UNRWA was established by UN Member States in 1949 to carry out direct relief and development programmes for Palestinian people who lost their homes following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. UN Photo has curated a collection from its archive that follows the agency’s critical work since it began operating throughout the...
Our live coverage ranged from the Security Council and UN Headquarters to dispatches from across the Middle East as tensions escalated and the war on Gaza and Lebanon continued in the shadows of a new Israeli ban on UNRWA, the agency serving nearly six million Palestine refugees in the region....
Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s warning late Monday that the development would likely have “devastating consequences” as UNRWA is the principal deliverer of aid relief inside the war-torn enclave, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the Knesset move “deeply troubling for many reasons”. In Geneva, spokesperson for the UN...
“We can confirm that an UNRWA vehicle has been hit in Deir Al-Balah,” a spokesperson confirmed. “So far, we have reports one UNRWA staff member was killed.” Since the deadly Hamas-led invasion of Israel a year ago triggered the ongoing war, almost 48,000 people in Gaza have been killed during...
UNRWA staff report that they cannot find food, water or medical care, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. ‘Just waiting to die’ “The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied,”...
In the first week of October alone, close to 25,000 people fled to eastern Chad, marking the highest weekly influx this year. This follows months of intensifying violence in Darfur, and Chad now hosts over 600,000 Sudanese refugees, which is more than any other country in the region. Since the conflict...
“Throughout the night, I spoke to a colleague sheltering in the compound who told me, ‘We miraculously survived, the fire caught everywhere even the tent where we were sleeping burnt. The scene is terrifying,’” said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. Images shared by UNRWA...
“That’s why I have written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express profound concern about draft legislation that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he said at the Security Council stakeout in New York. He said such a measure would suffocate...
In a new alert, UNRWA highlighted how Gazans’ shelters have become a target for insects and rodents after more than 11 months of war – echoing deep concerns among humanitarians about the lack of basic hygiene items that have left families unprotected from communicable diseases. Echoing those warnings, top independent...
In a statement released via his Spokesperson, Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the latest Israeli attack on a school serving as a shelter in Nuseirat on Wednesday, which killed six staffers from the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, along with at least 12 others, including women and children. “This incident raises...
Stéphane Dujarric said the UN is working to confirm reports that UNRWA staff were killed in the attack on the New Nuseirat school, a site that had previously been deconflicted with the Israeli authorities. “This is the fifth strike on the same location in the past 11 months,” he said....
135 UNRWA staff members are known to have been killed in Gaza since the escalation of fighting since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. That’s the most ever in one incident but, despite the danger and extremely difficult working conditions, UNRWA is continuing to assist those caught up in...
