Israel intensifies airstrikes on Gaza’s Rafah before ground operation
Cairo, Reuters Reuters Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight after saying it would evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city and launch an all-out assault despite allies’ warnings this could cause mass casualties. Medics in the besieged Palestinian enclave reported five Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early on Thursday that hit at least three houses, […]
Fuel tax blocks aid to hunger-ravaged South Sudan, UN says
Juba, South Sudan Reuters South Sudanese authorities are holding up United Nations fuel tankers over a tax dispute, jeopardising the delivery of millions of dollars of aid during a humanitarian crisis, the UN mission there said. The trucks were held up at depots and the Ugandan border on Wednesday despite assurances from the minister of […]
Israel yet to show evidence UNRWA staff are members of terrorist groups, review finds
United Nations/Beirut, Lebanon Reuters Israel has yet to provide evidence for its accusations that hundreds of staff with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) are members of terrorist groups, according to a review of the agency’s neutrality released on Monday that could prompt some donor countries to review funding freezes. The United Nations appointed […]
UN raises over $US600 million to boost aid to Ethiopia
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters The United Nations on Tuesday received financial pledges for about two-thirds of the $US1 billion it was seeking to raise to boost humanitarian aid to Ethiopia, which has been hit by conflict, drought and floods. A UN-hosted pledging event, organised along with the governments of Ethiopia and the United Kingdom and held […]
UN says it still faces obstacles in bid to fend off famine in Gaza
United Nations Reuters The United Nations is still struggling to prevent famine in the Gaza Strip and while there had been some improvement in coordination with Israel, aid deliveries in the enclave still faced difficulties, a senior UN aid official said on Tuesday. Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, shelter in […]
Israel to open new north Gaza crossing for overseas, Jordanian aid; three sons of Hamas leader killed
Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters Israel will open a new land crossing into the Gaza Strip designed mainly to facilitate deliveries to Palestinians of aid from overseas or neighbouring Jordan, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. After a cross-border attack by Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamists on 7th October, Israel went to war and cut […]
Explainer – Gaza war after six months, what are the issues now?
Reuters Six months since Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel on a killing spree, Israel’s ground campaign to annihilate the Islamist movement has turned much of the Gaza Strip into a wasteland with an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe. Mediators have been trying to organise the first extended truce of the war to rush in aid to feed the Palestinian territory’s […]
UN chief calls for independent investigation into 196 aid worker deaths in Gaza; US welcomes Israel moves on Gaza aid but says “proof is in the results
United Nations Reuters UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for independent investigations into the deaths of all 196 aid workers killed in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war and said he hopes Israel quickly and effectively boosts aid access. Global outrage at the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory of 2.3 million […]
Israel plans to adjust Gaza war tactics after killing of aid workers
Jerusalem Reuters Israel said on Thursday it would adjust tactics in the Gaza war tactics after killing seven aid workers in air strikes its military has acknowledged were a major mistake, and that inquiry findings would be made public soon. Monday’s incident has stoked Western anger at the mounting civilian toll in the Palestinian enclave, […]
Hunger grips southern Africa as Zimbabwe declares drought a disaster
Harare, Zimbabwe Reuters President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday declared Zimbabwe’s drought a national disaster and said the country needed more than $US2 billion in aid to feed millions facing hunger. Mnangagwa’s statement follows similar announcements by Zambia in late February and Malawi in March, as drought induced by the El Nino global weather pattern triggers […]