HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC
SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
MONDAY, 2 JUNE 2025
YEMEN
This June we mark a grim milestone. It’s been one year since the arbitrary detention of dozens of personnel from the United Nations, national and international NGOs, civil society organizations, and diplomatic missions, these detentions by the Houthi de facto authorities in Yemen. The Secretary-General renews his call for their immediate and unconditional release, including those held since 2021 and 2023, and most recently, detentions in January.
He also reiterates his strongest condemnation of the death in detention of a World Food Programme colleague that took place earlier this year. The Houthi de facto authorities have yet to provide an explanation for this deplorable tragedy, and he renews his call for an immediate, transparent and thorough investigation and accountability. Mr. Guterres says he stands in solidarity with all detained colleagues in Yemen and their families and pays tribute to their essential work and their families’ perseverance.
We and our humanitarian partners should never be targeted, never be arrested and never be detained while carrying out our mandates for the benefit of the people we serve. The continued arbitrary detention of our colleagues is a profound injustice against those who dedicate their lives to providing life-saving assistance and support to the people of Yemen. It has placed additional constraints on our ability to operate effectively and undermined mediation processes to secure a path toward peace.
The Secretary-General urges the Houthis, yet again, to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained. Particularly on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, this is a time to show compassion. It is a time to end the ordeal of families who face celebrating yet another holiday without their loved ones. To our detained colleagues, the Secretary-General wants them to know that they are not forgotten.
We will continue to work through all possible channels to secure their safe and immediate release, and he calls upon Member States to continue expressing their solidarity with those detained and intensify advocacy for their release.
Finally, we welcome the collective support of international partners, NGOs and all those working to support the people of Yemen in these efforts.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/ GENERAL ASSEMBLY
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly, where he congratulated Annalena Baerbock of Germany on her election as the President of the General Assembly for the 80th Session.
He said that President-elect Baerbock’s vision, “Better Together”, is an inspiring rallying cry for today’s world and the global problem-solving system embodied by the United Nations to address the challenges we face.
He told President-elect Baerbock that she can count on his full support as she takes on this important responsibility.
The Secretary-General also thanked the current President of the General Assembly, Philemon Yang, for his leadership during the 79th session – which still has some ways to go.
As we look ahead to the end of the 79th session, and prepare for the start of the 80th, the Secretary-General said, let us strive to live up to the values of solidarity and collaboration that have defined this organization from its very start.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is currently in Marrakech, in Morocco, where she is attending the 2025 Ibrahim Governance Weekend, which is as you may know a high-level gathering of African political and business leaders, civil society, multilateral organizations, and international partners focused on financing for Africa’s development.
While in Marrakech, the Deputy Secretary-General is also meeting with senior Moroccan government officials and key stakeholders to discuss Africa’s development priorities, the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), challenges to Middle Income Countries, and the implementation of the Pact for the Future.
Tomorrow, she will travel to Geneva to participate in the 8th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025).
It is the main global forum for reviewing progress and sharing good practices in reducing disaster risk and building resilience.
GAZA
Turning to Gaza, the Secretary-General condemns the reported killings and injuries of Palestinians who were seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.
The Secretary-General calls for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.
Israel has clear obligations under international humanitarian law to agree to and facilitate humanitarian aid. The unimpeded entry of assistance at scale to meet the enormous needs of the people in Gaza must be restored immediately. The United Nations must be allowed to work in safety and security under conditions that fully respect our humanitarian principles.
The Secretary-General continues to call for an immediate permanent, sustainable ceasefire.
All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. This is the only path to ensuring security for all. There is no military solution to this conflict.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation on the ground, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that in the last two days, partners reported scores of people killed and injured, apparently while gathering to receive supplies near the militarized distribution centres in Rafah and Deir al Balah.
Attacks against health facilities have also continued. Yesterday in North Gaza, the Noura Al Kaabi Centre for dialysis was reportedly hit. The Ministry of Health in Gaza tells us that more than 40 per cent of dialysis patients in Gaza have died since the escalation of the hostilities in October 2023. This is because the centres were either struck or they are now unreachable.
As hostilities continue, people have once again been forced to flee. On Saturday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah. This has affected about 100,000 people living in more than 200 displacement sites.
Two primary healthcare centres and five medical points are within the displacement area – while three hospitals, three field hospitals, seven primary healthcare centres and 20 medical points are located within 1,000 metres of it.
Overall, since 18 March, our humanitarian partners estimate that more than 640,000 people – that's nearly a third of Gaza’s entire population – have been displaced across the Gaza Strip.
The latest displacement order also deprived at least 8,000 students of learning, as tens of functioning temporary learning spaces and a dozen public schools had to suspend their operations. These closures constitute a severe setback for children and education, limiting their access to a safe and structured learning environment.
The United Nations and our humanitarian partners will continue their efforts to identify and treat malnutrition whenever possible and as dwindling supplies get even lower. Last week, we and our partners distributed supplements to about 40,000 children, despite severe challenges and restrictions on humanitarian assistance.
Meanwhile, as people endure deprivation, and hunger and the absence of adequate food distribution, looting incidents continue to be reported. The vast majority are people taking flour directly from our open trucks, out of clear desperation; but our teams are also started observing some criminal looting yet again.
We and our partners continue to call for the full lifting of the restrictions on aid and other essentials to ensure the needs of civilians are met.
This comes as people continue to suffer from frequent water shortages. The pipeline in Deir al Balah, which supplied at least 12,000 cubic metres of water every day, is still not operational – and humanitarians’ attempts to carry out coordinated missions to repair it have been denied.
Today, five missions to distribute potable water in the displacement camps in Jabaliya were also denied by Israeli authorities.
Over the weekend, we and our partners kept working to bring supplies from the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. More than 100 truckloads of food and medical supplies were picked up on Saturday and Sunday, bringing to more than 300 the number of truckloads picked up from the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom since it was reopened.
Today, one of our attempts to collect supplies from that crossing was denied. Another is still ongoing, awaiting a green light from Israeli authorities, a pause in the bombing along the route, and the allocation of a viable path.
Because of the Israeli weekend and holiday, the border was kept closed, blocking us from bringing more supplies through Kerem Shalom since Saturday.
Even when the crossing is open, severe restrictions on what we can bring in – both in terms of volume and variety – means it’s still just a trickle of what people need.
UNSCOL
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the Special Coordinator for Lebanon, began a visit to Israel today, where she is set to meet with senior officials.
Her visit is part of the regular consultations on steps to consolidate progress made since the November 2024 Cessation of Hostilities Understanding came into effect and to advance the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.
And just to note that last week, the Special Coordinator, together with Geir Pedersen, our [Special] Envoy for Syria, as you know, met with Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam speaker of Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
The discussions centered on ways to consolidate stability in Lebanon and the wider region through the implementation of resolution 1701, including in relation to borders issues and refugees.
And to reiterate that we continue to call on all sides to abide by their commitments to create the necessary conditions for enduring security and stability across the Blue Line.
ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS
In response to questions about the acts of antisemitism we've seen over the weekend, specifically the horrific violent attack in Boulder, Colorado, and the acts of vandalism in France targeting Jewish landmarks, the Spokesman said that the Secretary-General condemns these acts. The United Nations firmly stands against all forms of antisemitism, as well as all other manifestations of extremism and any incitement to religious hatred and violence, and he calls for swift action to hold those responsible accountable.
UKRAINE
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, according to authorities, attacks over the weekend and today have killed more than 20 civilians and injured more than 100 others, including children. Civilian infrastructure – including homes, health care and education facilities, as well as power and gas lines – were also damaged. The regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia were among the hardest hit. Aid workers are providing support, delivering materials for emergency repairs, along with psychological assistance to all those impacted. Humanitarian organizations are also continuing to evacuate people from areas of intense hostilities. Over the weekend, authorities announced evacuations from a dozen front-line communities in the Sumy and Dnipro regions.
On May 30th, an inter-agency humanitarian convoy delivered vital aid to residents of the front-line Mylivska community in the Kherson region. The assistance included solar lamps, charging stations, kitchen sets, and all sorts of other essential supplies and this was for at least 700 people, including people with disabilities.
This year, 11 convoys reached 16,000 people in the Kherson region, delivering much-needed aid remaining in frontline areas.
SUDAN
Moving to the situation in Sudan, we are alarmed by the recent wave of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Sudan.
On 30 May, Eldaman International Hospital in Al Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, was struck in a reported drone attack that killed at least six health workers and injured more than 15 others. And just one day earlier, the World Food Programme’s premises in Al Fasher, came under repeated shelling, causing significant damage to a key humanitarian hub. Both attacks were reportedly carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In a statement, the Acting Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Kristine Hambrouck, called for international humanitarian law to be respected – civilians, health workers and aid staff must never be targeted, she said. We reiterate that these facilities are essential to sustaining life in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that in Khartoum, attacks on electricity infrastructure have worsened water shortages, forcing many people to use unsafe sources and putting over 1 million children at risk of waterborne diseases, at a time when, as you know, cholera is spreading in Sudan.
Daily cases in Khartoum state have dropped compared to previous weeks, thanks to the efforts of health workers and community volunteers. However, the overall numbers there remain staggering — with more than 16,500 cases and over 340 reported deaths since the outbreak began. In South Darfur state, dozens of cholera cases emerged in Nyala, in the state capital and surrounding areas, prompting officials to declare a health emergency. These officials are appealing for urgent support to contain the outbreak before it spreads. And in Northern and River Nile states, cholera continues to spread, with over 200 cases and several deaths reported since the middle of last month.
Local health authorities – with our support – have set up treatment centres and launched surveillance and community health activities, but critical gaps in supplies, funding and support for overstretched health workers remain.
We and our partners are scaling up the response, but being faced by mounting constraints, with funding shortfalls and the movement of supplies and personnel across conflict lines remains, obviously, a fundamental challenge to our ability to do our work. We urge the international community to act swiftly, so as to ensure that resources reach people where they are most needed, to prevent the further spread of cholera, and to protect the millions of civilians who are caught and are at risk.
NIGERIA
From Nigeria, our colleagues at OCHA tell us that we and our humanitarian partners continue to support the response to the devastating floods in the north-central part of the country.
On May 29th, intense rainfall triggered floods in the Mokwa local government area of Niger State. More than 500 households were impacted and over 3,000 people displaced. According to UNICEF, more than 1,600 children aged 12 years and below have been displaced.
Hundreds of houses have been damaged. The flooding also damaged key roads and bridges, disrupting transport and local activities.
The main needs include food, water and sanitation hygiene services, emergency shelter and psychosocial support.
The Government is leading the response, which includes food, water, and medical support.
We and our partners are supporting the Government. WHO is preparing a shipment of medicine and medical equipment to support essential primary health care.
For its part, the International Organization for Migration will provide 1,000 tarpaulin sheets for temporary shelter and other essential non-food items, while the UNFPA plans to establish temporary clinics and safe spaces for women and girls, offering maternal and reproductive health services, psychosocial care and dignity kits. The agency is also working with the Government to deploy nurses and midwives.
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Honduras and Liberia paid their contribution to the regular budget in full.
BRIEFINGS TOMORROW
Tomorrow, the guest at the Noon Briefing will be Lola Castro, the Regional Director for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean. She will brief reporters on the situation in Haiti.
Also, tomorrow, at 1:15 p.m. in the press briefing room, there will be a hybrid briefing by Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, accompanied by a high-level parliamentary delegation from that country.
