Israel

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed today that a 71-year-old Rohingya man is the first refugee in the Cox’s Bazar camp to die from COVID-19 and some 30 other people have tested positive so far, yet the numbers are likely higher as testing is ramping up.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on United Nations peacekeeping missions worldwide, but they are rising to the challenge in ways that align with their respective mandates and the unique situations that they each face on the ground, three Force Commanders said during a 4 June videoconference meeting of the Security Council.

An Ebola outbreak has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s western Equateur province.  The health ministry has identified six cases, including four people who have died.  The World Health Organization has staff in Mbandaka, the main city impacted by the outbreak, to support the response.

The twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will now take place from 1-12 November 2021, in Glasgow.  United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said that if done right, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis can foster a more inclusive climate path.

Israel’s stated intention to annex parts of the occupied West Bank will deal a devastating blow to the two-State solution and close the door to fresh negotiations with the Palestinians towards peace in the Middle East, the top United Nations official for the peace process said during a videoconference meeting of the Security Council on 20 May. 

Global human development — which is the combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards — is set to decline this year for the first time since 1990, when the concept was first developed, the United Nations Development Programme reported today, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a determining factor.

Confirming the existence of tunnels dug under the “Blue Line” separating Lebanon and Israel, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today that they represent a violation of Council resolution 1701 (2006).

The Human Rights Office says it is deeply concerned at reports that the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar-Abu al Helu is to be demolished by the Israeli authorities in the coming days.  The community is home to 181 people,  more than half of them children.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $1.26 million for Gaza today to support the rapid procurement of essential medical supplies and their distribution to critical hospitals providing trauma care.