United Nations - Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has escalated into a "betrayal of humanity", the United Nations' humanitarian chief said on Saturday. In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, called for...

The volunteers don their club's signature blue vest, the front and back embroidered with their emblem: a flaming motorbike and the Syrian flag.

Paris, France -- Israel's almost six-months-old war in Gaza since the October 7 attack has revived calls for Palestinians to be given a state of their own. Spain's left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced plans to soon recognize a Palestinian state, breaking with other Western powers which have long argued...

The UN Human Rights Council on Friday is set to consider a draft resolution calling for a cessation of arms sales to Israel, nearly six months into the war in Gaza. If the text is adopted, it would mark the first time that UN’s top rights body has taken a...

The British-born official, who spent a week in the besieged Palestinian territory last month, said even when aid got through the border, there were still major problems getting it to those who need it most, particularly women and girls.

"The tragic events of the past 36 hours have resulted in a significant loss of life and injuries in south Lebanon. Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics," said Imran Riza, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon.

"The overwhelming nature and scale of Israel's assault on Gaza and the destructive conditions of life it has inflicted reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group," Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, concluded in a report.

All 14 other members voted in favor of the resolution which "demands an immediate ceasefire" for Ramadan. The resolution calls for the truce to lead to a "lasting, sustainable ceasefire" and demands that Hamas and other groups free hostages.

Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the United States that called for an "immediate" ceasefire linked to the release of hostages. China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticizing it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign.

JERUSALEM - Israel's foreign minister said on Saturday the United Nations had become an "anti-Israeli body" under Antonio Guterres, after the UN chief called for a ceasefire on a visit to Gaza's border. International outrage over the heavy civilian toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel battles Hamas fighters,...

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...

Israel plans to send troops into Gaza's Rafah even without US support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Antony Blinken, as Washington failed to pass a UN resolution on an "immediate" ceasefire. Almost six months of Israeli bombardment since Hamas's October 7 attack has brought Gaza to its knees with many...

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared as "state lands" the area in the northern Jordan Valley. Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the size of the seized area is the largest since 1993's Oslo Accords, and that "2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land".

"Of course, we stand with Israel and its right to defend itself... but at the same time, it's imperative that the civilians who are in harm's way and who are suffering so terribly -– that we focus on them, that we make them a priority, protecting the civilians, getting them...

The Afghanistan Cricket Board urged the Australian government "not to impose its policies on cricket boards" and "focus on supporting the development of cricket". But under the Taliban government's brand of Islamic rule, women are effectively barred from the game, as part of a raft of restrictions on women in...

The annual State of the Climate report by the UN weather and climate agency confirmed preliminary data showing 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded. And last year capped off "the warmest 10-year period on record", the World Meteorological Organization said, with even hotter temperatures expected.

“Today’s frameworks to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment ring hollow in the face of the war on Gaza, which is killing Palestinian women and girls. Our commitment to the promotion and protection of women and girls worldwide must extend to them, too,” she adds.

A US charity said its team in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip had finished unloading the first maritime aid shipment to reach the besieged territory. "All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza," World Central Kitchen said in a statement, noting that the aid was "almost 200...

Geneva, Switzerland – The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022, according to the latest estimates released today by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). “Behind these numbers lie the stories of...

The incident comes amid mounting concern about worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where Israel has carried out relentless military operations since October. Gaza's dire food shortages after more than five months of war have resulted in 27 deaths from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

With the flow of food and other assistance slowed to a trickle, a UN report citing the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said 25 people have now died from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

El Nino, the large-scale warming of surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, typically has the greatest impact on the global climate in the year after it develops, in this instance 2024. The weather phenomenon occurs on average every two to seven years, and episodes typically last...

The head of the UNRWA is set to defend his organization's work at the General Assembly, after crippling backlash over accusations that some employees were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that his agency is at a...

Geneva, Switzerland - The pernicious "'great replacement' conspiracy theories" spreading in many countries are "delusional" and racist and are directly spurring violence, the United Nations rights chief warned on Monday. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also took aim at the "war on woke", which he stressed was...

The UN and other humanitarian actors have not yet declared a state of famine in Gaza, despite worsening conditions in the Palestinian territory. However, "once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people", said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

More than 750 others were injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians gathered at an aid distribution point in the Palestinian territory. The death toll from the "massacre" in Gaza City "rose to 104 martyrs and 760 injuries due to the bullets of the occupation forces that targeted a...

Netanyahu has faced increasing public pressure over the fate of the remaining hostages. Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's far-right national security minister, said Netanyahu should not accept Hamas's "delusional requests" in negotiations, adding that "the war must continue", according to news website Ynet.

Oil spills in Iraq -- a country ravaged by decades of conflict, corruption and decaying infrastructure -- have contaminated farmland in the northern province, especially during the winter rains.

Palestinian Territories - At the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Gibril was so desperate for food to feed his family that he slaughtered two of his horses. "We had no other choice but to slaughter the horses to feed the children. Hunger is killing us," he told AFP....

The shooters were "neutralized", police said, and an AFP photographer later saw two bodies at the scene of the attack on a highway east of Jerusalem, where five cars were riddled with bullets. "The three terrorists... got out of their vehicle and started shooting automatic weapons at vehicles that were...

The International Court of Justice is holding a week of hearings after a request from the UN, with an unprecedented 52 countries giving their views on Israel's occupation. Most speakers have demanded that Israel end its occupation, which came after a six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967, but Washington came to...

"We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against black people in my country," said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, where...

Renk is just 10 kilometers (six miles) from Sudan, where fighting broke out in April last year between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since then, Renk's two UN-run transit centers have been overwhelmed by an...

The experts have expressed concern that an unknown number of Palestinian women and children, including girls, have reportedly gone missing after contact with the Israeli army.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia topped the UN Tourism’s ranking for the growth of international tourist arrivals in 2023 compared to 2019 among large destinations, achieving an increase of 56%, according to the World Tourism Barometer report released last month. The kingdom recorded a remarkable tourism recovery rate of...

Without action, "the situation will deteriorate," he warned. "Conflicts are multiplying. The climate crisis is set to spiral, as emissions continue to rise. And acute food insecurity has been increasing year on year."

Yemen's Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, have launched dozens of attacks against ships in the Red Sea since November, targeting boats headed for Israel in an act of "solidarity" with inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, which is in the grip of the war between Israel and Hamas. Despite retaliatory strikes...

Hospitals are granted special protection under the laws of war, but they have been repeatedly hit in Gaza over the past four months. There are no fully functioning hospitals left in the Palestinian territory, the United Nations said Wednesday, while just over a third of them are working at limited...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to prepare to "evacuate" hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza's Rafah, his office said, after US warned it would not support any ground assault. Netanyahu's planned offensive on Rafah, where an estimated 1.3 million civilians have sought refuge, drew condemnation...

As Qatari and Egyptian-led mediation efforts intensified, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was due in Cairo on Thursday to discuss a truce proposal thrashed out in Paris last weekend with CIA chief William Burns. Israel's withering air, land and sea offensive has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of...

Gazans lamented the suspension of funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees by several donor countries after Israel charged that some UNRWA staff took part in Hamas's October 7 attack. The agency has fired several staff over Israel's accusations and has promised a thorough investigation into these claims, which...

Heavy fighting raged in Gaza amid a row over the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that has called its future into question. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on donor states to guarantee aid to Gaza after several halted funding to UNRWA, over Israeli claims that some of its staff participated...

"The army called the UNRWA official through the loudspeaker, she went over to them next to the tanks, and they told her to notify us to vacate the premises by 5 pm tomorrow," said Amal Lubbad, a displaced Gazan at the facility. "We don't know where we'll go."

"Heavy fighting is reported in proximity to hospitals in Khan Yunis, including Al-Aqsa, Nasser and Al-Amal, with reports of Palestinians trying to flee to the southern town of Rafah," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said. "No-one can enter or exit (Nasser Hospital) due to ongoing bombardments," OCHA said citing medics...

Geneva, Switzerland - Generative artificial intelligence could transform healthcare through things like drug development and more rapid diagnoses, but the World Health Organization stressed on Thursday more attention should be paid to the risks. The WHO has been examining the potential dangers and benefits posed by AI large multi-modal models (LMMs),...

At least 24,448 Palestinians, more than 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry's latest figures. "When we talk about rebuilding Gaza, it's not anymore like before, where we had to rehabilitate some shelter and...

The Regional Network for Cultural Rights said it "strongly condemns the incursion by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)", the paramilitary forces of general Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, "on the sites of Naqa and Musawwarat es-Sufra". RSF forces have been fighting against troops loyal to Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan since...

Bringing food and supplies to the besieged population of Gaza, which is increasingly at risk of famine, also depends on the opening of new entry routes into the territory, the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a joint statement.

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva. "Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention." "As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing...

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the strikes carried out by the United States and Britain against Houthi rebels in Yemen, the chamber's presidency said. France, which holds the rotating presidency for the month of January, said the emergency meeting had been requested by Russia.