UN News Today 29 August 2025 |

Descent into ‘a massive famine’ in Gaza has begun, relief agencies warn

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of spreading famine.

They also underlined the rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.

With more, here’s Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA:

“We have a declared famine in Gaza and there are 500,000 people in that phase right now, expected to rise by about 160,000 more in the coming weeks. They all need food…The entire Gaza Strip needs food. There would not have been declared famine had there been sufficient amounts of food.”

Meanwhile, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there have been 94 suspected cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome reported in Gaza.

The disease can cause paralysis and is treatable in hospital with intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchange.

“But these two [treatments] are at zero stock,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, who appealed for ongoing Israeli aid delivery restrictions to be lifted.

Iran surge in executions signals further crackdown

In Iran, the increase in executions carried out this year indicates that the death penalty is being used as a tool of State intimidation, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday.

At least 841 people have been put to death by the Government of Iran since the beginning of the year, with ethnic minorities and migrants “disproportionately targeted”, said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

Some executions have been carried out publicly, she added:

“They have carried out public executions. There were seven reportedly carried out this year, according to the information that we have. Now, just a caveat on the information that we have. This is information that we have. The real situation might be different. It might be worse given the lack of transparency in the use of the death penalty.”

Eleven people now face imminent execution; six have been charged with “armed rebellion” owing to their alleged membership of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq group. Five others are on death row.

Ms. Shamdasani reiterated calls from UN rights chief Volker Türk for Iran to impose a moratorium on the application of the capital punishment, as a step towards its abolition.

As children go back to school around the world, Afghan girls miss out

As many children around the world prepare to go back to school, in Afghanistan that is an increasingly distant prospect for many girls, four years since the Taliban seized power in Kabul and went on to ban them from getting a secondary education.

According to UN Women, despite this veto, almost all Afghan women and men today support education for girls beyond primary level.

The agency cited a nationwide, door-to-door survey of more than 2,000 Afghans which showed that more than nine in 10 said it was important for girls to continue their schooling.

In urban and rural communities, support for continuing education was “overwhelming” from men and women, UN Women noted.

In a country where half the population lives in poverty, education is the difference between despair and possibility, said the agency’s Director in Geneva, Sofia Calltorp.

She noted that data from UN Women’s Gender Alert highlights the normalisation of the women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan.

Ms. Calltorp insisted that it is more important than ever to continue investing in Afghan women’s community organizations, which offer healthcare, mental health support and a chance to connect.

Daniel Johnson, UN News