Rome, Italy -- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released a new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, raising its forecast for world cereal production in 2023/24 to 2.841 billion tons, reflecting expectations of greater outputs of maize, rice and wheat. Global cereal utilization in 2023/24...

US-based World Central Kitchen -- founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef Jose Andres -- said a "targeted attack" by Israeli forces on Monday had killed seven aid workers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later admitted that his military had "unintentionally" killed the group -- who had helped feed communities affected by...

According to a report in magazine +972, Israel has used AI to identify targets in Gaza -- in some cases with as little as 20 seconds of human oversight. Guterres said that he was "deeply troubled by reports that the Israeli military's bombing campaign includes Artificial Intelligence as a tool...

According to statistics cited by Al Jazeera television, about four children die every hour because of the actions of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. Women and minors account for at least 70 percent of the total number of missing persons, which has reached 7,000.

The resolution -- which passed with 28 of the council's 47 member states voting in favour, six opposed and 13 abstaining -- marked the first time the United Nations top rights body has taken a position on the bloodiest-ever war to beset the besieged Palestinian territory.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said deadly attacks on humanitarian staff showed either deliberate intent or reckless incompetence, and called for a change in how the war is being conducted. The medical charity added that children were turning up in hospitals with gunshot wounds from drones.

In addition to access to humanitarian aid, the UN's report on children and armed conflict also lists the number of children killed and wounded, as well as attacks on hospitals and schools. The report draws up a "list of shame" of government forces and other armed groups responsible for the...

Jerusalem, Undefined - Israel's military said Wednesday it had obtained information that indicated a Hizbollah explosive charge caused the blast that wounded UN peacekeepers in Lebanon last week. The UN peacekeeping force said three military observers and a translator were wounded in Saturday's blast in south Lebanon, where Israel and Hizbollah...

The Palestinians, who have had observer status at the world body since 2012, have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood. In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, dated Tuesday UN envoy Riyad Mansour requested "upon instructions of the Palestinian...

According to the health ministry in Gaza, the bodies of four foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver were brought to a hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah after an Israeli strike targeted their vehicle. Hamas said the aid workers included "British, Australian and Polish nationalities, with the fourth...

The military observers, from Australia, Chile and Norway, and a Lebanese language assistant had been on foot patrol around the so-called Blue Line -- the UN-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon. The four "were injured when an explosion occurred near their location", according to Andrea Tenenti, a spokesperson for the...

UN agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of famine and called it a man-made crisis because aid lorries are backed up on the Egypt-Gaza border awaiting long checks by Israeli officials. Israel has denied responsibility.

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories - The Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens wounded by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery Saturday in northern Gaza, where famine looms. AFP video footage shows a convoy of trucks moving past burning debris near the distribution point in pre-dawn...

The go-ahead for a new round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire came a day after the world's top court ordered Israel to ensure aid reaches desperate civilians. But despite a binding UN Security Council resolution earlier this week demanding an "immediate ceasefire", fighting raged on unabated in Gaza.

Tokyo, Japan--Japan is preparing to resume funding to the UN's crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, the government said. Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000...

The International Court of Justice said in its order that Israel should "take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay... the unhindered provision... of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance" in Gaza. This included food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements.

Israel's prime minister cancelled the visit after the US abstained on the UNSC vote, allowing it to pass. But Israel backtracked, after the White House said it was "perplexed" by the move. The U-turn came after Israeli defense minister had "constructive discussions" with senior US officials in Washington.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said this week there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was "committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinians as a group in Gaza". She said she had received "nothing that so far I have considered...

Palestinian Territories - The children of Gaza have little to eat, have had to flee their homes and have survived nearly six months of terrifying Israeli bombardment. But for a few precious minutes children in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip laughed and yelped with...

Gaza has endured almost six months of war and a siege that has cut off most food, water, fuel and other supplies, and the UN has warned that its 2.4 million people are on the brink of a "man-made famine". The flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed amid...

Doha, Qatar - Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that talks between Hamas and Israel on a Gaza truce and hostage release are continuing, despite the warring parties trading blame over the lack of headway. Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the talks were "ongoing", adding there had not been "any development...

Haniyeh's visit comes after a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on Monday called for an "immediate ceasefire" for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, leading to a "lasting" truce. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described Monday's resolution as a "positive but insufficient step".

The resolution demanding an "immediate ceasefire" was adopted Monday after Israel's closest ally the United States abstained. Washington insisted that its abstention, which followed numerous vetoes, did not mark a shift in policy, although it has taken an increasingly tougher line with Israel in recent weeks.

In a telephone call between the two leaders, Macron also "strongly condemned" Israel's announcement Friday of the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank for new settlements. Activists say Israel's declaration that the land in the northern Jordan Valley was now "state land" was the single...

Antonio Guterres repeated his call for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" to alleviate "the plight of Palestinian children, women and men struggling to survive the nightmare in Gaza during a press conference in Cairo. On Saturday, the UN chief had visited the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

Guterres urged an end to the "non-stop nightmare" endured by Gaza's 2.4 million people in a visit to the Egyptian border. He said "horror and starvation stalk the people of Gaza. Any further onslaught will make everything worse. Worse for Palestinian civilians, for the hostages, for all people of the...

Sameh Makki's soup kitchen is barely 100 meters from the market, but it can take two hours to make the journey through Sudan's war-torn streets, often through hails of bullets. The 43-year-old, his family and local volunteers have risked everything to get supplies to feed around 150 families caught in...

An official from the Palestinian resistance group with knowledge of the talks said that there is a deep divergence in positions in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel. The official said that Israel wanted to reach a temporary ceasefire "so that it can resume its aggression against our people."

Rafah, Egypt - UN chief Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of Gaza, on Saturday said the world has seen enough of the war's horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid. "Palestinians in Gaza -- children, women, men -- remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare,"...

Palestinian Territories - The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli fire on Saturday killed nine people and wounded dozens more as they were waiting at an aid distribution point in the territory's north. "At least nine martyrs and dozens injured by Israeli occupation army tank fire and shells. They...

Eight of the council's 10 non-permanent members have been working on the draft, which also calls for the "immediate and unconditional" release of hostages seized by Hamas and the lifting of "all barriers" to humanitarian aid flowing into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Beirut, Lebanon - A UN official on Friday appealed for about $4 billion in humanitarian assistance for Syria, warning funding was almost non-existent and that lack of support would push more Syrians to emigrate. Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with the repression of anti-government protests, has killed more than...

Australia, Canada and Sweden, which were among those states, announced earlier this month they were resuming aid. Ten percent of the Finnish funding will be allocated to risk management, the minister said.

Copenhagen, Denmark - Developing countries should not have to set stricter targets for cutting their carbon emissions before funds are available to help them transition to cleaner energies, the chairman of this year's UN climate negotiations said Thursday. Addressing a ministerial climate meeting in Copenhagen, Azerbaijan's Mukhtar Babayev said "there is...

The resolution focuses more on the technology's positive potential, and calls for special care "to bridge the artificial intelligence and other digital divides between and within countries." The draft resolution, which is the first on the issue, was brought forth by the United States and will be submitted for approval...

On average, every person on earth generates roughly 7.8 kilograms (17 pounds 3 ounces) of e-waste each year, said the report from the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), another UN agency.

South Africa's top diplomat accused Israel of setting a precedent for leaders to defy the top UN court, as she again alleged a campaign of starvation in Gaza. South Africa has hauled Israel before the International Court of Justice to allege genocide in the war triggered by the October 7...

"The situation of hunger, starvation and famine is a result of Israel’s extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure," UN human rights chief Volker Turk said.

Israel has repeatedly threatened a ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah, where people shelter in tents crammed up against the Egyptian border. UN World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged against a military operation there, "in the name of humanity".

Damascus, Syria -- Visiting United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urged Damascus Sunday to rejoin talks to revise the country's constitution, warning that political dialogue was going "in the wrong direction". Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with the repression of pro-democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000...

The war began October 7 when a surprise attack by Hamas resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 31,490 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has since April last year killed tens of thousands, destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy. It has also triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and acute food shortages, with the country teetering on the brink of...

An Israeli official said that the UN should coordinate more convoys if it wants to see more aid in north Gaza. The official said 99 percent of aid trucks sent to Gaza were "approved", pushing back on reports by the UN and NGOs that cumbersome Israeli inspections are blocking food...

Two Israeli shells hit the group in quick succession as they were working near the border village of Alma al-Shaab on October 13, killing Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, 37, and wounding two other Reuters journalists, two from broadcaster Al Jazeera and two from AFP.

Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty, said nobody was holding Israel to account over the delays to deliveries by land to the Gaza Strip. She said the international community must be prepared to hold Israel to account. "We're not holding the stick that will allow for those violations to stop,"...

The rebound follows two years of decline, when, in 2021 and 2022, the global Human Development Index fell twice in a row for the first time since its creation 35 years ago, rolling back five years of progress. Now, the UNDP forecasts a record high in the index for 2023.

The bombing and destruction of fields and factories have plunged Sudan into "one of the worst" nutrition situations in the world, said Arif Noor, Save the Children's country director in Sudan. The charity warned "about 222,000 severely malnourished children and more than 7,000 new mothers are likely to die" under...

The first -- a hulking gray-painted watercraft known as a Logistics Support Vessel -- slowly churned away from the pier at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. It was followed by three smaller vessels that will also make the roughly 30-day trip to the eastern Mediterranean for the port mission.

ROME, ITALY – The situation in the Red Sea has not yet been reflected in the pace of prices for foods monthly reflected in the FAO Food Price Index, Monika Tothova, the economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said. “Following on its 2023 and...

As the Muslim world welcomed Ramadan with the customary daytime fast, many Gazans awoke to bombardment that saw residents once more search through the rubble of destroyed homes for survivors and bodies.