Middle East

The UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which brings together leaders of 15 UN humanitarian agencies and large international humanitarian non-governmental organizations, issued a joint statement describing the situation in North Gaza as apocalyptic, with reports of civilians being targeted while seeking safety.

The following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, in Geneva today:

The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:

Israel's targeted destruction of healthcare infrastructure in Gaza threatening the long-term survival of Palestinian people as a group are war crimes and crime against humanity, while Palestinian armed groups also committed a war crime by attacking medical staff, facilities and ambulances in Israel, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today.

The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) today reported that between July and September, over 1,200 people were killed there and more than 500 injured by gang violence, as well as in the fight against gangs. During the same period, the mission also documented 170 kidnappings for ransom.

The UN Secretary-General has issued a statement of deep concern over the Israeli Knesset’s adoption Monday of two laws, which if implemented, would likely prevent the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The unrelenting violence in the Middle East is further diminishing the prospects for a sustainable resolution in the region, warned Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, as he urged all efforts to de-escalate the situation towards an immediate ceasefire and, ultimately, the two-State solution, as Member States joined the Security Council during its quarterly open debate on the situation in the region and the question of Palestine.

Peacekeepers, supporting flood response, have airlifted medical supplies from Agok airstrip in the southern part of Abyei to other parts of the region, to ensure medical stocks, and the Mission is doing weekly flights to multiple areas in Abyei helping to provide humanitarian assistance to communities that are cut off because of flooding.

All parties must exercise maximum restraint and immediately de-escalate to break the dangerous cycle of retaliation and prevent a full-blown war in the Middle East, speakers told the Security Council today during yet another emergency meeting on the escalating crisis in the region, following Israel’s 25 October air strikes against Iran, which earlier in the month launched missile strikes against Israel.

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