This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

World court orders Israel to halt Rafah operation immediately

The UN’s top court has ordered Israel to halt its military operation in Gaza’s Rafah governate immediately.

The ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice follows a request by South Africa which has accused Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza. Israel has strongly denied the allegation.

By 13 votes to two, the court - which is based in The Hague - also ordered Israel “to maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

Unimpeded access must also be given by the Israeli authorities to any fact-finding mission mandated by the United Nations to investigations of allegations of genocide, the world court order stipulated.

The development comes more than seven months into the war in Gaza – sparked by Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel – which the International Court said had created a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the enclave. 

In its ruling, the court added that the situation had deteriorated further since 6 May amid the ongoing Israeli military offensive in Rafah, which has forcibly displaced some 800,000 people. 

“The immense risks associated with a military offensive in Rafah have started to materialize and will intensify even further if the operation continues,” the court heard.

Ukraine: Kharkiv city still under attack, sparking further displacement, says OHCHR

To Ukraine, where people displaced by recent advances by the Russian military in northeastern border areas have described living through days of intense bombardment, the UN human rights office said on Friday.

UN human rights monitors have reported testimonies highlighting the terrifying impact on civilians of the recent escalation in hostilities in the northeast of the country.

Here’s Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, speaking in Geneva:

“Some of those interviewed were unable to reach shelters or even get to a basement. People described seeing their neighbors killed or injured. Some said the situation was so bad they decided to risk walking for several kilometers to reach an evacuation point.” 

Ms. Throssell said that people had endured massive destruction of homes and other civilian infrastructure, with entire communities “uprooted and destroyed” and thousands more displaced.

She said that those who fled from areas under attack in the Kharkiv region described having to shelter for days in basements without electricity “amid intense aerial bombardment, strikes by drones and missiles and artillery shelling”. 

At least 35 civilians have been confirmed killed and 137 injured in and around Kharkiv since Russian armed forces launched their cross-border offensive on 10 May, UN monitors say. 

COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy

Data crunched by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic reversed more than a decade of gains in life expectancy.

According to the UN health agency, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, which is the 2012 level. 

Regionally, the Americas and South-East Asia were hit hardest by this change, with life expectancy dropping by around three years. 

In contrast, the Western Pacific region was minimally affected during the first two years of the pandemic, with only small losses in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.

The WHO’s World Health Statistics 2024 report confirmed that COVID-19 was the third highest cause of death globally in 2020 and the second highest a year later. 

The coronavirus was also the leading cause of mortality in the Americas for 2020 and 2021.

Before the pandemic, noncommunicable diseases remained the top killer, the UN health agency said, accounting for 74 per cent of all deaths in 2019.

And even during the pandemic, chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke, cancer and dementia were behind 78 per cent of non-COVID deaths.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.