Category Archives: United Nations

Israel says it will ‘address concerns’ from US after threat to withhold arms funding over Gaza – as it happened

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This blog has now closed. You can read our latest report on the Israel-Gaza war here and all our coverage from the region here.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces tightened their squeeze around Jabalia in the north of the enclave on Tuesday, amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters.

Palestinian health officials said at least 11 people were killed by Israeli fire near Al-Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, while 10 others were killed in Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house.

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Giorgia Meloni plans Lebanon visit as fears grow for UN peacekeeping troops

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Italian PM demands security guarantees for her country’s Unifil troops after series of attacks by Israel

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said she will visit Lebanon on Friday as she demanded security guarantees from Israel for her country’s troops there just days after UN peacekeeper bases came under attack.

Italy’s government has been a strong supporter of Israel in the year since Hamas’s 7 October attacks but has sharply criticised attacks on the UN mission, known as Unifil, and Israeli calls for the peacekeepers to withdraw.

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What is Unifil and why has Israel been firing on its positions in Lebanon?

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As the Israeli military attacks United Nations peacekeepers, we look at the background to the violence

Unifil, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberate and shocking violations in recent days. Several of its positions have come under fire, prompting interventions from the UN security council and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, among others.

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Israeli airstrike kills more than 20 in Christian town in northern Lebanon

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Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv in apparent response, while Israeli attacks on Gaza include a hospital courtyard

More than 20 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Christian town in northern Lebanon, prompting Hezbollah to fire rockets at Tel Aviv, as Israel’s multifront war continues to escalate.

It was also a particularly bloody 24 hours in the Gaza Strip. Four people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a hospital courtyard in central Gaza, another strike on a nearby school used as a shelter killed at least 20 people, and a drone strike killed five children playing on the street in al-Shati camp in Gaza City, according to local health authorities.

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UN mission says Israeli tanks forcibly entered base in southern Lebanon

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Unifil seeks explanation from IDF for ‘shocking violations’ while Netanyahu urges peacekeepers to withdraw

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has said two Israeli tanks destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in the south of the country as Israel’s ground operation against Hezbollah moved deeper into Lebanese territory.

The incident in Ramyah on Sunday morning was the latest in a string of violations that Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, has blamed on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

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Israel orders more evacuations in Lebanon and threatens medics who treat Hezbollah members

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Military spokesperson demands that medics ‘avoid dealing with Hezbollah operatives’ and claims ambulances used to transport weapons

Israel has ordered more evacuations in southern Lebanon and threatened to target ambulances, as a fifth UN peacekeeper was wounded in Israel’s escalating conflict with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Israel’s military on Saturday ordered people in 23 southern Lebanese villages to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows from the western Bekaa valley into the Mediterranean.

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Hunger in Lebanon could soar amid Israeli onslaught, UN expert warns

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Michael Fakhri, special rapporteur on right to food, warns Israeli military attack risks repeat of starvation seen in Gaza

Hunger and malnutrition rates could rise “exponentially” in Lebanon, if Israel follows through with threats to escalate the current military operation which has so far killed more than 2,000 and displaced as many as a million people, according to a leading UN expert.

“Israel has the ability to starve Lebanon – like it has starved Palestinians in Gaza,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “If you look at the geography of Lebanon, Israel has the power to absolutely put a stranglehold on the food system. There is a huge risk of hunger and malnutrition rates skyrocketing very quickly in Lebanon.”

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Two Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli airstrike hours after UN peacekeepers HQ fired on

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Two incidents in Lebanon prompt growing concern over Israel’s escalating campaign and the spreading Middle East conflict

An Israeli airstrike has killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded three others, hours after the Israeli military fired on the headquarters of a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for the second time in as many days.

The two incidents on Friday prompted further concern over Israel’s escalating campaign, amid waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon. Lebanon’s army has not been involved in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and it withdrew its forces from the border between the countries when Israel launched its invasion last month.

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Israeli strike on Beirut kills 22 in deadliest attack on city centre since war’s start

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UN says its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are ‘increasingly in jeopardy’ with Israeli forces having deliberately fired on their positions

Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Beirut in the deadliest attack on the city centre since recent hostilities broke out, as the UN said its peacekeepers in Lebanon’s south were in growing danger.

The strikes hit a densely packed residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of the Lebanese capital. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed over the past weeks.

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UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say Israel has fired on their bases deliberately

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Unifil says two peacekeepers were injured after Israeli tank fired on one observation point and soldiers fired on another

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said on Thursday that Israeli forces had deliberately fired on its positions, injuring two peacekeepers and bringing fresh accusations of violations of international law.

Israel has been carrying out repeated ground incursions across the border into Lebanon in its war with Hezbollah, as the conflict that began in Gaza a year ago continues to spread across the region.

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Saudi Arabia narrowly fails in bid to win a seat on UN human rights council

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The country had faced a campaign from rights groups who accused it of being ‘unfit to serve on the Human Rights Council’

Saudi Arabia narrowly failed in its bid to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a blow to Riyadh’s efforts to boost the country’s rights reputation abroad, four years after it was rejected in a 2020 bid to join the 47-member body.

Saudi Arabia is spending billions to transform its global image from a country known for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into a tourism and entertainment hub under a plan its Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, launched known as Vision 2030.

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At least 400,000 people trapped by Israel’s latest Gaza offensive, says Unrwa

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Raid centred on Jabaliya camp is worsening hunger and threatening polio vaccine campaign, says Philippe Lazzarini

Hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza remain trapped by the latest Israeli offensive centred on Jabaliya refugee camp, according to UN agencies and human rights groups.

“At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, posted on X on Wednesday, amid witness accounts of bodies lying uncollected in the streets because of the renewed fighting.

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‘A slap in the face to victims of abuse’: UN urged to reject Saudi Arabia’s bid to join Human Rights Council

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Riyadh accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, jailing women’s rights advocates and murdering critics

Saudi Arabia is on the brink of being elected on to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, warn campaigners, in a move they say would undermine its ability to demand justice for rights violations and would feel like a “slap in the face” to the many victims of the Saudi regime.

While the Saudi Arabian government has attempted to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights, its record on both has been fiercely criticised by activists.

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World leaders mark first anniversary of 7 October attack on Israel

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Pope and UN secretary general call for end to fighting as governments and individuals commemorate attack by Hamas

The US president, Joe Biden, has condemned the “unspeakable brutality” of the 7 October attacks launched by Hamas on Israel as world leaders, governments and individuals around the globe marked their first anniversary in commemorations ranging from official statements to formal ceremonies and small private vigils.

The attack killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli government figures, including hundreds at a music festival near the Israel-Gaza border, and saw about 250 hostages taken to Gaza.

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Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of dispute

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Agreement to hand back UK’s last African colony follows 13 rounds of negotiations and international pressure

The UK has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony.

The agreement will allow a right of return for Chagossians, who the UK expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s, in what has been described as a crime against humanity and one of the most shameful episodes of postwar colonialism.

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US would not support Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, says Biden

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Top Israeli diplomat at UN warns his country’s retaliation for Iranian missile attack will be heavier than Tehran ‘could ever have imagined’

Joe Biden has said he would not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites, as the US sought to temper Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday and contain a rapidly escalating regional conflict.

Biden’s comments came after the top Israeli diplomat at the UN warned his country’s retaliation for an Iranian salvo of nearly 200 ballistic missiles would be heavier than Tehran “could ever have imagined”.

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Top Russia diplomat warns west not to fight ‘nuclear power’ in UN speech

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Sergei Lavrov accuses west of using Ukraine ‘to defeat’ Russia days after Putin shifts Moscow’s nuclear posture

Russia’s top diplomat warned on Saturday against “trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power”, delivering a UN general assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Russia sees as western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere – including inside the United Nations itself.

Three days after Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, aired a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused the west of using Ukraine – which Russia invaded in February 2022 – as a tool to try “to defeat” Moscow strategically, and “preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade”.

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Netanyahu defies calls for ceasefire at UN as Israeli missiles target Beirut

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To half-empty chamber, Israeli PM says his country ‘seeks peace’ but will continue ‘degrading’ Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off global appeals for a ceasefire in a defiant speech to the United Nations that was delivered barely an hour before massive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s leader levelled several apartment blocks in Beirut.

Addressing the general assembly in New York, Israel’s prime minister presented his country as a champion of peace and prosperity for the Middle East, even as its security forces prepared an attack that spread terror in the streets of the Lebanese capital and heightened fears of an all-out regional war.

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Libya central bank deal could resolve ‘all political issues’, says head of state

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Mohamed al-Menfi defends dismissal of previous governor and says deal will bring back international accountability

A deal backed by leaders on both sides of Libya’s political divide to appoint a new central bank governor has the potential “to resolve all the political issues” in the country, Libya’s head of state has said.

Mohamed al-Menfi, the president of Libya’s Presidential Council who is largely aligned with the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, was accused of acting unilaterally and propelling the country into fresh turmoil when in August he dismissed the previous long-serving bank governor, Sadiq al-Kabir, who then fled into exile.

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UN hostility will not trouble Netanyahu, but now he has angered the US | Patrick Wintour

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Tension between the Israeli PM and the UN has never been so high, but his behaviour over the Lebanon ceasefire has given him a bigger problem

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has for decades used set-piece speeches to the UN to denounce it. In 2017, he said it had been “the epicentre of global antisemitism” and there was “no limit to the UN’s absurdities when it comes to Israel”, but never have the tensions between him and the body he reviles reached such a pitch.

Since the 7 October massacre by Hamas, Israel has ignored four UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and has not just described the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa as a terrorist state, but launched a campaign to bankrupt it. Arab envoys have walked out when the Israeli ambassador has started to speak.

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