UN News Today 21 October 2025 |

Gaza: overwhelming food aid in Gaza as WFP urges more border access to prevent famine

Since Gaza’s fragile ceasefire got underway, the UN World Food Programme has managed to deliver more than 6,700 metric tonnes of food – enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks.

That’s according to Abeer Etefa, WFP’s Senior Regional Communications Officer, who added that “daily deliveries continue,” averaging around 750 tonnes.

She said it was an improvement on the trickle of aid before the ceasefire but “still well below our target of around 2,000 tonnes a day.

Only two crossings are open, leaving aid agencies struggling to reach the famine-hit north, where destruction has made movement nearly impossible.

Ms Etefa warned that only by opening all the crossings // could aid enter Gaza at the scale needed.

“People are hopeful. There is cautious optimism, but they are, the food that they are receiving, they eat part of it and they ration and keep some of the supplies for emergency because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next. Sustaining the ceasefire is vital. it’s the only way we can save lives and push back on the famine in the north of Gaza.”

DR Congo: Women and girls endure escalating crises

Women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, are caught up in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and rampant insecurity, warned a senior UN official on Tuesday, following a visit to the country.

Shoko Arakaki, a director with the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said services have been heavily impacted, while incidents of rape and conflict-related sexual violence have surged by 33 percent compared to last year.

“Congolese women and the girls endure the tremendous suffering but never give up on their hope. Even before current escalation of the conflict, three women died every hour from pregnancy, and birth-related complications in DRC. Women and the girls are also being raped, exploited and then abused in camps, in transit and within their own communities.”

Ms. Arakaki recounted meeting a 14-year-old girl who had survived multiple rapes and was recovering from surgery at a UNFPA-supported hospital, still holding onto her dream of returning to school.

UNFPA continues to provide women and girls in the DRC with essential health services, targeting 1.4 million people.

However, more funding is urgently needed to deliver life-saving reproductive care to those in critical need.

Sudan: Return to ruins, Khartoum’s fragile comeback amid Sudan’s ongoing war

Finally, to Sudan, where over the past ten months, more than a million people have made their way back to the war-ravaged capital, Khartoum – against the backdrop of over two years of war between rival militaries.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), said families started returning from last November, coming home to a city still marked by destruction and a fragile recovery, since government forces retook Khartoum.

Ugochi Daniels, the agency’s deputy director, called it “both a sign of resilience and a warning.”

Khartoum still shelters nearly four million displaced people, while across Sudan, more than 2.6 million have tried to return home, with over half a million crossing the border after fleeing the war.

Most are settling in rural areas, and nearly half are children.

Sudan’s civil war between the military government and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023, has devastated communities and displaced millions.

The IOM is urging the world not to turn away, calling for greater support to help communities recover and rebuild what was lost. 

Charlotte Frantz, UN News