“As the war in Gaza encroaches further into Rafah, I am extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of families which have endured the unthinkable in search of safety,” Mr. Griffiths said on X, formerly Twitter. The veteran humanitarian official’s comments came as media reports indicated that Israeli airstrikes overnight into Thursday in Rafah left…
Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, the UN chief underscored the need for “real, visible, concrete steps” towards a two-State solution based on UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements. “Repeated bloody hostilities and decades of tensions and occupation have failed to provide a State for the Palestinians or…
Despite ongoing Israeli bombardment prompted by Hamas-led attacks on 7 October that left some 1,200 dead in Israel and more than 250 hostages, UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving aid in Gaza to more than two million civilians. The war has killed at least 26,637 Palestinians in Gaza and left 65,387 injured, according to the enclave’s…
Echoing those concerns, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a tweet on X that in addition to the threat of being killed, Gazans faced a growing risk of disease, just as health services were collapsing. Only 16 out of 36 hospitals “are even partly functional”, Mr. Guterres said. In another post on social media, UN emergency…
Speaking later in the day at UN Headquarters, the deputy head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), confirmed that following a food assessment, around half of all Gazans “are starving”, with no idea where their next meal is coming from. Briefing journalists in Geneva uon his return from Rafah governorate, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of…
Live broadcast of the meeting, which starts at 10 AM New York time. 10:25 AM Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the UN, outlined the impact of the strikes by Israel, saying the bombardment “placed every possible impediment on humanitarian aid and access.” “And we are all supposed to pretend…
A tweet by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA on Monday, described the situation in shelters as “unliveable”. It said that Gazans had “no options”, echoing repeated warnings from UN humanitarians nowhere is safe for civilians in Gaza. Since Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel on 7 October that claimed around 1,200 lives with nearly…
The development came as foreign ministers from the G7 group of countries joined international calls on Wednesday for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to protect civilians, help bring in aid and support the release of the more than 240 hostages held captive in Gaza by Hamas since 7 October. No bakeries are functioning in the…
Reports of an overnight Israeli military incursion using tanks in northern Gaza followed another series of calls by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for civilians in Gaza City to evacuate – warnings which “make no difference” because “people have nowhere to go or are unable to move”, according to the UN’s top humanitarian official in…
