Articles

“Children are dying from hunger,” he said via videolink, as media reports indicate that at least 20 children have succumbed to starvation in the besieged and bombarded enclave, including most recently a 14-day-old baby. Calling for a plan to address this crisis, he said immediate needs would include using a military access road to northern Gaza for a minimum of 300 aid trucks every day. Hunger in the enclave has grown exponentially since the Israeli invasion began in October, triggered by...

Citing alarming examples in Aleppo, Grozny, Mariupol, Myanmar, Sudan and Gaza, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said an “increasingly systematic, massive and arbitrary destruction of civilian housing and infrastructure” during too many conflicts around the world is in blatant violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws. “We have seen or are seeing such destruction in Aleppo, Grozny, Mariupol, Myanmar and now, in Gaza and parts of Sudan,”...

“The child deaths we feared are here,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement issued on Sunday. At least 10 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north in recent days, according to reports. Helplessness and despair Ms. Khodr warned that “there are likely more children fighting for their lives” in one of the few remaining hospitals in the enclave, and perhaps even more in the north who...

“Life is very difficult here,” hospital manager Dr. Haidar Al-Qudra told UN News. Currently, only 12 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are “partially functioning”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with the rest destroyed by Israel’s near constant bombardment of the enclave. As the war in Gaza enters its fifth month, Israeli forces continue to raid healthcare facilities, with Al Amal Hospital among the latest to endure a weeks-long deadly siege. Israel claims Hamas is operating in...

Filed before the ongoing four-month-old war in Gaza began, the case has triggered heated commentary even before the court’s president, Judge Nawaf Salam, opened the hearings. This recap provides snapshots of the first days of hearings, from 19 to 21 February. The hearings will close on 26 February. Israel chose not to participate. World court considers two specific questions The General Assembly submitted two specific questions to the world court in its December 2022 request: “What are...

Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information they have received. Killed while fleeing “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated...

Agency employees and volunteers at the UNRWA-affiliated Deir Al-Balah Preparatory School in central Gaza told UN News that despite difficult conditions restricting the movement of workers at many international aid organizations, they continue preparing and distributing food rations. Yousuf Sagr of UNRWA “People cannot buy any supplies due to their lack [of availability], and even if they are available, they are expensive,” said Youssef Saqr, a support counselor at the school. “We thank...

14 February 2024Peace and Security UN medics said on Wednesday that they feared a humanitarian disaster “beyond imagination” if a full-scale incursion by the Israeli military happens in Rafah in southern Gaza. Echoing renewed deep concerns by the UN’s top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths that an assault on Rafah “could lead to a slaughter”, the World Health Organization (WHO) also firmly rejected allegations of years-long collusion with non-health partners either in or underneath...

9 February 2024Peace and Security The unrelenting war in Gaza hasn’t spared hospitals, their staff or the people sheltering there, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as it unveiled data indicating more than 350 attacks on healthcare in the enclave since hostilities erupted. A total of 645 people have died since 7 October and another 818 were injured as a result of these incidents, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic, his comments coming amid allegations that a...

8 February 2024Human Rights Israel’s reported attempt to create a “buffer zone” with Gaza could constitute a war crime, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Thursday. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are reportedly destroying all buildings in the Gaza Strip that are within a kilometre of the Israel-Gaza fence and “clearing the area” to achieve this objective, he said in a statement. Mr. Türk stressed to the Israeli authorities that the Fourth Geneva Convention...