UN News Today 03 June 2026 |

Gaza killings, turmoil and misery continue, warns OHCHR

Months since a nominal ceasefire began in Gaza, Palestinians continue to be killed and maimed in drone and airstrikes. 

The enclave’s police personnel are routinely targeted, a potential war crime which is threatening peace and reconstruction efforts, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has maintained.

In an alert on Wednesday, OHCHR said that there have been at least 12 attacks against police since January that have killed more than 53 civilians, including officers on duty, boys and a woman. 

The UN office highlighted concerns that Israeli forces apply “no distinction” between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza.

For many Gazans, the notional ceasefire between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military has not brought safety, explained OHCHR spokesperson Mayy El Sheikh:

“There has been systematic targeting of public administration institutions, including law enforcement and a collapse of civic and public order and Israel as the occupying power actually has the obligation under international law to ensure these things, to ensure civic and public order for Palestinians who live under the occupation.”

In some cases, police workers have been killed while directing traffic and patrolling streets and crowded markets.

Under international law, police officers are regarded as civilians. Targeting them unless they directly participate in attacks or hostilities would amount to war crimes, Ms. El Sheikh insisted.

Lebanon: fear and uncertainty haunt war-torn communities

To Lebanon, where communities continue to live in fear, amid ongoing clashes in the south of the country between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli military.

In an update from Beirut, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, explained that “total uncertainty” reigns.

On Monday, videos showed thousands of vehicles queuing to leave the capital’s southern suburbs, following warnings of impending Israeli strikes against Hezbollah strongholds.

The crisis remains unresolved, with people too scared to stay in southern Beirut. “Most of them are coming during the day[time], checking their homes and leaving at night,” UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told UN News.

Beyond the immediate impact of bombs and airstrikes, the agency says that an estimated 770,000 children in Lebanon are highly distressed from repeated exposure to violence, loss and displacement. 

“Children and caregivers report symptoms linked to traumatic stress and grief, including extreme fear and worry, nightmares, sleeplessness and feelings of hopelessness,” UNICEF warned. 

It noted that without adequate mental health and psychosocial support in safe and secure settings, affected children remain at serious risk of developing chronic or lifelong mental health issues.

24 million people in the Sahel urgently need aid: OCHA

Across the countries of Africa’s Sahel region, more than 24 million people are in critical need of humanitarian aid. 

That shocking number includes “mothers who cannot feed their children and… children who have not seen the inside of a classroom in years”, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, says.

In an appeal to help these most vulnerable people, the agency said that without help from the international community, the situation could get even worse, in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, the far north of Cameroon and northeast Nigeria.

Violence in the central Sahel is one factor fuelling the crisis, with insecurity spreading beyond where it has traditionally been contained in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, reaching coastal West Africa.

OCHA warns that armed groups have expanded their reach across the central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, “uprooting communities, shutting down schools and health centres…leaving entire areas without any form of government or protection.”

Latest UN data shows that nearly 12,900 schools have closed because of the insecurity, leaving more than 2.3 million children out of class, and exposing them to exploitation and recruitment by armed gangs.

Funding for the Sahel is at its lowest level in a decade. 

Last year, aid agencies received only 29 per cent of the funding they needed, forcing the suspension of services and “impossible choices about who gets help and who does not”, OCHA said.

Daniel Johnson, UN News