Middle East

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening at an alarming rate, a senior United Nations official warned on Monday, as Israeli military operations and attacks on civilians seeking aid continue to exact a devastating toll on lives and infrastructure.

The crisis in Gaza is worsening, UN humanitarians warned on Monday, as ongoing hostilities and access restrictions drive displaced communities deeper into despair.

The first delivery earlier this week of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed in their search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian crisis has reached “horrific proportions” and that the world must not let the suffering of Palestinians be overshadowed by other regional conflicts.

The head of UN Peacekeeping affirmed the critical role played by the “blue helmets” in Lebanon and Syria during a press conference at Headquarters in New York on Friday.

The interim authorities in Syria have taken important steps in recent weeks to address past violations, the Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the country said on Friday in an update to  the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

When Bashar Al-Assad ruled Syria, his regime was widely accused of profiting from the production and trafficking of Captagon, an illicit synthetic drug that is most commonly abused by users in the Middle East. 

Most families in the Gaza Strip are surviving on one meal a day and one-third go entire days without eating as a result of Israel’s continued bombardment of the enclave, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and partners.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are increasingly being subjected to forced displacement and land seizures, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, reported on Thursday. 

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday that his “number one priority” is for its inspectors to return to Iran’s nuclear sites to evaluate damage caused by recent bombing and to verify stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. 

The rapid depletion of the remaining fuel stocks in the Gaza Strip is threatening efforts to keep critical lifelines up and running, the UN reported on Wednesday. 

At least 410 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to fetch from controversial new aid hubs in Gaza – a likely war crime – the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday welcomed the ceasefire announcement between Iran and Israel which was announced on social media overnight by US President Donald Trump.

The Security Council met Tuesday in New York over the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action put in place in 2015 to prevent Iran from weaponising its ambitious nuclear programme, which has been in effective limbo since the US withdrawal in 2018 and Iran’s rejection of parts of the deal. UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo described the US-brokered ceasefire overnight between Israel and Iran as a “significant achievement” and “an opportunity to avoid a catastrophic escalation and achieve a peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear issue.” Follow our Meetings Coverage Section live coverage below and UN News app users can follow here.

A fragile ceasefire brokered by the United States between Iran and Israel appears to be holding, marking a tentative halt to a dangerous regional escalation that included airstrikes, retaliatory missile attacks and mounting civilian casualties.