All posts tagged: U.N

Deadly airstrike targets U.N. school shelter in Khan Younis, Gaza

Deadly airstrike targets U.N. school shelter in Khan Younis, Gaza

Published by Sam

IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Israel says ceasefire deal is closer than ever, as death toll rises in Gaza 04:26 Biden speaks on Israel hostage return at White House Hanukkah celebration 01:04 Now Playing Deadly airstrike targets U.N. school in Khan Younis sheltering displaced Palestinians 01:16 UP NEXT Hamas makes concessions, fueling new hope for ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel 00:51 Dozens killed and around 50 Palestinians wounded by missile strike on Nuseirat camp 01:03 U.S. officials push for ceasefire in Gaza raising hope for hostages 04:48 More than 1.8 million people in Gaza experiencing extremely critical levels of hunger 02:41 Freed hostage shares struggles as husband remains in captivity 05:55 Gaza family buried under airstrike rubble, pulled to safety 02:03 Airstrike on tent camp kills displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis 01:14 Trump’s rhetoric on Gaza hostage deal ‘reinforces’ what Biden is trying to do: fmr. Mideast envoy 05:50 Lebanon ceasefire appears precarious as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire 01:58 Israel says an Israeli-American …

What We Know About the U.N. Report on Israeli and Palestinian War Crimes

What We Know About the U.N. Report on Israeli and Palestinian War Crimes

Published by Sam

A commission at the United Nations published a report on Wednesday detailing acts of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing both sides of war crimes and arguing that the immense loss of life in the Gaza Strip amounted to a crime against humanity. The report consisted of two parallel investigations, one focused on the Oct. 7 attack on Israel led by the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and the other on Israel’s military response. It is one of the most detailed examinations thus far of the conflict and provides legal analysis that is likely to be used in future criminal proceedings related to the war in Gaza. Here is a closer look at the commission’s findings. What did the report find? According to the report, 800 civilians were among the more than 1,200 killed by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. More than 250 additional people — including 36 children — were taken hostage, the commission said. The commission accused Israeli forces of responding to …

Hamas and Israel Face Pressure to Embrace Cease-Fire Adopted by U.N.

Hamas and Israel Face Pressure to Embrace Cease-Fire Adopted by U.N.

Published by Sam

A day after the United Nations Security Council endorsed a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal for the Gaza Strip, the focus shifted on Tuesday to the willingness of Israel and Hamas, under growing international pressure to end the war, to make a deal. Each side made positive but vague statements about the cease-fire plan and blamed the other for prolonging a war that has devastated Gaza. But neither said it would formally embrace the proposal, which was outlined last month in a speech by President Biden and was the basis of the 14-0 vote in the Security Council on Monday. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, touring the region for the eighth time since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on Israel, said on Tuesday that the fate of the cease-fire proposal rested with Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, countered that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was “the sole obstacle to reaching an agreement that would end the war.” An Israeli government official said in a statement that the …

U.N. Passes Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution as Blinken Presses Israel and Hamas

U.N. Passes Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution as Blinken Presses Israel and Hamas

Published by Sam

The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-backed cease-fire plan for the Gaza Strip with only Russia abstaining, a sign of the growing frustration among the world’s major powers over the war and the desire to bring it to an end. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told members of the Security Council that Israel had already agreed to the deal laid out in the resolution — although Israel has so far resisted taking a public position on it — and she urged Hamas “to do the same.” “Hamas can now see that the international community is united, united behind a deal that will save lives and help Palestinian civilians in Gaza start to rebuild and heal,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said. The 14-0 vote may strengthen the hand of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who returned to the Middle East on Monday to press Hamas and Israel to agree to a cease-fire. But in a sign of the difficulties facing Mr. Blinken and other mediators in achieving a final deal, …

U.N. Says Rafah Operation and Closure of Crossings Are a Setback for Gaza Aid

U.N. Says Rafah Operation and Closure of Crossings Are a Setback for Gaza Aid

Published by Sam

The United Nations has warned that Israel’s military incursion into Rafah and closure of border crossings is a major setback for aid operations in the Gaza Strip, with dire implications for its people. No aid trucks have entered Gaza since Sunday, the United Nations said on Wednesday, as Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah and blocked the two southern crossings where most aid has entered, at Rafah on the Egyptian border and near Kerem Shalom on the Israeli frontier. Israel said that the Kerem Shalom crossing reopened on Wednesday, but did not indicate when the Rafah crossing would reopen. The U.N. disputed Israel’s claim. The fighting in the Rafah area and the closure of the crossings set aid efforts back, at least temporarily, to the conditions of the first weeks of the war, when an Israeli and Egyptian blockade prevented anything from entering Gaza, producing desperate shortages of food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies. Israel has described the military action it began on Monday as a limited incursion into Rafah that seized control …

A senior U.N. official says northern Gaza is now in ‘full-blown famine’

A senior U.N. official says northern Gaza is now in ‘full-blown famine’

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON — A top U.N. official said Friday that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine” after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. Cindy McCain, the American director of the U.N. World Food Programme, became the most prominent international official so far to declare that trapped civilians in the most cut-off part of Gaza had gone over the brink into famine. “It’s horror,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview to air Sunday. “There is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south.” She said a cease-fire and a greatly increased flow of aid through land and sea routes was essential to confronting the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which controls entrance into Gaza and says it is beginning to allow in more food and other humanitarian aid through land crossings. The panel that serves as the internationally recognized monitor for …

The top U.N. court rejects Nicaragua’s request for Germany to halt aid to Israel

The top U.N. court rejects Nicaragua’s request for Germany to halt aid to Israel

Published by skeptic

The top U.N. court rejected on Tuesday a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and renew funding to the U.N. aid agency in Gaza. The International Court of Justice said that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met and rejected the request in a 15-1 vote. “Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concludes that, as present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power … to indicate provisional measures,” said Nawaf Salam, the court’s president. However, the 16-judge panel declined to throw out the case altogether, meaning it will continue to be heard at the court. Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.” The reading of the decision lasted less than 20 minutes. Germany argued at hearings …

Mexico is taking Ecuador to the top U.N. court

Mexico is taking Ecuador to the top U.N. court

Published by skeptic

Police attempt to break into the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024, following Mexico’s granting of asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought refuge there. Dolores Ochoa/AP hide caption toggle caption Dolores Ochoa/AP Police attempt to break into the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024, following Mexico’s granting of asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought refuge there. Dolores Ochoa/AP THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Mexico is taking Ecuador to the top U.N. court Tuesday, accusing the nation of violating international law by storming the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest a former vice president who had just been granted asylum by Mexico. The April 5 raid, hours after Mexico granted asylum to former Vice President Jorge Glas, spiked tensions that had been brewing between the two countries since Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive, took refuge at the embassy in December. Leaders across Latin America condemned the raid as a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Ecuador said …

Israel Delivers More Aid to Gaza, but Threat of Famine Persists, U.N. Says

Israel Delivers More Aid to Gaza, but Threat of Famine Persists, U.N. Says

Published by Sam

Under intense international scrutiny, Israel has expedited the flow of aid into Gaza this month, but humanitarian groups say that more is needed as severe hunger grips the enclave, particularly in the devastated north. Israel’s efforts — which include opening new aid routes — have been acknowledged in the last week by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks appear to be reaching Gaza, especially the north, where experts have warned for weeks that famine is imminent. The increased levels of aid are a good sign, but it is too early to say that looming famine is no longer a risk, said Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program. “This cannot just happen for a day or a week — it has to happen every single day for the foreseeable future,” Mr. Husain said, adding that the main need was for more food, water and medicine. “If we can do this, then we can ease the pain, we can avert famine.” The aid groups have long complained …

U.N. report says 282 million people faced acute hunger in 2023

U.N. report says 282 million people faced acute hunger in 2023

Published by skeptic

UNITED NATIONS —  Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday. The United Nations report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, because of the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded. Máximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are in Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts — the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year. More than 80% of those facing imminent famine — 577,000 people — were in Gaza, he said. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali each host many thousands also facing catastrophic hunger. According to the report’s future outlook, about …