UN chief Guterres urges maximum restraint amid Middle East escalation
With no let-up in violence across the Middle East, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged all sides to show “maximum restraint” and abide by fragile ceasefires in Lebanon, Iran and Gaza.
In his peace call, the UN chief warned that more violence could inflame the “already volatile situation” and undermine diplomatic efforts to end the fighting.
Israel’s decision “to close crossings into Gaza” is deeply concerning, Mr. Guterres said, in a call for the immediate reopening of all crossing points into the shattered enclave – and the “rapid, safe and unhindered passage of humanitarian assistance at scale”.
The Secretary-General also called for shipping rights to be respected in accordance with international law, as the global energy crunch caused by the Strait of Hormuz crisis continues.
His comments came amid renewed airstrikes on Tuesday in towns and villages of southern Lebanon by the Israeli military targeting Hezbollah fighters.
The Lebanese health authorities in the city of Tyre reported that at least eight people had been killed in an attack and dozens more wounded.
DR Congo: UN teams battle Ebola virus in frontline city
More than three weeks into a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, UN teams are involved in a massive push to help the sick and stop infections spreading.
As of Monday 8 June, there have been 550 confirmed cases of Ebola Bundibugyo virus with 101 deaths in DR Congo.
But 19 patients have also recovered, said World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, Director of health emergencies and response.
Speaking from Bunia city in Ituri, which is the epicentre of the outbreak, Dr Mahamud explained that more testing centres are being set up and providing results in hours, rather than days:
CUT
“There are places that you cannot reach. It takes hours, seven, eight hours for the sample to reach. But overall, with the lab decentralization and the ramp up of the scale-up, we are confident that that aspect of testing and confirmation will be as rapid as possible.”
Labs are now online in DR Congo’s South Kivu, North Kivu and even hard-to-reach area like Mongbwalu, with plans for another in Aru.
Dr Mahamud welcomed international solidarity for the Ebola response in eastern DR Congo where more than 900,000 people remain uprooted by repeated clashes between the country’s military and armed groups.
A total of $580 million is needed to support DR Congo, Uganda and other neighbouring countries, including Kenya, to boost their laboratory diagnostic capacity and build treatment centres.
Gazans trapped between Israeli attacks and Hamas brutality, says independent rights probe
Human Rights Council-appointed investigators alleged on Tuesday that Israeli settler groups in the occupied West Bank have assaulted, abducted and abused Palestinian children, while in Gaza, Hamas-affiliates have been involved in public executions.
In a new report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel warns that settler attacks are increasing, with at least seven Palestinians killed and more than 830 injured last year.
The Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank “are directly involved in settler attacks”, the report’s authors maintain, by means of financial and military support and impunity from prosecution.
The objectives of this state-led policy, they insist, include entrenching illegal Israeli settlements, annexing Palestinian territory and displacing Palestinians from their land.
In Gaza, the Commission of Inquiry identified nearly 250 instances of executions or severe physical violence between 2024 and 2025, which left at least 108 Palestinians dead and 384 injured.
The Commission found that Hamas-affiliated forces were involved in at least 60 of these incidents, including two public executions of 11 men. “These acts amount to the war crimes of murder and torture, and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law,” they said.
The report will be presented at the Human Rights Council’s 62nd session on 15 June in Geneva.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
Source of original article: United Nations (news.un.org). Photo credit: UN. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Global Diaspora News (www.globaldiasporanews.com).
To submit your press release: (https://www.globaldiasporanews.com/pr).
To advertise on Global Diaspora News: (www.globaldiasporanews.com/ads).
Sign up to Global Diaspora News newsletter (https://www.globaldiasporanews.com/newsletter/) to start receiving updates and opportunities directly in your email inbox for free.
