UN News Today 09 March 2026 |

Middle East strikes on Iranian petrol stores prompts WHO alert 

On day 10 of the war in the Middle East, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert about the contamination dangers posed by Israeli and US strikes on oil depots in Iran.

“Damage to petroleum facilities in Iran risks contaminating food, water and air – hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

Tedros said that rain “laden with oil” has been falling in parts of Iran, where health authorities have urged people to stay indoors, amid ongoing strikes.

Latest information from the UN health agency indicates that in Lebanon, nine health workers have been killed since the war began on 28 February and 16 injured. More than 40 primary health care centres and five hospitals have also closed because of Israeli evacuation orders. 

Tedros said that WHO continues to monitor the situation in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and all affected countries closely and is supporting local authorities to keep health systems running and reduce health risks. 

Occupied West Bank: ‘Settler-soldiers’ implicated in killing of Palestinians

The killing of three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over the weekend marks an increase in attacks by settlers since war erupted across the Middle East, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Monday.

In just the last seven days (since 2 March) five Palestinian men have been killed in settler attacks – four by settlers and one more by either Israeli security forces or settlers, “as they were shooting together”, said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“The fact that many fatalities can’t be definitively attributed to settlers or Israeli security forces reflects how the lines separating settlers from security forces have effectively disappeared…Three of the five who perpetrated these killings were also identified as reserve Israeli soldiers. This is a phenomenon that human rights organizations refer to as ‘settler soldiers’.”

According to reports, the three dead men were killed in separate attacks near Ramallah and Hebron. A fourth man also died of suffocation after the Israeli army fired tear gas.

The UN human rights office noted that three incidents happened in Area B of the occupied West Bank “that appear aimed at opening new ethnic cleansing frontiers beyond Area C”.

Refugee women’s rights trail far behind men’s, warns UNHCR 

Finally, to International Women’s Day, which was celebrated on Sunday, in recognition of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of one half of humanity.

Despite the obvious benefits of women, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, pointed out that women have less than two-thirds of the legal rights of men, worldwide. 

“For refugee women, the gap is even wider,” the UN agency said, in a call for rights, justice and action for all women and girls, including those who have been forced to flee their homes.

In support of that appeal, UNHCR chief Barham Salih urged that to stand with women and girls was to “stand for humanity’s future”.

Speaking from Ukraine, Mr. Salih explained that women and girls carry some of the heaviest burdens of conflict including displacement, insecurity, loss and “too often, violence and abuse”.

He hailed their courage and insisted that protecting their safety and rights was “central to humanity’s security and to the prosperity of societies”.

Daniel Johnson, UN News