The UN's World Meteorological Organization said levels of the three main greenhouse gases -- the climate-warming carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- all broke records last year.

UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell, on a rare visit to the Palestinian territory by a top UN official, said she witnessed devastating scenes and urged Israel and Hamas to "stop this horror".

Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas uses the hospital as cover for a command post and weapons stores, a claim Hamas denies. That use "jeopardizes" the hospital's "protected status under international law", the military said, a claim that many international human rights lawyers refute.

The parties to the conflict pledged last week at talks in Saudi Arabia to improve humanitarian access, tasking the UN with setting up the forum to facilitate the implementation of these commitments. But Griffiths said most basic services in the country have come to an "almost complete standstill," making efforts...

JERUSALEM - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Monday its operations in war-torn Gaza would shut down within two days due to fuel shortages as fighting rages between Israel and Hamas. "The humanitarian operation in Gaza will grind to a halt in the next 48 hours as no fuel...

Youssef Abu Rish told AFP seven premature babies and 27 patients had died in recent days in Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, the Palestinian territory's largest. The hospital has been at the center of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Nairobi, Kenya -- Nations grappling with the plastic "suffocating" nature and leaching into food and the human body began fresh negotiations on Monday toward a UN treaty to tackle the growing problem. Some 175 countries agreed last year to conclude by 2024 a binding agreement to combat the plastic pollution...

In Geneva, the second-largest UN headquarters after New York, the UN flag on Monday flew at half-mast and none of the other flags of the 193 member countries were hoisted along the main alley of the compound.

The suffering and death in Gaza has prompted growing calls for a halt in five weeks of fighting in order to protect civilian lives in the densely populated territory. French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to stop bombing civilians in Gaza, saying there was "no justification" and the deaths...

New York, USA - There are no safe zones left in Gaza amid Israeli strikes, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said. "(Israel’s) deliberate strikes on civilian facilities are a blatant violation of international humanitarian law," he pointed out at a UN Security Council meeting on the...

The high-level meeting in Cairo comes ahead of Saturday's summits in Saudi Arabia, where Arab and Muslim leaders are expected to press for an end to more than a month of fighting.

"The present course chosen by the Israeli authorities will not bring the peace and stability that both Israelis and Palestinians want and deserve," Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), wrote in a media opinion piece.

sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no ceasefire with Hamas unless the hostages are freed. Macron spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday and the pair will talk again once Thursday's aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace said.

A month of Israeli strikes on targets within the Gaza Strip have destroyed or damaged 45 percent of all housing units in the Palestinian territory, Balakrishnan Rajagopal said, warning the destruction comes at a "tremendous cost to human life". The UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing stressed...

Macron had spoken on Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the pair will talk again once the aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace added.

Most of the world's leading producers of fossil fuels have pledged to achieve "net-zero" emissions by midcentury -- a target that should align with the Paris Agreement's aims to limit global warming. But the annual UNEP report makes it clear that the production plans of the top 20 producing countries...

The UN called for an overhaul of the global financial system to help the world's poorest countries and their struggle to fill "enormous financial gaps". A report from UNCTAD highlighted how multiple crises, from the Covid pandemic to soaring inflation, and declining foreign direct investment have hit poorer countries particularly...

In the relentless bombardment and ground attacks, 10,328 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged enclave, 300 since Monday alone. The toll includes more than 4,000 children.

Paris, France - The food and agriculture system adds at least $10 trillion in "hidden costs" to the global economy every year due to unhealthy diets, emissions and undernourishment, a UN agency said on Monday. The Food and Agriculture Organization said it conducted an analysis in 154 countries to determine the...

The heads of 18 organizations including UNICEF, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization described the horrific toll on both sides since the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack from Gaza into Israel, which left about 1,400 people dead, mainly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has retaliated with...

BONN, GERMANY - Artificial intelligence (AI) can make substantial contributions to climate-resilient and low-emissions development. UN Climate Change’s Initiative on Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action (#AI4ClimateAction) explores the role of AI as a powerful tool for advancing and scaling up transformative climate action in developing countries. In line with the...

Further south, a 22-year-old Palestinian was "killed by Israeli occupation bullets in Nuba, northwest of Hebron," the ministry said. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old Palestinian "succumbed to his wounds after having been hit by Israeli occupation bullets several days ago in Al-Eizariya" also on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the ministry said.

The UNODC warned of potential "humanitarian consequences for many vulnerable rural communities" due to the sudden contraction of Afghanistan's opium economy, as growers have had to turn to far less lucrative alternative crops. Farmers' incomes, estimated at $1.36 billion in 2022, have fallen by 92 percent to $110 million this...

In Jerusalem, hundreds came together outside Netanyahu's residence with more explicit calls for his resignation. The nine months leading up to October 7 saw mass protests over his hard-right government's divisive judicial reforms that opponents have called a threat to Israeli democracy.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 15 people were killed when a UN school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians was hit by an Israeli strike. "The massacre at the Al-Fakhura school committed by the occupation (Israel) left 15 martyrs and 70 wounded," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told...

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – High-level representatives from the member states of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), international organizations, experts from over 145 countries gathered here to explore solutions for moving towards net-zero and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. The two-day International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum, which concluded on...

The UN human rights chief said that he was absolutely "disgusted" by the "sharp rise in hatred globally" since the war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7. Volker Turk strongly deplored the surge in cases of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other hate-speech, both online and offline.

Gaza health ministry says 9,227 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed in relentless Israeli bombardment and ground assaults. On Friday, Hamas said an Israeli strike hit a convoy of ambulances transporting the wounded from Gaza city towards Rafah in the south.

The Hamas government in Gaza said that 195 people had been killed in Israeli strikes this week on Jabalia refugee camp. Meanwhile hundreds more wounded and foreign passport holders hoped to escape the war-torn Gaza Strip as Israeli forces bombed and fought intense ground battles with Hamas.

"This is just the latest atrocity to befall the people of Gaza where the fighting has entered an even more terrifying phase, with increasingly dreadful humanitarian consequences," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said.

The border opening with Egypt provided the first glimmer of hope in the flaring humanitarian crisis in Gaza which the UN and other aid agencies have described as "unprecedented". Israel has pounded Gaza for more than three weeks in retribution for the worst attack in the country's history, when Hamas...

London, UK-- Bahrain and the UK have discussed way to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and economic fields between the two countries. The discussions were held between Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for the Middle East,...

"Dozens" of tanks entered the Zaytun district for over an hour, witnesses told AFP, saying they were "firing at any vehicle" driving along the main Salahedin Road. Warplanes also bombed the road, leaving large craters in it. More than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments since Oct 7.

UNITED NATIONS – More than 8,000 Palestinian fatalities were reported as of October 29, 2023, including 2,062 women, 3,324 children, and 460 elderly, according to the latest United Nations Report. “A staggering 67 percent of these fatalities come from 825 families. Additionally, 20,242 injuries have been reported,” said the report,...

The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said wheat, flour and other supplies had been pillaged at several warehouses. "This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege," said UNRWA's Gaza chief Thomas White.

Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the ICRC spoke of her shock at the " intolerable level of human suffering" and called for a de-escalation. She said that it is a "catastrophic failing" that the world must not tolerate as Israel said its war on Hamas had entered a new phase.

New York, United States-- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres Friday announced the selection of Saudi Arabia to the UN Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which consists of 39 members representing government and private and civil-society organizations and the academic community from various countries around the world.Shura Council member Dr....

New York, US-- Kuwait's permanent envoy to the UN, Tareq Al-Bannai, has affirmed Kuwait's continuous efforts to make the Middle East a nuclear and weapons of mass destruction-free zone. The remarks were made during an event organised by Kuwait's permanent mission to the UN late Tuesday, and attended by Permanent...

"The economic consequences of the current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza are impossible to determine," Richard Kozul-Wright, the director of UNCTAD's globalization and development strategies division, told a press conference. Palestinian GDP per capita is "currently at just eight percent of that of Israel", the report added.

United Nations, - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday alleged violations of international law as Israel pounds Gaza, and urged an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to bring in relief. "I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza. Let me be clear:...

"That's how the Nakba started," says the Gaza-based rights group Al Mezan, reflecting regional suspicions that Israel is planning to empty the coastal territory. The Nakba, or "catastrophe", is how the Arab world refers to the exodus or forced displacement of 760,000 Palestinians in the war that led to the...

Many states including Jordan on behalf of an Arab group of nations, Russia, Syria, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Combodia formally requested General Assembly president to schedule the meeting. The UN Security Council, regularly divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, rejected a Russian draft resolution last week calling for a "humanitarian pause."

Volker Turk exhorted for a ceasefire as the first step in order to save the lives of civilians through the delivery of quick and "effective humanitarian aid" in the Gaza Strip. He asserted that violence will never end unless leaders stand up and "take the humane choices that are required...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Monday for "unhindered access" for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, in a telephone call with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Kremlin said. According to a readout of the call from the Kremlin, the two leaders "expressed serious concern...

There have also been increasing cross-border exchanges of fire along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, between Israeli troops and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

Describing the entry of a few dozens trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt as "not enough", EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that it was important to send in the basic things that make water and electricity supply being restored. He made the comments ahead of a...

A rare delivery of fuel enters the Palestinian territory; Netanyahu says Hezbollah will make "mistake of its life" if its starts a war with Israel and US says it will "take appropriate action" in response to any escalation in the Middle East.

"Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities," five UN agencies said. "It is now catastrophic." At a peace summit in Egypt, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged a humanitarian ceasefire "to end this godawful nightmare".

Washington, US - The United States on Saturday welcomed the arrival of aid trucks from Egypt in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged "all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement...

"The United States is disappointed this resolution made no mention of Israel's rights of self-defense," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote. The resolution said the Council "firmly condemns all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism."