Palestine, Sudan, Tanzania & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (3 November 2025) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson of the Secretary-General.

Highlights:

-Secretary-General/Social Summit

-Secretary-General/C40 World Mayors Summit

-Occupied Palestinian Territory

-Sudan

-Tanzania

-Afghanistan

-Hurricane Melissa

-Haiti

-Ukraine

-Land Degradation

-Marathon

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SECRETARY-GENERAL/SOCIAL SUMMIT

The Secretary-General arrived in Doha a few hours ago; tomorrow, he will open the Second World Social Summit there. 

Today, he met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.  During the meeting, the Secretary-General thanked Qatar for hosting this landmark event.  The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister discussed several regional issues, including the situation in Gaza. He thanked the Prime Minister for his decisive engagement for personally facilitating the recent ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. The Secretary-General underlined the need to establish a political horizon towards a negotiated two-State solution.

SECRETARY-GENERAL/C40 WORLD MAYORS SUMMIT

Also today, the Secretary-General addressed via a video message the C40 World Mayors Summit, which is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. He noted that ten years after Paris, a new clean energy economy has emerged.

The Secretary-General pointed out that continuing to invest in fossil fuels is a dead end, but the task before us remains immense. He stressed that COP30 must mark the start of a decade of acceleration, and deliver a clear plan to close the gaps on ambition, adaptation, and finance.

The Secretary-General stressed that local leadership will be the force that turns this plan to life. He noted that a decade ago, bold leadership gave us the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, he added, we must summon that same courage and solidarity – to make the clean energy revolution the engine of climate justice.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

Turning to Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the ongoing scale-up of the aid response is already having a positive impact on people in all areas of the Strip. But much more is needed so that we can address the full scale of the needs and leave no one behind.

This Saturday, the UN and our partners collected nearly 200 truckloads of essential supplies from Israeli crossings along the perimeter fence that encircles Gaza. Among the supplies were nearly 1,900 metric tonnes of different food supplies and wheat flour and over 100 pallets of food boxes. The supplies also included over 1,000 pallets of mattresses, blankets, tents, tarpaulins and winter clothes. And they included nearly 300 pallets full of hygiene kits, buckets, water containers, and jerry cans; 50 pallets of fortified cereals; and some 200 pallets of dignity kits, menstrual health kits, and midwifery supplies.

On Sunday – based on initial data that’s still partial – our teams collected nearly 1,000 pallets of blankets, tents, hygiene kits, water tanks, mats, winter clothes, tarpaulins and jerry cans, alongside one truckload of animal fodder.

All of this data is preliminary, and it covers the UN and our partners but does not include bilateral donations and the commercial sector.

Inside Gaza, the UN and our partners are currently supporting 17 bakeries in Gaza – nine in the south and eight in the north, which produce 150,000 bread bundles every day. That’s as of Thursday. These bread bundles are distributed through more than 400 points across the Gaza Strip. We’re also supporting 180 kitchens serving nearly 1,160,000 meals every day. This is as of Saturday. And all of this is in addition to the distribution of food parcels.

On the nutrition front, we are currently supporting 133 treatment sites, including 20 in Gaza City, where famine was confirmed in August. We’re also improving services that prevent malnutrition, including by providing blanket supplementary feeding. On Saturday and Sunday, our teams also delivered 1,000 tarpaulins and 2,500 blankets to people in need.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...