Archive for December, 2025

07/12/2025

Israeli Raids and Settler Attacks Deepen Humanitarian Crisis in West Bank

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — A spike in Israeli military raids and settler violence across the occupied West Bank is driving new displacement, shutting schools and disrupting essential services for tens of thousands of Palestinians, the UN relief coordination office, OCHA, said in its latest humanitarian update Friday [].

A mother and her children go through their belongings after a room in their home was burned in a settler attack in southern Hebron, West Bank. (July 2025)
© UNICEF/Rawan Eleyan | A mother and her children go through their belongings after a room in their home was burned in a settler attack in southern Hebron, West Bank. (July 2025)
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Between 25 November and 1 December, four Palestinians, including one child, were killed by Israeli forces, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year to 227. Nearly half of all fatalities in 2025 were recorded in the Jenin and Nablus governorates.
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Large-scale operations in Jenin and Tubas governorates alone affected more than 95,000 Palestinians last week.

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07/12/2025

A Fragile Peace, a Harsh Winter: Gaza’s Families Struggle to Rebuild

Human Wrongs Watch

By Rayya Almuheisen, IOM Gaza

(UN News)* — Nearly two months after the latest ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on 10 October, a fragile calm has brought much-needed relief to families who have endured unimaginable suffering and repeated displacement.

Ensuring full humanitarian access is essential for Gaza’s fragile ceasefire to lead to meaningful recovery.
© IOM | Ensuring full humanitarian access is essential for Gaza’s fragile ceasefire to lead to meaningful recovery.
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For months on end, thousands of families remain without a roof over their heads, laying beneath the open sky — the stars above offering both solace and a haunting reminder of everything they have lost.

Sabah, her husband Ahmad, and their seven children spent weeks sleeping in the open after losing their home.

“We fled from Shuja’iya to Rimal, then to the south – Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – and then back to Shuja’iya,” Ahmad explains.

“Every time we move, we lose more of what little we have.”

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07/12/2025

Lebanon: UN Peacekeepers Warn of ‘Clear Violations’ Following Latest Israeli Airstrikes

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Israeli airstrikes took place within the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) area of operations, the mission said in a statement issued on Friday [].

 Indian peacekeepers on deployment with the UN patrol along the Blue Line in southern Lebanon. (file)
© UNIFIL/Pasqual Gorriz | Indian peacekeepers on deployment with the UN patrol along the Blue Line in southern Lebanon. (file)

The strikes come as the Lebanese Armed Forces continue operations to control unauthorised weapons and infrastructure in south Lebanon a year after a cessation of hostilities was announced in the country.
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“We urge the Israel Defense Forces to avail of the liaison and coordination mechanisms available to them,” UNIFIL said. “We caution Lebanese actors against any reaction that could aggravate the situation further.”

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06/12/2025

What Happens If Nuclear Weapons Are Used?

Human Wrongs Watch

By The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)*

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Both in the scale of the devastation they cause, and in their uniquely persistent, spreading, genetically damaging radioactive fallout, they are unlike any other weapons.

the mushroom cloud photographed from the ground of the 09 August 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki.A mushroom cloud after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killing over 73,000 people. Keystone / Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

A single nuclear bomb detonated over a large city could kill millions of people. The use of tens or hundreds of nuclear bombs would disrupt the global climate, causing widespread famine.

If a nuclear weapon detonates, what happens?

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06/12/2025

SIPRI Top 100 Arms Producers See Combined Revenues Surge as States Rush to Modernize and Expand Arsenals

Human Wrongs Watch

By the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)*

(Stockholm) Revenues from sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest arms-producing companies rose by 5.9 per cent in 2024, reaching a record $679 billion, according to new data released on 1 December 2025 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), available at www.sipri.org.

The Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall partnered Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) live fired for the first time at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico ( August 2025, Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army)

The Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall partnered Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) live fired for the first time at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, August 2025. Photo: US Army

Global arms revenues rose sharply in 2024, as demand was boosted by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, global and regional geopolitical tensions, and ever-higher military expenditure.

For the first time since 2018, all of the five largest arms companies increased their arms revenues.

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06/12/2025

Any Resumption of US Tests May Trigger Threats from Other Nuclear Powers

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2025 (IPS)* – President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to resume nuclear testing rekindles nightmares of a bygone era where military personnel and civilians were exposed to devastating radioactive fallouts.
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A nuclear test is carried out on an island in French Polynesia in 1971. Credit: CTBTO

In the five decades between 1945 and the opening for the signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out all over the world. The United States conducted 1,032 tests between 1945 and 1992.

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05/12/2025

Arab Region Pushed to Limits by Climate Extremes as 2024 Smashes Heat Records

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The Arab region is heating at nearly twice the global average, UN weather experts warned on , after 2024 saw unprecedented heat, destructive storms and worsening water scarcity impact some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
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People across the Arab region including in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, face increasing pressure from climate extremes.
Unsplash/Ali Guddam | People across the Arab region including in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, face increasing pressure from climate extremes.

The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) first State of the Climate in the Arab Region report paints a stark picture of a region under constant pressure from rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather.

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05/12/2025

Deadly Storms Sweep South and Southeast Asia, Leaving over 1,600 Dead

Human Wrongs Watch

By Vibhu Mishra

(UN News)* — From Sri Lanka’s central highlands to Indonesia’s flood-swollen river basins, a wave of climate-fuelled cyclones and monsoon rains has unleashed one of the deadliest weather patterns south and southeast Asia has seen in years, killing more than 1,600 people, displacing hundreds of thousands and affecting millions.

Cyclone Ditwah triggered landslides in several parts of Sri Lanka, destroying roads and cutting off towns and villages. Pictured here, destroyed houses and shops in Uthuwankanda.
© UNICEF/InceptChange | Cyclone Ditwah triggered landslides in several parts of Sri Lanka, destroying roads and cutting off towns and villages. Pictured here, destroyed houses and shops in Uthuwankanda.
Since mid-November, overlapping tropical storms and intensified monsoon systems have triggered catastrophic flooding and landslides across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Viet Nam.

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05/12/2025

Surge in Violence Pushes Children to the Breaking Point in Northern Mozambique – UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

Tens of thousands of children displaced as families forced to flee in wake of attacks by armed non-state actors

Capture2Moz
UNICEF

NEW YORK/MAPUTO, 5 December 2025 (UNICEF)* – Over 100,000 people, around two thirds of them children, have been displaced in northern Mozambique during the month of November, following attacks against civilians.

The latest wave of displacement follows months of continued and expanding attacks by armed non-state actors in the north of the country, triggering repeated population movements in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces.

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05/12/2025

Gaza: Pregnant Women Trapped in “a Spiral of Displacement, Bombardment and Acute Hunger”

Human Wrongs Watch

UN support helps Gaza mothers give birth amid collapsing health system

Women and girls seek support at a UNFPA-supported safe space in Gaza.
© UNFPA/Yasmeen Sous | Women and girls seek support at a UNFPA-supported safe space in Gaza.
 
(UN News)* — Every week in Gaza, at least 15 women give birth outside any health facility, often without a trained midwife, pain relief or basic medical supplies.
 
Some are forced to deliver alone. Others rely on neighbours with no medical training. For many, childbirth has become a matter of survival.
 
Before the fragile ceasefire got underway in October, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, estimated that 55,000 pregnant women were trapped in “a spiral of displacement, bombardment and acute hunger”, with no reliable access to care.

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