UN News

South Africa has set out its case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention, pointing to the current situation in the bombarded, besieged Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians. Filed with the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ), a UN court, on 29 December, South Africa’s case stated that Israel, particularly since 7 October, “has failed to prevent […]

With no let-up in fighting across Gaza, the UN health agency pleaded on Tuesday for better access across the enclave, where relief is arriving “too little…too late” to help civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict.  “Even if there is no ceasefire, you would expect humanitarian corridors to operate… in a much more sustained way than what’s […]

The immediate priority in Gaza must be saving civilian lives said the President of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, as Member States gathered to debate the use of the veto by the United States in the Security Council last month.  Assembly Vice President Cheikh Niang of Senegal, holding the gavel in the General Assembly […]

Amid reports of continued Israeli airstrikes overnight in southern and central Gaza and more rocket fire into Israel from the enclave, UN teams said on Thursday they have been unable to deliver urgently needed aid to civilians beyond central areas and further north for the past three days. In its latest alert on the deteriorating situation for […]

Major aerial attacks causing widespread death and destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure have rained down on Ukraine in the first days of 2024 due to an intense new Russian offensive. In a statement on Tuesday, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown strongly condemned the assaults targeting mostly cities. “For the people of Ukraine, the new […]

UN humanitarians repeated dire concerns for civilians caught up in the war in Gaza on Tuesday, amid reports of continued Israeli bombardment of the southern towns of Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, direct clashes on the ground and the firing of rockets overnight by Palestinian armed groups into Israel. The latest warnings from […]

December 18, 2023 – The head of the UN health agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spoken out against the “effective destruction” of a hospital in northern Gaza by Israeli forces over the weekend, leading to the deaths of eight patients including a nine-year-old child. Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided by the Israeli military over four […]

December 12, 2023 – The UN General Assembly met on Tuesday afternoon in Emergency Special Session on the decades long Israel-Palestine conflict and as the ongoing crisis in Gaza shows no signs of abating.   Member States adopted a resolution, demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well […]

December 11, 2023 – UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths reiterated deep concerns for the people of Gaza on Monday, amid reports of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza City and Jabalia in the north of the Strip, and in Khan Younis in the south, while Israeli bombardment of the enclave has […]

December 8, 2023 – The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday morning New York time to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Secretary-General António Guterres – one of the most powerful tools at his disposal – urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave through a lasting humanitarian […]

December 4, 2023 – Reports of hundreds of fatalities from bombing in southern Gaza over the weekend heightened deep concerns for civilians sheltering there, while UN humanitarians on Monday said that aid teams had only “extremely limited” movement and access to the north was “now entirely blocked”.  The latest update from the UN aid coordination […]

December 3, 2023 – UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday sent a strong message to the oil and gas industry: the pledges made at COP28 in Dubai fall well short of what’s needed to meaningfully tackle the climate crisis. As the fourth day of this year’s UN climate conference got under way, the UN chief […]

November 30, 2023 – The world is heating up at an unprecedented pace, new climate data shows, and leaders gathered for the COP28 conference which opened in Dubai on Thursday must get us out of “deep trouble”, UN chief António Guterres said. While 2023 is not yet over, a provisional report from the UN World […]

November 28, 2023 – As the pause in fighting in Gaza appeared to enter a fifth day on Tuesday, UN humanitarians warned that aid deliveries needed to multiply immediately to save the lives of the injured and stem the risk of a deadly disease outbreak that has left doctors “terrified”. Priorities include transporting fuel to […]

Desperate Gazans in the north of the enclave had their first sip of clean water in weeks on Monday as a continuing pause in fighting enabled broadening aid access to the Strip, UN humanitarians said.  “This aid barely registers against the huge needs of 1.7 million displaced people,” a statement from the UN Secretary-General’s office said on […]

November 21, 2023 – A “tragic…entirely avoidable surge” in child deaths is expected in Gaza where some 160 youngsters are already being killed every day, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, after six weeks of aerial bombardment by Israeli forces in response to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel that claimed 1,200 lives […]

Any plans for short-term pauses in the fighting in Gaza must be carried out in coordination with the UN and following agreement by all sides, the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General said on Thursday during his regular press briefing from New York.  Stéphane Dujarric was responding to a journalist’s question following the White House’s announcement that […]

With the humanitarian system in Gaza on the verge of “total collapse”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday again appealed for greater aid access to the besieged enclave, where “misery is growing by the minute.”  “Life-saving humanitarian aid – food, water, medicine, fuel – must be allowed to reach all civilians swiftly, safely and at […]

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza. The failure by the Council to make its first public intervention on the Israel-Gaza crisis followed the rejection of a Russian-backed draft on Monday evening. While 12 of the […]

In Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, all parties must stop targeting civilians and Hamas and other armed groups must immediately release their hostages, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday.  The High Commissioner said that he was “deeply shocked and appalled by allegations of summary executions of civilians, and, in some instances, horrifying mass killings […]