Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York
13 August 2025
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
**Guest tomorrow
Good afternoon. Just to flag that tomorrow, we will have as our guest Susan Jane Ferguson, who is the UN Women Representative for Afghanistan.
She will be briefing us virtually from Kabul to discuss the four-year mark of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
**Sudan
Let me start with the situation in Sudan today.
A year ago, in August 2024, famine was confirmed in Zamzam camp and has since spread to areas in Darfur and Kordofan. Currently, 17 areas are classified as "at risk of famine" including parts of Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Khartoum, and Gezira.
Since then, the situation, especially in El Fasher, has only gotten worse as we've been telling you almost on a daily basis.
Our friends at the World Food Programme today called for humanitarian access to El Fasher that is facing starvation and remains cut off from humanitarian assistance. The World Food Programme says that, as a coping mechanism, some residents in the area are reportedly surviving on animal fodder and food waste.
The World Food Programme continues to provide digital cash support to roughly a quarter-million people in the city, allowing them to buy the dwindling food left in the markets. However, the escalating needs make it imperative to address the hunger situation at a scale that is actually required.
We reiterate our concern about the ongoing conflict and renew our calls for all parties to end the violence and resolve to dialogue and to put the interest of their people first.
**Occupied Palestinian Territory
Turning to Gaza, we are continuing with our efforts to bring in goods and fuel into the Gaza Strip. Updates from today's movements have yet to arrive back to us here in New York as some missions are still ongoing. But I can tell you that yesterday our teams collected food and fuel from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. While more than half of 15 missions coordinated with the Israeli security authorities were facilitated, the remaining ones were either cancelled, denied or impeded.
Meanwhile, the entry of goods has improved the market situation in terms of both prices and availability. For example, after peaking at about 600 shekels per bag, which is about the equivalent of $175 I'm told, in the past two weeks, the price of sugar has dropped to an average of 40 shekels, or $12. However, severe cash shortages are preventing families from being able to buy food, being able to buy water and being able to buy medicine.
As a reminder, the amount of aid and goods that can be brought into Gaza does not meet the minimum requirements of people who are starving. A ceasefire is critically needed to reach all those in need, along with a sustained and scaled-up flow of aid.
Today, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that eight people, including three children, died due to malnutrition and starvation over the past 24 hours. Such reports have become a daily occurrence, reflecting the deepening humanitarian crisis and the urgent need for sustained assistance.
Also today, our colleagues at the World Health Organization conducted a refresher training at the Rantissi Children's Hospital to help staff members stay current with new information, focusing on the inpatient management of malnutrition. Rantissi is one of the five nutrition stabilization centres in Gaza, and one of the only two located in Gaza city.
The recent surge in malnutrition cases among children has necessitated the establishment and scaling-up of these centres.
So far this year, more than 340 children have been admitted for malnutrition treatment at these centres in Gaza — and this year, as of August 5th, 49 validated child deaths from malnutrition have been reported, including 39 children under the age of 5.
Data collected by ourselves and our partners from over 900 households across Gaza in July indicated continuous trauma leading to mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. Many people are living in informal shelters that are overcrowded, unsafe and lack space and privacy, especially for women and children.
Care staff themselves are traumatized, and today, partners working on protection started providing mental health and psychosocial support for their own teams in Gaza.
Our humanitarian colleagues remind us that shelter items are a priority, as supplies have run out, leaving people exposed to the summer heat and with nothing to protect them when winter comes. Many tents and tarpaulins need to be replaced, as they will not be able to withstand the elements.
Meanwhile, households also continue to report poor sanitation and lack of clean water. In southern Gaza, the Israeli-supplied water pipeline has been damaged for almost a week now, impacting water supply for thousands of people in the area.
**Syria
Moving to Syria. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) today said that the recent violence in Sweida has left a heavy toll on the community there. At least 22 children were killed and 21 more were injured.
During the violence in July and early August, vital infrastructure such as water and electricity networks were reportedly critically damaged in the fighting. At least five health centres were under attack back in July, with two physicians killed, and ambulances obstructed, and that's according to the World Health Organization.
To address these issues, UNICEF has recently deployed fourteen mobile health and nutrition teams and provided health supplies and nutrition supplies to more than 4,000 children and women, as well as safe drinking water and fuel for water pumping stations benefiting more than 30,000 people.
During the violence, more than 190,000 people, mainly women and children, were forced to flee their homes. We underscore that in order to assist those in need, and ensure an effective response, it is critical that humanitarians and commercial goods have unhindered access to the most impacted communities there.
**Sri Lanka
And a report published today by the UN Human Rights Office calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to seize the historic opportunity to break with entrenched impunity and implement transformative reforms. The report also calls for the Government to deliver long-overdue justice and accountability for serious violations and abuses committed in the past, including international crimes.
Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that today, an opportunity presents itself for Sri Lanka to break from the past, with the leadership pledging a fresh direction on long-standing issues. He emphasized the need for this process to start with a clear and formal acknowledgment of the violations, abuses and crimes that occurred, including during the civil war.
The report comes shortly after Mr. Türk's official visit to the country, where he engaged with the Government, civil society, victims' groups, political parties and religious leaders. The full update is on the interweb, and I am done.
**Questions and Answers
Spokesman: Edie then, Gabriel.
Question: Thank you, Steph. Going back to the 49 children who've died of malnutrition, including 39 of them under the age of 5. Is that figure just from the five nutrition centres that you mentioned before?
Spokesman: Those are recorded numbers. There may very well be others who have died from the same causes that were not recorded either by ourselves or by the local health authorities.
Gabriel?
Question: Thank you, Steph. President Trump's Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in New York yesterday. He met with the US Mission, holding meetings there. Do you know if any UN officials took part in any meetings with Witkoff yesterday?
Spokesman: Yes. Joyce Msuya, our Assistant Secretary-General in charge of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, met with Mr. Witkoff. They had a constructive discussion on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the need to speedily scale up aid into Gaza.
Benno, then Ibtisam.
Question: Sorry. Regarding humanitarian aid in Gaza, I understand that your bottom line is, it's not enough, and there's still a lot of blocking, I guess. But can you tell us it seemed to have gotten a little bit better? Is that a correct assumption? And could you elaborate?
Spokesman: There is a bit more volume that we're seeing, but nowhere what we had during the ceasefire, nowhere where we need to be.
Question: Are you in any way able to put a number on this as well?
Spokesman: We're trying to kind of crunch numbers because, as you know, that counting trucks isn't always effective. So it's also... we've seen, there's aid that's delivered to the Israeli side of the crossings. Then there's the aid that we actually manage to pick up. Then there's the aid that often gets looted or self-distributed on the way to the distribution points, and there's the aid that we're actually able to distribute. So we're trying to crunch some numbers to give you a better perspective.
Ibtisam Azem then Dezhi.
Question: Thank you. On Sudan, so you said that there are areas, like pockets or new areas that are affected by famine. Do you have numbers? And could you remind us please, why? Actually, of course, the war, but not everywhere, war results in famine for civilians. So who is not allowing food distribution in these areas and access?
Spokesman: We've had at various times, the various parties, the two parties to the conflict hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid. We had reports yesterday, in the Abu Shouk Camp, if I'm not mistaken, local authorities told us that it was likely RSF attacks. The famine that we're seeing are in places that we just cannot get to, right, and that are just blockaded by the continued fighting. We saw, I think this was early July, the tragic attack on a UN convoy where our colleagues and local colleagues had travelled, I think, more than 1,800 kilometres, only to be attacked, just as they were getting to Al Fasher. So the conflict in itself is the number one culprit in the dire humanitarian situation. And of course, on top of that, you had the challenges that Sudan was facing beforehand.
Question: Sorry, I have another question. On Gaza, the health ministry, the local health ministry in Gaza is reporting that the death of famine breached 235 people, including 106 children. Could you confirm that?
Spokesman: I had numbers yesterday. We'll see if they're updated, but I reported on numbers yesterday. But let me see if I can update them.
Dezhi?
Question: Yes. A follow-up on the situation in Palestine. Today, Israeli foreign minister said again that Israel will not allow the implementation of the Two-State Solution. I can quote him a little bit. He said... [cross-talk]
Spokesman: You don't need to...
Question: He said a Palestinian State within the 1967 lines would place Israel's population centre in grave danger, and he called that a suicidal action. Is the Secretary-General disappointed on this statement? And more importantly, without the support of Israel, how could this, can be implemented?
Spokesman: I'll just say we're not surprised by the statement. We continue to be committed to the implementation of a two-State solution. Many Member states are. You saw the meetings that took place here in July. There will likely be another meeting, a much more high-level meeting taking place during the General Assembly. We can't think of another solution for Palestine and Israel to exist and to coexist in peace and security.
Question: I checked the declaration of the State of Israel, and I quote this. He said: On the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel in Eretz, Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. So they use UN, one of the reasons they established the State of Israel, is the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. Now they denied the two-State solution, which is also from a GA resolution. How do you see this kind of inconsistency?
Spokesman: Listen, you are the journalist. You can analyse. You can do the compare and contrast. You know what our position is. It is unwavering. It is very clear, and it is very direct.
Sinan. I'll get back to you.
Question: Thank you, Stephane. I have two questions. First, what is Secretary-General's reaction to ongoing eruptions of violence between Syrian government and Syrian democratic forces?
Spokesman: We're very concerned about what we're seeing, and we would like to see it move in a different direction, a more peaceful direction.
Question: Second question is, as you know, there was a meeting scheduled in Paris between Syrian Democratic Forces and the transitional government. But for some reason, I guess, Damascus cancelled this meeting. And do you have any comment on that?
Spokesman: Not at this point.
Edie?
Question: Thank you, Steph. You said that Mr. Witkoff and Joyce Msuya discussed the need to scale up humanitarian aid to Gaza. Was there an agreement to pressure Israel to open more crossings or anything else to try and get aid in?
Spokesman: Listen. It was a very, I mean... and constructive, I think sometimes that can be, has a negative connotation, but it was actually a very good meeting. I think it was very good for our colleagues to be able to speak to Mr. Witkoff directly, pass on our concerns. The US side passed on their concerns, and I think we will continue to be in contact with him and with his team in an effort to remove the roadblocks, both figuratively and literally, that continue to exist, that hamper our ability to deliver humanitarian aid.
Question: Was there any indication from Mr. Witkoff that he would talk to the Israelis?
Spokesman: I mean, it's clear that Mr. Witkoff is in constant contact with the Israelis, and we'll see how the situation evolves. Okay. On that note, I was going to say good weekend, but it's a bit early for that. It's too early.
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