This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Gaza: Starvation claiming a growing number of young lives

Days from the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and with no ceasefire agreement in sight for Gaza, UN humanitarians reiterated deep concerns on Thursday that a growing number of children are dying of starvation.

“The situation is appalling. Every minute, every hour, it is getting worse,” the UN agency for Palestinians, UNWRA, said in a tweet on X.

A maximum of 150 lorries have been reaching Gaza every day. In the north, one in six children under two is acutely malnourished and media reports have indicated that at least 20 youngsters have died from starvation in recent days, including a 14-day-old baby. 

Well over 30,000 people have now been killed amid intense daily Israeli bombardment across Gaza, in response to Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October that left some 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage.

Negotiations for a ceasefire linked to the release of the remaining approximately 100 hostages and far greater aid access throughout Gaza have so far not resulted in an end to the violence nor alleviated the humanitarian catastrophe.

Later on Thursday, the UN Security Council was due to hold consultations on the situation behind closed doors at which Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, was expected to brief.

Sudan crisis: It’s time to silence the guns and raise the volume for peace, says Guterres

To Sudan, where the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday that it was “time to silence the guns and raise the volume for peace”, after nearly a year of war.

In his address to the UN Security Council, he said that the conflict had taken “a devastating toll” on Sudan’s people and threatened to break up the country.

There has already been a “deepening” of communal tensions and “more ethnic violence”, the UN chief said, before adding that heavy fighting between rival militaries in Sudan could also “ignite regional instability” dramatically, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea”. 

Ahead of the holy month of Ramadan due to begin on Sunday, the UN Secretary-General called on the warring parties to implement a ceasefire. 

This must be followed by a clear roadmap for enduring peace for the people of Sudan, he said. 

Nigeria BAY states mass abductions condemned 

The UN’s top aid official in Nigeria has condemned the reported abduction of more than 200 people in the country’s northeast.

Mohamed Malick Fall said that a non-state armed group was alleged to have abducted the people from camps for the internally displaced in Borno state.

The victims had reportedly ventured beyond the safety of the trenches surrounding the town of Ngala in search of firewood.

It is extremely dangerous to do so, with killings, abductions, forced recruitment and sexual and gender-based violence rampant, humanitarians warn.

In a statement, Mr. Fall noted that some older women and children under 10 had been released, but scores remain unaccounted for.

The senior aid official also said that he stood in solidarity with the families of all those abducted and called for their release.

Some two million people have fled to towns for safety in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, after well over a decade of armed conflict that has left many areas beyond government control.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.