The United Nations has reiterated the importance of dialogue as US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet on Friday in Alaska, with Ukraine top of the agenda.
When Israeli forces in Gaza issue a new displacement order ahead of an incursion into a neighbourhood or city, Palestinian civilians are expected to pack their bags and flee – perhaps for the third, fourth, or tenth time.
Top UN human rights investigators said on Thursday that war crimes may have been committed in predominantly Alawite areas of Syria in a wave of deadly violence earlier this year.
UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have uncovered rocket launchers, mortar rounds and other unauthorized weapons, while the country grapples with a severe drought, threatening millions with life-threatening water shortages.
Sexual violence in conflict zones rose sharply in 2024, increasing by a quarter compared to the previous year, the UN reported on Thursday. More than 4,600 survivors endured abuses used as weapons of war, torture, terrorism and political repression.
Across the globe, consumers and small-scale fishers alike are facing a growing challenge: seafood fraud.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk has expressed outrage over Monday’s deadly large-scale attack by the Rapid Support Forces militia on El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, which has been besieged by the RSF since April last year.
The UN Security Council has rejected the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) declaration last month of a rival administration in parts of Sudan it controls, warning the move threatens the country’s unity and risks worsening the brutal conflict between the militia and forces of the military government.
The UN has expressed deep alarm over a large-scale assault by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia on El Fasher, the government-held capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State, and the nearby Abu Shouk displacement camp, which has been under siege since April 2024.
During her final briefing as resident and humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, Ulrika Richardson struggled to describe the realities of life in Haiti.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, briefing the Security Council on Tuesday, voiced concern over the latest clashes between Government forces and Houthi rebel militia.
The UN organization which champions culture and education, UNESCO, has strongly condemned the targeted killing of six journalists in Palestine by an Israeli drone on 10 August.
The transformation over two decades of the once thriving Syrian city of Sweida from tourist destination to a landscape marked by violence and loss has been detailed by the chief of a UN migration mission who recently visited the area.
Public health conditions in Gaza are “catastrophic”, with hospitals operating far beyond capacity. Some life-saving medicines are totally out of stock, while deaths from malnutrition and disease are on the rise, the UN health agency warned on Tuesday.
UN-mandated independent investigators have uncovered “systematic torture” in Myanmar’s military-run detention facilities – including beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and gang rape – a pattern of atrocities which is intensifying across the country.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, UN officials warned on Monday, describing overflowing hospitals, critically malnourished children, and desperate civilians risking their lives to secure food for their families.
Shipping is crucial to the global economy, with more than 100,000 vessels a day transporting some 80 per cent of world commerce, but it remains vulnerable to disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions and transnational crime.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the killing of six Palestinian journalists in Gaza this past weekend, his Spokesman said on Monday.
Across war-torn Sudan, civilians continue to face ongoing attacks, starvation and cholera outbreaks.
This year’s International Youth Day theme, “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond,”...
Mr. President, Excellencies,
I brief you for the second time this week as the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, placing over two million Palestinians in even greater peril and further endangering the lives of the remaining hostages.
The latest decision by the Government of Israel risks igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict, with potential consequences beyond Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
On 8 August, Israel’s Security Cabinet reportedly approved Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposed plan for “defeating Hamas” and endorsed five “principles for ending the war”: the disarmament of Hamas, the release of all hostages; the Gaza Strip’s demilitarization; Israeli security control over the Strip; and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
The Prime Minister’s office also announced that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will prepare to take control of Gaza City, while providing humanitarian assistance outside combat zones. The IDF said that it is fully mobilized and preparing for an expanded military operation in Gaza.
This is yet another dangerous escalation of the conflict.
For now, we have limited official details of Israel’s military plans. However, according to Israeli media reports, the government foresees the displacement of all civilians from Gaza City, by 7 October 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced. Reports indicate that the IDF would then surround the city for three months. This would then reportedly be followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza’s camps and clear the entire area of Palestinian armed groups.
Mr. President,
We are already witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable scale in Gaza. Director Ramesh Rajasingham from OCHA will shortly provide you with the latest updates in this regard.
If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction – compounding the unbearable suffering of the population. Last night thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and cities across Israel to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The UN has been unequivocal: the only way to stop the immense human suffering in Gaza is through a full, immediate, and permanent ceasefire. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, allowing rapid, safe, unimpeded, and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to the population. Civilians – including humanitarian workers, and those seeking aid – must be protected.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security. Palestinians must be able to return to their homes. In its 19 July 2024 Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice stated that “Israel, as the occupying Power, has the obligation not to impede the Palestinian people from exercising its right to self-determination, including its right to an independent and sovereign State, over the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Mr. President,
As I emphasized to this Council a few days ago, there is no military solution to the armed conflict in Gaza or the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There will be no sustainable solution without an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and the achievement of a viable two-State solution. Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a Palestinian State.
We must plan for Gaza’s future as we address the urgency of developments on the ground today.
We must establish political and security frameworks that can relieve the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, start early recovery and reconstruction, address the legitimate security concerns of Israelis and Palestinians, and forge a path for the realization of a viable two-State solution. In this regard I urge the immediate implementation of the political, humanitarian, and security steps outlined in the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.
Critically, these frameworks must facilitate a legitimate Palestinian Government that can reunify Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, politically, economically, and administratively. This Government must represent Palestinians across the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian territory. A united leadership is crucial to managing post-conflict Gaza and advancing Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty.
I urge the Palestinian Authority to advance its stated goal of holding elections. Palestinians have the right to have their voices heard and to be meaningfully included in the process of shaping the future of the State of Palestine.
Our ultimate goal remains unchanged: Israel and a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable, and sovereign Palestinian State, of which Gaza is an integral part – living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.
Thank you.
The UN Security Council has expressed alarm at the sharp escalation of violence in Syria’s Sweida region since mid-July, condemning attacks against civilians and calling for urgent protection and humanitarian access.
The UN Security Council met Sunday morning in New York following the Israeli cabinet’s decision to again expand its military operation inside the Gaza Strip and take full control of the key population centre of Gaza City. UN chief António Guterres described it earlier as a “dangerous escalation” for the two million civilians trapped in the enclave as well as the remaining Israeli hostages still held captive. Follow our Meetings Coverage Section’s live reporting of the crisis meeting and UN News app users can follow here.
It’s essential to work towards a two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict as the international community addresses the reality of starvation on the ground in Gaza, the Security Council heard on Sunday.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the Gaza Strip faces a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis, with no agency aid allowed in for more than five months and malnutrition deaths climbing sharply.
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The UN’s top human rights official insisted on Friday that the Israeli Government must not pursue a complete military takeover of the Gaza Strip, beginning with full control of Gaza City.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed grave concern over Israel’s decision to “take control of Gaza City”, his Spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
80 years after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the “only guarantee” against the use of nuclear weapons today is their “total elimination”, the UN Secretary-General said on Friday.
Help is needed urgently to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorised by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
Exhausted UN aid workers in Gaza on Thursday continued to report a lack of food across the enclave, while medical teams warned that hospitals are overwhelmed by a daily influx of injured people and close to “near-total collapse”.
In Africa’s Sahel region, deepening violence and poverty – driven by displacement, hunger and terrorism – are stripping women and girls of their right to safety, education and a viable future.
Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a “gender emergency” in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.
