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Global temperatures continue to reach record levels and, as the year draws to a close, the diplomatic heat is rising as all eyes turn to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where world leaders are meeting from 30 November to 12 December, to chart an ambitious way forward in the global fight against climate change.

As the pause in fighting in Gaza appeared to enter a fifth day on Tuesday, UN humanitarians warned that aid deliveries needed to multiply immediately to save the lives of the injured and stem the risk of a deadly disease outbreak that has left doctors “terrified”.

The look on people’s faces in Gaza reveals “the trauma, the stress, as if sorrow and sadness have taken root here in Gaza”, according to James Elder, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson who has joined the aid effort in the besieged enclave.

World leaders at this week’s climate conference, COP28, must break the deadly cycle of global warming before a “deadly tipping point” is reached, said the UN chief on Monday.

Climate action is health action and the legacy of the COP 28 climate conference opening later this week in Dubai should be a commitment to a healthier planet.

Desperate Gazans in the north of the enclave had their first sip of clean water in weeks on Monday as a continuing pause in fighting enabled broadening aid access to the Strip, UN humanitarians said.

There is an urgent need for a transformative shift towards more sustainable transport the UN chief said on Sunday, emphasizing the importance of cleaner energy to combat climate change.

Sixty-one trucks hauled aid to northern Gaza on Saturday – the largest number since 7 October, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The United Nations was able to scale up delivery of humanitarian assistance into and across Gaza during the humanitarian pause that went into effect on Friday following an agreement reached this week between Israel and Hamas.

Humanitarians are urgently scaling up aid in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where an escalating crisis is again unfolding, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Friday.

Antarctica has been called the sleeping giant, but it is now being awoken by climate chaos, the UN Secretary-General has warned.

Trucks with relief supplies continued to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt on Friday after the entry into force of a four-day pause in fighting, UN humanitarians said.

On a sunny day, Ivan, a burly retired welder in his fifties, stood in front of his ruined house in Posad-Pokrovske, in the Kherson region of Ukraine.

Humanitarian agencies preparing to go into Gaza continued to build up stocks of desperately needed aid for the war-torn enclave on Thursday, amid delays in the implementation of a temporary halt in fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas militants. 

At a time when people are hurting and the planet is burning, the world’s advanced economies can take the lead in ensuring financial, structural and climate justice, the UN Secretary-General said in remarks to the virtual G20 Summit convened by India on Wednesday. 

A deal on Wednesday to release hostages taken during the Hamas terror attack on Israel has been welcomed by UN chief António Guterres, who added that the UN stood ready to “maximize” the positive humanitarian impact of the agreement.

The heads of three UN agencies on Wednesday highlighted the disproportionate suffering faced by women and girls amidst the ongoing crisis in Gaza, urging a collective response to protect the most vulnerable and a commitment to lasting peace for the women and girls caught in the crossfire.

At least 10,000 civilians, including over 560 children, have been killed and more than 18,500 injured since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission there said on Tuesday.

Funding constraints and rising humanitarian needs could force the World Food Programme (WFP) to halt assistance to more than a million people in Chad, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan, the UN agency said on Tuesday.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and humanitarian partners are providing critical aid at border crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the face of a surge in forced returns of Afghan nationals.

A “tragic…entirely avoidable surge” in child deaths is expected in Gaza where some 160 youngsters are already being killed every day, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, after six weeks of aerial bombardment by Israeli forces in response to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel that claimed 1,200 lives and some 240 hostages.

UN agencies on Tuesday issued an urgent call for action, emphasizing the severe health risks faced by pregnant women, babies and children due to worsening climate catastrophes.

With global temperatures soaring and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reaching unprecedented levels, dramatic climate action is needed to steer the world away from runaway climate change and align it to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, a major UN report has found.

In Gaza, where two UN-run schools received direct hits over the weekend amid intensified fighting, the plight of civilians continues to worsen as heavy rain falls across the enclave.

The thousands of injuries sustained by civilians across Gaza combined with a burgeoning public health crisis is a ‘recipe for epidemics’, the World Health Organization’s emergency response director said on Monday.

Worldwide, 45 million children under five are wasted, meaning they are dangerously thin for their height, and roughly one million die each year from the condition, the Director-General of the World Health Organization told the Global Food Security Summit held on Monday in London. 

A rising number of migrants are attempting the dangerous journey across the Darién jungle spanning the Colombia-Panama border. For Etzaida Rios, 35, the impact of providing hope and help runs deep.

Spikes in casualties, attacks on schools and shelters, including the death of a UN worker, and crippling fuel shortages blocking aid deliveries rippled across Gaza over the weekend, as the World Health Organization (WHO) helped to evacuate 31 babies in critical condition at the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital and the UN chief called for a humanitarian ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis.

UN agencies called on Saturday for unconditional, regular fuel deliveries into Gaza, warning that without enough, the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people face grave health hazards, as the Israel-Palestine conflict that began on 7 October continues.

Severe floods in the Horn of Africa have affected tens of thousands of displaced families in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting lives and livelihoods at risk, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.