Human Rights Council-appointed investigators urged Israel on Monday to revise its military rules of engagement, shortly before the one-year anniversary of the start of mass demonstrations at the country’s border fence with Gaza, that have left hundreds of Palestinians dead and thousands more injured.
The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has strongly condemned the violent response by security forces in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip during the past three days, towards Palestinian protests over the deteriorating economic situation there.
Governments across the world have a “moral obligation” to help Syrians “unite around a vision for their common future”, finally bringing an end to eight years of brutal conflict, said the UN Secretary-General on Friday.
Foreign ministers from more than 50 countries gathered on Thursday at a joint European Union-UN pledging conference, and pledged to provide a record $6.97 billion, to support millions of Syrians in need both inside the country, and sheltering in host communities beyond its borders.
Reports from Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate indicate that scores of civilians have been killed following attacks on residential areas over the past two days. Medical sources suggest that at least 22 have died, with more than 30 injured during the bombardment.
The ongoing conflict in Yemen has had a devastating impact on the Gulf country and while UN agencies continue to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people, at least one UN agency has already begun planning for a future without war.
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday, to discuss the latest findings of the global chemical weapons watchdog in Syria, which concluded that there were “reasonable grounds” that a chemical attack took place during the crucial battle for control of Eastern Ghouta, last April.
Since the beginning of the year, Israeli security forces have responded to protests along Gaza’s border fence with tear gas, rubber coated bullets and live ammunition that have caused death, injury and fear, which the UN’s independent human rights expert on the region described on Tuesday as “a recipe for more bloodshed”.
Responding to the violent deaths of five children in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on Thursday, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that Yemen’s civil war continues to take a “horrific toll” on children.
In eastern Syria, 13,000 people have arrived at a protection camp in just the last week, after fleeing fighting in the last ISIL extremist stronghold in Deir-Ez-Zor governorate, the UN’s emergency coordination office, OCHA, said on Friday.
