Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

I apologize about the cold in this room. Chris, you can stand down. There's no quiz today. Yeah, I know.

**Secretary-General - Pakistan

All right, good afternoon. As you know, the Secretary-General is in Pakistan, where today he held discussions with Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

In a joint press stakeout afterwards, the Secretary-General said he saluted Pakistan's leadership in helping create the conditions for dialogue between the United States and Iran, noting that Pakistan's efforts helped lead to the 17 June Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, also the subsequent ceasefire and the framework for further negotiations. The Secretary-General called on all parties to end the conflict, return to diplomacy and fully restore navigational rights and freedoms in accordance with international law.

The Secretary-General also met with President Asif Ali Zardari, with whom he discussed regional and international issues. The Secretary-General also accepted an honorary award from the President on behalf of the United Nations.

He also visited the National Disaster Management Authority and received a briefing on Pakistan's disaster preparedness and resilience.

A short while ago, he wrapped up a visit to the headquarters of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, otherwise known as UNMOGIP. There, he paid tribute to the mission and to the UN peacekeepers serving around the world. This was followed by a meeting with the country team in Islamabad.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will be meeting with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and have further engagement in Islamabad, and we expect him back in New York on Thursday.

**Deputy Secretary-General - Pre-COP Leaders' Summit

Meanwhile, our Deputy Secretary-General took part in the Pre-COP (Conference of Parties) Leaders' Summit, which took place in Tuvalu today. She attended there. She attended an event with Heads of States and Government from the region, as well as local communities on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Ms. [Amina] Mohammed and other leaders also visited a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)-supported multimillion-dollar climate resilience initiative designed to protect Tuvalu's low-lying areas from rising sea levels, as well as storm surges.

Returning back to Fiji, Ms. Mohammed held bilateral meetings and participated in the Leaders Pre-COP meeting, where they addressed the Taku Pakasoa Declaration, underscoring that every fraction of a degree above 1.5°C brings further destruction and costs for every nation. We'll have more on Ms. Mohammed's programme tomorrow, as well.

**Israel

Earlier today, we issued a statement marking three years since Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched an abhorrent, large-scale terror attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. During that attack, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were brutally killed.

Since then, the Secretary-General has met with Israeli families whose worlds were shattered that day and has listened to survivors who continue to carry deep physical and emotional scars. He's also heard from former hostages about the unthinkable torment they and other captives endured as they were held captive in Gaza in deplorable conditions. These horrors must never be repeated, Mr. [António] Guterres said.

The Secretary-General said the devastating hostilities that followed have inflicted untold suffering on Palestinians in Gaza, including massive loss of life, displacement and destruction. Civilians continue to endure intolerable conditions. Their suffering, too, demands an end now. It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent.

He said it is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale, and it is time to respect international law. That statement was shared with you in full much earlier today.

We also will have statements available online from Tom Fletcher, our Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, the Acting Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory

Turning to the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, our colleagues at OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) say that support for water and sanitation in Gaza is being held back by funding shortfalls and restrictions for the entry of critical supplies into Gaza.

Items subject to import restrictions include engine oil, spare parts and equipment critical to keep vehicles and machines going. Our partners say that shortages have caused a decline in water production at two desalination plants in southern Gaza where equipment could not be properly maintained. This has resulted in a slight reduction in drinking water for roughly half a million people in Deir al-Bala and Khan Younis.

Across Gaza, our partners estimate that three in every four families rely on water delivered by trucks until the water infrastructure can be fully restored. Our partners are delivering some 25,000 cubic metres of drinking water every day through 3,200 collection points, but the vehicles they use need maintenance, and access to certain areas is often suspended due to insecurity, especially along the so-called Yellow Line.

I also want to flag the situation in the occupied West Bank, where our humanitarian partners say that 69 Palestinians, over half of them children, were displaced today after Israeli authorities demolished the residential buildings in the At Tur area of East Jerusalem. It is the highest number of people displaced in a single demolition in East Jerusalem since we began keeping records in 2009. We and our partners visited the area.

Families there said that Israeli forces had prevented them from retrieving their belongings, which were left buried under the rubble. Our partners assessed people's immediate humanitarian needs and made sure they can receive rent and support, as well as essential items. So far this year, Israeli authorities have demolished or forced owners to demolish the homes of more than 1,800 Palestinian dwellings across the West Bank.

**Security Council

And here in the Security Council, our Special Representative to the African Union, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, briefed the Security Council on cooperation between the UN and the African Union, stressing that the scale and complexity of today's challenges demand a stronger partnership, one that anticipates crises and addresses pressures that sustain them and converts shared commitments into prompt, predictable, and accountable action. He called for stronger investment in prevention, mediation, and nationally owned political processes, as well as sustainable support for African-led operations, closer coordination between the AU and the UN.

**Ebola

Turning to the Ebola outbreak, you'll have seen that in Kenya, the Government confirmed the country's first imported case of Ebola.

Kenyan authorities rapidly identified, isolated, and tested the case. WHO (World Health Organization) and its partners are supporting the authorities in preparedness for the response effort.

In the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), our humanitarian colleagues tell us that we and our partners are continuing to support authorities in scaling up the response to the Ebola outbreak. Transmission has accelerated in recent days in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, which accounted for more than 94 per cent of the new cases.

We and our partners are also concerned about movement restrictions introduced yesterday along several key roads in North Kivu as part of the efforts to contain the outbreak. While intended to curb transmission, these kinds of measures could further constrain humanitarian access, the movement of aid workers and the continuity of response operations in some locations.

Meanwhile, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) tells us that more than 1,900 children have lost one or both parents or caregivers to Ebola or have been separated from them since the outbreak was first declared in May. Today, to support these children, UNICEF is helping run 12 nurseries near Ebola treatment centres. These facilities care for babies and young children who have been exposed to the virus or alone or whose parents or caregivers are currently undergoing treatment.

UNICEF is calling for a nursery at every Ebola treatment centre to help ensure that affected children receive the care and protection they need.

**Ethiopia

And just a quick note from Ethiopia, where Tom Fletcher, our Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, called on all the parties to give aid workers safe and rapid access. He also noted that our teams continue to work to get life-saving food, health and other assistance to people in need.

Our humanitarian colleagues also tell us that continued hostilities are displacing people across central, north-western, and eastern Tigray; although, verified figures remain unavailable. We and our partners are prepared to resume aid operations in the northern regions, including Tigray, as soon as we can gain access and safe access.

And in Amhara, a Government-led effort to help people displaced by the recent insecurity from the town of Kobo to the areas of origin was suspended following a deterioration of the security situation there.

We reiterate that any return to an area of origin must be safe and it must be voluntary and must be dignified.

**Ukraine

And lastly, the UN Administrator for UNDP, Alexander De Croo, expressed concern on today's attacks on grain-carrying vessels in the Black Sea, stressing that the Black Sea is a vital route for global food supplies.

Noting that these attacks violate international law and endanger crews, the Administrator warned that the consequences of these attacks reach far beyond the region, deepening food insecurity and undermining development where millions already face hunger, stressing that the world's most vulnerable must not pay the price and food must never be a target.

UNDP will publish a detailed policy brief this week that looks into the development impact of the compounding crisis. That's it for me. Pam?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Steph, you mentioned and the WHO put out that they are working with Russia on the possible plague outbreak in Siberia. Can you explain what exactly they're doing that goes above and beyond what happened during COVID? In other words, are they announcing a public health emergency? And could we get a briefing by someone?

Spokesman: I mean, let's, I think we need to ensure that the words used matter. I think the statement from WHO says that there was a low, a low risk.

Question: I believe that was before the second time, wasn't it?

Spokesman: The WHO has been in touch with the Russian authorities. My understanding is that they have, they contacted the Russian authorities, who responded. They are in the lead for the UN system. So, I would encourage… we can put you in touch with them in Geneva. But I would let them speak to this in more detail. But I know they're following the situation extremely closely and are ready to support the Russian authorities in any way.

Question: And the Russian authorities are cooperating?

Spokesman: They're in touch, yes. They're speaking to each other.

Question: And my understanding was that statement was before… that it was a low probability was before the second case, the second death?

Spokesman: Again, I wouldn't… because I think the word, the name of the disease creates such interest and shockwaves that we have to be very responsible in what we say. So, I would encourage you to speak directly to WHO. Yeah. Madame?

Question: Thank you, Stéphane. It's on UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). Given that a [inaudible] majority of the Lebanese MPs, they are calling for an extension of the UNIFIL mandate beyond 31 December 2026, how does the United Nations assess this initiative? And what are the key conditions and consideration that will determine whether the Security Council renews UNIFIL mandate? And there is, everybody's very, would like to avoid the void.

Spokesman: Yeah, I mean, I think this is a message we've seen from these, from the parliamentarians to the Security Council members. The mission is deployed under the authority of the Security Council. If there is no mandate, there is no mission. I mean, it's pretty simple. The Secretary-General, as you know, put forward a number of potential options for the Security Council to consider. As far as I'm aware, as of today, no decision has been made, except that right now, the mission ends on 31 December, and then we go into a drawdown and liquidation phase. But I think the Secretary-General has been very clear at the difficult and challenging situation that remains along the Blue Line. Yes, sir? Yes, please, go ahead.

Question: Okay, thank you. I'm a reporter from China Daily. Yes, this morning there was a Security-General's report on UN-African Union peace and security partnership. Yes, my question is about this. How does the UN-AU peace partnership plan to use AI tools? Especially, how does the partnership engage major technology producers, major AI players like the United States and China to ensure genuine AI capacity-building in Africa? Thank you.

Spokesman: It's a very good question. To be completely honest, I don't know the answer. I think on the broader topic of AI, the Secretary-General, I think, has been very clear in his concerns of the lack of guardrails, the lack of safeguards that we're currently seeing, the need for technology companies to all sit around the table and agree on a safe way forward for technology that has immense positive potential, but also great risk. On the specific things of the African Union, I'd have to check for you. Okay. Madame?

Question: I would like to ask about the statement that was issued by the Secretary-General regarding the 7 October atrocities. It does mention a specific figure of the Israelis who got killed that day, but it unfortunately does not provide the same, the numbers of the Palestinians who got killed since then; specifically, 74,243 Palestinians were killed since 7 October, including 20,179 children, documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry. How does the Secretary-General explain that distinction? And thank you.

Spokesman: We're well aware of the numbers of victims in Gaza, because we report on them almost every day. The statement that was issued was to mark the third anniversary of an abhorrent terrorist attack and to recognize the pain of Israelis and others that suffered that day, in conditions that we can barely imagine. And the Secretary-General also mentions the pain of the Palestinians as a result of the subsequent military action. And Mona, you're here almost every day. Every day we talk about what happens in Gaza, right? The statement was for the 7^th. And we also have to honour the very clear pain of the Israelis and of Jews that happened on that day. And that's exactly what the statement said. Okay, on that note, we shall leave you in peace, in harmony, in brotherhood and sisterhood, and I'll see you tomorrow.