UPDATING LIVE: UN General Assembly votes by large majority for immediate humanitarian ceasefire during emergency session

UPDATING LIVE: General Assembly to hold emergency session on Israel-Palestine crisis

09:55 AM Aid operations have come to a standstill since the start of the military’s ground operation in Rafah, with an estimated 100,000 Palestinians displaced once again, in a highly fluid situation, according to humanitarians. The Assembly is also expected to vote on a draft resolution, co-sponsored by a group of countries, concerning the status…

Read More
Guterres urges Security Council to act over Israel-Palestine crisis as threat to international peace and security

Guterres urges Security Council to act over Israel-Palestine crisis as threat to international peace and security

In a letter to the Council, Mr. Guterres invoked Article 99, contained in Chapter XV of the Charter. This says that the UN chief “may bring to attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.” In a statement to journalists along with the…

Read More
Israel-Palestine crisis: UN emergency relief chief unveils 10-point plan ‘to rein in the carnage’

Israel-Palestine crisis: UN emergency relief chief unveils 10-point plan ‘to rein in the carnage’

The initiative from veteran aid chief Martin Griffiths, head of the UN aid coordination office OCHA, comes more than five weeks since Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took around 240 hostages. The full-scale Israeli siege and assault that followed has levelled thousands of buildings in Gaza and reportedly claimed more than 11,000…

Read More
Israel-Palestine crisis: Amid war crimes fears, UN rights chief renews calls to stop violence, free hostages 

Israel-Palestine crisis: Amid war crimes fears, UN rights chief renews calls to stop violence, free hostages 

“Water is scarce and fear is pervasive” in Gaza, Mr. Türk told journalists in Amman, recounting a conversation he had minutes earlier with a colleague in Gaza who had to flee Israeli bombardments with his family. “His children, aged nine and seven, are asking him questions he does not know how to answer: ‘Why is…

Read More
UPDATING LIVE: Security Council due to meet again on Israel-Palestine crisis

UPDATING LIVE: Security Council due to meet again on Israel-Palestine crisis

3:26 PM Palestine Red Crescent Society: ‘Health sector is under attack’ Marwan Jilani, Director General of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, provided an overview of recent events, noting that he had to rewrite his statement several times as the situation is “changing by the minute”. People are getting shot at “as we speak”, with 20…

Read More
Israel-Palestine crisis: Silence the guns, UN relief chief tells Paris forum

Israel-Palestine crisis: Silence the guns, UN relief chief tells Paris forum

Echoing his remarks with French President Emmanuel Macron looking on, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stressed the “heart-breaking” plight of children in the territory, whom he saw last week “pleading for a piece of bread and a sip of water”. Mass displacement has led to severe overcrowding in…

Read More
Israel-Palestine crisis: UN humanitarians plead for ‘access, access, access’

Israel-Palestine crisis: UN humanitarians plead for ‘access, access, access’

“Every day, you think it is the worst day and then the next day is worse,” UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said, quoting a colleague in Gaza, which remains under almost complete blockade. “Access, access, access is necessary.” 160 children killed daily The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom”, Mr. Lindmeier…

Read More