Conflict and Food Security, South Sudan & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Hello everyone.

After being away last week, just have a few updates for things that are coming up that might be of interest in the General Assembly as we get down to the final days of the 80th session. Today, this morning in the ECOSOC chamber, there's an ongoing informal consultations on the draft resolution to merge UNITAR and the UN Staff College. which you all may remember is one of the recommendations or one of the areas of exploration under the UN 80 reform in terms of consolidating some UN entities. And so there's ongoing discussions on that. And that is it. Mostly for this week. Next week, Monday, there will be the commemoration, the observation of the International Day Against Nuclear Test, and that will happen in GA Hall at 10 a.m. That is a high-level plenary meeting. There will be several speakers, including the PGA and the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO. Next Tuesday on September 1st at 10:00 AM, there will be a plenary meeting in the General Assembly Hall on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. 00 AM next Tuesday. Next Wednesday, the 2nd of September at 10:00 AM, there's the high-level forum on the implementation of the program of action on the culture of peace, and that is taking place in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. Next Thursday, there are no scheduled formal or informal meetings. And then next Friday, the 4th of September, there will be a plenary meeting in General Assembly Hall on all the agenda items that remain open for consideration during the 80th session of the GA and the closing of the remaining agenda items. So that is what's happening in the days ahead as we count down to the end of the session.

Any questions? No.

Oh, yes, Eric.

Hi, thank you, Eunice. When do you expect the final speakers list for the high level week to be released?

We think that we might have an updated, it won't be the final list, it will be an updated provisional list of speakers. We might have it this week and if we get it this week, I will share it with all of you, but it might be next week. And then that will be the last provisional list. And then after that, it will go live on the journal website, UN journal, and then updates will be made there. So they won't continue to update the paper copy, but we hope to get something to you this week. But it's actually DGACM colleagues who provide that list. But as soon as I have it, I will share it with you. Yes.

Anything else? All right, going once, going twice. All right, then all done. Thank you.

Anisa, I have a question.

You there on my screen? Hi, yes.

Yes.

Abdul Hamid.

My question is about what Israel did today to the training center of UNRWA at Qalandia refugee camp. I apologize if you mentioned that in your briefing, but if you didn't, So please tell me the position of the PGA on this development.

Sorry, I did not mention that in my briefing and I haven't spoken to the PGA about it, so I can't share with you what her position is on it. So I would have to consult with her on that, but we haven't discussed it.

So you cannot depend on your knowledge about you and resolutions about on our facilities and the West Bank and Gaza, which has been invaded by Israel and taken over.

No, of course, we would have to look at, you know, exactly the news from this morning. But of course, the PGA has been very clear that UNRWA premises are UN premises and under international law, there are, they are, you know, they are not to be violated. And so that was true previously with other UNRWA premises and this remains the case with UNRWA premises now. They are UN premises and under international law that has to be respected. But to give you further comment on that, but really full stop, that is her position on UN premises.

Thank you.

Any other questions online? Okay, then that is it. Okay. I think that we are done.

Okay, thanks. Play all songs of the story.

30. I think they're gonna push him back. Yeah, I don't think they're gonna.

Thank you. foreign Thank you.

Alright, good afternoon. I'm really sorry for the delay. I keep trying to break my own records and I'm succeeding. Bear with me two seconds. All right, good afternoon. This morning, the Secretary General addressed the Security Council on the conflict and food, on conflict and food security. He said that critical food system. we saw two famines confirmed simultaneously in Sudan and Gaza, which he described as a shameful milestone. The Secretary-General called on the Council to implement Resolution 2417 in full to protect food systems in their entirety and to protect humanitarian workers. His full remarks are shared with you. Also briefing was Karl Skau, the Acting Executive Director. Excuse me. It's a very, very long answer to a simple question. He called Skow, the acting executive director of the World Food Program, also briefed the council speaking after his visit to Somalia last week. He warned that famine is getting closer there and stressed that waiting for famine to be declared is a total failure of duty. We will have Carl speak to you at the Security Council stakeout after you are done with me here. And just to quick up State, excuse me, on South Sudan following the attacks on peacekeepers in Jonglei State that occurred yesterday. Our colleagues at the mission tell us that in the immediate aftermath of the attack, the mission deployed a quick reaction force by road and evacuated the injured by air. The mission tells us that all those injured are receiving the medical attention they need and are currently stable. For the record, yesterday we issued a statement which the Secretary-General condemned the ambush by unidentified armed individuals. He reminded us that attacks against U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes. All attacks on peacekeepers must be promptly investigated and those responsible must be effectively prosecuted and held accountable. Turning to the -- excuse me. Turning to the situation regarding the Kalandia Training Center in East Jerusalem, I can tell you that the Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms today's action by the Israeli authorities, including its security forces, to unlawfully enter and remain in the UNRWA Kalandia Training Center in occupied East Jerusalem and to carry out unauthorized works on those premises. The Secretary-General is greatly alarmed by this development, as it will deprive young people of the vocational education they were receiving. For over 70 years, the center has supported thousands of Palestine refugees through vocational education and a pathway to work. Today's actions are the fifth instance of unauthorized entry by Israeli authorities in the center since May this year and follow other unacceptable breaches of inviolability and of interference with UNRWA premises in occupied East Jerusalem, including the seizure and demolition of the Sheikh Jarrah compound, as well as cutting off supply of water, electricity to multiple other UNRWA facilities. These services take place in the context of domestic -- these incidents take place in the context of domestic legislation, which significantly impedes UNRWA from fulfilling the mandate in the occupied Palestinian territory entrusted to it by the UN's own General Assembly. the Secretary General reiterates the repeal, the call for the repeal of the legislation. The Kalandia Training Center and other UNRWA premises are premises of the United Nations. They are inviolable and immune from any form of interference. These actions against UNRWA premises are wholly unacceptable and inconsistent with Israel's clear obligations under international law, including the Charter of the UN and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Court of Justice in its advisory opinion October 22nd 2025 confirmed that with regard to the premises of the UN in the occupied Palestinian territory Israel must respect their inviolability and not interfere with the performance of their functions the secretary general urges the government of Israel to immediately cease the interference with unra premises vacate return and restore all affected premises to the UN without delay and protect those premises from further interference or damage. And just to add that the there was also a message in a similar vein from the special coordinator at interim, Dr. Ramiz Al-Akharraf. And just to flag that this was UNRWA's oldest vocational training center. It has served people for more than seven decades. Each year, it provides hundreds of students from across the occupied West Bank with free vocational education and a pathway towards greater economic independence. And just to stay on the situation in the West Bank, yesterday, there was a question about a fire that had damaged a factory in the Ramallah area. Our humanitarian partners tell us that according to witnesses, the factory was set on fire by Israeli settlers. The fire caused extensive damage to stored material in the structure itself and to nearby farmland. We and our partners are mobilizing humanitarian support for those affected by the incident. In the wake of -- sorry. And just to put it in context, our humanitarian partners say that this year an average of 200 attacks on every month by Israeli settlers causing casualties and damage have been recorded, which is the highest monthly average in any year. By the end of July, more than 1,400 such attacks had been recorded. In the wake of these attacks, our humanitarian partners assess people's needs and respond accordingly, including to support those who are forced to leave their communities and whose access to essential services and livelihoods is disrupted. Meanwhile, our colleagues on the ground in Gaza tell us that airstrikes and other attacks on civilian areas in the Strip intensified yesterday with reports of casualties, including among civilians, as well as damage. Four of yesterday's airstrikes hit close to a humanitarian facility in Shati camp in Al-Buraj and two locations in Dar al-Bala. Initial assessment indicate that the UN facilities were not damaged, but windows at a guest house used by some of our humanitarian partners were damaged. As you'll recall on Sunday, an airstrike damaged three UN warehouses. We can add that today that supplies stored inside remained intact. Civilians and civilian objects, including humanitarian of course, must never be a target by anyone. And just staying in the region and moving north to south Lebanon, our peacekeeping colleagues at UNIFIL report that from Friday to Monday, peacekeepers continue to observe significant Israeli land and air activities across the area of operations, including 173 airspace violations, mostly by drones, but also fighter jets. Peacekeepers observed 51 instances of drone activities, including several drones operating in the vicinity of UN operations. One suicide drone overflew the main gate at a UN position before exploding about 550 meters away. No casualties or material damage at the position had been reported. UNIFIL peacekeepers detected 10 airstrikes by IDF between Friday and Monday, including in Al Mansouri and other areas. Also detected 668 trajectories of projectiles fired from the IDF from south to north during that period. They continue to record demolitions and infrastructure done by the Israeli armed forces in UNIFIL's area of operations. On Monday, two detonations northwest of Al Mansouri caused structural and collateral damage to a nearby UN position. Thankfully, no peacekeepers or casualties were reported. On the same day, UNIFIL recorded aggressive behavior towards peacekeepers near Yatar, where local people on mopeds struck UN vehicles. No casualties or equipment damage were reported. There were also multiple denials of freedom movements involving the IDF during the reporting period. explosive and other potential hazardous items continue to pose a threat to peacekeepers and of course to civilians in the area on Saturday unifil peacekeepers discovered an unexploded Ordinance along the road southeast of hula which was neutralized on site and we cannot stress enough that UN peacekeepers must never be targeted they are there to support peace and protect civilians as mandated by the Security Council and must be allowed to carry out their work safely meanwhile unifil continues to support humanitarian access in southern Lebanon with coordination with our OCHA colleagues. Moving to this hemisphere, I have a statement on Haiti. The Secretary-General condemns the latest gang attack that was witnessed in Kenskoff, a commune on the outskirts of the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. This attack reportedly killed at least 47 people during the night of August 23rd, including 22 who were reportedly executed in a church compound where they had sought safety. The relentless attacks on communities and the loss of lives. underscore the alarming security conditions in Haiti and reinforce the urgent need to intensify Haitian and international security efforts to counter these ruthless gangs. Secretary General reiterates this call for the Haitian authorities to ensure that those responsible for the attacks are held to account, including through specialized judicial units recently created with international support to investigate mass crimes. And I can tell you that our humanitarian colleagues on the ground in Haiti are working with the local communities and local authorities to verify the information and assess the what people need following this horrendous violence. And the UN Office integrated office in Haiti reported that during the second quarter of 2026, from April to June, at least 1004,008 people were killed and 656 others injured because of violence across Haiti. Gangs attacked accounted for more than half of all killings injuries recorded during this quarter. The report emphasizes the importance of keeping Haiti on the international agenda and accelerating the full deployment of the gang suppression It also calls for progress on investigations into mass crimes and reiterates that all use of force by law enforcement officials or other actors acting on behalf of the state must comply with international human rights law. Update from Ukraine, where humanitarian colleagues said that attacks and hostilities have taken a heavy toll on civilians in recent days. According to local authorities, at least 47 people were killed and 329 injured, and that includes children. And this was between Friday and the early hours of today. One of the deadliest attacks was a so-called double tap attack on a busy shopping mall in Krivyyi Rih in the Dnipro region. Matthias Schmale, our humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine condemned the attack and reiterated that civilians must always be protected under international humanitarian law. Civilians and casualties were also reported in Chernihiv and in Donetsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, where homes, schools, shops and vehicles and other infrastructure, civilian infrastructure were damaged. All of this continues to put vital aid operations at risk. On Sunday, a drone attack caused a fire to Ukrainian Red Cross Society warehouse in Kherson, damaging or destroying supplies worth more than half a million US dollars. Thankfully, no one was injured. Despite the dangers, we, along with our humanitarian partners, are continuing to respond. Following the attack in Kivu, aid workers immediately mobilized at the site and hospitals to support people in need. Humanitarian organizations provided families with as much as they could. And just for the record, you saw yesterday Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the Security Council on Ukraine, saying that, noting that four and a half years after the full scale invasion began, the need to end this war cannot be urgent. Also briefing was Tom Fletcher, the emergency relief coordinator, who noted that when the time he recently spent in Ukraine, he noted the devastating impact of drone warfare. Technology is now outpacing accountability, he said, warning that abandoning the rules of war, we all face the chilling reality the Ukrainians face right now. Those remarks were shared with you. And speaking of technology and warfare, you saw that today the Secretary General and the President of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, issued a renewed call for states to adopt new international rules on autonomous weapons systems. This joint appeal follows similar call they issued three years ago. Since the appeal, states have laid important groundwork through the General Assembly and the group of governmental experts under the convention on certain types of conventional weapons. However, weapons technology has continued to advance at a very rapid race pace, placing increasing strain on existing legal frameworks. The Secretary General and the president of the ICRC warned that we're dangerously close to crossing what they describe as a moral red line, allowing machines to autonomously set target human beings. They urge states to negotiate a legally binding instrument establishing clear prohibition and a restriction on autonomous weapons system, stressing that the progress achieved over the past three years should not be lost. The seventh review conference on the convention on certain conventional weapons will be held in November. is an opportunity to move the work forward. And also for the record, yesterday we issued a statement on the nine years since the forced mass displacement of Rohingya and other communities from Myanmar. The Secretary-General in the statement called for renewed global attention and action for the plight of the Rohingyas, noting that the Rohingya people in Myanmar and in Bangladesh and across the region face deepening insecurity, shrinking protection, and diminishing prospects for durable solution, worsening by funding cuts impacting life-saving assistance. He also underscored that he appreciates the hospitality of Bangladesh and other refugee-hosting nations. Our Deputy Secretary-General, Meena Mohamed, continued her engagements in Ulaanbaatar at the 17th Conference of the Parties on the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. which is she participated in the dialogue on accelerating drought resilience, where she urged countries to turn early warnings into early action supported by anticipatory measures and adequate financing. The Deputy Secretary General also took part in high level event on sand and dust storms, which saw the launch of the SG's framework for the UN decade on combating sand and dust storms. And she also met on the sidelines with African leaders, heads of delegations, as well as UN country team. She has since departed Mongolia for India. Quick update from Sudan, where humanitarian resident coordinator Denise Brown expressed deep concern over the situation in Heiban in South Kordofan, where the conflict between non-state armed groups continues to take a heavy toll on civilians, leading to displacement and the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure. In a statement, she said the arbitrary detention of humanitarian personnel and the looting of destruction of humanitarian compounds, supplies and equipment are disrupting life-saving operations and depriving people of critical assistance. She urged all parties again protect civilians and to respect international humanitarian law. And before I get to the quiz, wanted to update you on some staffing changes in our own office. Two new members in the spokesperson's office, and we also had to bid farewell to another. Our two new teammates are Ignacio Lopez-Ochoa and Nadia Al-Kabareeti. Ignacio comes to us from the Department of Global Communications. He brings over nine years of experience in public information and journalism. Before joining the UN, he spent five years as a journalist working in Spain at Basque Public Television, where he reported on national and international news. Nadia brings experience in strategic communications, digital partnerships across humanitarian media and development settings. She has worked and studied in a number of countries, including her native Jordan, in Geneva, and in Vietnam. They're both very nice, so you can drop by and say hello. And speaking of nice, we also had to bid farewell, and a sad farewell, to one of our own. Stephanie Tremblay has received a well-deserved promotion and has moved on to the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs front office for at least a year, where she'll be working on communications issues, as I think you can better explain. backing me up on this, but for the past eight years, Stephanie has been a pillar of stability and efficiency in our office. We will miss her, and I know you'll join me in wishing her best of luck in her new assignment. Chris, please stand up. We have a quiz. This Lusophone member state is one of the few countries in the world whose name in English contains all five vowels. you know what the five vowels are yeah sometimes why but we won't count why what yes Eric thank you we say our thank you to our friends in Maputo for their full payment Mozambique brings us up to 130 and they paid $63,000 579 come on down as they would say in The Price is Right let's go Edie.

First, I'm sure on behalf of my colleagues, the UN Correspondents Association, a very warm thank you to Stephanie for helping us for all these past years. She's been a great asset to all the media and welcome to the two new members. of your team.

Yes, ma'am.

Two questions. First, on the Israeli takeover apparently of the UNRWA training facility. Was there actually any training taking place at the time or has it stopped?

There was no training taking place but there were about 20 UNRWA staff members who were able to leave the premises safely.

And is there any chance at all that they might be able to go back?

That's not a question to ask to us. It's a question to ask to the Israeli authorities.

Okay. My second question, does the Secretary General have any comment on the failure to hold anyone accountable a year after Israeli soldiers killed 22 Palestinians in a double strike on a Gaza hospital, including journalists from the Associated Press and Reuters.

Well, you know, we've seen the recent remarks and findings by the Israeli judge, military judge advocate, which launched investigations to some cases and dropped others. There will need to be accountability, right, for the civilians killed, for the journalists killed, killed and we will continue to call for that and for the investigations that are going on, we look forward to seeing their conclusion and we look forward to seeing the findings. Gabriel and then Eric.

Thanks Steph. I echo Edie's comments on Stephanie and wish her the best in her new role and welcome to your new colleague. Stephanie's been very helpful. in many things over the last many years here. Steph, I have a question about the Calandria Training Center. And I don't mean this as a flippant question, I mean it seriously. How is stuff like this continued to allow to be happening?

Again, it's like your question to Edie. I mean, it's an analysis question. It's not something that we invited, it's something that we're fighting against. We clearly have called out this violation of international law, the violation of the viability of the UN premises. As you say, these things keep happening, and we're seeing in many other parts of the world also lessening for the respect of the UN and its work and its mandated work. Eric.

So on the SG's call on autonomous weapon systems, I'm sure you've seen the reporting in New York Times and analysts have said throughout the conflict that there have been autonomous weapons used. And in the report I'm referencing, New York Times said a Russian drone autonomously attacked in Ukraine. You have any comment on that?

Well, I mean, I think that reporting is a clear illustration of why we need a binding treaty. I mean, we don't have any. I don't have anything further than what we've read in the media. We don't have an independent certification of that drone. But the reporting itself, I think, is a clear illustration of why we need this binding convention sooner rather than later. Min-Lew, then Benny.

On the killing of two UN peacekeepers in South Sudan, we know the Secretary General has said it may constitute war crimes and called for an investigation. I'm also wondering about accountability here. So who would conduct the investigation? Is it from the South?

It is the responsibility of the state where it happened in South Sudan. We obviously will support it in any way, but it is the responsibility of the state. So far this year, nine peacekeepers have been killed. Hundreds of peacekeepers have been killed in recent years in many, many peacekeeping missions. Not all of them, thank God. As far as accountability, it is sadly close to zero. And that is a responsibility unfulfilled by member states. Benny.

Stef, as you know, there's near consensus in Israel about the role of UNRWA in relations to Israel, including the UNRWA officials being part of the attacks of October 7th, and what they say that in the school system of UNRWA, there's a lot of anti-Israel propaganda. So does the UN have some kind of responsibility in this growing fight between Israel and UNRWA to have a little more oversight of UNRWA?

Look, there is transparency. Many, many studies, independent studies have been done on the educational system that UNRWA schools. To be clear, UNRWA does not run every palace, every, all schools in Palestine, right? The ones that they do run, I think the educational material is based on, different countries syllabus but there is strong there is strong elements on on human rights on teaching about the teaching about the Holocaust teaching about history and I think these these independent these independent studies have been very clear a number of other studies I think have been done and misinterpreted and being used to bludgeon on one very unfair ways in terms of the accusation you've made on on the terrorist attacks of October 7th have we said repeatedly whenever information was shared with UNRWA about the about certain individuals action was taken from the UNRWA side it was UNRWA that that acted I think on about 20 20 of its staff members. This was almost two years ago. The list of UNRWA staff, every UNRWA staff members is shared with the host country. So that includes Jordan, that includes Lebanon, that includes Syria, and that includes Israel.

So just to follow up, since this is a legislation in the severing of relations with UNRWA, is law in Israel that was actually not being raised by the government but by the opposition. How do you explain the consensus in Israel from right to left of opposition to UNRWA?

Well, frankly, I think there's been a lot of disinformation about what UNRWA is and what UNRWA is not. Okay, any questions online? Yes, Abdelhamid.

Thank you. I want to follow up with the questions on Honorwah. First, there are 340 students who are now part of that training center. It was mentioned in Al-Akbarov's statement, as you see. So you said no student there, 20 were escorted safe, as if that, thanks Israel for escorting safe.

I didn't, Abdelhamid, Abdelhamid, please do not put words in my mouth, okay?

I didn't.

Okay. I didn't say escorted. I said they were allowed to leave safely. The question to me was how many people were people in the school at the time? And I think I answered it. But go ahead.

So the question is, don't you see that there's an attack on the UN and ICJ and on the Secretary General when there is many mandates were issued by the GA to authorized UNRWA to work in the occupied Palestinian territories and the other operation areas like Syria, Lebanon.

I mean, it is clearly an attack on the UN and it goes against the ruling of the ICJ. And I think I've laid that out pretty clearly in the statement I read on behalf of the Secretary General.

Yes. So the attack was in the headquarter in Sheikh Jarrah and Israel went along and continued to attack UNRWA. And here again, they attack another training center and the UN, you know, just they keep condemning and nothing practically has been done to stop Israel from doing that. What else could the UN do to end this atrocity committed by Israel on UNRWA?

Abdul Hamid, UNRWA works as mandated by the General Assembly. The General Assembly is made-up of member states. It would be useful if member states also echoed or echoed more loudly the words of the Secretary General. Jacqueline Charles, I see a lot of little yellow hands go up.

Go ahead. So a couple of questions. So, I spoke to the mayor this morning, and he's telling us that their tally official tally is 25 dead. And I'm trying to figure out the huge discrepancy. Do do I mean, do we know why? And then, do you have any. We're also hearing reports about people have been kidnapped. I don't know if you have any figures on that. And then yesterday, I mean, everybody's asking, where's the JSF? Where are the Haitian security forces? I mean, are you guys asking us, can you give us an explanation on how do we explain this attack and multiple attacks as outlined in your report with the presence of a foreign force in the country?

Listen, I think all the questions about the security forces, whether national or international, are valid ones, but those need to be asked to them. They don't answer to us. I have no doubt the GSF is doing the best it can. On the discrepancy of numbers, I think it is sadly not surprising that in the immediate aftermath there are some discrepancies of number given the difficulties in access, at least for us. to this site. So I think as, again, as we see in many of these horrific tragedies and mass murder, because that's what it was, it takes a few days for the numbers to stabilize, if I can use that term. Thank you. All right, on that note, we will have Karl Skow come to you at 1:10 down at the Security Council stakeout.