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Agency chief says compound has suffered a number of attacks with the lives of UN staff ‘at a serious risk’The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has temporarily closed its East Jerusalem headquarters after “Israeli extremists” set fire to the perimeter following weeks of repeated attacks.“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the Unrwa headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” the head...

Islamist group release new video apparently showing two hostages as UN warns famine thresholds will be breached within six weeksHamas has said it is studying the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from Egypt had arrived in Israel in an attempt to jumpstart stalled negotiations.The signs of renewed truce talks come as the...

Inquiry has not backed up allegations of ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which led to loss of $450m as people died in drovesIsrael has yet to provide evidence of Unrwa staff terrorist links, Colonna report saysUnsupported Israeli allegations about Unrwa links to terrorism led major donors to cut $450m in funding to the main humanitarian agency working in Gaza at a time when...

Exclusive: review finds government yet to substantiate claims UN relief agency staff have ties to Hamas or Islamic JihadIsrael still has no proof of Unrwa terrorist claims – but damage to aid agency is doneIsrael has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations, an independent review led by the former...

Washington blocks security council resolution supported by 12 member countries, with two abstentions including UKThe US has vetoed a Palestinian request to the United Nations security council for full UN membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.The vote in the 15-member security council was 12 in favor, the US opposed and two abstentions, the UK and Switzerland. Continue reading...

UN human rights office expresses concern over escalating violence after deaths near Nablus over weekendThe UN and the UK have voiced grave concern over escalating violence in the West Bank, demanding that Israeli security forces “immediately” stop supporting settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory.The comments came hours after two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli settlers in a northern village south of...

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...

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...

Special rapporteur will tell human rights council Israel’s actions ‘reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group’A UN human rights expert will deliver a report on Tuesday saying that Israel has carried out acts of genocide in Gaza and should be placed under an arms embargo.Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report...

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...

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...

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...

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...