The UN and the crisis in the Middle East: What you need to know (Jan-Jun 2025)

31 March

• Gaza: UNRWA Commissioner-General, Gaza: devastating to confirm the deaths of two additional UNRWA colleagues (UNRWA)
• Gaza: At least 322 children reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip following breakdown of ceasefire (UNICEF)

30 March

• Gaza – Tal As Sultan aftermath (OCHA)
• OCHA / GAZA TAL AS SULTAN AFTERMATH (UNifeed)

28 March

• Gaza: Press briefing by UN Women on the collapse of a Gaza ceasefire and its devastating impact on women and girls (UN Women)
• Gaza: UNRWA Commissioner-General: “Gaza : humanity at its darkest hour” (UNRWA)
• Gaza: Deep concerns about the forced displacement of Palestinians (OHCHR)
• عيد بلا ألعاب ولا ملابس جديدة: أطفال غزة بين ركام الحرب وذكريات العيد (UN News Ar)

27 March

• Gaza: Hunger looms again in Gaza as WFP food stocks begin to run out (WFP)
• Gaza: ‘Life has stopped. We didn’t sleep all night, paralyzed’ – Women of Gaza report intolerable toll of the war (UN Women)

26 March

• Gaza: In Gaza, returning families confront incalculable costs of chaos (UNICEF)
• Gaza: No aid has reached war-torn enclave for more than three weeks (UN News)

25 March

• Gaza: Women in Gaza cut off from accessing maternal health supplies as aid blockade enters fourth week (UNFPA)
• Syria: Mr. Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator – Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria (OCHA)
• Syria: Transcript of Press Stakeout by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Mr. Geir O. Pedersen (OSES)
• Syria: United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen Briefing to the Security Council (OSES)

24 March

• Gaza: The UN Secretary-General on Monday, 24 March, took the “difficult decision” to reduce the aid operation inside the Gaza Strip following the resumption of deadly Israeli airstrikes – but pledged that “the UN is not leaving” the enclave. (UN News)
• Note to Correspondents: on Gaza (OSSG)
• Gaza: Rain Without Relief – Gaza’s Struggle for Water and Shelter (IOM)

23 March

• Gaza: UNRWA Commissioner-General: three weeks since the Israeli Authorities banned the entry of supplies to Gaza (UNRWA)

22 March

• Gaza: UNRWA Commissioner-General: 60 days to the start of Operation “Iron Wall” in Jenin camp (UNRWA)

21 March

Exhausted Gazans wake from another night of Israeli bombing: UN aid teams

Israel’s renewed bombing campaign and intensifying ground operation in Gaza are reversing gains achieved during the brief ceasefire, UN humanitarians inside the devastated enclave said on Friday 21 March. (UN News)

• Gaza: Statement by the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on the developments in Gaza (OHCHR – oPt)
• Gaza: Nowhere to Call Home – A Mother’s Strength Amid Winter in Gaza (IOM)
• West Bank: A deepening humanitarian crisis (UNRWA)
• West Bank: UNRWA Commissioner-General – 60 days to the start of Operation “Iron Wall” in Jenin camp (UNRWA)
• Security Council Briefing: Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of UNSCR 2334 | 2016 (UNSCO)

20 March

• Gaza: UN Volunteer in Gaza recounts as the ceasefire ends (UNV)
• oPt: On the brink – Women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR)
• oPt: U.S. must immediately release Palestinian rights-activist Mahmoud Khalil and stop threats of deportation against foreign residents, say UN experts (Special Rapporteurs)

19 March

• Gaza: Statement on UNOPS colleague killed at UNOPS premises in Gaza (UNOPS)
• Gaza: Statement on Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA)
• Gaza: Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on Gaza (OSSG)

18 March

• Gaza: Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on Gaza (OSSG)
• Gaza: a return to the ceasefire is a must (UNRWA)
• Gaza: Escalation of Violence is Gaza Takes a Heavy Toll on Children: Return to Ceasefire and Negotiations Must Prime for the Sake of Children (OSRSG Children and Armed Conflict)
• Gaza: Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on the attacks in Gaza (UNICEF)
• Gaza: Comment by UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza (OHCHR)
• oPt: Statement by Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory on the urgent need to reinstate a ceasefire (OCHA, UN RC/HC oPt)
• oPt: Mr. Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator – Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA)
• Syria: The EU mobilises international support for Syria’s transition and the region raising €5.8 billion (EC, ECHO)
• West Bank: Israel ramps up settlement and annexation in West Bank with dire human rights consequences (OHCHR)