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

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

3 December

  • Access to clean water remains a challenge for people in Gaza (UNRWA Commissioner-General)
  • Crackdown on Palestine civil society is reaching alarming levels, warns UN human rights office (UN News)
  • Airstrikes and shelling continue in Gaza (UN News)

2 December

  • Protecting Children in Gaza Strip (CP AoR, Protection Cluster, UNICEF)
  • Hidden Dangers, Unequal Risks (UNMAS)
  • Gaza Strip: Amid ceasefire, FAO helps herders protect remaining livestock, combat malnutrition (FAO)

1 December

  • UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: Far from having phased out from Gaza, UNRWA personnel are significantly scaling up their services (UNRWA)
  • In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, journalism is ‘both a battleground and a lifeline’ (UN News)
  • Secretary-General’s message to the 2025 United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East (OSSG)

29 November

  • Secretary-General’s message on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (OSSG)

28 November

  • Jenin killings incident (OHCHR)

27 November

  • UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: Throughout the war in Gaza, UNRWA colleagues have relentlessly found ways to assist the population (UNRWA)
  • Human Rights Council President appoints Members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel (OHCHR)

26 November

Aid access and hospital operations remain constrained in Gaza

WFP/Maxime Le Lijour - A woman in Gaza stands outside her tent, which was flooded after a sewage system nearby overflooded due to heavy rain.
WFP/Maxime Le Lijour – A woman in Gaza stands outside her tent, which was flooded after a sewage system nearby overflooded due to heavy rain.

Aid deliveries into Gaza continue to face difficulties as fighting continues across the territory, with the UN warning that most hospitals are only partially functioning and more than 16,500 patients still require urgent medical evacuation. (UN News)

25 November

  • A battle of breath in Gaza: Al-Awda Hospital’s lifesaving work for children (OCHA)
  • Remarks by UN Women Chief of Humanitarian Action Sofia Calltorp following her visit to Gaza (UN Women)
  • Secretary-General’s remarks to the Special Meeting Commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (OSSG)
  • Heavy rains in Gaza put displaced communities at risk (OCHA)

24 November

  • UN experts urge States to act as Israeli violations threaten fragile Gaza ceasefire (OHCHR)
  • Security Council must seize moment of renewed hope in Gaza (UN News)
  • Security Council Briefing (UNSCO)

21 November

  • The farmers working to feed Gaza by UN Humanitarian (OCHA)
  • Gaza: Two children killed every day during fragile ceasefire, says UNICEF (UN News)
  • Factsheet: EU support for Palestinians (EC)

20 November

  • Clearing most of the rubble in the Gaza Strip is possible in seven years under right conditions (UNDP)

19 November

  • Statement by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General at the Meeting of the Advisory Commission (UNRWA)

18 November

  • UNESCO presents the assessment of damage and reconstruction needs for higher education institutions in Gaza (UNESCO)

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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