(UN News)* — UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday [] called on the world to “stop the madness” of climate change as he visited the Everest region in Nepal where melting glaciers are putting entire communities at risk of extinction.
UN Photo/Narendra Shrestha | UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits Syangbpoche in Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
Nepal has lost almost a third of its ice volume in 30 years, with glaciers melting 65 per cent faster in the last decade than in the previous one.
“The rooftops of the world are caving in,” the UN chief said, warning that the “disappearance of glaciers altogether” looms even larger.
For peace, an immediate ceasefire, dialogue and negotiations in Gaza.
The Israeli government is committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They are breaking international law, which prohibits the collective punishment of civilian populations.
Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Governments like the USA and United Kingdom that support Israel’s genocidal policies must also be held legally responsible.
These governments are supporting the deaths of Palestinians, many of which are children, and the destruction of their land.
All of this is exacerbated by the US sending warships to support the Israeli siege of Gaza, with obscene bombing.
These war crimes have rightly shaken all peoples in the world who value human rights, dignity, equality and freedom.
28 October 2023 — Médecins Sans Frontières [Doctors without Borders] calls for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths in Gaza and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in.
War in Gaza: find out how we’re responding
Since Friday 27 October, the bombing by the Israeli forces has intensified to a degree not seen until now: northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter.
— As much needed aid starts to trickle into besieged Gaza, a war over facts is ratcheting up as conflicting narratives about the situation on the ground are being fuelled by social media.
Harmful disinformation about the ongoing conflict in the wake of the 7 October attacks by Hamas against Israel continues to circulate online, with potentially dangerous consequences on the ground.
While misinformation refers to the accidental spread of falsehoods, disinformation can be circulated intentionally by State or non-State actors, including during an armed conflict, to influence public or political opinion; it can affect all areas of development, from peace and security to humanitarian aid.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 272023 (IPS)* – Last August, 91 UN member states, “in a demonstration of solidarity and commitment”, signed a U.S.-Led Joint Communiqué condemning the Use of Food as a Weapon of War.
A young girl eats bread distributed by World Food Programme, at a school shelter in Gaza. Credit: WFP/Ali Jadallah
Roughly 345 million people – in 79 countries – face acute food insecurity, often caused or exacerbated by armed conflicts, the US said, pointing out that the joint communiqué was born out of the United States’ resolve to once again use its UN Security Council presidency to draw attention to conflict-induced food insecurity.
Geneva/Cairo/Port Sudan, 16 October 2023 (IOM)* – Six months into the conflict, Sudan has become the largest internal displacement crisis in the world with over 7.1 million people displaced within the country, 4.5 million of whom have been displaced since violence erupted in mid-April, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Ali, originally from Khartoum, is now forced to sleep in the open air in Northern Sudan. Shelter is among the most pressing needs for millions displaced by the violence. Photo: IOM Sudan/Noory Taha
Approximately three million are originally from Khartoum, the capital and the epicenter of the conflict.
Marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Mr. Guterres pointed out that nearly 700 million people are living on less than $2.15 per day and over a billion don’t have access to basic needs like food, water, health care and education.
Billions more lack sanitation and access to energy, jobs, housing and social safety nets, he added.
Distress is being deepened by conflicts, the climate crisis, discrimination and exclusion – particularly against women and girls, the UN chief said.
Less than a kilometre from Gaza, pallets of food, fuel, water, and medicine are among the hundreds of tonnes of lifesaving aid packed into a long convoy of trucks idling on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, as drivers await Israel’s green light so they can reach 2.3 million besieged Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war.
As humanitarians continued to echo the UN Secretary-General’s urgent calls on Israel to open a safe aid delivery corridor, Gaza will soon run out of basic supplies, according to UN agencies on the ground, who raised alarms about a looming unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
(UN News)* — The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday [] for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza.
The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 