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….
Middle East crisis: Live updates on 30 October from the UN and the region
Top UN officials continued to line up on Tuesday to defend the irreplaceable role of the global body’s agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, insisting that if implemented, the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban it would only deepen suffering in Gaza….
Stories from the UN Archive: What UNRWA built
UNRWA was established by UN Member States in 1949 to carry out direct relief and development programmes for Palestinian people who lost their homes following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. UN Photo has curated a collection from its archive that follows…
Middle East crisis: Live updates on UNRWA, Gaza and more
Our live coverage ranged from the Security Council and UN Headquarters to dispatches from across the Middle East as tensions escalated and the war on Gaza and Lebanon continued in the shadows of a new Israeli ban on UNRWA, the…
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…