Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Ukraine, Syria
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Children bear brunt of deepening starvation, malnutrition in Gaza
OCHA reports that UN teams in Gaza were able to collect food aid, mainly flour, from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings yesterday.
People in the Gaza Strip continue to face death, injury, hunger, displacement and trauma amid ongoing hostilities and the erosion of the last lifelines, including adequate access to food, water, healthcare and shelter.
Partners note that more than 1 million children are bearing the brunt of deepening starvation and malnutrition, with reports of death from malnutrition increasing by the day.
According to partners working in nutrition, in the first two weeks of July, nearly 5,000 of the 56,000 children under the age of 5 screened for malnutrition in the governorates of Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis were found to be acutely malnourished. This is a staggering 9 per cent rate, up from 6 per cent in June and just 2.4 per cent in February.
Today, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that one in every five children in Gaza city is malnourished, according to the agency's latest findings.
Regarding the facilitation of humanitarian movements inside Gaza, out of 16 attempts to coordinate such movements yesterday, only eight were facilitated - including the collection and transfer of limited fuel. Two other movements were initially approved but then faced impediments on the ground, three were outright denied - including the retrieval of medical supplies - and the remaining three had to be cancelled by the organizers.
OCHA and its partners emphasize that the aid that they have been able to bring into Gaza over the past two months is nowhere near sufficient to meet people's survival needs.
The UN and its partners are unable to bring enough aid into Gaza due to a number of interdependent factors, including: bureaucratic, logistical, administrative and other operational obstacles imposed by Israeli authorities; ongoing hostilities and access constraints within Gaza; and incidents of criminal looting, as well as more shooting incidents that have killed and injured people gathering to offload aid supplies along convoy routes.
Taken together, these factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities.
OCHA stresses that the little assistance that has been able to reach warehouses, distribution points and other humanitarian facilities inside Gaza is woefully insufficient to curb starvation or sustain life-saving operations, particularly as the Israeli military continues to issue new displacement orders.
So many families have been squeezed into just 12 per cent of Gaza's area, while the remaining 88 per cent of the Strip now either falls within Israeli-militarized zones or has been placed under displacement orders.
Meanwhile, the entry of critical items such as tents - or any other shelter materials - has been banned by the Israeli authorities for over 20 weeks. The trickle of fuel now let in is also wholly insufficient.
Aid workers on the ground - who themselves are affected, displaced and going hungry - insist on staying and providing life-saving assistance. They join voices across the UN system in continuing to call for a ceasefire and an end to the devastation.
Sudan
Dozens reported killed, injured in West Kordofan attack
OCHA is alarmed by the ongoing violence against civilians in Sudan's Kordofan region.
In West Kordofan State, a professional association of Sudanese doctors reported yesterday that an attack on the Brima Rashid area, north of An Nuhud town, killed some 30 people and seriously injured more than 40 others. Reports from the ground indicate that fighters entered the centre of the village in combat vehicles and opened fire indiscriminately on homes and a market. Women, children and older people are reportedly among the casualties.
Medical sources say that many of the wounded need urgent surgical care. OCHA stresses that events in Brima Rashid underscore the growing risks facing civilians in the Kordofan region and the urgent need for a cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, and safe, sustained access to humanitarian assistance and services.
OCHA is also warning about the impact of growing gaps in humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region. In North Darfur State, needs are mounting in the locality of Tawila - which is hosting hundreds of thousands of people who fled fighting in and around El Fasher. Humanitarian partners report that just over half of water needs are currently being met, and latrine coverage has dropped to a critically low ratio of one latrine for every 150 people.
Many emergency latrines are collapsing, with no funding available for desludging or replacement. Hygiene support is minimal, particularly in remote areas, and distributions of dignity kits have been inconsistent, as funding constraints* have led to supply shortages. A cholera outbreak in Tawila is compounding this already dire situation. Earlier this week, the UN and its partners launched an operational response plan focusing on Tawila, requesting US$120 million to urgently scale up life-saving support in the area.
Across Sudan - and despite access challenges - the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to scale up response efforts wherever and whenever possible. In Northern State, a recent nutrition campaign led by UNICEF and its partners reached more than 98 per cent of the targeted 135,000 children and 28,000 pregnant women across seven localities. Nearly 2,000 cases of acute malnutrition were identified, and mobile clinics have been dispatched to gathering sites in Ad Dabbah and Delgo, which continue to receive people fleeing conflict in North Darfur.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.
Ukraine
Attacks cause casualties, damage
OCHA reports that strikes across Ukraine yesterday and in the early hours of today killed at least five civilians and injured 46 others, according to authorities.
The attacks hit several regions. In Kharkiv, in the northeast, a glide bomb strike today injured at least 16 people, while fighting yesterday killed three and injured five others.
In central Ukraine, overnight attacks in Cherkasy injured seven people, including a child, and damaged many homes, health centres and schools. In Odesa City, drones hit shopping areas and markets, injuring four people and damaging homes and other sites, as reported by the authorities and aid workers.
Civilians in the Kherson Region in the south, the Donetsk Region in the east, and the Zaporizhzhia Region in the southeast were also affected.
Amid the ongoing hostilities, almost 600 people, including 20 children, were evacuated from the Donetsk Region. Another two dozen people were evacuated from the northeastern region of Sumy in the past day due to heavy fighting.
After the overnight attacks in Cherkasy and Odesa, aid workers helped first responders by providing first aid, meals, shelter materials, hygiene kits, emotional support and legal help to affected families.
Syria
UN, partners provide aid to people displaced by As-Sweida violence
Today, OCHA led an interagency visit to Syria's Rural Damascus Governorate, where they assessed needs and provided assistance to more than 500 families displaced by the recent violence in As-Sweida Governate. Visiting the Sayyeda Zeinab community, the OCHA team was joined by a number of UN agencies and NGOs.
In the coming days, OCHA is also planning to visit Dar'a Governorate, where humanitarians are working to support tens of thousands of displaced people.
In As-Sweida yesterday, supplies brought in on a second convoy from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are being distributed. They include food, wheat flour, fuel, medicines and health supplies, with UN agencies also providing support. Medical items were delivered to the As-Sweida national hospital, and wheat flour was dispatched to bakeries.
The UN continues to engage with the Syrian authorities and partners to facilitate direct access to As-Sweida.
In Rural Damascus and Dar'a, partners are scaling up protection services for displaced people - including psychosocial first aid and case management support for children. Community centres and mobile teams are providing legal and medical referrals.
In Rural Damascus, Dar'a and As-Sweida governorates, more than 1,600 dignity kits have been distributed to displaced women and girls, with partners also providing recreational activities, awareness sessions on gender-based violence, and support for women and children.
Posted on 24 July 2025
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