UN rights expert calls for immediate release of all Israeli hostages
Alice Edwards, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on Torture, also condemned the killing of six Israeli hostages earlier this month and called...
Yemen: ‘Fear of a return to full conflict is palpable’, says UN envoy
The “current trajectory is deeply concerning,” he told ambassadors, updating them on the latest political developments in the country, where Houthi rebels – formally...
Aid teams highlight growing anxiety in Gaza after food is looted
“Fifteen World Food Programme trucks were looted late last night in Southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries,” the UN agency said. “These...
Gaza: As last fuel supplies run out, aid teams warn of catastrophe
Speaking from Gaza City in the north of occupied territory, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that water pumps had...
Helpless in the face of hunger: Gaza families pray for deliverance – or death
Zeenat and her husband, Moamen Abu Asr, live with their children in a flimsy canvas tent, one of thousands that now line Gaza’s coastline. Once...
Yemen: Security Council extends UN mission in crucial port city amid escalating Red Sea...
Adopted unanimously, the resolution extending the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) until 28 January 2026, underscores the Mission’s critical role in...
Middle East crisis: Latest updates for 8 November
The UN human rights office released a scathing report on the ongoing war in Gaza as deadly Israeli military operations continue to pound the...
Middle East: Gaza markets ‘in decay’ as starvation looms
In an alert, the World Food Programme (WFP) described markets “in decay” across the enclave. “Fresh foods, eggs, and meat barely exist and the...
Father of Gaza hostage calls for an end to war – and a two-State...
On 7 October 2023, Corporal Nimrod Cohen was guarding the area near the Nirim kibbutz close to Gaza frontier, when his tank malfunctioned and...
Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide
In a new report published against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli military operations in Gaza City, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on...
Gaza: International community must ‘match words with action’ now
Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office OCHA, warned that history will not judge the international community “based on the...
Middle East crisis: Live updates from Gaza, Lebanon and the Security Council, as famine...
Amid the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, the World Health Organization (WHO) continues efforts to keep hospitals up and running and to evacuate...
Aid surging into Gaza ‘at scale’ but massive needs remain: OCHA, WHO
On day three of the ceasefire which entered into force on Sunday 19 January, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, welcomed the “surge” in...
Fragile progress in Syria, at risk from exclusion and foreign interference, UN warns
They warned that foreign military action, political exclusion and dwindling resources threaten to undo fragile gains.UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen – who announced that...
‘Political courage’ needed to end war in the Middle East: Top UN envoy
Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag emphasised that peace in the Middle East is possible.“We can achieve a future where...
What’s UNDOF? Why UN peacekeepers patrol the Israel-Syria border
One of the UN’s longest-standing peacekeeping missions – the UN Disengagement Observer Force, known by its acronym UNDOF – began more than a half century...
Lebanon crisis: over one million people flee strikes amid invasion fears
Among the victims of the weekend bombardment was six-year-old Selena al Smarah, killed along with her parents at home in the southern city of...
UN rights chief in historic meeting in Syria’s with caretaker authority in Damascus
Speaking from Damascus after meeting the leader of the caretaker authorities, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Mr. Türk said that he had been “assured…of the importance of...
‘Repeated bouts of violence’ put Syria rebuilding at risk: Independent rights investigator
In December 2024, the Bashar Al-Assad regime was toppled by a coalition of opposition groups, led by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham militia, leading to...
Syria: Deadly sectarian violence displaces thousands in Sweida; healthcare attacked
Since 13 July, around 176,000 people have been displaced from Sweida, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).Mostly migrating...
Syria: Chemical weapons watchdog hits reset button in Damascus, following productive meetings
In a press release on Saturday the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Director-General Fernando Arias and his team had met...
LIVE COVERAGE: High-level conference on two-State solution for Israel and Palestine
A world in which a sovereign State of Palestine and Israel co-exist peacefully seems a distant prospect, particularly in light of the 7 October...
Syria emergency: Four children a day killed by leftover explosives
Ricardo Pires, UNICEF Communication Manager for Emergencies, told journalists from Damascus that in the last nine years, at least 422,000 incidents involving unexploded ordnance...
Gaza: Palestinians are dying amid lethal evacuation delays
“This is not a logistical problem,” James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told reporters in Geneva. “We have the ability to...
