Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Humanitarian Coordinator visits Gaza, urges unfettered access amid aid scale-up
OCHA reports that humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain extremely dire and aid operations continue across the Strip, with critical supplies - including food, water, medicine and nutrition assistance - delivered each day to people in need.
Yesterday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, concluded a four-day visit to Gaza - where he met with partners, visited humanitarian project sites, and spoke with people struggling to cope with already appalling conditions as winter looms.
Dr. Alakbarov thanked the humanitarian community for the ongoing effort to serve people in need despite persistent obstacles. He stressed the importance of unfettered humanitarian access and the need for NGO partners to be able to bring supplies into Gaza.
Meanwhile, partners leading the health response report that they continue to restore services across the Strip - with 234 health service points now operational, compared to 197 before the ceasefire. While this is a significant improvement, efforts to expand access to healthcare continue to face challenges due to the lack of critical equipment and the vast destruction of infrastructure during two years of war.
Partners leading on logistics warn that Salah ad Deen Road remains closed for the movement of humanitarian cargo from Kerem Shalom crossing, and Al Rasheed Road and Philadelphi corridor remain the only available routes. This leads to congestion and exposes convoys to looting and security risks.
Meanwhile, partners leading the shelter response warn that needs remain extremely high - with some 1.5 million people in need of urgent support. The UN and its partners continue to provide shelter assistance across Gaza. Between Wednesday and Thursday, partners distributed tents, tarpaulins, bedding and kitchen sets, as well as winter clothing vouchers, to some 4,300 households, including 2,500 families in southern Gaza and nearly 1,800 in the north. On education, partners were able to reopen 18 out 31 temporary learning spaces affected by the rainstorms. This has allowed some 8,000 children to resume learning.
Over the weekend, 160 high-performance tents arrived in Gaza for learning activities. This is the highest number of such tents received by education partners to date. However, they warn that stationery and other education supplies continue to be rejected, hampering efforts to scale up the response. So far, fewer than 3,200 individual learners' kits have entered Gaza.
Partners working on cash assistance say they have completed transfers to 123,000 families since the ceasefire - already exceeding the target of 120,000 under the 60-day plan.
Sudan
Insecurity, displacement heighten humanitarian needs
OCHA warns that humanitarian needs are rising in Sudan's Darfur and Kordofan regions, as well as across Northern and River Nile states.
Although hostilities have decreased in El Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, since late October, when the Rapid Support Forces took control of the city, the situation remains highly volatile. Local sources report that insecurity continues to affect civilians, including deadly armed robberies.
OCHA notes that aid organizations still cannot reach civilians inside El Fasher. As of a week ago, more than 106,000 people had been displaced from the city and surrounding villages since late October, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Nearly 80 per cent of those displaced remain in rural villages west and north of the city, without adequate support or safe passage for those wishing to travel onward.
In South Kordofan State, violence continues to drive new displacement. IOM reports that on Friday, more than 1,600 people fled Kortala village in Habila locality due to ongoing hostilities.
Meanwhile, displacement from North Darfur State and the Kordofan region is deepening needs in Northern and River Nile states, where over the weekend, OCHA met local officials and led assessments. Displaced families say they urgently need shelter and other essential items, as well as health services and water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.
In Northern State alone, local authorities estimate that 7,000 people who sought refuge there in recent weeks are scattered across rural Ad Dabah, with more than 300 people arriving each day. The UN and its partners are providing primary healthcare, food assistance, safe water and psychosocial support, but funding shortfalls have left key gaps, including in latrine coverage.
OCHA once again calls on all parties to urgently guarantee safe, unhindered humanitarian access and protect civilians, including aid workers. It is also critical that donors commit additional resources to reach people in greatest need across Sudan, including for the local organizations and networks that remain at the forefront of the response.*
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.
Sri Lanka
UN mobilizes to support response to Cyclone Ditwah
The UN is closely following the situation in Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah made landfall on Friday, bringing heavy rainfall and destructive winds across the country.
The storm triggered widespread flooding and landslides and is believed to be the worst flood in its recent history.
The UN is coordinating closely with Sri Lanka's disaster management authorities, who as of today report that 366 people have been killed, 367 are missing, and over 1.1 million have been affected across all 25 districts of the country.
The Government is taking the lead in search-and-rescue operations. More than 215,000 people are sheltering in over 1,500 Government-run safety centres.
Initial assessments have found that over 15,000 homes have been destroyed - with widespread disruption to infrastructure, including the rail network and power grid.
The Humanitarian Country Team was activated by the UN Resident Coordinator and is preparing a joint response plan, supported by the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
The UN in Sri Lanka is rapidly mobilizing to provide immediate and life-saving support, including food, safe drinking water and hygiene and shelter items, as well as maternity and dignity kits.
The UN and authorities are carrying out a joint rapid needs assessment so that support reaches those who need it most.
Ukraine
Dozens of casualties reported following latest attacks
OCHA says that attacks and hostilities continued over the weekend and into this morning, resulting in dozens of casualties across Ukraine.
Authorities report that 17 civilians were killed and more than 150 injured, including several children.
The city and region of Kyiv were hit by large-scale drone and missile strikes over the weekend. In the capital, two civilians were killed and 35 injured, while one civilian was killed and 33 others injured across the Kyiv region. Hundreds of residential buildings and other civilian facilities were damaged. Up to 500,000 families in the city of Kyiv lost electricity, with water and heating services also disrupted. According to a private energy company, power has since been restored to about 590,000 families, and repair work is ongoing.
In the city of Dnipro, authorities and aid workers report that an attack this morning killed at least four people and injured more than 20 civilians. Residential areas were also hit, and the office of a national NGO was damaged.
Additional casualties were reported in the regions of Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia. The attacks also caused widespread damage to civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities and a school.
Meanwhile, UNICEF says that 4.6 million children in Ukraine continue to face major disruptions to education as the war enters a fourth academic year. Since February 2022, the UN has verified about 2,800 attacks on schools, including more than 340 this year. National authorities report that more than 4,300 educational institutions have been affected and 400 completely destroyed.
In 2025, humanitarian partners have supported 445,000 schoolchildren and teachers with education services and psychosocial support. Nearly 320,000 children received mental health and psychosocial assistance and psychological first aid in schools. Some 120,000 children received educational kits and equipment for school shelters, and about 80,000 participated in catch-up learning programmes.
Posted on 1 December 2025
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