31 July 2026
What you need to
know
- Israeli hostilities and demolitions
continued in southern Lebanon, where at least 4,329 deaths
and 12,233 injuries were recorded since 2 March, with 349
fatalities and 229 injuries since the latest ceasefire
announcement, the UN relief agency, OCHA, reported - Over
the past five months, more than 4,000 children have
reportedly been killed or injured across six
countries, including 2,500 in Iran as US bombing
continues, with 386 killed and 2,117 injured, according to
the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) - Hamas and
US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace reached
agreement on disarmament and full Israeli withdrawal from
Gaza as part of plans following the Hamas-Israel October
2025 ceasefire, UN chief António Guterres noted on
Friday - In Gaza, Israel has killed 1,180
Palestinians and injured 3,810 others between the October
2025 ceasefire and 22 July 2026, and this week,
continued airstrikes and gunfire, restricted aid entry and
made further advances of the so-called “yellow line”
marking Israeli’s line of control across multiple areas,
the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, reported - In
the occupied West Bank, Israeli attacks have killed 1,122
Palestinians, at least 246 of them children, between the
start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 and 24 July
2026, with 76 killed since the beginning of this
year, according to the latest OCHA casualty report
Youngest
victims
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As the US and Iran continue to trade strikes
and counterstrikes in Iran and neighboring countries,
children continue to be killed and maimed in the places
where they should be safest – their homes, schools and
communities, UNICEF’s acting
director for the Middle East and North Africa Abdul Fofana
said in a statement.
“Yesterday,
in Qeshm Island, off the southern coast of Iran, a
two-year-old child was reportedly killed alongside
the child’s parents after a strike hit a residential
building,” he said, reiterating UNICEF’s call
on all parties to comply with obligations under
international humanitarian law. “This latest
incident is yet another stark reminder that children across
the region continue to pay the heaviest
price.”
Ceasefires must be respected and
“parties to the conflict should not normalise the
suffering of children, who remain at the sharpest end of
conflicts they did not start and have no power to
stop.”
Gaza airstrikes, West Bank
violence
Israeli airstrikes and gunfire peppered a
deteriorating operating environment in Gaza, with “a
significant escalation in hostilities observed in the
humanitarian area”, known as the “green zone”,
situated west of the so-called “yellow line” of control
designated by Israeli forces, UNRWA
reported.
Israeli restrictions on goods entering Gaza
are also posing challenges.
Fuel, engine oil and spare
parts restrictions have made more than half of UNRWA’s
fleet unable to operate and have affected 62 water
wells.
UN chief calls for ceasefire in the
Gulf
What began as a regional conflict is
increasingly becoming a driver of global instability,
disrupting trade through the Strait of Hormuz, driving up
food and energy prices, straining supply chains and
increasing the risk of hunger and poverty worldwide, Secretary-General António
Guterres told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York
on Friday following his visit to the
region.
“Throughout my visits and in my ongoing
outreach with leaders, one message is impossible to ignore:
the region and the world cannot afford more
war,” he said.
“Let
me be clear: the fighting must stop. International
navigational rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of
Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab [off the Yemeni coast at the mouth
of the Red Sea] must be fully restored and diplomacy must
prevail.”
In the past week, the Iran-backed Houthis
which control much of Yemen have blockaded Saudi-linked
shipping through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, reportedly
striking Saudi tankers.
Syria’s
recovery
Turning to his visit to Syria, Mr. Guterres
said stronger support must be shown for the country’s
recovery after years of war.
“I saw a country
beginning to emerge from years of devastation,” he
said.
“The international community must match that
hope with action, including the full lifting of sanctions
and sustained support for
recovery.”
