In a joint call to de-escalate, UN agencies have warned that further conflict risks triggering new displacement in a region already strained by decades of war and instability. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) noted military strikes have led people in both Iran and Israel to flee their homes in search...
After nearly three months of complete blockade by Israel, a “vastly insufficient” amount of aid was finally allowed into the war-ravaged enclave in the last week, insisted Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. “We have not stopped operating,” he said, referring to staff still inside Gaza,...
But this is not universal. Many people worldwide struggle – unable to walk into clinics or explain their symptoms: “[These patients] do not line up on waiting lists. They wait, unknowingly, for inside understanding and the courage to seek care,” said Dr. Merete Nordentoft of Denmark, describing the patients with...
António Guterres told leaders meeting in the Iraqi capital that “the region and the world face trials and tests on all fronts,” starting with the situation in Gaza. He reiterated that neither the atrocious 7 October 2023 terror attacks by Hamas nor the collective punishment of the Palestinian people can...
Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old American-Israeli national and soldier with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), had been held by Hamas since the brutal 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. He is believed to be the last living American held...
The escalation is occurring as war grinds on between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who appear to be targeting airports in each other’s areas of control. “Very concerned by ongoing drone strikes on Port Sudan,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher tweeted on...
The Second WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health co-hosted by the World Health Organization and Colombia, in the city of Cartagena, brought together over 700 participants from 100 countries – including heads of state, ministers, scientists, and civil society groups — to accelerate action to curb what’s increasingly...
Briefing Member States in Rome, FAO officials called for urgent action to strengthen biosecurity, surveillance and rapid-response mechanisms to curb the outbreak. FAO Deputy Director-General Godfrey Magwenzi stressed that the crisis threatens to have “serious impacts on food security and food supply in countries, including loss of valuable nutrition, rural...
“The rapid and uninterrupted expansion of the conflict, particularly in South Kivu province, continues to inflict a heavy toll on the civilian population,” said UN humanitarian coordinator for DRC, Bruno Lemarquis. “The population can no longer continue to pay such a heavy price for a conflict that continues to spread...
“Goma airport is a lifeline,” said Bruno Lemarquis. “Without it, the evacuation of the seriously injured, the delivery of medical supplies and the reception of humanitarian reinforcements are paralyzed.” Growing casualties The M23 armed group, supported by Rwandan troops, seized the airport last week as its fighters swept through Goma...
The children were among the patients being treated in the hospital’s emergency ward for injuries from previous bombings in the area, said the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. “This heinous attack is a blatant violation of children’s rights. Children are being killed and injured in the very places where they should...
As fighting intensifies between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and Congolese forces, UN chief of Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix underscored the critical state of the battle for eastern DRC’s regional capital Goma, describing the crisis as “volatile and dangerous”....