'Unseen' News and Views
Israeli troops now routinely ‘secure’ the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, severely restricting Palestinians’ movements, to allow Israeli settlers to tour the city | Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images
(UN News)* — Severe weather conditions have led to further casualties and heightened health risks in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) reported on Monday [].
Nearly nine in ten agricultural West Bank families – or about 100 000 agricultural households – have recently experienced at least one acute “shock”.
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Jerusalem/Cairo – More than 72 000 farming and herding families in the West Bank – nearly two-thirds of all agricultural families – urgently require emergency agricultural assistance, according to a new survey published on 24 December 2025 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The survey shows that about 90 percent of West Bank agricultural families have recently lost income, driven by sharp declines in crop and livestock production and sales.
23 Apr 2025 – Somalia’s recognition of SSC-Khaatumo as its sixth Federal Member State (FMS) has radically shifted the Horn of Africa’s geopolitical dynamics, with implications for Israel, Palestine, and Ansar Allah (“the Houthis”).
The geopolitical dynamics of the Horn of Africa region are always volatile, but more so now than ever.
The world’s attention is most drawn to the region by Ansar Allah’s disruption of crucial maritime routes in the Red Sea in support of Palestine and Donald Trump’s despicable proposal to remove and dump the entire population of Gaza in war-torn Sudan, Somalia, and/or Somaliland, the unrecognized Somali secessionist state.
10 December 2025 (UNICEF)* — UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services.
(UN News)* — Brutal slashes to aid budgets are hampering efforts to assist millions of people in Somalia affected by drought, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on
UNEP
Humanity is pushing the Earth to its environmental breaking point, the report’s authors warned, with potentially dire consequences for everything from human health to the global economy.
But GEO-7, produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says it is not too late for humanity to change course.
Within its pages is a recipe for a healthier planet that focuses on transforming five key systems: economic and financial; materials and waste; energy; food; and the environment.
(UN News)* — With rising effects of climate change across the globe, the world has started recognising that climate change is not just an ecological collapse, but also a human rights crisis.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk echoed this message in Geneva earlier this year and posed a question before the Human Rights Council:
“Are we taking the steps needed to protect people from climate chaos, safeguard their futures and manage natural resources in ways that respect human rights and the environment?”
His answer was very simple: we are not doing nearly enough.
– CIVICUS discusses migrants’ rights in Libya with Sarra Zidi, political scientist and researcher for HuMENA, an international civil society organisation (CSO) that advances democracy, human rights and social justice across the Middle East and North Africa.
Sarra Zidi
Libya has fragmented into rival power centres, with large areas controlled by armed groups.
As state institutions have collapsed, there’s no functioning system to protect the rights and safety of migrants and refugees.
Instead, state-linked bodies such as the Directorate for Combating Illegal Immigration (DCIM) and the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) often work with militias, smugglers and traffickers, with near-total impunity.
In this lawless environment, Sub-Saharan migrants face systematic abuses that the International Criminal Court (ICC) and United Nations bodies warn may amount to crimes against humanity.
Despite this, the European Union (EU) continues to classify Libya as a ‘safe country of return’ and work with it to externalise its migration control.
GAZA, The Occupied Palestinian Territory, 24 December 2025 — When Rana learned she was pregnant, her joy was quickly overshadowed by another feeling – fear.
For Rana, as for many of the 55,000 pregnant women across Gaza seeking healthcare, the question was not if her baby would be born but where, and whether they would survive the delivery.
“I thought I would have to give birth in a tent,” she recalled.
After two years of relentless attacks, Gaza’s health system has been shattered. Only a fraction of health facilities remain functional, and very few can provide emergency obstetric and newborn care.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 