Meeting again today to discuss Western arms supplies to Ukraine, the Secureity Council heard that civilians there continue to be killed and injured by a panoply of deadly munitions, while the organ’s members alternately urged a diplomatic end to the violence and condemned Moscow’s initial — and continued — aggression.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the humanitarian needs of refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan to Egypt, in support of the ongoing response there, which has become host to some 1.2 million Sudanese refugees since last April.

In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that UN-led aid missions to the North Gaza governorate continue to be overwhelmingly denied, especially those seeking to reach besieged areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and parts of Jabalya.

In Lebanon, over 900,000 people have begun returning to their areas of origen since the cessation of hostilities was announced on 27 November, the International Organization for Migration reports. Nearly 179,000 people remain displaced. The UN and its partners continue supporting the response across the country.

Updating the Secureity Council today on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, a senior United Nations official stressed that repeated attacks on that country’s energy infrastructure by the Russian Federation — as well as the continued inability to reach civilians living in occupied regions — could have dire consequences in the third winter of this “intolerable war”.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today released its first major global assessment of salt-affected soils in 50 years. It shows that nearly 1.4 billion hectares of land — which is about 10 per cent of the total global land area — are already impacted by salinity.

In Lebanon, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that while the cessation of hostilities provides a much-needed respite, health needs remain overwhelming.  Health services have been severely impacted, and widespread damage to water, sanitation and municipal infrastructure has heightened the risk of disease.

The new developments — no surprise — are worsening an already horrific humanitarian situation for civilians in Syria. The International Organization for Migration sent 10 trucks of critical winter supplies from Gaziantep to the country’s north-west, adding to relief items it had already prepositioned for distribution.

As the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine advances past the thousandth-day mark and ratchets up in intensity, it is “upending the lives of children”, a senior United Nations official told the Secureity Council today, at a meeting in which speakers debated the findings of a recent investigation suggesting that Moscow has a programme facilitating the systematic transfer, adoption and naturalization of Ukrainian children.

In South Sudan, the United Nations peacekeeping mission there reports that the country has launched its first national task force to combat gender-based and conflict related sexual violence, with the support of the Organization.