategies, and institutional changes.
Yet despite these gains, he pointed out that gaps remain, adding that UNOWAS is expanding its collaboration with UN Women.
For her part, Sima Bahous, the Head of UN Women, called on Council members to urge governments and regional bodies to ensure women’s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in transitional governments and peace and security efforts. She added that at least 15 per cent of violent extremism prevention funding should be invested in gender equality.
She also called for support for the rapid deployment of Women Protection Advisors to UNOWAS to monitor sexual violence trends, engage with parties to conflict, and secure time-bound commitments.
SUDAN
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, putting even more civilians’ lives at risk. OCHA’s Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, noted that the suffering is immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to ruin. She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship.
As previously mentioned during the noon briefing, with increasingly alarming food shortages and spiraling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation.
Engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is more important than ever. El Fasher also has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide – nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families.
This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country. These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation.
In an effort to curb public health risks in North Darfur, our humanitarian partners and local authorities launched a sanitation campaign on August 5th targeting 11,000 people in the localities of El Fasher and Dar As Salam. The initiative aims to prevent disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites during the ongoing rainy season.
UN humanitarian partners are also scaling up the response to the cholera outbreak in the locality of Tawila, which has absorbed 330,000 displaced people fleeing conflict in Zamzam and El Fasher since April. They are increasing the number of treatment centres and oral rehydration points. In Blue Nile State, cholera cases have surged to nearly 2,800 since late June, with over 40 new infections recorded yesterday alone. Fourteen deaths have been reported.
GHANA
The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the news of the helicopter crash in Ghana on 6 August, which claimed the lives of eight individuals, including the Minister of Defense; the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; and the Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator. He extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and to the people and Government of Ghana for their loss.
AFGHANISTAN
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is urgently calling for international support as Afghanistan faces one of the largest return movements in recent history. Since September 2023, more than 4 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, with over 1.5 million returning in 2025 alone.
IOM notes that a further 1 million Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Pakistan government’s decision not to extend the stay of Afghan nationals. The IOM warns that without urgent support, the systems in place face severe risk of collapse, putting millions at risk.
A report from the Afghanistan Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, a humanitarian working group co-chaired by UN Women and CARE International, points out that women and girls represent one-third of returnees from Iran so far in 2025, and about half of all returnees from Pakistan. The report warns that like all women and girls in Afghanistan, returnee women and girls face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation and unprecedented restrictions on their rights, movements and freedoms.
