UN News Today 21 July 2025 |

Terror and chaos for Gaza’s people now entering the ‘death phase’

In Gaza, after dozens more Palestinians were reportedly killed over the weekend seeking food, UN aid teams on Monday described “mayhem” and starvation in the enclave, as the Israeli military pushed into Deir Al-Balah for the first time.

In an alert, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said that its colleagues are among those struggling to survive in the war-torn enclave.

With more, here’s UNRWA Senior Emergencies Officer, Louise Wateridge:

“My colleague Mona messaged this week and said we finally reached the final episode. Now we’re in the death phase. Because everything around people at the moment is death, whether it’s bombs or strikes, children wasting away in front of their eyes from malnourishment, from dehydration and dying…We’ve got doctors and nurses working every day in UNRWA clinics and UNRWA medical centres, and they are watching children disappear and die in front of their eyes, and there’s absolutely nothing that they can do about it.”

In central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah, meanwhile, 50,000 to 80,000 people have been impacted by a mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military – the first since war erupted on 7 October 2023.

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, has condemned the order, warning that it will limit safe and effective aid work within Gaza and choke humanitarian access when it is needed most.

Syria crisis: Aid reaches Sweida’s displaced for first time

To Syria, where tens of thousands of people have been displaced by deadly violence in southern Sweida governorate. 

On Saturday, and working with local aid partner the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) delivered around 40 trucks’ worth of relief supplies to Sweida.

It’s the first time aid has reached the area since fighting erupted more than a week ago. The convoy was carrying enough ready-to-eat rations for 15,000 people and 30 tonnes of wheat flour to support the production of fortified bread at two local bakeries.

In nearby Daraa, the UN agency has also provided enough rations for 5,000 people so far. WFP is also supplying two bakeries in Daraa with wheat flour to produce daily fortified bread for displaced families over 14 days.

The development follows violent clashes involving the minority Druze community and Bedouin fighters that have drawn in government forces and the Israeli military, which reportedly struck Damascus last week.

With more, here’s WFP’s head of emergency communications, Jonathan Dumont:

“I was in Damascus a few days ago, and there were some airstrikes that destroyed some Ministry of Defence Building just a few blocks from where I was. It was a pretty impressive explosion. This comes at a time when there was a lot of religious, ethnic and regional tensions in Syria. And we have sent some food down to Sweida, where there’s been some fighting with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent just yesterday, and we’ve also been in Daraa – our country director was in Daraa yesterday -which is where a lot of people who have fled the fighting are taking refuge. So, we’re sending food. We’re responding to that crisis.”

DR Congo moves a step closer to peace as agreement is signed

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the signing of an initial agreement between the warring parties in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that charts a path to peace.

In a short statement, Mr. Guterres urged all parties to implement their commitments swiftly after signing a Declaration of Principles in Doha under the mediation of Qatar.

Earlier this year, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched an offensive in DR Congo’s Kivu provinces, capturing cities and villages, including provincial capitals Goma and Bukavu. 

Thousands of civilians were killed, hundreds of thousands more were displaced, while victims of serious human rights violations have given harrowing testimony of their abuse by all sides to the conflict.