UN News Today 25 September 2025 |

Gaza City suffering escalates as Israeli strikes inflict more heavy casualties

The Israeli military’s assault on Gaza City continues to ramp up – and so does the suffering of ordinary Gazans, UN aid teams said on Thursday.

In an update, the UN aid coordination agency, OCHA, said that conditions in the south of the war-torn enclave are now so cramped that displaced and starving Gazans are sleeping on rubble-strewn open ground.

Some have fled what OCHA called “intensified strikes” on Gaza City, including on tents and residential buildings that are inflicting heavy casualties.

The UN agency also noted that several health facilities have been forced to shut in Gaza City this month, along with community kitchens, which play a vital role for people in the absence of cooking fuel.

In related news, the leader of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that he rejected the terror attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas, which he insisted would not be in charge of Gaza when the war ends.

“These actions do not represent the Palestinian people, nor do they represent their just struggle for freedom and independence,” President Abbas said of the 7 October attacks. He was speaking via video to UN Member States, after the United States declined his visa request.

For more on the UN’s high-level week in New York, go to webtv.un.org and unnews.org.

Global shipping entering uncertain waters, says UN trade agency

Global shipping moves more than 80 per cent of the world’s merchandise but it is entering uncertain geopolitical waters, UN economists say.

Data crunched by the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD indicates that fragile growth is likely in the seaborne freight sector, linked to rising costs and direct threats, including attacks on Red Sea fleets by Houthi separatists in Yemen.

After firm growth last year, shipping volumes are expected to barely rise in 2025, while higher costs mean more expensive imports for least developed countries.

With more, here’s UNCTAD’s Regina Asariotis:

“Reroutings have meant longer shipping routes, with ton-miles increasing by about six per cent. This, in turn, has led to higher transport costs, delays and greenhouse gas emissions and a reshuffling of shipping networks affecting ports, including in Africa. For 2025, the big picture is heightened uncertainty and volatility, with growth forecast to slow to only half a percent.”

The UN agency also highlighted the negative impact on shipping of new tariffs and port fees announced by the United States and others for certain foreign-built or operated vessels.

World’s food security goals are ‘way off track’, says FAO

Food insecurity around the world is worse than it was a decade ago, with nearly 700 million more people now regularly struggling to find something safe and nutritious to eat.

That’s the message from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which also said on Thursday that only around six in 10 women of childbearing age eat a sufficiently varied diet, excluding Sub-Saharan Africa, central and southern Asia, where the situation is worse.

The findings are published in a new report from the UN agency that assesses progress on tackling hunger, clean water, food consumption, women’s land ownership rights and biodiversity – which are among the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals countries have all agreed to implement by 2030.

Daniel Johnson, UN News