But as starvation tightens its grip and “children are dying before our eyes,” UN officials and aid workers warn that the measures fall far short of the much-needed ceasefire and unfettered aid access that could help stem the spiralling humanitarian catastrophe. “Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through,” UN Emergency […]
In an update on Friday, OCHA said that the starvation crisis is deepening across the enclave, with the local health authorities announcing that two more people had died from starvation the previous day. Hunger and malnutrition increase the risk of illnesses that weaken the immune system, particularly among women, children, older people and persons with […]
Recalling his own experience living under dictatorship in Portugal, Mr. Guterres told participants at the Global Assembly of the international rights charity Amnesty International on Friday that the fight for human rights is “more important than ever”. He called on States to uphold international law and defend human rights “consistently and universally, even or especially […]
Sonia Silva has been working in the embattled enclave since the beginning of November 2023, just one-month after the terror attack by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel that sparked the brutal conflict. She spoke to UN News about the misery people have experienced in recent days. “In my one year and eight […]
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that is what one of its workers told him on Thursday morning. This sobering comment comes amidst increasingly severe malnutrition for children and adults throughout the Gaza Strip. “When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food […]
Briefing the Security Council on Thursday, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, said the OIC remains an “indispensable” partner in efforts to promote peace, uphold international law and deliver durable political solutions in a range of crisis contexts. Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the OIC has 57 member states and five observers, representing […]
Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, told ministers and ambassadors that ongoing talks must lead to a permanent end to hostilities, the release of all hostages, unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid, and for recovery and reconstruction to begin. He painted a grim picture of conditions on the ground, citing expanded Israeli military operations, […]
In the first half of 2025, only 17,000 births were recorded, according to Gazan health authorities, representing a 41 per cent decline in Gaza’s birth rate over the past three years, the agency said. Additionally, 220 mothers died – more than 20 times the total number of maternal deaths in 2022 – while at […]
This is the only sustainable path to global security, he told ministers at a high-level open debate of the Security Council on Tuesday. The Secretary-General emphasised that the UN Charter’s tools – negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration and more – remain a lifeline when tensions escalate, grievances fester and states lose trust in each other. These […]
“Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them UNRWA staff, are hungry…fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,” said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. Speaking from Amman, she stressed that seeking food “has become as deadly as the bombardments.” The development comes as the UN human rights […]
Ross Smith, director of emergency preparedness and response, briefed journalists in New York in the wake of a deadly incident on Sunday in which dozens of civilians were killed and injured while waiting to access food as a WFP convoy was entering northern Gaza. “Yesterday’s incident is one of the greatest tragedies we’ve seen for […]
Stéphane Dujarric was speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York a day after dozens of Palestinians were killed seeking food aid. He said the Secretary-General deplored the growing reports of both children and adults suffering from malnutrition and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing and injuring of people attempting to […]
“Every day brings more preventable deaths, displacement and desperation,” the agency said in a humanitarian update. On Friday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order, this time for parts of North Gaza. OCHA said it continues to receive deeply troubling reports of malnourished children and adults being admitted to hospitals with insufficient resources available to treat them. […]
Moving around Gaza has become ever more difficult amid the ongoing 21-month-long war. Mr. Saad, who was displaced from the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, was waiting for the vehicle pulling the cart he was sitting in to move. “Transportation is very difficult and unsafe,” he told UN News. “The roads […]
Three people were killed and at least 10 others were injured in the bombing of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, according to media reports. Stephanie Tremblay, a spokesperson for the Secretary-General, noted that the church was both a place of worship and a sanctuary for civilians. “Attacks on places of worship are unacceptable. […]
Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there was no “vocabulary” left to adequately describe conditions on the ground. “Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured – day after […]
In the past three months, a third of Gaza’s population (714,000 people) have been forced to move once again, separating families and dismantling local support systems. Women and girls are bearing a heavy burden, fearing for their lives on the streets – at delivery points, and in overcrowded, makeshift shelters that lack privacy and security […]
The UN Security Council is meeting on the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where fresh Israeli evacuation orders have uprooted tens of thousands amid relentless bombardment claiming hundreds of civilian lives in recent weeks – many of them children. “Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed […]
Those impacted by the orders have been told to relocate to the “already overcrowded” coastal strip at Al Mawasi, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), late Tuesday. Al Mawasi near Khan Younis lacks “the basics for survival”, the UN agency insisted. It has also seen nearly two dozen strikes on […]
“As of 13 July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, OHCHR spokesperson. The remaining 201 victims were killed while seeking food “on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys” run by the […]