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More than 600 million women and girls lived in conflict-affected countries in 2022, a 50 per cent increase since 2017. Civilians around the world need greater humanitarian aid than ever before—but countries are instead increasing military spending, which topped USD 2.2 trillion in 2022. 

The number of people killed in Gaza has reached 5,087 according to latest reports from de facto authorities there, amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas attacks, even as United Nations entities have repeated urgent calls for a ceasefire and more aid convoys.

UN humanitarians said on Friday that an agreement to unlock aid deliveries across the Gaza border was near, as UN chief António Guterres delivered a powerful call in front of the gates at the Rafah crossing to get lifesaving aid moving.

UN chief António Guterres called on Wednesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East to ease the “epic human suffering” in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The head of the UN health agency (WHO) said he welcomed the reported agreement between the US and Israel, which would allow food, water and medical aid into the battered enclave via the Egyptian border. 

The powerful earthquakes that struck Afghanistan’s western Herat province, killing and wounding at least 1,400 people and flattening whole villages, have added to a mountain of hardship facing residents of this impoverished country - as a potentially deadly winter looms.