"ASSISTANCE"

After repeated denials, a UN convoy gained access to Al Shifa hospital to assess the facility. OCHA

Across South Sudan, landmines and unexploded ordnance remain a real and present danger, a legacy of this young nation’s troubled past. This year’s Mine Action Day event in South Sudan was hosted by the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA), in partnership with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), and the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). UNMISS

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he is “deeply troubled” by reports that the Israeli military’s bombing campaign includes Artificial Intelligence as a tool in the identification of targets, resulting in a high level of civilian casualties. He reiterated, “no part of life and death decisions which impact entire families should be delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms." UNIFEED

The UN Human Rights Office made a renewed plea for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and for humanitarian workers to be protected, in the wake of the deaths this week of seven people working for the World Central Kitchen. OHCHR / UNTV CH

Two aid convoys carrying lifesaving food have reached Sudan’s Darfurs for the first time in months, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, as humanitarians try to avert a “hunger catastrophe” after nearly a year of heavy fighting. UNTV CH

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has managed to bring desperately needed food and nutrition supplies into Darfur, the first WFP assistance to reach the war-wracked region in months. Yet, the UN food agency warns that unless the people of Sudan receive a constant flow of aid via all possible humanitarian corridors – from neighbouring countries and across battle lines – the country’s hunger catastrophe will only worsen. WFP

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is delivering 150 tonnes, out of a total of 1,500 tonnes, of animal fodder to 2,450 livestock-keeping households in the Gaza Strip to safeguard surviving animals and support local production of fresh nutritious food like milk, dairy, eggs and meat amidst an imminent risk of famine. FAO

Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), Ilene Cohn, said, “it is time to stop the use by terrorists and other non-State armed groups of improvised explosive devices.” UNIFEED

Assistant-Secretary-General Khaled Khiari told the Security Council that the expansion of armed conflict throughout Myanmar, “has deprived communities of basic needs and access to essential services, and a devastating impact on human rights and fundamental freedoms.” UNIFEED

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, said, “Without compliance by parties to conflict to allow safe, full, and unhindered access for timely delivery of humanitarian assistance, children’s survival, well-being, and development are in jeopardy and our calls are mere echoes in this chamber.” UNIFEED