UN News Today 26 October 2026 |

In Egypt, Guterres warns against Iran-US escalation

António Guterres has urged “maximum restraint and diplomatic solutions” to end the war between Iran and the United States.

Speaking in Cairo on Monday, the UN Secretary-General alluded to reports of a renewed military escalation. He warned that the “sabre-rattling we are witnessing now” risked getting out of control:

“The risks of the combination of an overwhelming military attack [on] Iran and then an overwhelming attack by Iran to the countries of the Gulf is a risk that needs to be avoided at all costs. The consequences would be unimaginable, but it would have an impact that would go far beyond the region.”

The UN chief also insisted that “navigational rights and freedoms” must be fully restored in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea – both critical maritime corridors for global trade.

Mr. Guterres also expressed his deep alarm at Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank where “settlements are expanding, evictions are unrelenting” and Palestinians continue to be driven from their lands amid “surging” settler violence.

“The two-State solution remains the only viable path”, he insisted, “with Gaza and the West Bank as integral parts of a Palestinian state” and Jerusalem the capital, Mr. Guterres said.

Ebola: UN officials condemn killing of nurse in DR Congo

A nurse working to halt the spread of Ebola disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been killed by protesters in Bafwasende, a rural town in Tshopo province.

Condemning the killing at the weekend, the UN’s Senior Ebola Response coordinator Julien Harnies also called for a “thorough investigation”. He urged communities to protect health workers and allow them to carry out their work safely, but told UN News that many people are still afraid of the disease: 

“It’s to do with a community of artisanal miners with limited police presence; it’s not a settled…community with social links. And so, you have lots of young men with limited law enforcement and then you feed into that the fear of an epidemic, the fear of death, and then it leads to an explosive situation. We’ve seen that in Bafwasende, we saw that in Mongbwalu, we’ve seen that in many other places in in this response but also in the similar responses eight, nine years ago.” 

A health worker who was severely injured in the same attack remains in hospital.

According to reports, youths accused the responders of contaminating water sources and spreading Ebola disease before attacking them.

Since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, more than 9,760 cases of infection have been confirmed in the DRC including well over 4,700 deaths.

Ukraine: investigators find Russia committed war crimes by targeting civilians 

Top human rights experts investigating Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine said on Monday that the Russian authorities committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by attacking civilians and vital energy infrastructure, among other violations of international law.

In its latest report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, noted that attacks on power plants have intensified “once again” across Ukraine, where temperatures plunged to -21°C last winter.

“The scariest thing was to fall asleep and not to wake up; it was like torture to be scared of dying from cold,” said one 53-year-old man cited in the report.

Russian commanders ordering the attacks knew full well that the heating facilities they were targeting “were indispensable to the civilian population, particularly during the winter”, the report’s authors maintain.

The Commission also cited “compelling evidence” that the Russian authorities recruited men trafficked from 29 countries into the armed forces, in violation of international human rights law.

The new recruits have been deployed on the front lines in Ukraine “and assigned dangerous tasks”, testimonies show. “Many have been killed or have gone missing, others have surrendered or were captured by the Ukrainian armed forces, thereby acquiring the status of prisoners of war,” the report noted. 

Daniel Johnson, UN News