(UN News)* — A sweeping UN human rights report released on Wednesday [] concludes that in the occupied West Bank, Israel is violating international law prohibiting racial segregation and apartheid, warning that the discriminatory practices have accelerated dramatically since late 2022 amid growing violence, repression and impunity.
The report by the UN human rights office, OHCHR, documents what it describes as a decades-long system of discrimination that has sharply intensified since at least December 2022.
‘Systematic asphyxiation’ of rights
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, saidthe findings reveal “a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank.”
(UN News)* — Some 65,000 households in the Gaza Strip were affected by the severe winter storms that whipped through the enclave last month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday [].
“Tents were blown away or damaged, homes collapsed under storm conditions, and personal belongings were soaked,” according to its latest update.
(UN News)* —Sudan’s deepening war is driving unprecedented levels of hunger, child malnutrition and displacement, UN agencies report, as new data from Darfur and a renewed refugee influx into Chad underscore the rapidly deteriorating situation.
The war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has devastated civilian infrastructure, collapsed basic services and triggered one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
(UN News)* — Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises in 2026, UN agencies and humanitarian partners warned on Tuesday [], launching a $1.7 billion appeal to assist nearly 18 million people in urgent need.
Years of conflict, compounded by worsening food insecurity, recurrent natural disasters, climate change impacts and large-scale returns of displaced people, have left an estimated 45 per cent of the population – some 21.9 million people – in need of humanitarian assistance next year.
Of those, 17.5 million people – more than three-quarters of them women and children – have been prioritised for support under the coordinated response. Food security and sanitation remain among the most urgent needs.
Venezuela’s political shock has sharpened global attention on a country already facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crises. For the United Nations, the priority remains unchanged: protecting lives, sustaining basic services and supporting Venezuelans at home and across the region.
— Venezuela has endured years of economic collapse, political instability, hyperinflation and economic sanctions from Washington, compounded by floods, landslides and other climate shocks.
— According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 7.9 million people— more than a quarter of the population — need urgent humanitarian assistance.
(UN News)* —The UN Secretary-General has condemned amendments adopted by Israel’s Knesset to a law aimed at ceasing the operations of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA), saying the measures must be immediately repealed.
UNRWA | UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem. (file)
The amendments, adopted on 29 December, to the Law to Cease UNRWA Operations “seek to further impede UNRWA’s ability to operate and carry out its mandated activities,” said astatementissued by the Spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
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“The Law and its amendments are inconsistent with the status and international legal framework applicable to UNRWA and must be immediately repealed,” it added.
(UN News)* — As 2026 begins, residents of the Gaza Strip are confronting life in displacement camps and among the ruins of destroyed neighbourhoods – facing deep uncertainty after months of war and devastation.
UN News | A young Palestinian girl wearing a Santa Claus outfit, stands in front of tents belonging to displaced families in northern Gaza City.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain uprooted, many living in makeshift tents pitched on bare ground or squeezed into damaged buildings without reliable access to water, electricity, healthcare or sanitation. Winter rains have compounded the hardship, flooding shelters and turning camp pathways into heavy mud.
Horrified by IDF war crimes in Gaza, more Americans are said to support Palestine than Israel for the first time ever
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
11 December 2025 (openDemocracy)** —Two months into Israel and Hamas’s ‘ceasefire’, the name is already proving a misnomer. Violence continues in Gaza, where more than 360 Palestinians, including as many as 70 children, and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since 10 October.
(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 [].
Heavy seasonal downpours are compounding an already dire humanitarian situation, as rainstorms cause war-damaged buildings to collapse, flood tents and soak people’s belongings, OCHAsaid.
To respond swiftly to flood alerts, a coordinated system bringing together UN agencies and non-governmental organizations is distributing tents, tarpaulins, warm clothes, blankets and dignity kits across Gaza.
The UN and its partners are also mobilising heavy equipment to pump overflowing sewage – which poses serious health risks – away from residential areas.
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.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 