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Exclusive: Aid officials warn that transferring Unrwa’s functions to other bodies with famine looming would be disastrousIsrael has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of the...

Exclusive: Dfat official said there was ‘precious nothing in the public domain’ on claims against aid agency hours before pause announcedGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAustralian officials scrambled to “understand what the allegations are” against Unrwa staff and complained of “precious nothing in the public domain” hours before the government suspended funding to the “vital” aid agency.New...

Israeli PM cancels White House visit by two ministers and says US ‘abandoned its policy in the UN’ after abstaining on voteThe UN security council has voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, after the US dropped a threat to veto, bringing Israel to near total isolation on the world stage.The vote...

Washington’s decision not to use its veto is an acknowledgement of its failure to lead the UN Gaza agendaDiplomacy occasionally has the capacity to surprise, and when it does it often portends a deep shifting in the landscape.Few as recently as the end of last week saw much chance that the UN security council would be able to put aside five months of division...

Visiting medical team reported untreated open wounds, shortage of supplies to pin fractures and lack of food jeopardising treatmentThe obstacles to Gaza aid deliveries – visual guideThe medical situation in Gaza’s hospitals has reached an “unimaginable” state of crisis in which large open wounds are being left untreated and medical staff are facing chronic shortages of the most basic medical items, including surgical gauze...

Head of agency says military authorities told UN that convoys will no longer be approved amid ‘man-made famine’The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said on Sunday that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no...

Draft resolution put before UN represents important tonal – but not substantive – shift for White HouseUS resolution on Gaza ceasefire vetoed After months of vetoing other UN security council resolutions in an effort to defend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the US has in recent weeks gone on to the diplomatic front foot in New York, drafting and tabling its own resolution that...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Letter sent to UN raises concerns about Alice Wairimu Nderitu’s ability to act with ‘effectiveness and impartiality’Leading Palestinian human rights groups have accused the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide of failing to fulfil her mandate after she issued only one statement on the war in Gaza – largely supportive of Israel – that has claimed 26,000 Palestinian lives.In a statement issued...

Catherine Colonna will lead inquiry after Israel’s accusation that at least 12 UN agency workers were involved in 7 October assaultA former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.The review was ordered...