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E-cigarettes, which pose serious health risks, are being “aggressively marketed” to young people and in large parts of the world there are no rules in place to protect children from their harmful effects, UN health agency WHO warned on Thursday.

Some Gazans are so desperate for food that they are now stopping aid trucks and immediately eating what they find, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Thursday.

Heavy rains created new misery in Gaza as UN humanitarians repeated deep concerns on Thursday over the deteriorating health situation in the Strip, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and fighting with Palestinian armed groups.

Humanitarians in Ukraine mobilized emergency assistance for citizens of Kyiv on Wednesday morning following the third attack in less than a week by Russia forces which left dozens injured, including children.

A record 114 million forcibly displaced around the world represents a “crisis of humanity”, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday as the Global Refugee Forum got underway in Geneva.

Civilians in Sudan – where rival militaries are waging a bloody war, with devastating consequences – are at a high risk of falling into catastrophic levels of hunger by May next year, the UN emergency food relief agency warned on Wednesday.

A ceasefire in Gaza is “the only way forward” and “in the interest of everybody” as the war there threatens peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis for years or even decades to come, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Wednesday. 

With an unprecedented reference to fossil fuels, the UN climate conference in Dubai, COP28, in its final document called on countries to work towards “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems” but fell short of making the much-anticipated call for a “phaseout”.

Half of the world’s population is not fully covered by essential health services and two billion people are impoverished because they must cover medical bills out-of-pocket.

World leaders gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), calling for new guardrails to protect rights amid a surge of conflict and other challenges. 

The last barely functioning hospital in northern Gaza is a “humanitarian disaster zone”, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, highlighting the disastrous consequences of ongoing Israeli bombardment for critically ill and injured civilians across the enclave.

The latest COP28 draft outcome text released to negotiators in Dubai Monday evening dropped a call to ‘phaseout’ fossil fuels, prompting outcry from climate vulnerable countries and civil society.

With just nine days to go for the Presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the situation is one of progress in the electoral process on one hand and escalating insecurity on the other the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country said on Monday.

Corruption not only robs resources, it robs people of hope, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, as nations gathered in Atlanta, United States of America, for the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths reiterated deep concerns for the people of Gaza on Monday, amid reports of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza City and Jabalia in the north of the Strip, and in Khan Younis in the south, while Israeli bombardment of the enclave has continued. 

As conflicts, climate emergencies and collapsing economies continue to wreak havoc on communities worldwide, the UN on Monday issued an appeal for $46.4 billion for 2024 to help 181 million people facing catastrophic hunger, mass displacement and diseases worldwide.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday urged a deal at COP28 on the phaseout of fossil fuels, telling negotiators that “now is the time for maximum ambition and maximum flexibility,” as UN climate talks in Dubai head into the home stretch.

In a special emergency session held on Sunday in Geneva, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a resolution by consensus, aimed at addressing the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Secretary-General on Sunday pledged that he would “not give up” on appealing for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, adding that inaction on the Security Council was undermining its credibility.

As COP28 heads into its final working days in Dubai, the UN’s agriculture wing launched on Sunday a ground-breaking plan that looks to transform the world’s agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink by 2050.

Nearly $7 trillion of public and private finance each year supports activities that directly harm nature – some 30 times the amount spent on nature-based solutions annually, according to a shocking UN report launched on Saturday at COP28 in Dubai.

Over half a million people have been displaced in Myanmar amid a surge in fighting between the military and armed groups that stated in late October and has spread to over two-thirds of the country, the UN humanitarian affairs office reported on Friday.

As Haiti faces a situation of “absolute brutal violence”, the deployment of a multi-national security support mission is awaited with hope, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country said on Friday.

Amid ongoing bombardment in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies and humanitarian partners continue to provide desperately needed food, water, healthcare and other services to the more than two million people living there. 

As intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza and fighting with Palestinian armed groups continued to impede aid operations, reports on the ground of children begging for water and people cutting down telephone poles for firewood indicated that “society is about to break down”, UN humanitarians said on Friday. 

Young climate advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Friday said they will not sit idly by while climate change threatens their futures. They demanded that government policymakers put the needs of the world’s nearly 2 billion children first – their voices and ideas can help rescue the planet.

After a break, COP28 continues its work on Friday, also the day talks on an outcome text kick into high gear. Negotiators are trying to agree on how to bolster emissions-cutting targets set by the Paris Agreement and what to do about the future of fossil fuels, like oil, gas and coal.

Two months to the day since Hamas’ terror attacks in Israel prompted a massive Israeli military retaliation in Gaza, the situation in the war-torn enclave is becoming “apocalyptic” with hostilities making meaningful humanitarian efforts “nearly impossible”, UN humanitarians warned on Thursday.

Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday highlighted the importance of the UN’s core humanitarian response fund to deploy quick and strategic resources to global crises globally.

If urgent steps are not taken to end the ongoing war and its dire humanitarian consequences in Ukraine, 2024 may be even more unpredictable and destructive, a senior UN official warned on Wednesday.