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Lebanon: “New mothers cradle newborns, uncertain if safety will ever return” – UN humanitarians
Violence is escalating in southern Lebanon persists as the UN Security Council is set to convene on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing crisis and a historic first encounter between Israeli and Lebanese envoys takes place in Washington.
Amid intensified Israeli ground operations, Lebanese authorities have reported at least 2,089 deaths since 2 March. In the last 24 hours alone, Israel's military targeted 150 Hezbollah positions and confirmed the death of one of its reservists and injuries to three others.
Beyond Lebanon, the conflict is fueling widespread devastation across the Middle East with rising civilian deaths, mass displacement, major disruptions to trade and to the global flow of essential goods.
On Iran, talks hosted by Pakistan ended without agreement, though media reports suggest a new round of US–Iran negotiations could take place Thursday.
Displaced women and girls in Lebanon
"Across Lebanon, grief, fear and exhaustion hang heavy in the air. Families are still desperately looking for loved ones. New mothers cradle newborns, uncertain if safety will ever return, " Anandita Philipose, the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) representative in Lebanon told reporters in Geneva. "Healthcare workers already exhausted are working through their own trauma to save others. The loss is immense."
“An estimated 13,500 displaced pregnant women need urgent maternal and reproductive health care, including 1,700 that are still in southern Lebanon, which is under constant attack,” she explained.
Gender-based violence is threatening 620,000 displaced women and girls in Lebanon, she said, adding that as of 12th of April, 1,355 women have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict. Hostilities last Wednesday alone resulted in 99 women and 31 children killed in one day.
First medical shipments for Iran's civilian population
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on US-Iran talks to continue constructively, stressing that all parties to this conflict must respect freedom of navigation, including in the Strait of Hormuz, in line with international law.
While the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the first cross-border shipments of life-saving medical supplies since the start of the conflict left Ankara in Türkiye on Sunday towards Iran. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) spokesperson Tommaso Della Longa said that the “International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, in collaboration with the Turkish Red Crescent, is delivering life-saving medical supplies and humanitarian relief items from Türkiye to Iran, as humanitarian needs of the country continue to grow sharply”.
He told reporters in Geneva that the shipment contained relief items from the Turkish Red Crescent and advanced trauma kits from the IFRC.
Mr. Della Longa stated that this kind of operation highlights how humanitarian supply chains are adapting in real time under significant pressure, with sourcing shifted to Türkiye to prioritize speed and ensure that urgent medical needs can be met.
He concluded by stressing that the humanitarian situation remains very difficult in Iran with very high medical and psychological needs, giving credit to the "amazing job" of the Iranian Crescent who have been providing psychological care in addition to their work of literally “digging people out of buildings”.
STORY: Middle East update: UNFPA, IFRC
TRT: 04:19’’
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT IFRC FOOTAGE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND and 12 APRIL 2026 TÜRKIYE
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (From Beirut): “Across Lebanon, grief, fear and exhaustion hang heavy in the air. Families are still desperately looking for loved ones. New mothers cradle new bonds, uncertain if safety will ever return. Healthcare workers already exhausted are working through their own trauma to save others. The loss is immense.”
4. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speaker on screens and journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (From Beirut): “On 8th of April, last Wednesday, over 100 bombs were dropped in less than 10 minutes. This was done without warning and it was on a Wednesday afternoon hitting busy residential and commercial neighborhoods. It was complete devastation. The casualty figures are still coming in as teams are clearing through the rubble. As of 12th of April, 1,355 women have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict. On Wednesday alone, 99 women and 31 children were killed.”
6. Wide-wide reverse shot: Speaker on screens and journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Anandita Philipose, Representative in Lebanon, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (From Beirut): “These attacks push an already fragile health system to the very brink. Hospitals, maternity wards, and clinics have been destroyed. 62 primary health care centers are partially or fully damaged, and 20 public hospitals are closed or damaged. This is no longer just a humanitarian emergency. It is a full-scale protection and health crisis, and women and girls are paying the highest price.”
8. Medium shot of speakers on the podium in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tommaso Della Longa International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Spokesperson: “On Sunday, we had a shipment of aid crossing into Iran after travelling across Türkiye, having left Ankara on Friday. The shipment contained relief items from the Turkish Red Crescent and advanced trauma kits from the IFRC, marking one of the first cross-border shipments of medical supplies since the start of the conflict.”
10. Medium-wide reverse shot: Journalists and technicians in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tommaso Della Longa International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Spokesperson: “The operation highlights how humanitarian supply chains are adapting in real time under significant pressure, with sourcing shifted to Türkiye to prioritize speed and ensure that urgent medical needs can be met.”
12. Medium shot of speakers on the podium in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tommaso Della Longa International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Spokesperson: “The humanitarian situation remains very difficult. Needs are high, medical needs in particular, but also the psychological toll on people is immense. Our partners at the Iranian Red Crescent have been providing psychological care in addition to the work they did throughout literally, digging people out of buildings. They also lost four relief workers in the line of duty while saving lives. This is unacceptable. Humanitarian workers must be protected and respected at all times.”
14. Various close shots of spokesperson and journalists in the Press room.
15. Various shots of aid delivery from Türkiye to Iran. IFRC, in coordination with the Turkish Red Crescent, is delivering life-saving medical supplies and humanitarian relief items from Türkiye to Iran, as humanitarian needs rise in the country. 12 April 2026 Türkiye, the Doğubayazıt district in Ağrı province. Please credit IFRC.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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