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.

**Syria/Humanitarian

Good afternoon (it's afternoon somewhere). Happy New Year to all of you.

I will start off with Syria, the humanitarian situation in that country. Our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that we and our partners are continuing to expand the response across the country as the situation on the ground allows.

On the health front, the World Health Organization (WHO) today conducted the first UN cross-border mission of the year, crossing from Türkiye to Azaz in northern Aleppo to train paramedics on trauma care. Additional cross-border missions are planned in the coming days.

Further on Aleppo, health partners are sounding the alarm over the shortage of fuel, shortage of electricity and shortage of water in Aleppo. The Menbij National Hospital, which serves around 100,000 people, has been relying entirely on generators for several days to power incubators and intensive care machines in that hospital.

Meanwhile, critical shortages of medical supplies continue to be reported in health facilities across the country, including chronic disease medications, gloves and syringes.

Last year, just as a point of reference, we completed 386 cross-border missions to north-west Syria - that is about 30 per month, and all that to monitor programmes, conduct assessments and of course to engage with communities and deliver humanitarian aid.

For its part, our colleagues at the World Food Programme (WFP) have also resumed the distribution of food parcels this month, alongside with the Syrian [Arab] Red Crescent as the implementing partner, reaching over 3,600 families monthly - that is the plan.

Partners are also continuing to support winterization efforts across Syria and are distributing essential items, including winter clothing and blankets.

Meanwhile, more than 620,000 men, women and children remain newly displaced across Syria, and the situation remains volatile, with violence continuing in some parts of the country. That includes Aleppo, Homs, and coastal areas as well as north-east Syria.

Civilians are impacted by explosive remnants of war. According to our partners, between 2 and 5 January alone, 13 civilians were killed, and dozens were injured due to landmine explosions in the north-west of the country. Mine action partners report that the number of incidents in Syria drastically increased in December, rising by more than 300 per cent compared to the month of November.

Meanwhile, on the political front, our Special Envoy [for Syria], Geir O. Pedersen, remains in constant contact with key actors, and he is scheduled to brief the Security Council via videoconference from Geneva on Wednesday. Obviously, we will share those remarks with you.

His Deputy, Najat Rochdi, is in Damascus, where she is engaging with many officials there, and our colleagues at the Office of Mr. Pedersen will provide more details in the days ahead.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory

Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tells us they are deeply concerned by reports that a one-month-old baby in Gaza has died of hypothermia. That is what the Ministry of Health is telling us. This is the eighth child death due to the cold in less than three weeks. These deaths were preventable, had the items required to protect these children been accessible to their families.

OCHA continues to receive daily reports of civilians being killed and injured across Gaza due to the ongoing hostilities, which are also causing widespread destruction and displacement, as you well know.

In Gaza City, an UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency] school, which is now of course a shelter, was hit by shelling over the weekend, injuring several displaced people.

OCHA stresses once again that civilians and civilian infrastructure - including humanitarian workers, convoys and assets - must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law.

In North Gaza, the World Health Organization warns that Kamal Adwan Hospital remains completely out of service. As you will have seen, Dr. Tedros [Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General] said over the weekend that WHO had received no updates on the safety and the well-being of the hospital's director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, since he was detained by Israeli forces on 27 December. WHO continues to call for his release and for a stop to attacks on hospitals and health professionals in Gaza.

Meanwhile, OCHA also reports that humanitarian access to besieged parts of North Gaza continues to be constrained by the Israeli authorities.

Three attempts by the United Nations to reach these areas over the past three days - that's one on Saturday, one on Sunday and another one today - were all denied.

Across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, 37 UN-led humanitarian missions were planned. Twelve of these missions were facilitated, but 15 others were denied outright, nine were impeded, and one was cancelled due to logistical and operational issues.

Meanwhile, armed looting of humanitarian convoys continues to be reported to us in southern Gaza, as well as in central Gaza. Four such incidents were recorded in the south over the weekend, affecting dozens of truckloads of supplies and putting drivers at risk. In one incident, 43 out of 74 trucks were looted on the Ar-Rasheed coastal road in the Al-Mawasi area, which is west of Rafah, as you know.

Yesterday, eight fuel trucks were seized, two of which have since been recovered. This leaves us and the humanitarian community with approximately 50,000 litres of fuel left to power essential services - that's less than what is needed usually for two days.

Once again, we stress that there must be a stop to the looting of humanitarian supplies, and that Israel must facilitate the flow of aid, fuel and commercial goods into and within Gaza swiftly and at scale through multiple entry points. We also call on the civilian police to be allowed to operate and thereby restore public order.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory - World Food Programme

Also, I wanted to share some information that our colleagues at World Food Programme (WFP) shared about an hour ago via press release. WFP strongly condemned an incident that took place on Sunday when a clearly marked WFP convoy was shot at by Israeli forces near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, putting staff lives at tremendous risk and leaving the vehicles immobilized.

The convoy, consisting of three vehicles carrying eight staff members, came under hostile fire despite having received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities. At least 16 bullets struck the vehicles. Thankfully, no staff members were injured in what must have been a horrifying encounter for our colleagues.

The World Food Programme and we urge all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and allow safe passage of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza.

**Deputy Secretary-General's Travel

Our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, will be travelling to Accra, in Ghana, later today to attend the presidential inauguration of John Dramani Mahama. She will be doing that on behalf of the Secretary-General.

During her visit to Ghana, she will meet with President-elect Mahama and with the UN country team to take stock of the relationship between the United Nations and Ghana.

From there, she will head to Nigeria, where she will have a series of meetings, including with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, senior Government officials as well as the senior leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). They will be addressing pressing issues of regional stability and development. She will, of course, also meet with our colleagues of the UN country team.

Ms. Mohammed will be accompanied throughout the visit by Leonardo Simão, who is, as you know, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).

She will be back in New York on 12 January.

**Yemen

Also travelling is our Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, who arrived in Sana'a, Yemen, today.

This visit is part of his ongoing efforts to de-escalate the current tensions that have engulfed the region and Yemen.

In addition, his efforts will focus on advancing the peace process. He will also be pushing for the release of the arbitrarily detained UN personnel, and also from other NGOs (non-governmental organizations), civil society and diplomatic missions, which remain detained.

Just to note that Grundberg's visit to Sana'a today followed several meetings he had in Oman. There, he met with senior Omani officials and discussed the efforts to advance peace in Yemen. And in the coming days, Mr. Grundberg plans to conduct a series of national and regional meetings as part of his ongoing mediation efforts in the implementation of his mandate.

**Sudan

Back here, this morning, the Security Council members heard a briefing from Edem Wosornu, the Director of Advocacy and Operations at OCHA. She briefed them on the dire humanitarian situation in Sudan, where the needs are immense.

More than 11.5 million human beings are now estimated to be internally displaced in Sudan, of whom nearly 8.8 million have been uprooted just since April 2023.

Ms. Wosornu said the situation in and around El Fasher in North Darfur State remains especially catastrophic and accessing areas of greatest need is a fundamental challenge.

She added that the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan will require a record $4.2 billion, and that will support close to 21 million people - who live within Sudan - and that's close to half of the country's population.

Beth Bechdol, the Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), also briefed.

She said that urgent action must be taken to address the famine in Sudan and that the Security Council has a critical role, which was reaffirmed through resolution 2417.

**South Sudan

And just South of there, in South Sudan, our peacekeeping mission in that country - UNMISS - issued its quarterly report on incidents of violence impacting civilians.

It covers the period between July to September 2024, and documents 206 incidents, affecting 792 civilians.

The findings raise concerns, showing a steep increase in abductions and conflict-related sexual violence in comparison to the same timeframe in 2023.

Nicholas Haysom, the Head of the Peacekeeping Mission, urged the Government to swiftly investigate these human rights violations and abuses and hold all perpetrators to account.

**Resident Coordinator - Republic of Congo

Lastly, we have an update from the Development Coordination Office.

The Secretary-General has appointed Abdourahamane Diallo of Niger as the UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Congo, with the host Government's approval.

He started yesterday, 5 January.

Mr. Diallo has a decades-long career in the field of development, having served in various roles with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) since 2002.

Most recently, he served as Representative of UNESCO in Nigeria.

That's it for me, at least. Gabby?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Thank you, Steph. Welcome back.

Spokesman: Thank you.

Question: On Hussam Abu Safiyya, the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, aside from calling for him to be released, what exactly is the UN doing or the Secretary-General doing to pressure to actually get his release?

Spokesman: My understanding is that a number of our colleagues on the ground have been in touch with Israeli authorities to try to seek some answers.

Question: And on the looted aid convoys, 43 of 74, in your remarks, at one point; could Israel be doing more to prevent this looting, or is it, from the Secretary-General's standpoint, other factors?

Spokesman: The main factor is that there continues to be a conflict going on. We're also seeing a lot of the press reports that would lead to some sort of cessation of hostilities, a release of the hostages. We hope that happens. We hope very much that happens for the sake of everyone involved. One of the things that we repeatedly point out, and I pointed out today, is that the fact that the civilian police in Gaza, which had been operating, is no longer able to operate. Allowing it to… some sort of civilian police to operate would help, in creating an environment in which our trucks, our goods, which really belong to the Palestinian people, are not looted by Palestinian gunmen.

Dezhi? And then Celhia.

Question: On Syria, because I'm late, I don't know whether you mentioned this or not. It seems there was conflict between Kurdish militants and Arab militants in North Syria. Does the Secretary-General have anything to say on that? Or are you aware of that?

Spokesman: I did mention the reports of violence that we've seen, sectarian violence. I think what's very important is that the leaders, the current leaders of Syria ensure that the rule of law is upheld, that there is an atmosphere in which all Syrians, whether they are from a minority ethnic group, a minority religious group, or the majority, feel safe, and all work towards the improvement of the situation in Syria.

Question: Is the Secretary-General feel concerned that the Foreign Minister of Türkiye said that they believe it's only a matter of time before PKK/YPG, which is an essential part of SDF, being eliminated?

Spokesman: Look, what we do not want to see is more violence in Syria. It is important that all of the Powers in the region and beyond all work towards the same goal, and that is rebuilding a new Syria with institutions that are supported by its people and which all Syrians are able to recognize themselves in.

Question: And one last, it's a follow-up on the incident that happened to the WFP convoy. We heard this many times that the Israeli militant forces, they shot WFP, UN-related convoys. This one, I don't believe you mentioned the excuse or rather any response from the Israeli authority. But let me wind back the clock a little bit earlier to all other incidents. Do you have any of those incidents that UN received any explanation from Israeli authorities? Or maybe excuse?

Spokesman: I don't think there's an explanation for shooting at a clearly marked convoy from the World Food Programme, whose movements had been completely coordinated with the Israeli security forces. We don't know if it's an issue of command and control, if a message got lost. We don't know. Right? And I think our colleagues at the World Food Programme are trying to get the answers.

Question: Do you aware of any kinds of investigations from the Israeli authority on any of those incidents?

Spokesman: I'm not aware that we've gotten any answers that really answer the question at heart, which is: Why are you shooting at a World Food Programme convoy?

Celhia de Lavarene?

Question: Regarding the MONUSCO (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Does the UN know what happened to Francois Grignon? Is he going to come back to New York? The authority don't want him to stay.

Spokesman: I don't have…

Question: So what happened?

Spokesman: I don't have an update for you on Mr. Grignon. If I get one, I will share that with you.

Question: Thank you.

Spokesman: Madame?

Question: Bon annee, Stéphane. I just wanted to confirm if, just an update whether the Secretary-General and President-elect [Donald] Trump have spoken yet.

Spokesman: No. I have no update shared with you on that front.

Question: And what about the extended team? The transition team?

Spokesman: Oh, no. I'm not, I mean there have been some contacts, but nothing at this point that I'm aware of involving the Secretary-General.

Okay. I don't see any other questions. I wish you all a good day, good afternoon. We shall see you tomorrow. Reminder, 16 January, Secretary-General in this room will be playing my part.

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