Noon briefing of 3 December 2025

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC​,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
WEDNESDAY, 03 DECEMBER 2025

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY 

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to receive reports that air strikes, shelling, gunfire and other Israeli military operations are causing more civilian casualties, displacement and destruction in Gaza. In recent days, hundreds of families were reportedly displaced in the At Tufah and Ash Shuja’iyyeh neighbourhoods in eastern Gaza city, following strikes and movement of military machinery.   

The UN and its partners continue to provide assistance to people in need across the Strip wherever we can have access. The UN healthcare partners report that six additional healthcare service points have opened since Sunday.   

Yesterday in Rafah, a team from the World Health Organization(WHO) also managed to reach the European Hospital, which remains non-operational, to move some vital equipment to functioning healthcare facilities.  

However, attempts to gain access to Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza continue to be denied by the Israelisecurity authorities.   

WHO reported that the agency facilitated the referral and transfer of the first patient to the Emirati Field Hospital since before last year’s Rafah incursion, which had rendered the facility inaccessible. The hospital is the only functioning medical facility serving the Rafah area.  

Preparations for winter are a key priority for the UN and our partners, and we continue to deliver shelter supplies and other critical items to the most vulnerable households. Since Sunday, some 4,400 families received tents, tarpaulins, blankets, winter clothing and kitchen sets across Gaza through UN-coordinated deliveries.   

In addition, UN partners managing displacement sites report that work is ongoing to help prepare suitable locations for those seeking to leave high-risk areas, including shoreline communities.      

In Khan Younis, an estimated 4,000 households live along the coast, with some 1,000 at especially high risk due to their proximity to the water line. Some of these families have reportedly started to relocate to the two sites identified as being safe by the localmunicipality.   

In the ongoing effort to improve access to water and sanitation, our partners report that 42 truckloads of debris have been cleared over the past 48 hours to reach the Al Amal, Tel al Dhahab and Asian wells in Beit Lahiya, in North Gaza. Repairs are expected to begin soon.  

In the meantime, UN partners working to reduce risks of explosive ordnance warn that unexploded remnants of war continue to pose a threat to civilians. Over the past week, they were able to carry out 50 assessments across Gaza to help lower the risks for aid workers. Just last week, six people were reportedly killed and 10 others injured in two incidents involving explosive ordnance in Gaza City and Deir al Balah.  

OCHA continues to call for unimpeded, safe and sustained access for humanitarian workers and supplies to reach people in need. Impediments must be lifted to allow teams to scale up the delivery of humanitarian assistance faster and more efficiently. Civilians must always be protected, and safe passage must be ensured for those wishing to flee. They must also be allowed to return to areas should they wish to.   

LEBANON/ISRAEL 

Today, UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) hosted the fourteenth meeting of the five parties cessation of hostilities mechanism at its headquarters in Naqoura.  

Chaired by the United States with the support of France, the meeting saw for the first time the participation of delegations of Israel and Lebanon included civilian representatives which marks a significant step forward and we look forward to continued momentum in that front. 

The Office of the Special Coordinator for Lebanon was also present in the meetings. 

SUDAN 

In Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the situation remains dire, with civilians in many parts of the country facing conditions that are difficult to imagine.  

Civilians across the Kordofan region are facing extreme hardship as conflict intensifies. UNICEF reports that communities in Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan state are trapped in siege like conditions. And in Babnusa in West Kordofan, we have seen reports of sustained attacks over recent days. 

Hospitals are only partially functioning, and families fleeing clashes are stranded with almost no food, water or medical care. Civilians attempting to escape face grave risks along unsafe routes. We cannot stress enough that civilians wishing to flee must be afforded safe passage, and they must be able to access humanitarian assistance. 

Hospitals and healthcare facilities are not being spared in this conflict. The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified 198 attacks on healthcare since the conflict started in April 2023, killing more than 1,700 health workers and patients and injuring over 400. These ongoing attacks areclearly a violation of international humanitarian law and must of course, must stop immediately.  

Meanwhile, conditions in and around El Fasher remain dire, with severe shortages of food and drinking water, restricted movement and continued looting. 

Citing local sources, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that arbitrary arrests and detentions continue to heighten fear among civilians and hamper humanitarian assessments.  

In Tawila, the arrival of people who fled El Fasher continues to strain services. Sites are overcrowded, and malnutrition and diseases are on the rise.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports increasing cases of measles, as well as suspected cases of cholera and dengue. To add to these numerous challenges, the agency has registered nearly 950 separated or unaccompanied children in Tawila and other parts of North Darfur. 

Despite all this, we continue to do everything we can to deliver assistance. Over the past month, UNICEF and its partners have expanded their support, including by people providing water trucking for tens of thousands of people, delivering 132,000 litres per day. They also treated acute malnutrition and delivered medical assistance through 14 primary healthcare units and 10 mobile teams. Psychosocial support was provided to over 3,000 children, more than 200 separated children were reunited with their families, and 25,000 students received support through more than 30 reopened schools.

Meanwhile, OCHA is concerned about alarming levels of child malnutrition in White Nile State, based on recent assessments carried out by ourselves and our partners. We worked alongside state health authorities. It is urgent that nutrition, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene services can be scaled up. 

The UN once again calls for more support for humanitarian operations across Sudan, including for local responders at the forefront of the response, to ensure that life-saving assistance reaches those in most need.  

With just a few weeks left in the year, the humanitarian response plan for Sudan is only 35 per cent funded, with about $1.5 billion received out of the $4.2 billion required. The UN urges donors to step up and remain committed to supporting the millions of people who are in such a dire need acrossSudan. 

MOZAMBIQUE

The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today has allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help scale up life-saving support for 120,000 people displaced by violence in Nampula province, in the north of the country. The situation there has sharply worsened since mid-November as conflict spreads.

Our humanitarian colleagues note that children account for more than two thirds of the 100,000 people that have fled in the last two weeks. They are now sheltering in overcrowded schools, makeshift structures, open spaces, or with already vulnerable host families. Besides shelter, they also have limited access to safe water, protection, healthcare and sanitation services. This is at a time when cholera is spreading in the area.

With stocks of critical aid mostly depleted, the funding from CERF will prioritize water, sanitation and hygiene support for people in the Erati and Memba districts. It will prioritize basic household items and shelter, protection and livelihoods support.  

A reminder that as we approach the end of the year, the 2025 humanitarian appeal for Mozambique is less than 28 per cent funded – with only $97 million received of the $352 million required.  

MYANMAR 

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today published their 2025 Myanmar Opium Survey. The report found that poppy cultivation is at a ten-year high in the country.  

The survey analyses data collected in Myanmar during the fourth growing season since the military takeover. It shows a 17 per cent increase in poppy cultivation compared to the previous year.

This also reaffirms Myanmar’s role as the world’s main known source of illicit opium, following the continued decline of cultivation that we have seen in Afghanistan. 

According to UNODC, this expansion in cultivation shows the extent to which the opium economy has re-established itself over the past years and points to potential further growth in the future. 

MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES/LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 

The Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants, co-led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), is appealing for $763 million to support 1.2 million refugees and migrants across 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is part of the 2026 Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for the region, which aims to boost integration and protection of migrants and refugees.   

The plan notes that 4.2 million migrants and refugees of different nationalities require immediate assistance in integration protection and access to essential services such as housing, food, water and education.      

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In a message for the Day, the Secretary-General highlights how people with disabilities are shaping our world. Many innovations, from text messaging to voice-activated technology, started as solutions created by and for people with disabilities. Yet, discrimination, poverty and inaccessible services still hold back more than a billion people with disabilities worldwide. 

On this Day, we reaffirm the importance of working alongside persons with disabilities as true and equal partners.  

GUEST TOMORROW 

Tomorrow, the noon briefing guest will be Matthias Schmale, who as you know, is our Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine. He will brief on the situation in Ukraine. 

***The guest at the Noon Briefing was Giles Duley, the UN Global Advocate for Persons with Disabilities in Conflict and Peacebuilding Situations.