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Middle East

UNRWA cannot be replaced, say UN top officials in response to Knesset ban

Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s warning late Monday that the development would likely have “devastating consequences” as UNRWA is the principal deliverer of aid relief inside the war-torn enclave, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the Knesset move “deeply…

Saudi energy minister commits to crude capacity levels and climate targets

RIYADH —  Saudi Arabia is “committed” to maintaining crude capacity at 12.3 million barrels per day, Energy Minister Prince Abulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, he said the world’s largest…

Saudi ‘Davos in the desert’ opens with region on war footing

Riyadh —  Global business leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a glitzy investor forum as conflict shakes the region and skepticism mounts over the Gulf kingdom’s most ambitious development projects. The Future Investment Initiative (FII) debuted in 2017…

Israeli Knesset vote on UNRWA set to deepen Palestinian suffering

“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine refugees,” Mr. Lazzarini said in a post on X, following reports of the long-anticipated vote being taken…

Middle East crisis: Live updates from the Security Council and UN across the region

We will be following the latest breaking news over the day, including from UN staff on the ground, dispatches from Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region, and the Israeli Knesset’s vote to outlaw the work of UN Palestine refugee agency…

Gaza: No let-up in Israeli military offensive, situation ‘only getting worse’

UNRWA, the largest UN aid agency in Gaza, reported “no improvements” at Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for lifesaving food, fuel and medicine. “One of our biggest concerns now is people not having enough to eat,” the agency said,…

UN chief ‘shocked’ at harrowing death and destruction in north Gaza

Since the offensive began earlier this month, hundreds of people have been killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, with more than 60,000 others displaced again, many fearing they may never return. Civilians are reportedly trapped under rubble, while the…

War affects more than 600 million women and girls, UN says

united nations —  More than 600 million women and girls are now affected by war, a 50% increase from a decade ago, and they fear the world has forgotten them amid an escalating backlash against women’s rights and gender equality,…

Middle East World News

‘Entire population of north Gaza at risk of dying,’ warns UN’s top humanitarian official

“What Israeli forces are doing in besieged north Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” said Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement posted on the social media platform X. Hospitals have been…

UN chief urges halt to escalation after Israeli strikes on Iran

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN chief, said in a statement that António Guterres is “deeply alarmed” by the continued escalation across the region. “All acts of escalation are condemnable and must stop,” the statement read. The Secretary-General reiterated his…