UN News Today 10 March 2026 |

‘Black rain’ alert after oil depot strikes across Middle East

Strikes on oil depots across the Middle East causing toxic “black rain” to fall have sparked concerns from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, that they may not be in line with the laws of war.

Speaking on day 11 of the conflict sparked by Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran and Iranian counter-strikes across the Gulf, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani highlighted the health and environmental dangers:

“We’re also concerned that the foreseeable impact on civilians and the environment of these strikes raises serious questions as to whether the proportionality and precaution obligations under international humanitarian law were met in these attacks. These attack sites do not appear to be of military exclusive usage.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned that the “black rain” and “acidic rain” that’s been falling in Tehran after the strikes was “indeed a danger” for Iranians.

The UN health agency is also monitoring the risks of what it called the “massive release” of toxic hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides and nitrogen compounds into the air. 

The agency also said that reported Iranian strikes on oil infrastructure in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia raised concerns of “wider pollution exposure”, which could lead to respiratory problems and water contamination.

Gazans still forced to live hand-to-mouth, warns WFP

To Gaza and a warning from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) that Palestinians are still going hungry because of a lack of aid entering the shattered enclave.

Last Tuesday, Israeli authorities reopened the key Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza that was closed because of the outbreak of war with Iran, but humanitarian aid remains very limited, WFP insists.

Speaking from Jerusalem, WFP’s Country Director in Palestine, Shaun Hughes, described chronic restrictions on aid deliveries.

Here he is now:

“What we have at the moment is a very constrained system of delivery, which keeps humanitarian assistance at a hand-to-mouth level, and that’s why the food security situation – although it has improved in the four or five months since the ceasefire came into effect in October – is extremely precarious, and as we saw last week, it can be reversed very quickly.”

The UN agency currently has around two weeks’ worth of half rations available for roughly 1.5 million people in Gaza, after being forced to reduce full rations earlier this year.

“We’d like to get [rations] back up to 75 per cent, but with the level of food that we’re getting in at the moment, that seems unlikely,” Mr. Hughes said.

The veteran aid worker noted that despite a ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel, “it doesn’t feel like [one]…because the attacks are continuing along the line of control” held by the Israeli forces – which runs across the enclave.

Last week, workers at a WFP warehouse took shelter when small arms fire passed through the walls of the building where they were offloading trucks, Mr. Hughes said.

The full interview with UN News is available on our audio hub now.

UN rights chief calls for immediate ceasefire in South Sudan

To South Sudan, finally, where UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Tuesday condemned accounts of “gruesome killings” of civilians, the destruction and poisoning of key water sources and fresh waves of mass displacement.

In an appeal for an immediate ceasefire, Mr. Türk said that over the past 17 days, more than 160 civilians have been killed.

This includes at least 139 on 1 March by fighters from the Bul Nuer ethnic group in the northern Ruweng Administrative Area.

On 21 February, the High Commissioner alleged that government forces killed 21 civilians in Pankor village in eastern Jonglei State. 

“The soldiers lured them into gathering at one place promising to give them food aid then opened fire on them,” he said, noting that some of these acts may amount to war crimes.

Since December, both Government and opposition forces and their allied militias in South Sudan have launched attacks on communities in seven states, including Jonglei, where more than 280,000 people have fled their homes. 

Daniel Johnson, UN News