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Middle East

Middle East crisis: Gaza polio vaccine campaign under fire

Gaza: Health teams under attack The northern Gaza polio vaccine campaign began Saturday and is scheduled to continue through Monday, with UN agencies and partners fanning out across the ravaged north during agreed upon humanitarian pauses to ensure safety for…

War makes it harder to hold journalists’ killers accountable, experts say

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK —  Achieving justice in the targeted killings of journalists is a difficult task made even more complicated in cases that take place in wartime, experts say. On a global scale, 85% of journalist killings around the world since…

85 percent of journalist killings go unpunished

The dangers faced by journalists, including risks to their lives, are highlighted each year on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which falls on November 2. This year, the International Day coincides with the biannual UNESCO Director-General’s Report…

Lebanon: UN agencies call for ceasefire as war worsens dire conditions

A new Israel airstrike hit the border post of Joussieh, where many Lebanese and Syrian people are crossing to escape the violence. “Humanitarian structures are also struck,” said Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in a social…

Gaza: Strike hits health centre as polio vaccine campaign resumes in ravaged north

Hours after the campaign rolled out, reports indicated that a healthcare centre in the north had been hit, injuring six people, including four children, in a location where a humanitarian pause had been in place, according to the World Health…

Ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders impact thousands in Lebanon

Israel issued new displacement orders that day for several villages and Rashiedeh Palestinian refugee camp, located in the south of the country.  This marked the first time the Israeli army has called for the evacuation of a Palestinian refugee camp…

Potentially ‘deadly’ consequences could arise from Israel’s UNRWA ban: UNICEF

The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills on Monday banning UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact with it. “UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving…

Israeli laws blocking UNRWA – devastating humanitarian impact for Palestinians?

What do the laws say? The bills, approved overwhelmingly by Israeli parliamentarians (92 in favour, 10 against) on Monday, would prohibit the country’s authorities from having any contact with UNRWA and bar the agency from operating within Israel itself. The passage…

‘Catastrophic’ hunger persists in multiple countries, warn food agencies

“Without immediate humanitarian action and concerted efforts to overcome severe access constraints and resolve ongoing conflicts, further starvation and death are likely,” across these five hunger hotspots, warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP)….

US cracks down on Russia’s sanctions evasion in fresh action

WASHINGTON —  The United States on Wednesday imposed curbs on hundreds of targets in fresh action against Russia, taking aim at sanctions circumvention in a signal that the U.S. is committed to countering evasion. The action, taken by the U.S….