Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

🌊CHOPPY WATERS. Three weeks in, the ceasefire in Gaza is faltering after Hamas said they would suspend the planned release of hostages set for Saturday over claims that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid, especially tents, fuel and heavy machinery. The move has fuelled calls from Israeli far-right leaders, backed by US president Donald Trump, to abandon the deal and resume hostilities.

UN aid spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists the UN had been able to bring in shelter material and, overall, has seen aid flow increase since the truce came into effect but declined to confirm whether Israel had imposed any restrictions.

Since 19 January, the UN says about 12,600 aid trucks have entered Gaza, in line with Israel’s commitment to allow 600 trucks per day. Following a two-day visit to the territory, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher said that while the threat of famine had largely been averted, the potential collapse of the ceasefire could reverse those gains.

💥DR CONGO HOSTILITIES. Over 110,000 people have fled displacement camps in Goma as the fighting intensifies in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Larke said, with mounting concerns about the dismantling of these sites in North Kivu’s provincial capital. The M23 rebel gave a 72-hour ultimatum to displaced people to return to their villages as the Rwanda-backed group prepared to expand its offensive into South Kivu.

🇾🇪UN DETAINEE DIES IN YEMEN. A World Food Programme worker has died in detention in the Sa’da governorate, a Houthi stronghold. He was one of eight UN workers detained by the rebels in late January, causing the world body to suspend all operations there. Dozens of UN staff and other international aid workers are being held by the group.

What it means. Laerke said the organisation was still assessing the impact of the move on the ground. Over 19 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, according to UN figures.

⚕️REASON FOR HOPE. Mongolia and Uzbekistan – and soon Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia – are among the first to receive free cancer medicines for children through a platform launched by the WHO and St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital aimed at helping middle and low income countries obtain affordable care for cancer.

In numbers. Every year some 400,000 children from 0 to 19 years are diagnosed with cancer, according to UN figures. But in poorer countries, treatment is either too costly or simply not available, with 70 per cent of children not surviving the disease. By contrast, around 80 per cent of children treated in wealthy countries are cured.

The platform is expected to reach some 5,000 children across the six pilot countries this year, and be expanded to 50 countries in

Spared. The initiative is a rare example of a WHO health programme that hasn’t been affected by the US severing ties with the organisation, said Dr Andre Ilbawi, the cancer control programme’s technical lead.

– By Michelle Langrand

Auguste Bauernheinz, “Wounded French internees of Bourbaki’s army, Franco-Prussian War”, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1871. — © Auguste Bauernheinz/ICRC Archives (DR)

On display: 160 years of humanitarian action. A selection of little-known photos dating from 1850 to the present – some public images used to communicate about humanitarian crises and others more confidential – are being displayed at Olten’s House of Photography until May. The travelling exhibition “To heal the world”, first shown at the Red Cross Museum in 2022, challenges the viewer to consider what lies outside the frame, with the realities on the ground always more complex than what is represented.