Gaza: News, Stories & Official Statements

What you need to know about the United Nations response to the conflict in the Middle East.

News, Stories & Official Statements have now been merged into the main information feed.

12 May

  • With untold lost lives & people on the brink of famine, Gaza is enduring unprecedented suffering (UNRWA)

10 May

  • UN General Assembly presses Security Council to give ‘favourable consideration’ to full Palestinian membership (UN News)
  • Media Advisory: UN Deputy Relief Chief to Participate in Conference on Gaza Hosted by Kuwait (OCHA)

9 May

  • Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on military operations and border closures in Rafah, Gaza (UNICEF)

7 May

  • Secretary-General’s remarks to the press – on the Middle East (OSSG)

6 May

  • Guterres calls on Israel and Hamas to end Gaza war (UN News)
  • UN pledges to stand with Gazans in Rafah; Guterres says ceasefire opportunity ‘cannot be missed’ (UN News)
  • Secretary-General’s press encounter with H.E. Sergio Mattarella, President of the Republic of Italy (OSSG)
  • Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on the situation in the Middle East (OSSG)
  • Unexploded ordnance leaves dark legacy for Gaza, warn mine action experts (UN News)
  • Intensified military operations will bring increased death and despair for Rafah’s 700,000 women and girls (UN Women)
  • Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory: Rafah threat is inhumane, says UN Human Rights Chief (OHCHR)
  • Onslaught of violence against women and children in Gaza unacceptable: UN experts (OHCHR)
  • Impunity for attacks on medical facilities and health workers must end, says UN expert (UN HCR)
  • Onslaught of violence against women and children in Gaza unacceptable: UN experts (UN HCR)
  • There is ‘nowhere safe to go’ for the 600,000 children of Rafah (UNICEF)

5 May

  • #Gaza: The Israeli Authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United Nations (UNRWA)
  • Statement from UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on the potential invasion in Rafah (UNFPA)

3 May

  • Targeting Rafah could lead to slaughter, warns UN aid agency (UN News)
  • Rafah incursion would substantially increase mortality and morbidity and further weaken an already broken health system (WHO)
  • Not a minute to spare: The Story of Talaat’s birth  (UNRWA)

2 May

  • Palestinian journalists covering Gaza awarded 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize (UNESCO)
  • Secretary-General’s remarks at joint press encounter with President of Chile (OSSG)
  • Protecting Civilians from the Risk of Explosive Ordnance in the Gaza conflict (UNMAS)

1 May

  • As war in Gaza enters seventh month, 1.74 million more Palestinians will be pushed into poverty across State of Palestine according to United Nations assessment (UNDP)

30 April

  • A ground operation in Rafah will be nothing short of a tragedy beyond words – Statement by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA)

29 April

  • World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador, The Weeknd, to Help Provide 18 Million Loaves of Bread to Families in Gaza (WFP)

26 April

  • UN experts demand safe passage for Freedom Flotilla’s humanitarian mission to Gaza (OHCHR)

25 April

  • Recovery in Gaza ‘is not only physical’, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator says (UN News)
  • Testimonies from the Occupied Palestinian Territory show new depths of Israel’s atrocities: UN expert (OHCHR)
  • Israel: Withholding tax revenue and revoking banking waivers could paralyse Palestinian economy, UN experts warn (OHCHR)

24 April

  • Nearly 2 million people depend on assistance from UNRWA as war in Gaza enters 200 days and violence increases in the West Bank (UNRWA)
  • UNRWA Preliminary Response – Final Report of the Independent Review of Mechanisms and Procedures to Ensure Adherence by UNRWA to the Humanitarian Principle of Neutrality (UNRWA)
  • Remarks to the Security Council by Sigrid Kaag, Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza (OCHA oPt)

22 April

  • Independent review panel releases final report on UNRWA (UN News)
    • Final Report – Independent Review Group on UNRWA
    • The Independent Review on UNRWA Adherence to the Humanitarian Principle of Neutrality From Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner General (UNRWA)
  • Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (OSSG)

18 April

  • $2.8 billion appeal for three million people in Gaza, West Bank (UN Palestine)
  • US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership (UN News)
  • Security Council Fails to Recommend Full United Nations Membership for State of Palestine, Owing to Veto Cast by United States (UN)
  • Guterres appeals for maximum restraint in the Middle East (UN News)
  • Palestine’s status at the UN explained (UN News)
  • Gaza: UN experts decry ‘systemic obliteration’ of education system (UN News)

17 April

  • Statement by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA to the Security Council (UNRWA)
  • ‘Insidious campaign’ by Israel is denying lifesaving aid to Gaza says UNRWA chief (UN News)

16 April

  • Gaza: No let up in deadly toll as rights chief demands end to suffering (UN News)
  • Six months into the war on Gaza, over 10,000 women have been killed, among them an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned (UN Women)
  • Gender alert: Scarcity and fear: A gender analysis of the impact of the war in Gaza on vital services essential to women’s and girls’ health, safety, and dignity (UN Women)
  • Armed conflict incidents impacting UNRWA facilities and displaced persons seeking shelter in the Gaza Strip (UNRWA)
  • Statement by Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, following her two-day visit to the Middle-East (UNICEF)
  • Risk of Starvation and Imminent Famine for Children in Gaza, Sudan; Imperative to Immediately Scale Up Humanitarian Access (OSRSG Children and Armed Conflict)
  • Detention and alleged ill-treatment of detainees from Gaza during Israel-Hamas war (UNRWA)

14 April

  • ‘Step back from the brink,’ to avert full-scale Middle East conflict, says UN chief (UN News)
  • Secretary-General’s remarks to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East [as delivered] (OSSG)

The UN Charter remains humanity’s best hope for peace.

Amid geopolitical divisions, member countries must uphold it & ensure that the UN lives up to what it was meant to be:

A forum for solutions.

A guardian of international law.

And a force for peace and security.

António Guterres

Secretary-General of the United Nations (27 May 2026)

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