Israel

In Madagascar, the United Nations and its partners are supporting the Government’s response to Tropical Cyclone Gamane. According to the Government, the tropical cyclone — which hit the country on 3 April — killed 19 people, injured 3 others and left some 22,000 people displaced.

Israel’s “live-streamed” genocide — supported by many Western States — must not go unpunished, participants heard in Geneva today during the second day of the two-day Conference of Civil Society Organizations working on the Question of Palestine — convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People — with speakers discussing best practices to ensure accountability and Israel’s compliance with the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

The response to the war in Gaza is the litmus test for the international justice system, participants heard in Geneva today, during the first day of the two-day Conference of Civil Society Organizations working on the Question of Palestine — convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People — with many highlighting the role of civil society in preserving international law and ensuring accountability.

While the humanitarian impact of the hostilities in Gaza has been cataclysmic and is worsening daily, violence and the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continue at alarming levels, the head of United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East told the Security Council today, as delegates raised concern over non-compliance with the organ’s demand for a ceasefire.

After 171 days of war in Gaza, the Security Council today adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties, leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, while many speakers underscored that this is only the first step towards a permanent ceasefire.

The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have determined the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza due to a veto cast by two permanent members of the Council — China and the Russian Federation — while some speakers criticized the text for being ambiguous and lacking attribution to the Israeli authorities in several key areas.

There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence — including rape and gang-rape — occurred across multiple locations of Israel and the Gaza periphery during the attacks on 7 October 2023, a senior United Nations official reported to the Security Council today, as she presented findings from her visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.

In Mozambique, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) today warned that more than 110,000 people have been displaced since the end of 2023 by the resurgence of attacks by non-State armed groups in a distressing escalation of the situation in the Cabo Delgado Province.

In Somalia, the deputy heads of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization arrived in the country today on a joint mission to urge continued global support for Somalis suffering from the impact of hunger, conflict and climate change.

The use of the Security Council veto by the United States to block an Algerian draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza only emboldens Israel to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people, speakers warned the General Assembly today, stressing that the humanitarian situation in the enclave is catastrophic and worsening as a result.