© IOM 144 people have died or are missing in tragic incidents at sea off the coast of Mauritania. Top news of the day | Tuesday: Ukraine, Gaza, migrants, hunger UN
Monday’s main events in the UN and the world: the deteriorating situation for the civilian population of Ukraine amid a wave of long-range strikes, new shelling of the Gaza Strip and the death of civilians, the death of migrants off the coast of Mauritania, the publication of a UN report on food security in the world.
Deterioration of the situation for the civilian population of Ukraine
The UN records a rapidly deteriorating situation for the civilian population of Ukraine amid a new wave of long-range strikes hitting residential areas and critical infrastructure. UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Tamin Al-Khitan on Tuesday called the scale and intensity of the attacks “shocking” and stressed the need to immediately stop the escalation. Last Sunday, Kyiv was hit for the seventh time in a month, with at least 35 ballistic and hypersonic cruise missiles fired at the capital, the largest missile attack on the city since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Strikes on Gaza
The Israeli army intensified attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, including children and women. Nine months after the ceasefire was declared, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported more than 1,100 deaths since October 2025. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in just two days, July 17 and 18, a series of Israeli strikes in different areas of Gaza led to the deaths of 21 people, including five members of the same family. The UN called for urgent steps to ensure the ceasefire is respected and those responsible for violations are brought to justice. following tragic incidents at sea off the coast of Mauritania last week. Refugees and migrants have reportedly gone missing after attempting the dangerous sea journey from West Africa to Europe. From 14 to 18 July, three rescue operations were carried out in Mauritania, during which 387 migrants were brought safely to shore.
UN World Food Security Report
The number of people suffering from hunger in the world has fallen for the third year in a row. However, this progress remains too slow and highly uneven, and armed conflicts, climate shocks and cuts in international aid could reverse it. This is the conclusion reached by the authors of the new UN report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.” According to the study, about 645 million people, or 7.8 percent of the world’s population, experienced hunger in 2025. This is almost 14 million less than a year earlier, and 43 million less than in 2022.