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.

21 September

What to know ahead of the UN summit on the Question of Palestine

© 1949 UN Archives Photographer A convoy of trucks carries refugees and their belongings from Gaza to Hebron in the West Bank.
© 1949 UN Archives Photographer A convoy of trucks carries refugees and their belongings from Gaza to Hebron in the West Bank.

After nearly two years of war in Gaza, the suffering of its residents shows no sign of easing. As Israel launches a major ground offensive in the north of the enclave, attention once again turns to the United Nations. (UN News)

19 September

  • Statement by UNICEF on the theft of lifesaving therapeutic food for thousands of children in Gaza (UNICEF)

18 September

  • UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: Gaza has been the battleground of a fierce and rampant information war (UNRWA)

17 September

  • Refusing to be erased—a volunteer’s voice from Gaza (UN Volunteers)

16 September

Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide

© UNRWA Screening for malnutrition by a worker from the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, in Gaza City.
© UNRWA Screening for malnutrition by a worker from the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, in Gaza City.

Senior independent rights investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council alleged on Tuesday that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, a charge flatly rejected by Tel Aviv. (UN News)

  • Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds (UN Human Rights Council)
  • Thirsty and starving, Gazans face “inhumane” starvation (UN News)
  • Statement on Arbitrary Detention of Aid Workers in Yemen (WFP)

15 September

  • UN Relief Chief warns Security Council mass hunger must not define Yemen’s future (OCHA)
  • Israel’s financial stranglehold on the occupied Palestinian territory must end: UN experts (OHCHR)

12 September

  • Statement attributable to UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, on the deadly risks for over 450,000 children in Gaza City as military attacks increase (UNICEF)

11 September

  • UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: At least 2,000 desperate and hungry people have been killed while seeking food aid (UNRWA)
  • Devastating rate of child malnutrition in the Gaza Strip in August surpasses July record (UNICEF)

10 September

  • Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team in the occupied Palestinian territory (UNHCT)

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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