(UN News)* — Thousands of Palestinians have been caught in the crossfire while trying to escape attacks and dire food shortages in war-torn Gaza, with extraordinary challenges for some, according to latest reports from UN officials on the ground and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
A 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who depends on a wheelchair was among crowds fleeing Israeli military aircraft operations east of Rafah in Gaza on 13 October 2023, said committee member Muhannad Salah Al-Azzeh, who presented a report on the occupied Palestinian territories on Wednesday [3 September 2025] in Geneva.
In the melee, she lost her wheelchair.
“She was crawling on the sand and asking her family, telling them ‘you can leave me here’ because she felt that she was slowing them down,” he said.
(UN News)* — A massive assistance mission for earthquake survivors continued in Afghanistan on Wednesday [] as aid teams tackled blocked roads and downed communications lines in a bid to reach the most remote communities still in need of help.
Latest updates from UN assessment teams who reached affected communities in mountainous Ghazi Abad district on foot on Tuesday [2 September 2025] underscored the urgent need to press on with the humanitarian response.
“The issue of getting people out from under the rubble is urgent,” said Salam Al-Jabani from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Kabul.
“People are saying what is urgently needed is people to help us bury the dead and get them out.”
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 3 2025 (IPS)* –– Over the past decade, major strides have been made in expanding global access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, with billions of people around the world seeing improvements in overall health and well-being.
A woman pulls a floating toilet into the lake in Kaylar village in Shan State, Myanmar, on June 25, 2025. After the earthquake, the onset of the rainy season made access to safe sanitation challenging for displaced communities. Credit: UNICEF/Maung Nyan
Despite these gains, people largely from low-income countries and marginalized groups still lack access to clean water, leaving them vulnerable to disease and hindering social development and inclusion.
(UN News)* — Conditions in Gaza are worsening for Palestinians trapped amid spiralling hunger as Israel continues to block aid deliveries amid escalate attacks, according to the latest updates on Tuesday [] from UN agencies on the ground.
“Military activities continue in and around Gaza City, but also in the south, taking a heavy toll on civilians, including deaths, injuries and further displacement,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the daily press briefing in New York: “Our colleagues report that people continue to flee, mainly towards the coast.”
More than 76,000 people have been newly displaced since mid-August, with most occurring in the north, he said, citing the latest reports from UN agencies on the ground that are monitoring population movements. More than 23,000 people were displaced from northern Gaza.
TORONTO, Sep 2 2025 (IPS)* –– If European colonialism had never happened in Canada, matriarchy would still have been strong in Indigenous culture. Matriarchy was the backbone of society’s structure and line of dominance in Turtle Island (North America) before the arrival of Westerners.
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Indigenous People’s Celebration in Canada. Photo courtesy of Chrystal Tabobandung
In practice, Indigenous women in Canada have been victims of violence and discrimination.
27 August 2025 — In Nigeria, land is more than property. It is identity, security, and livelihood.
But for many women and displaced people, especially in regions affected by conflict, land is also a source of uncertainty, dispute and exclusion.
Sarah stands in front of her farm. She now has a document that secures her tenure for this land, and even her children can use it when needed. Photo: Kumbo Dung/NRC
With no formal documents to prove ownership, many live in fear of losing the little they have.
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Across the world, wars are being waged on the very systems set up to protect civilian populations: Health workers, hospitals, health centres and ambulances are being targeted in horrifying numbers.
On 30 March 2025, a rescue operation in Tal Al Sultan, Rafah, Gaza,recovered the bodies of 15 humanitarian workers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the United Nations. The available information indicates that they were killed by Israeli forces on 23 March and buried under the sand.
Attacks against health facilities doubled between 2023 and 2024, and more than 900health workers were killed last year.
Humanitarian aid workers dedicated to supporting the most vulnerable in multiple crises were also killed in record numbers in 2024. Yet 2025 is outpacing even these dark statistics.
Decades of progress on tackling malnutrition are under threat from funding cuts.
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UNICEF/UNI428897/UNICEF/YPN
Malnutrition is deadly. A child suffering from severe acute malnutrition is nine times more likely to die than a well-nourished child.
But the dire consequences of malnutrition aren’t always immediate or visible from the outside.
Poor diets also inflict devastating damage on the inside, stunting children’s growth, impairing their brain development and leaving them susceptible to disease.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 25 2025 (IPS)* –– Sexual violence against women and children during wars should not be considered collateral damage. “It is strategy, it is systematic, and it is used more and more,” Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations (UN) Christina Markus Lassen said.
Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, briefs the Security Council during the meeting on women, peace and security. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Lassen was speaking at the August 19 Security Council meeting on Women and Peace and Security after the 16th annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violencerevealed a 25 percent increase in conflict-related sexual violence from the previous year and concerning global trends on the use of sexual violence as a form of torture and against prisoners of war.
Women and girls made up 92 percent of the victims; sexual violence against children increased by 35 percent, the report, which was published on August 14 said.
26 August 2025 — The Israeli military’s extensive and deliberate destruction of civilian property and agricultural land across southern Lebanon must be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said in a new briefing.
A frame of a video circulated on social media in November 2024 shows the destruction by manually laid explosives of a mosque and nearby buildings in Dhayra, southern Lebanon.
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Homes and buildings destroyed by explosives and bulldozers
More than 10,000 structures heavily damaged or destroyed, even after ceasefire declared
“Israeli troops deliberately left a trail of devastation as they moved through the region” – Erika Guevara Rosas
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 