STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan 13 2026 (IPS)* – At the moment, ICE’s advancement in the U.S. is apparently dividing the nation’s population into desired and undesirable elements.
.
Refugees by Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was born after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and intended to be a response to terrorism.
However, with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, federal immigration agents have become the president’s praetorian guard, implementing his immigration politics.
ICE has currently 22,000 employees, a number destined to grow thanks to new recruits. Its budget is USD 30 billion a year. During 2025, the agency’s spending on fire arms has grown 600 percent.
(UN News)* —Three months into the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the UN and partners have delivered tonnes of assistance items and carried out critical repairs, but this is only a temporary “Band-Aid” solution, a veteran aid worker warned.
UN News | Many Palestinian families are living in poorly equipped shelters that are highly vulnerable to flooding, leaving people inevitably exposed to harsh, stormy weather.
“The humanitarian situation and crisis in Gaza is far from being over,” Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office OCHAsaid on Friday [] in an update to journalists in Jerusalem.
“For the Palestinians in Gaza, their lives continue to be defined by displacement, trauma, uncertainty, and deprivation.”
This has been further compounded by “severe recurrent storms that not only destroy people’s meagre belongings, but they’re also deadly – whether through crumbling buildings or by taking the lives of children who are highly susceptible to the cold”.
BRATISLAVA, Jan 14 2026 (IPS)* –Israel must lift all restrictions on medicine, food and aid coming into Gaza, rights groups have demanded, as two reports released today (Jan 14) document how maternal and reproductive healthcare have been all but destroyed in the country.
.
Cardiologist Dr. Marwan Sultan, then Director of the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza, in February 2025 showing damage to hospital equipment following an Israeli attack on the facility a few months prior. In July 2025, Dr. Sultan was killed in an Israeli strike on the apartment where he was sheltering with his family. Credit: PHR/GHRC
(UN News)* —The temporary closure of a UN-run health centre in East Jerusalem is the latest phase in “a pattern of deliberate disregard” for international law, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Wednesday [].
.
UNRWA | UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem
Israeli forces stormed the UNRWA-operated health centre on Monday and ordered it to close for 30 days. They also demanded the removal of UN signage.
Furthermore, water and electricity supply to multiple UNRWA facilities are scheduled to be cut off in the coming weeks, affecting schools, health centres and other critical buildings.
(UN News)* — Airstrikes, drone attacks and hypothermia continue in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 youngsters killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday [].
“That’s roughly a girl or a boy killed here every day during a ceasefire,”UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
“These children are killed from airstrikes, drone strikes, including suicide drones,” he said, speaking from Gaza City. “They’re killed from tank shelling, they’re killed from live ammunition, they’re killed from [remote-controlled] quadcopters.”
(UN News)* — The humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip remains extremely serious, with harsh winter weather threatening to reverse recent gains in aid delivery, the United Nations said on Monday [].
Briefing correspondents in New York, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reported that ongoing rainstorms are damaging and destroying fragile shelters, leaving large numbers of displaced people exposed to the cold.
“To help address immense shelter needs, during the past week our partners delivered supplies to 28,000 families, including 1,600 tents, 16,000 tarpaulins and 27,000 blankets,” Mr. Dujarric said.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 13 2026 (IPS)* –Judging by the mass US withdrawal from 66 UN entities, including UN conventions and international treaties, is it remotely possible that the unpredictable Trump administration may one day decide to pull out of the UN, and force the Secretariat out of New York– despite the 1947 UN-US headquarters agreement?
As the world rings in a new year, the need to address ongoing and long-lasting humanitarian crises remains urgent. In 2026, several regions will face challenges that will demand global attention.
Occupied Palestinian territory
Displaced Palestinians make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza. Photo: Amjad al Fayoumi/NRC
A fragile ceasefire came into effect in Gaza in October, yet civilians remain in urgent need of food, medicine, shelter, clean water and other essential items and services.
More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and 170,000 injured over two years of hostilities, and the death toll continues to rise. 1.9 million people – around 90 per cent of the population – have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times.
(UN News)* — The United States’ intention to withdraw from a host of UN bodies announced this week targets programmes and initiatives focusing on a wide range of crucial areas, including the climate crisis, trade, gender and development.
When UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric briefed correspondents in New York on Thursday [8 ] following the release of the White House Memorandum, he insisted that the Organization will continue to carry out its mandates from Member States “with determination.”
.
Wednesday’s memorandum states that the US administration is “ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.”
.
Several of the bodies listed in the memo are funded principally or partially by the regular UN budget, implying that voluntary funding will be impacted, although central funding will continue.
(UN News)* —UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed regret over the decision by the United States to withdraw from a number of UN entities, while underscoring that the system will continue to deliver on all its mandates.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | A view of the UN Headquarters, in New York.
“As we have consistently underscored, assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the UN Charterfor all Member States, including the United States,” a statementissued by the UN Spokesperson said on Thursday [].
Wednesday night’s presidential memorandum directs US executive departments and agencies to take immediate steps to withdraw from dozens of international organizations, conventions and treaties deemed by Washington to be contrary to US interests.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 