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The past decade has been confirmed the warmest ever recorded, continuing an alarming 30-year trend that the UN weather chief said on Tuesday is “unequivocally driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.” 

Delegates meeting in Dubai agreed Thursday on the operationalization of a fund that would help compensate vulnerable countries coping with loss and damage caused by climate change, a major breakthrough on the first day of this year’s UN climate conference.

“Today’s news on loss and damage gives this UN climate conference a running start. All governments and negotiators must use this momentum to deliver ambitious outcomes here in Dubai,” said UN climate chief Simon Stiell during a press conference at which the announcement was made.

The UN Security Council met intensively through Wednesday morning in New York on the Middle East crisis. It was the first open meeting since the 15-member body passed a resolution in mid-November and the first featuring foreign ministers from across the region and beyond.

Briefing top diplomats, the UN chief said the world must not look away from the suffering of civilians in Gaza, calling for "a true humanitarian ceasefire" that leads to a lasting two-State solution.

Sixty-one trucks hauled aid to northern Gaza on Saturday – the largest number since 7 October, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The freight included food, water and emergency medical supplies. Eleven ambulances, 3 coaches and a flatbed were delivered to Al Shifa hospital to be used to assist with evacuations.

The heads of three UN agencies on Wednesday highlighted the disproportionate suffering faced by women and girls amidst the ongoing crisis in Gaza, urging a collective response to protect the most vulnerable and a commitment to lasting peace for the women and girls caught in the crossfire.

A deal on Wednesday to release hostages taken during the Hamas terror attack on Israel has been welcomed by UN chief António Guterres, who added that the UN stood ready to “maximize” the positive humanitarian impact of the agreement.

The UN chief said on Monday that in the current conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza, the world is witnessing an "unparalleled and unprecendented" level of civilian death, compared to any other conflict since he became Secretary-General in 2017.

Spikes in casualties, attacks on schools and shelters, including the death of a UN worker, and crippling fuel shortages blocking aid deliveries rippled across Gaza over the weekend, as the World Health Organization (WHO) helped to evacuate 31 babies in critical condition at the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital and the UN chief called for a humanitarian ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis.

Lack of fuel is jeopardizing “the entire architecture of the humanitarian response” in Gaza, where raw sewage is now flowing in the streets, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Thursday. 

In a wide-ranging briefing to journalists in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reiterated calls for a ceasefire and addressed misinformation targeting the agency, including claims that aid is being diverted.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday welcomed the Security Council call for pauses in the fighting in Gaza where “doctors operate on screaming children without anaesthetic, using mobile phones for light”, before appealing directly to the warring sides to lay down their weapons.

Speaking in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the parties to the conflict to "create the political space for a path out of this horror”.