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Draft resolution loosens linkage between Gaza ceasefire and hostage release as US tries to claw back leadership on issue at UNWashington’s draft UN security council resolution on Gaza marks a shift in the US position, but it is a nuanced shift, retaining the linkage between a ceasefire and hostage release while loosening that linkage and emphasising that an immediate end to hostilities is the...

Source says wording suggests significant movement in US position as pressure mounts on Israel to halt campaignThe US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” and hostage deal in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.The CIA and Mossad spy...

UN refugee agency criticised by Israel, which claims Unrwa staff were implicated in 7 October Hamas attacksIsraeli diplomats have pre-emptively attacked the findings of two inquires into the role of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, in Gaza, on the day that one of the inquiries submitted its interim finding to the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres.Unrwa has come under heavy criticism...

Calls during Yemen briefing come as missile believed to have been launched by Houthis strikes a vessel off AdenThe US and UK have called for a UN maritime inspectorate to do more to prevent Iranian missiles reaching Houthi-controlled ports in the west of Yemen.The calls during a UN security council briefing on the crisis in Yemen came as a missile believed to have been...

Where Spanish-flagged vessel Open Arms will dock, and how supplies will be distributed, is still unclearA ship carrying aid is nearing Gaza about 48 hours after it left Cyprus, with further aid preparations being made aboard a second “much bigger” vessel. It came as the EU foreign policy chief said starvation was being used as a weapon of war.After the 240-mile voyage, the ship...

IDF fired two rounds at ‘clearly identifiable journalists’ in Lebanon last year when there was no exchange of fire in areaAn Israeli tank that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six others in Lebanon last year fired two 120mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law, a UN investigation has found.The investigation by the United Nations Interim Force...

Fact-finding mission concludes regime murdered, imprisoned, tortured and raped those who protested the death of Mahsa AminiThe Iranian regime’s human rights violations during its brutal suppression of protests in 2022 amount to crimes against humanity, a UN fact-finding mission (FFM) has said.Established by the UN human rights council in November 2022 – two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests swept the country in...

Trucks attacked by desperate people as logistical obstacles and restrictions imposed by Israel limit urgently needed aidA new drive by the United Nation’s World Food Programme to deliver aid to an estimated half million people at risk of famine in northern Gaza has failed amid further scenes of chaos and violence.A 14-truck convoy destined for northern Gaza was looted on Tuesday after being held...

Internal analysis by UNRWA, based on interviews with released Palestinians, describes dog attacks and the prolonged use of stress positionsAn internal UN report describes widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centres, including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault.The report was compiled by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) and is largely based on...

Pramila Patten’s findings are based on interviews with released hostages, whose testimony suggests abuses are continuing in GazaThe UN’s special envoy on sexual violence in conflict has reported “clear and convincing information” that some women and children hostages held by Hamas had been subjected to rape and sexualised torture and that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe such abuses were “ongoing”.The special envoy, Pramila...

Allegations against 12 employees led major donors to suspend funding to UN Palestinian agency despite hunger crisis in GazaA month after Israeli allegations that a dozen United Nations staff were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from Israel to support the claims, though they expect some material to be forthcoming “shortly”.The allegations against the 12...

It’s not clear if the new agreement can circumvent the Kenyan high court’s earlier ruling that such a deployment is unconstitutionalKenya and Haiti have a security deal to try to salvage a plan for Nairobi to deploy 1,000 police officers to the troubled Caribbean nation to help combat gang violence that has surged to unprecedented levels.Kenya agreed in October to lead a UN-authorized international...

‘Crucial’ UN resolution attempts to avoid repeat of injustices produced by Africa’s fossil fuel sectorIn an attempt to avoid the “injustices and extractivism” of fossil fuel operations, African leaders are calling for better controls on the dash for the minerals and metals needed for a clean energy transition.A resolution for structural change that will promote equitable benefit-sharing from extraction, supported by a group of...

Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes ‘a situation of genocide’Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes – and genocide, according to the UN’s leading expert on the right to food.Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians...

Amount reaching starving territory dropped 50% in February despite severe shortages of basic necessitiesThe amount of aid reaching Gaza fell by half in February from the month before, the UN has said, as its secretary general, António Guterres, said an Israeli assault on Rafah would be “the nail in the coffin” of deliveries to the starving territory.“February registered a 50% reduction of humanitarian aid...

UNRWA chief says humanitarian work in Gaza compromised after donors froze funds over alleged Hamas linksThe UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been forced to “stretch every dollar” and juggle its finances in order to continue vital work in Gaza after 18 donor countries suspended funding over allegations of links to Hamas.The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East...

Desperation of people searching for food in southern areas is making journeys north unsafe, says UNMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe UN agency in charge of Palestinian affairs said it has been forced to pause aid deliveries to northern Gaza – where it is not “possible to conduct proper humanitarian operations” – amid increasing reports of famine among people in the area.The UN began...

Diplomatic search for ceasefire in Gaza gathers pace as threatened ground offensive in Rafah draws nearIn New York at the UN, in Brussels at the EU, in The Hague, in Cairo, in Rio and even at Westminster, a set of subtle and interrelated diplomatic dances are under way.Israel’s foremost supporters are attempting to apply the squeeze on their ally while avoiding making undiluted calls...

Washington supports appeal with draft resolution to UN security council calling for temporary ceasefireThe US has proposed a UN security council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and for Israel not to go ahead with a planned offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.The draft text marks the first time the US has explicitly backed a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, though it adds that...

Riyad al-Maliki presents Palestinian case at start of week of hearings called by UN general assembly voteThe Palestinian foreign minister has accused Israel of “colonialism and apartheid” at a world court hearing on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967.“For over a century, the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been denied and violated,” Riyad al-Maliki told a bench of...

Foreign minister claims local office of UN high commissioner for human rights supported impunity for coup plottersVenezuela’s government has ordered the local UN office on human rights to suspend operations, giving its staff 72 hours to leave, after accusing the office of promoting opposition to the South American country.The foreign affairs minister, Yván Gil, announced the decision at a news conference in Caracas on...

Staff say one person killed and eight injured in attack as UN aid chief warns Rafah offensive could cause refugee exodus into EgyptIsraeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still functioning, amid warnings from the UN aid chief that a threatened ground offensive in Rafah, the area’s last remaining place of relative safety, could trigger an exodus of...

Special rapporteur cites lack of medical supplies, food and clean water, and continued demolition of infrastructureMiddle East crisis – live updatesIsrael appears to be in breach of the orders issued a fortnight ago by the international court of justice requiring it to take immediate steps to protect Palestinians’ rights and cease all activities that could constitute genocide, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied...

Philippe Lazzarini says summary dismissal of nine employees was ‘reverse due process’ after Israel’s claims they aided Hamas attackMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said he followed “reverse due process” in sacking nine staff members accused by Israel of being involved in Hamas’s 7 October attacks.Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said he did not probe...