Middle East

Authorities in Iran intercepted 3,663 kilogrammes of methamphetamines headed for Europe and the Persian Gulf in the first quarter of 2026, according to the UN’s drugs and crime fighting agency (UNODC).

In the occupied West Bank, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, appealed on Thursday to Israeli authorities to help Palestinian families trapped in their homes by settlers for days, amid an intensifying campaign to seize their land.

As tensions triggered by the US-Iran war continue to ripple across the Middle East, the Security Council held an open debate Thursday on Yemen, where escalating deadly military clashes are worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation amid fears that recent Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia and commercial vessels could threaten the 2022 truce between Houthi militia and the internationally-recognised Government. UN News app users can follow our live coverage here.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday condemned an amendment adopted by Türkiye’s parliament that would allow judges to give life sentences to child offenders convicted of serious crimes.

New satellite assessments show the destruction of buildings in Gaza has climbed by nearly 10 per cent since October’s faltering ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces aim to end the two-year war, which reduced cities to rubble and displaced more than one million people, UN agencies said on Thursday.

A strike on a merchant ship off the southern coast of Yemen that reportedly killed several seafarers on Tuesday threatens to reignite deep concerns about global trade, amid the ongoing Iran-US war that has choked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Security Council held an open debate on Tuesday which is expected to address escalating Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinians and their property continue. UN News app users can follow here.

Israeli forces fired 455 projectiles into south Lebanon and breached Lebanese airspace 97 times between Friday and Sunday, the UN's peacekeeping mission in the country reported Monday – among the heaviest fire seen in months.

More than 2,500 years after Homer’s epic was first told, Christopher Nolan's blockbuster retelling of The Odyssey has brought the journey back to big screens worldwide. But, behind the sweeping plot is another character facing an odyssey of its own: the Mediterranean Sea.

At least 300 children in Gaza have been reportedly killed in as many days since a ceasefire agreement supposedly came into effect last October to suspend military operations between Hamas fighters and the Israel Defense Forces, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.

The UN rights chief expressed alarm on Wednesday over the sharp increase in executions and death sentences in Iran since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in late February, warning that capital punishment is being used to intimidate the population and suppress dissent.

Afghanistan’s dire hunger crisis now affects 14 million people including babies fed on little more than weak tea and bread by their despairing and impoverished parents.

Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has exposed the vulnerability of global trade to a single maritime chokepoint, with early data showing sharp falls in exports of energy, fertilizers and industrial products. 

Gaza remains unsafe for civilians as Israeli attacks continue, including on schools and canvas classrooms, despite the October Israel-Hamas ceasefire that ended two years of war, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Tuesday.

Israeli forces reportedly killed more than two dozen Palestinians in Gaza and violated Lebanese airspace more than 100 times over the weekend despite ongoing ceasefire agreements, UN agencies and peacekeepers said on Monday.