(UN News)* —Two bills before the Israeli parliament could put a halt to the lifesaving operations of UN Palestine relief agency, UNRWA, which has been indispensable and irreplaceable “more than ever” over the past year of war in Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday [].
“That’s why I have written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express profound concern about draft legislation that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he said at the Security Council stakeout in New York.
Israel’s new displacement orders in northern Gaza threaten to force civilians into ever-shrinking areas and endanger aid operations.
9 October 2024 (The Norwegian Refugee Council)* — On 6 October 2024, Israel issued new mass displacement orders targeting the remaining Palestinians of the northern Gaza Strip, ordering them to leave to the south.
(UN News)* —The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has concluded an urgent visit to Syria, highlighting the plight of 250,000 people who have crossed into the country fleeing airstrikes in Lebanon.
“Families I spoke with had run for their lives and have no idea what tomorrow may bring after an exhausting, dangerous journey to the border. They arrive with few means and in need of urgent relief,”UNHCR chief Mr. Grandi said, visiting the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing.
The exodus comes as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon escalates, forcing Lebanese refugees to seek safety across the border.
Stockholm, September 2024 (UNCCD)* — Drought is on track to hitting three in four people globally by 2050. Around the world, scientists and practitioners have amassed a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to drought.
At World Water Week, a hard look at the notions that stand in the way of drought resilience
So what is standing in the way of more drought-resilient countries and communities?
WMO report highlights growing shortfalls and stress in global water resources
7 October 2024 — (WMO)* — The year 2023 marked the driest year for global rivers in over three decades, according to a new report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which signaled critical changes in water availability in an era of growing demand.
The last five consecutive years have recorded widespread below-normal conditions for river flows, with reservoir inflows following a similar pattern.
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.
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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.
(UN News)* —The UN Human Rights Council held a dialogue on Friday [] to examine the nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands, which representatives from the Pacific nation said has left their people with some of the highest rates of cancer globally.
(UN News)* — Some Palestinian orphans in Gaza have gotten a glimmer of hope as the tragedies triggered by the grinding nearly year-long war continue to deplete the Strip.
UN News/Ziad Taleb | Orphaned children gathered in an open space in the Al-Baraka camp in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
The latest death toll has surpassed more than 41,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – the majority of them women and children – while most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced and trapped in only 10 per cent of the territory, but in this grim situation, new initiatives aim at radiating even the slightest sliver of light amid the darkness of war.
(UN News)* —The UN chief has strongly condemned the killing of several Palestinians, including women and children, who died when a residential building in Tulkarem camp in the West Bank was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday [3 ] night.
UNRWA | A person pointing to a damaged building in the Tulkarem camp. (file)
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At least 18 people were killed, and many more fatalities could be trapped under the rubble of the three-storied building, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
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The killings “marked yet another escalation of the violence”, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday [4 October 2024].
(UN News)* — People in Lebanon uprooted by Israeli airstrikes including in central Beirut have described being forced to flee “total destruction”, amid fresh reports of Hezbollah projectile attacks into Israel and close-quarter clashes along the UN-patrolled line of separation between the two countries.
In the Lebanese capital, UN humanitarians reported “another night of strikes” and ongoing attacks, as aid workers continued trying to help all those in need. This was “despite their own families being displaced and searching for safety”, said the UN’s top humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 