Middle East News

Breaking updates, policy debates,  ideas, criticisms, essays, expert analysis, commentaries, on-the-spot reporting, insights and opportunities from the Middle East.

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...

Security Council meets in emergency session over Iran-Israel conflict, amid strikes and counterstrikes

The Council cleared its original schedule to address the rapidly evolving crisis, also hearing from the head of the UN-backed international nuclear watchdog, who...

Humanitarians must be able to deliver aid in Gaza, UN agencies insist

The humanitarian network is currently at a standstill because the internet shut down earlier this week after the last fibre cable route serving central...

GAZA LIVE: UN General Assembly to vote on resolution demanding immediate, unconditional and permanent...

The General Assembly meets at 3pm in New York on Thursday in emergency session following the Security Council’s failure to adopt a resolution on...

Rising hunger in Gaza highlights urgent need for ‘unfettered’ aid supplies

Only around 6,000 tonnes of wheat flour have entered the war-torn enclave since Israel began to allow limited supplies back in last month.  However, 10,000...

UN committed to supporting ‘free, fair and transparent election with the participation of all...

Special Representative Mohamed Al Hassan, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), provided updates on developments over the past six months...

Gaza: Search for food puts lives on the line

Since the end of May, aid distribution in Gaza has been carried out by a mechanism backed by Israel and the United States bypassing...

In Gaza, daily food intake has fallen well below ‘survival’ level

Latest data simulations from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) point to the average Gazan eating just 1,400 calories per day – “or 67...

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...

Top marks for Lebanon schools project helping marginalised kids

According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 300,000 children with disabilities in Lebanon today, although data is limited. To help them access learning opportunities,...

Syrians face staggering needs amid insecurity and healthcare crisis

Wrapping up a visit to the country, Edem Wosornu, who heads operations and advocacy for the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said that...

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...

UN alarmed after warning shots fired at foreign diplomats in the West Bank

Media reports said soldiers fired warning shots near the diplomats, who were on an official visit to view humanitarian conditions around the camp where...

Gaza: Aid trucks still waiting for Israeli green light inside enclave

Existing supplies of basic necessities have been running dangerously low and on Wednesday the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that its nutrition stocks to prevent...

UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as needs mount

He stressed that the assistance must be delivered swiftly and directly to those most in need.He told journalists in New York that UN humanitarians...

UN relief chief welcomes limited Gaza aid resumption – but it’s a ‘drop in...

Tom Fletcher said in a statement on Monday that nine UN trucks were cleared to enter the southern Kerem Shalom crossing earlier in the...

Gaza: Starvation looms for one in five people, say food security experts

“Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks…The entire population is facing high levels of...

UNRWA condemns ‘storming’ of schools in East Jerusalem

According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday while classes were in session, forcing more than...

Gaza: Aid ban pushes civilians to the brink

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at a news briefing at UN Headquarters on Thursday that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate rapidly.“Children are...

UN chief urges ‘utmost restraint’ amid escalating violence in Yemen

At least five humanitarian workers were said to be among those injured, and significant damage was reported to port infrastructure. There are also fears...

Gaza: Guterres calls on Israel to ensure life-saving aid reaches civilians

Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters, António Guterres also repeated his call for a renewed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the release of...

Gaza: Paramedic still missing after aid worker killings, Palestinian Red Crescent Society calls for...

Last Sunday, a joint PRCS and UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) mission uncovered a shallow grave in Rafah. The bodies of eight PRCS paramedics, six civil...

UN rights office calls for end to Israel’s ‘illegal presence’ in the Occupied Palestinian...

The Palestinian co-director of the documentary, Basel Adra, delivered remarks to the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People....

Gaza aid worker killings: One humanitarian still missing in mass grave

“This is a huge blow to us…These people were shot,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.“Normally we are not...