“The goal of the Israeli government is abundantly clear: the destruction of life in Gaza.” That’s how Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, opened her statement to the 59th session of the Council on Tuesday. Calling the war in Gaza “the most ruthless, prolonged...
The UN Human Rights Council-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found that Israeli forces have used airstrikes, shelling, burning, and controlled demolitions to damage or destroy more than 90 per cent of schools and university buildings across Gaza. This destruction in the wake of the 7 October 2023...
Philippe Lazzarini posted on social media saying that aid distribution “has become a death trap,” citing reports from international medical staff on the ground and local health authorities who reported at least 31 deaths and more than 150 injured as civilians were lining up to receive aid from the Israel...
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,...
In occupied East Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israeli protesters illegally entered a compound of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. The development comes after the Israeli military coordination unit COGAT said on Saturday that 388 trucks had entered Gaza since last Monday – the first aid to arrive in well over...
The diplomats were gunned down on Wednesday night as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in central Washington DC, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception. They were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, who were about to be engaged, according to...
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder insisted that the Israeli proposal to create a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the Strip would create an “impossible choice between displacement and death”. The plan “contravenes basic humanitarian principles” and appears designed to “reinforce control over life-sustaining items...
Several staff members, including two nurses, were injured in the strike on the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in Khan Younis according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health and health agencies, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing in New York. The incident follows a separate strike on Sunday...
At least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the 27 November 2024 ceasefire, according to an initial review by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Among the dead are 14 women and nine children. More than 92,000 people remain...
“Al Ahli Hospital is out of service,” WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris told UN News, after the airstrike early on Sunday morning. “The pharmacy was destroyed, many of the different buildings and services were destroyed.” Some 40 patients whose condition is too critical to be moved from the health facility are continuing...
Hostilities in the Gaza Strip resumed mid-March following the collapse of the ceasefire and Israel’s border closure. As it enters its sixth week, the denial of aid into the enclave has left more than 2.1 million Gazans trapped without access to food, drinking water, and basic services. Israel in recent...
“Syria’s opportunity to stabilise after 14 years of conflict must be supported and protected, for Syrians and for Israelis,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. “This is the only way regional peace and security can be realized.” Transition under threat Mr. Khiari and the head of...