Human rights are the bedrock of peace, and today, both are under attack, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres warned Monday in Geneva, where he delivered remarks at the opening of the 55th high-level session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). Amid deteriorating conditions in Gaza, Guterres also renewed his call for a humanitarian cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.
In a joint appeal Wednesday, the heads of UN humanitarian agencies and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged world leaders to help prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. They also called on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation under international humanitarian and human rights law to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate relief efforts.
More than a dozen humanitarian organizations have called Wednesday for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and a massive increase in humanitarian assistance to avoid famine in the war-torn Gaza Strip. The United Nations, independent rights experts, human rights groups and humanitarian organizations have repeatedly warned that Israel is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza.
Amid the unimaginable suffering faced by Palestinians in Gaza, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂŒrk on Monday called for restraint in light of the Israeli military incursion into the city of Rafah. Warning of the risk of further atrocity crimes committed by Israeli forces in the Gaza war, the UN rights chief also urged Israel to comply with legally binding orders from the International Court of Justice and to respect the full range of international humanitarian law.
Israel's air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip since October 7 last year have killed more than 27,300 people, about 70 percent of them women and children, injured more than 66,000 and left at least 8,000 missing, most of them presumed dead. At the same time, the needs of more than two million people trapped in Gaza, already facing a humanitarian catastrophe, are at risk of becoming even more dire following the decision by 18 donor countries to suspend financial contributions to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday confirmed that Palestinians have a right to be protected from acts of genocide, ordering Israel to âtake all measures within its powerâ to prevent actions that amount to genocide. Among the provisional measures, the Court also ordered Israel to allow the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the war-shattered enclave and to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services to Palestinians there.
Retaliatory attacks by Israeli security forces have killed more than 25,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip, including about 70 percent women and children, and injured more than 62,000 others. The carnage follows a large-scale attack on Israelis and foreign nationals by Palestinian armed groups on October 7 last year. Meanwhile, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea continue across much of Gaza, causing more and more civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction.
This Sunday marks 100 days since the devastating war in the Gaza Strip began, killing tens of thousands of civilians â among them more than 10,000 children - and displacing millions of people, following the major attacks that Palestinian armed groups carried out against Israel on October 7 last year. United Nations officials say Palestinians in Gaza are in a state of desperation after three months of being militarily battered and left without sufficient supplies of food, water and medicine.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials warn a humanitarian and health catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip as the humanitarian space for providing life-saving treatment and aid is shrinking. With no let-up in fighting across Gaza, the UN health agency pleaded on Tuesday for better access across the enclave, where aid deliveries are arriving âtoo little...too lateâ. The warning and the appeal come as 1 percent of the Gaza population has been killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in just three months.
United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that three months into Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, the territory has become uninhabitable, and aid workers are left with the "impossible mission" of supporting more than 2 million people. Also Friday, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned while thousands of children have already died from violence, living conditions for children continue to rapidly deteriorate in Gaza, raising the risk of mounting child deaths.
As the volume of aid reaching the Gaza Strip remains woefully inadequate, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) called Friday on the Israeli authorities, other parties to the conflict and those with influence over them to safeguard an environment for safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid. According to the UN agency, the entire population of Gaza of 2.2 million people is now almost exclusively dependent on humanitarian assistance, including food.
The entire population in the Gaza Strip faces an imminent risk of famine, with more than half a million people already in catastrophic conditions, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns. Meanwhile, after days of intense negotiations on a humanitarian pause and the delivery of aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip, the United States abstained Friday on a United Nations Security Council (SC) resolution, allowing its adoption by the 15-member body.
A top United Nations agency says the occupied Gaza Strip is "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child" as Israel's military bombardment of the territory kills and injures thousands of children and thousands more suffer from infectious disease and a lack of food, water and medicine in overcrowded, unsanitary hospitals and shelters. As of Wednesday, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli operations. Among the dead are more than 8,000 children.
The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime, the leading international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. In a statement, HRW stressed that Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.
The humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its annual Emergency Watchlist Thursday, highlighting the 20 countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2024. This year, Sudan, Occupied Palestinian Territory and South Sudan top the list of humanitarian emergencies, as conflict, climate risk, economic pressures, growing impunity, and waning international support fuel new and ongoing humanitarian crises around the globe.
United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres told the UN Security Council Friday that two months into Israelâs war against Gaza âwe are at a breaking point,â and urged members to push for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, but the United States used again its veto to prevent the council from demanding the urgent needed stop in the attacks. Meanwhile, UN leaders says the situation in the tiny enclave is apocalyptic and there is a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system.
Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza on December 1, hundreds of Palestinians â mostly children and women - have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in addition to the 15,500 already killed since October 7. Meanwhile, Israeli military operations have expanded into southern Gaza, forcing tens of thousands into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety.
United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres called Wednesday for Israel and Hamas to prolong a temporary truce, saying a âtrue humanitarian cease-fireâ is needed in the eight-week-old war. Meanwhile, a last-minute deal was struck on Thursday between Israel and Hamas to continue their cease-fire for a seventh day.
A scheduled four-day truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas came into effect Friday morning at 7 a.m. local time (5 a.m. GMT). According to Qatari officials, who brokered the deal, the truce includes a comprehensive cease-fire in north and south Gaza. According to the deal, which was reportedly facilitated by Egypt and the United States, 50 women and children, who were abducted from Israel by Hamas on October 7, are to be released in exchange for Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prisons.
UN chief AntĂłnio Guterres says the number of civilians killed in Israelâs war on the Gaza Strip has been âunparalleled and unprecedentedâ compared to any other conflict since he took office in 2017. The statement comes as de-facto authorities in Gaza reported today that more than 13,300 people have been killed in the tiny enclave since October 7. The casualty numbers include more than 5, 600 children, which means that more than 100 children are killed daily by indiscriminate and disproportionate Israeli bombardments from the air, sea, and land.
The United Nations Security Council overcame weeks of inaction and bickering Wednesday to issue a call for "extended humanitarian pauses" in the Gaza Strip, especially for the protection of children, only to have the Israeli government immediately reject the measure. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardments from the air, sea, and land continue across Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians every day; the majority of them are children and women.
Hospitals in Gaza are on the verge of total shutdown as more have come under intense bombardment. Almost two thirds of all hospitals in Gaza are now completely out of service, and the rest are struggling to keep functioning while civilian casualties continue to rise. Bombardments and armed clashes around the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City have intensified since Saturday afternoon.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says that two additional members of staff have been killed by Israeli air strikes against the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll since October 7 to 101. This is the highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations. Meanwhile, intense bombardments and shelling continue across the Gaza Strip, including in central and southern areas, killing hundreds of civilians every day; the majority of them are children and women.
The heads of more than a dozen United Nations agencies and international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have issued a rare joint statement Sunday calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Gaza officials reported today that more than 10,000 Palestinians - including more than 4,100 children - have been killed since October 7 by Israelâs retaliatory attacks against the tiny enclave.
United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres says the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is horrific, as Israelâs siege on the small enclave and the denial of access to humanitarian aid for its 2.2 million inhabitants continue. Meanwhile, Israeli ground operations in northern Gaza are ongoing, with troops and tanks reportedly surrounding Gaza City from multiple directions. Intense bombardments continue across the Gaza Strip, including in central and southern areas, killing hundreds of civilians every day, the majority of them are children and women.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots â comprising a total of 22 countries or territories including two regions â during the period from November 2023 to April 2024.
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Monday that civilians in the Gaza Strip are suffering collective punishment and forced displacement as Israels continues its bombing from air, land and sea, killing hundreds of civilians every day. Today, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza and expressed his dismay by reports that two-thirds of those who have been killed are women and children.
As the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip further unfolds and hundreds of civilians are killed daily by Israeli airstrikes, the United Nations has urged the Israeli government to cease its collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza, emphasizing that collective punishment is a war crime. A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) demanded Friday that the âuse of dehumanizing language against Palestinians must also be halted.â
Due to intensifying Israeli airstrikes, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has surged to more than 5,000, including more than 2,000 children. As the humanitarian disaster in the narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea further unfolds, UN organizations and humanitarian organizations have repeated their urgent calls for a ceasefire and more aid convoys. There is no electricity, no water, no fuel in Gaza, with food supplies running dangerously low.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and water, began entering the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday through the Egypt-controlled Rafah Crossing. Television pictures showed trucks moving into the border crossing area from the Egyptian side. According to local authorities, only about 20 trucks will enter the territory on Saturday, bringing a limited amount of aid. Meanwhile, catastrophic conditions in Gaza continue for its more than 2 million inhabitants as heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, continue almost uninterrupted.
United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres has called on Wednesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ease the âepic human sufferingâ in the Gaza Strip. The call comes a day after hundreds of civilians were reported killed in an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza. The Gaza de facto authorities blamed Israel for the attack, while the Israeli military claimed a rocket misfired by a Palestinian armed group was responsible.
While heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, a part of the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). The calamitous deterioration of the situation follows the complete blockade on electricity, fuel, water, and food supplies from Israel into Gaza, and after the Israeli military requested all people in northern Gaza, to flee to the south within 24 hours.
Leading international humanitarian organizations on Friday have expressed shock and deep concern for civilians in the Gaza Strip after Israel ordered the entire population - more than 1.1 million people - to leave the northern part of Gaza as airstrikes continue and the humanitarian crisis worsens. Fearing catastrophic consequences, they warn that neither the demand to leave nor the total siege of Gaza imposed by Israel is compatible with international humanitarian law (IHL).
United Nations officials have called on Israel and Palestinian armed groups to stop targeting civilians and allow them access to basic services. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂŒrk on Tuesday issued an urgent plea to all states with influence to take steps to defuse the âpowder kegâ situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). He stressed that international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law must be respected in all circumstances.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released US$125 million from the UNâs Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. Afghanistan and Yemen top the recipient list with $20 million each.
Inflation, insufficient humanitarian assistance and dollarization of food prices are contributing to Lebanonâs food crisis, the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said. New data released by the United Nations (UN) and aid agencies this week reveals that 1.4 million people, including both Lebanese and refugees, are experiencing high levels of food insecurity in the country, while malnutrition and insufficient food consumption are prevalent.
As protracted and new armed conflicts have continued to rage in 2022, the number of children severely affected by hostilities has remained shockingly high at almost 19,000 children in 25 countries and the Lake Chad Basin region, according to a new UN report published Tuesday. While there were 27,180 grave violations verified overall, the conflicts with the highest numbers of children affected last year were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced this week that by June 200,000 people â 60 percent of the people the agency assists in Palestine â will no longer be receiving food assistance due to a severe funding shortage. By August, WFP will be forced to completely suspend operations in the West Bank and Gaza if no funding is received.
The overall humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is marked by a protracted political crisis, characterized by 58 years of Israeli military occupation. In October 2023, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip deteriorated drastically following the start of a war by the Israeli military due to atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups. For more than two years, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is raging in Gaza, where civilians are dying from violence, lack of medical treatment, famine, disease, starvation, dehydration, and hypothermia. On October 10, 2025, a ceasefire between Israel and the armed group Hamas went into effect.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂŒrk has on Friday urged an end to the âillogic of escalation that has been building up, to the detriment of the human rights of Palestinians and Israelisâ. Record numbers of Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2022, which also saw the highest number of Israeli fatalities inside Israel and the West Bank in years.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners have launched Thursday a $502 million (âŹ462 million) appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to help 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people. The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) estimates that 2.1 million Palestinians across the OPT need some form of humanitarian assistance this year. Among them are more than 1 million children.
