Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Hurricane Melissa, Ukraine
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Water, food and essential services still desperately needed as families move north
OCHA reports that people continue to move across the Gaza Strip over the weekend. Since the ceasefire, more than 470,000 movements of people have been recorded towards the north.
Families are trying to return to their destroyed homes, though many structures are unstable and unexploded ordnance poses a risk. Humanitarian partners report that water, food and essential services are still desperately needed.
Meanwhile, aid continues to enter the Strip. Between Friday and Saturday, more than 300 truckloads were collected from the Palestinian side - mostly from the Kerem Shalom crossing. The aid in these trucks included thousands of pallets of wheat flour, supplies for hot meals, canned food and rice. The supplies also included diapers and jerrycans, as well as hundreds of pallets of health supplies, such as medical equipment and medicine. Tarps, tents and winter clothes also entered Gaza.
While the UN does not yet have the data on the cargo collected on Sunday, it can confirm that hygiene kits, shelter supplies and post-partum kits entered the Strip. Additionally, yesterday, the UN Office for Project Services distributed some 329,000 litres of diesel to support health, food security, telecommunications and other critical humanitarian operations.
As of Sunday, humanitarian partners, working with 170 community kitchens, delivered more than one million hot meals, mostly in south and central Gaza. With 15 UN-supported bakeries producing tens of thousands of bundles of bread in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza city, community kitchens and shelters across hundreds of sites are distributing bread for free.
Over the weekend, humanitarian partners continued their work on reducing explosive ordnance risk, reaching nearly 3,200 people in central and southern Gaza. This is increasingly important as people are on the move. Overall, since 7 October 2023, humanitarians have recorded 150 explosive ordnance incidents which led to casualties, including among children.
On the West Bank, OCHA says that since the olive harvest season started on 9 October, more than 85 Israeli settler attacks on farmers and their land have repeatedly disrupted harvesting. These incidents have resulted in the injury of more than 110 Palestinians and the vandalization of over 3,000 trees and saplings across 50 villages. Last week alone, 17 attacks were recorded in 14 towns and villages, mostly in the Ramallah governorate.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Gaza and the West Bank with urgent support.
Sudan
El Fasher: 26,000 people flee in two days as situation deteriorates
OCHA warns of a further sharp deterioration in the situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, with reports yesterday indicating that the Rapid Support Forces captured the Sudanese army headquarters in the city.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, called in a statement yesterday for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, across Darfur and throughout Sudan. With fighters pushing further into the city and escape routes cut off, he noted that hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified - shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare, or safety.
Fletcher emphasized the urgent need to protect civilians in El Fasher and to ensure safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access. He reiterated that humanitarian supplies are ready but cannot be delivered due to intensified hostilities.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 26,000 people fled El Fasher between yesterday and today towards the localities of Melit and Tawila, where OCHA teams are on the ground monitoring the situation and coordinating the response to the needs of the affected population. OCHA stresses that people seeking to leave the area must be able to do so safely, voluntarily and in dignity.
Fighting has also intensified in North Kordofan State, where reports indicate that several civilians were killed and infrastructure looted over the weekend. The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical association, reports that 47 civilians were killed in the city of Bara, while IOM estimates that the clashes displaced 340 people from Um Bashar village in the locality of Ar Rahad yesterday.
OCHA once again calls on all parties to immediately halt hostilities, uphold international humanitarian law, and ensure the unhindered delivery of life-saving assistance to people in dire need across Sudan.
Hurricane Melissa
Hurricane Melissa reaches category 5, bringing devastating winds, rain to Caribbean
OCHA reports that Hurricane Melissa has reached Category 5, bringing destructive winds, dangerous storm surge and catastrophic rainfall across the region.
OCHA's Regional Office is coordinating closely with Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams, as well as with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and emergency authorities, on readiness and response. OCHA is deploying staff to Cuba and Jamaica this week, as conditions allow, to reinforce coordination and preparedness efforts across the region.
In Jamaica, the Government has activated the National Emergency Operations Centre at Level 3 and opened hundreds of shelters, with priority evacuations underway in high-risk areas, such as Bull Bay, Port Royal and Old Harbour Bay. All international airports have suspended operations.
The UN team, led by Resident Coordinator Dennis Zulu, is supporting national preparedness and response efforts, in close coordination with the Government. The World Food Programme is providing logistics support, including generators, while UNICEF has pre-positioned water and sanitation supplies, as well as materials for child protection. The Pan-American Health Organization is reinforcing health emergency operations, while IOM is preparing shelter support. For their part, the UN Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Population Fund are mobilizing for early recovery and protection.
In Haiti, authorities have placed the South and Grand 'Anse departments on red alert, while the departments of Nippes, South-East and the West remain on orange alert. More than 3,600 people have taken shelter in emergency sites in Grand South. The storm has also caused significant agricultural losses, particularly in Nippes and the South, where banana plantations were destroyed in several areas.
OCHA and its partners are supporting authorities with ahead of further impact. This includes pre-positioning relief supplies, including medical and nutrition supplies, as well as supporting with cash assistance, early-warning messaging and community outreach.
Authorities report that priority needs include emergency shelter, essential household items, hygiene and cleaning kits, safe water and additional logistical support to reach isolated areas.
In Cuba, where the hurricane is anticipated to hit tomorrow night, the Anticipatory Action Framework was fully activated yesterday, with $4 million released from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund ahead of the storm. This allowed humanitarian partners to pre-position food and essential supplies - including rice, grains, hygiene kits, fuel vouchers and portable water-treatment plants - in the eastern provinces. OCHA continues to support the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team to prepare for the hurricane with authorities.
Ukraine
Weekend attacks leave dozens of civilian casualties across the country
OCHA reports that attacks over the weekend and this morning led to led to dozens of civilian casualties and further damage to homes and energy infrastructure.
Authorities reported more than 160 civilian casualties across the country, including over 20 deaths. Children are among the injured. The most affected regions are Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.
Meanwhile, OCHA says that evacuations of civilians continue from front-line communities in the Donetsk region. Between 24 and 26 October, more than 900 people were evacuated. Over the same period, the Pavlohrad Transit Centre in the Dnipro region registered 205 evacuees.
The Ukraine Humanitarian Fund continues to support local and national NGOs in facilitating safe evacuations and rehabilitating collective centres ahead of the winter season.
Since May, the Fund has released $13 million for the Kharkiv region to assist people living near the front line affected by airstrikes. The allocation, implemented by 15 partners - nearly 60 per cent of them local NGOs - reached some 76,000 residents, half of whom are women and girls, through cash assistance, as well as shelter, health, water, sanitation and hygiene support. Humanitarian partners also provided assistance on the prevention of gender-based violence.
Posted on 27 October 2025
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