Gaza: Resuming night-time aid deliveries, UN reports ‘dire’ conditions

Gaza: Resuming night-time aid deliveries, UN reports ‘dire’ conditions

“The situation in Gaza is disastrous,” World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Once again, WHO demands a ceasefire. Once again, we call for all hostages to be released, and for lasting peace.” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday that because of what happened to World Central Kitchen “we had to pause…

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World News in Brief: Rights chief dismay over Uganda anti-LGBT law, Haiti update, aid for Sudan, executions alert in Egypt

World News in Brief: Rights chief dismay over Uganda anti-LGBT law, Haiti update, aid for Sudan, executions alert in Egypt

In a statement, Volker Türk urged authorities in Kampala to repeal it in its entirety, together with other discriminatory legislation passed into law by parliamentary majority. “Close to 600 people are reported to have been subjected to human rights violations and abuses based on their actual or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity” since being…

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‘Shocking’ increase in children denied aid in conflicts

‘Shocking’ increase in children denied aid in conflicts

Painting a grim landscape of the world’s war zones, Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, briefed ambassadors, citing grave concerns, from war-torn Gaza to gang-ravaged Haiti, where famine looms amid rampant violence and displacement. Denying aid access has long-lasting effects on children’s wellbeing and development, she said. Virginia Gamba, Special…

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World News in Brief: Aid worker deaths ‘inevitable result’ of Gaza war tactics, ‘waste trafficking’ update, Malawi drought

World News in Brief: Aid worker deaths ‘inevitable result’ of Gaza war tactics, ‘waste trafficking’ update, Malawi drought

António Guterres was addressing a UN General Assembly meeting on the topic of “human security”, which he described as a useful framework that could promote “bold, decisive, collective action” amid growing turbulence worldwide. He said civilians in Gaza “have no security at all” in the face of relentless Israeli attacks, adding that Israelis themselves “feel…

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Gaza: UN aid teams still waiting for Israeli green light to relieve stricken northern hospital

Gaza: UN aid teams still waiting for Israeli green light to relieve stricken northern hospital

In a stark assessment of the closure of 750-bed facility Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintained that aid teams had been waiting for “days and days” for Israeli permission to reach the stricken facility, where staff and patients endured “horrific levels of violence”. “We’ve had contact with the staff, the…

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Health system ‘barely surviving’, as OCHA calls for Gaza aid restrictions to end

Health system ‘barely surviving’, as OCHA calls for Gaza aid restrictions to end

In a social media post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that only 10 out of 36 hospitals are now partially functioning in the enclave. Al-Amal hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis closed on Tuesday, Tedros noted, after media reports indicated that Israeli troops forced medical teams and patients to evacuate. The development came as…

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Israel’s new aid ban on UNRWA in Gaza ‘a wrong move’: UN coordinator

Israel’s new aid ban on UNRWA in Gaza ‘a wrong move’: UN coordinator

On the heels of Israel’s announcement on Sunday that it would no longer approve aid shipments into northern Gaza by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, UN Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick cautioned of current catastrophic food shortages and growing hunger across the enclave while offering swift solutions to averting a looming famine. “Any interruption to…

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Gaza: UN aid team reaches stricken north, confirms ‘shocking’ disease and hunger

Gaza: UN aid team reaches stricken north, confirms ‘shocking’ disease and hunger

The UN’s top aid official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, reached Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia on Thursday, where children with the most severe and life-threatening hunger are being treated at a new World Health Organization (WHO)-supported specialised feeding facility. “Without swift treatment, these children are at imminent risk of death,” UN…

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