(UN News)* — Invoking the bedrock principle prohibiting the use of force against the territory and independence of any State, the UN Secretary-General told the Security Council on Monday [] there must be “full respect” for the UN Charter, in the face of the United States military intervention in Venezuela and seizure of President Nicolás Maduro.
UN Photo/Mark Garten | A wide view of the Security Council meeting on the situation in Venezuela.
In a statement delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, António Guterres said the Council was meeting “at a grave time” following the 3 January US military action in Venezuela.
On a rescue ship in the Mediterranean, a survivor tells of their detainment in Libya, which the EU helped to support
Migrant people and refugees await rescue by a civilian boat in the Mediterranean after setting sail from Libya | David Ramos/Getty Images
13 December 2025 (openDemocracy)** —The boat took us all by surprise that morning. It was spotted by a crew member on lookout on our top deck, and soon, what had been a pinpoint on the horizon quickly became a distinct wooden boat, tightly packed with people, all waving and shouting. No one was wearing a lifejacket.
(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ceasing the operations of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA), saying the measures must be immediately repealed.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are inconsistent with the status and international legal framework applicable to UNRWA and must be immediately repealed,” it added.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.
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.
UNICEF/UN0591078/TaxtaOn 3 February 2022 in Somalia, a child feeds on a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) packet while his mother holds him waiting to receive assistance at Community Empowerment and Development Action Health Centre in Dolow.
(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
More than 4.6 million people across the country, roughly a quarter of the population, are impacted, according to local authorities.
“Partners indicate that at least 120,000 people were displaced between September and December, as water prices soar, food becomes increasingly scarce, livestock die and livelihoods collapse,”OCHA said in an update.
Additionally, more than 75,000 students nationwide have been forced to drop out of school.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 