Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Hurricane Melissa
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Humanitarian scale-up continues in Gaza
OCHA reports that the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to scale up the humanitarian response, in line with their 60-day plan.
Partners providing water and sanitation report that water distribution is expanding in northern Gaza, where they now deliver 4,600 cubic metres daily in 585 locations in the governorates of Gaza and North Gaza.
Additionally, humanitarian partners have launched a comprehensive assessment of critical public water and sanitation facilities across the Gaza Strip to identify urgent repair needs and support planning for longer-term rehabilitation.
In parallel, humanitarian partners report that efforts to help people prepare for the rainy season are underway across areas they can access in the governorates of Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza, including cleaning stormwater drainage systems.
On nutrition, between 1 and 25 October, humanitarian partners provided treatment for more than 4,300 acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women. During the same period, malnutrition prevention support was provided to more than 134,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under the age of five.
Yesterday, the UN Office for Project Services distributed more than 300,000 litres of fuel to partners operating across Gaza to keep critical generator-powered operations going.
Meanwhile, humanitarian partners monitoring population movements said that families continue to move across the Strip. More than 480,000 movements from southern to northern Gaza have been observed since the onset of the ceasefire, while nearly 100,500 movements from western to eastern Khan Younis have also been observed.
Humanitarian partners report that many people continue to shelter in makeshift displacement sites, often in open areas or damaged buildings.
To mitigate exposure to the elements, humanitarian partners are helping displaced communities repurpose flour and rice bags - originally distributed as food aid - into sandbags to reinforce shelters and provide protection against wind and rain.
Efforts to collect humanitarian cargo from Gaza's crossings are ongoing. However, starting yesterday, Israeli authorities are rerouting humanitarian and commercial truck movements to and from Kerem Shalom through the Philadelphi Corridor and the Coastal Road. That's instead of the Morag Corridor and Salah Ad Deen Road.
In response to the rerouting, several agencies have temporarily reduced the number of trucks in their convoys pending an initial assessment of road conditions. Teams have already reported congestion and heavy traffic along the new route, leading to delays in aid cargo movements.
OCHA continues to engage with Israeli authorities and others to address the impact of this new development on aid collection and delivery.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Gaza and the West Bank with urgent support.
Sudan
UN, partners sound alarm on uptick of attacks on civilians El Fasher
OCHA warns of a dramatic escalation of violence in and around El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State.
The UN and its humanitarian partners in Sudan issued a statement today condemning in the strongest terms reported attacks by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians, civilian infrastructure and humanitarian workers in El Fasher.
Credible reports point to widespread violations, including summary executions, house-to-house raids, sexual violence, and attacks along escape routes preventing civilians from reaching safety.
Local responders who have sustained communities throughout months of siege are now themselves at extreme risk, with some detained or killed.
Humanitarian workers continue to operate under extraordinary danger to assist those fleeing towards the locality of Tawila and surrounding areas. In Tawila, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners report families, and especially children, are arriving malnourished, sick and traumatized from the perilous journey to safety. UNHCR is providing life-saving assistance and essential services to displaced families, including shelter, basic necessities and cash assistance, and offering counselling at community centres.
However, access to El Fasher remains blocked, and humanitarian capacity is rapidly shrinking as needs soar. UNHCR says thousands of kids of household and other items are ready for distribution, pending safe access.
The humanitarian community in Sudan is calling for urgent action to protect civilians and humanitarian workers; guarantee safe passage and humanitarian access to people trapped in El Fasher; ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law; and scale up funding to sustain life-saving operations and support local and women-led responders on the front lines.
The UN and its humanitarian partners remain committed to scaling up life-saving support across Darfur and reestablishing presence on the ground.
Meanwhile, fighting has also intensified in North Kordofan State. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 2,500 people fled Bara town over the weekend, and up to 1,000 others were newly displaced from Al Zuraiba village yesterday due to heightened insecurity.
OCHA stresses again that civilians must be protected wherever they are and allowed to flee safely and in dignity. It urges all parties to immediately halt hostilities, respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, and enable safe, sustained humanitarian access.
Hurricane Melissa
UN, partners step up preparations as hurricane approaches Caribbean
A joint warehouse was established earlier this year in Barbados by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and the World Food Programme (WFP), with support from the European Union and Canada, and it is already proving to be instrumental in this impending disaster.
Thanks to the pre-positioning of relief supplies ahead of the hurricane season, WFP is coordinating a sea-lift operation from Barbados carrying supplies from WFP, IOM and UNICEF. An airlift of some 2,000 relief kits is also planned for deployment once airports reopen.
Additional relief stocks are available at the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Panama from UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and international cooperation partners.
In Cuba, where the hurricane is expected to make landfall overnight in the east of the country, preparations and prepositioning of supplies and assets are still underway, and authorities plan to evacuate around half a million people to safer ground. OCHA also reports that two staff members have arrived in Cuba today to support UN agencies and national authorities ahead of the hurricane's expected impact.
In Haiti, authorities placed the departments of South and Grand'Anse on red alert, while the departments of Nippes, South-East, West, Artibonite and North-West remain on orange alert.
More than 3,600 people are sheltering in emergency sites in the Grand Sud Department, with IOM supporting the sheltering of 3,000 people preventively and the setting up of 100 shelters.
OCHA is coordinating with Haitian authorities, UN agencies and humanitarian partners to support preparedness and early action.
WFP has pre-positioned more than 800 metric tons of food to assist 86,000 people for two weeks, while IOM supported the preventive sheltering of 3,000 people and helped activate 100 shelters and mobilize 253 civil protection personnel.
UNICEF has pre-positioned water, sanitation and hygiene kits for 14,500 people and nutritional supplies for more than 4,000 children.
The UN Population Fund stocked reproductive health kits for 5,000 people and dignity kits 4,000 for 4,000 people, while the Pan American Health Organization provided medical kits for 11,000 people.
Posted on 28 October 2025
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