()* — UN agencies in Gaza confirmed on Thursday that desperately needed aid has finally arrived at warehouses inside the enclave after an 11-week blockade by Israeli authorities.
UN News | UN-supported bakeries throughout Gaza have closed as supplies of flour have run out.
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“Today will be crucial. Truckloads of lifesaving aid finally on move again,” said top UN aid relief coordinator Tom Fletcher.
Hours earlier and in a major development, 198 trucks entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of the enclave, carrying nutrition supplies, medicines and wheat flour.
Announcing the news online, top UN aid relief coordinator Tom Fletcher reported that humanitarian organizations then retrieved“about 90 truckloads of goods” in a nighttime operation to prepare them for distribution.
NEW YORK, May 21 2025 (IPS)* –The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism, the preparatory committee at the UN heard.
The closing session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Credit: UN TV
(UN News)* — UN aid workers said on Wednesday that they are still waiting for permission from Israel to distribute five trucks’ worth of lifesaving relief that was allowed into Gaza at the start of the week, after an 11-week blockade.
Existing supplies of basic necessities have been running dangerously low and on Wednesday 21 May 2025 the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that its nutrition stocks to prevent increasing malnutrition “are almost gone”.
“Humanitarian assistance is being weaponised to serve and support political and military objectives,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
1️⃣ The consequences of nuclear weapons are catastrophic.
Nuclear weapons are not like other weapons, they are designed to mass murder civilians, wipe out entire cities and cause irreversible harm to the environment.
First responders like the Red Cross have warned that they would have no capacity to deal with a nuclear detonation, and if the conflict were to escalate into nuclear war, recent studies show over 5 billion people could die from the famine that follows.
(Stockholm) — World military expenditure reached $2718 billion in 2024, an increase of 9.4 per cent in real terms from 2023 and the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the cold war.
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Photo: Shutterstock
Military spending increased in all world regions, with particularly rapid growth in both Europe and the Middle East.
(UN News)* — The 78th World Health Assembly opened on 19 May 2025 with a broad appeal to global solidarity, as delegates from around the world gather in Geneva to confront mounting health, climate, and financial challenges – and finalise a global treaty to head off the next pandemic.
(UN News)* —The UN humanitarian affairs chief has welcomed Israel’s decision to allow limited aid to cross into Gaza after 11 weeks of complete blockade – but significantly more is needed“ starting tomorrow morning”.
Tom Fletcher said in a statement on Monday that nine UN trucks were cleared to enter the southern Kerem Shalom crossing earlier in the day.
“But it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed… We have been reassured that our work will be facilitated through existing, proven mechanisms. I am grateful for that reassurance, and Israel’s agreement to humanitarian notification measures that reduce the immense security threats of the operation.”
GAZA STRIP, Occupied Palestinian Territory, 19 May 2025 –“There’s a severe shortage of food and essential medicines, particularly during this siege,” said a doctor at Al-Awda Hospital, in Gaza’s central Deir Al-Balah governorate.
(Washington, DC) – Major digital labor platforms, also known as gig companies, operating in the United States misclassify gig workers as independent contractors, denying them labor rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released 12 May 2025.
The 155-page report, “‘The Gig Trap’: Algorithmic, Wage and Labor Exploitation in Platform Work in the US” focuses on seven major companies operating in the US: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt, and Uber.
15 May 2025 — Hawaou Adama, a mother of three, knows all too well what it means to fight for survival every single day. Hawaou is a refugee who fled the violence that tore through her home country, the Central African Republic (CAR).
Hawaou Adama. Photo: Patricia Pouhe/NRC
After years of living in uncertainty, without a proper roof to protect her family from the elements and the dangers of daily life, Hawaou can now look forward to a safer, more stable future.
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Before war tore through her homeland, Hawaou lived a simple yet fulfilling life. Her husband worked as a farmer, while she cared for their three children, dreaming of a peaceful future for them.
© 2025 Brian Stauffer for Human Rights Watch
Hawaou Adama. Photo: Patricia Pouhe/NRC
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 