Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief
'I have been very clear that despite all the obstacles and the pressure the agency is under, our objective is to stay and deliver until we are prevented to do so,' Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
12 minutes ago
- UPI
At least 12 killed as Israeli operation to capture Gaza city ramps up
Palestinians wait for an airdrop of aid in Gaza City on August 7, 2025. The Jordanian military and other air forces began dropping aid from aircraft into Gaza by parachute in an effort to get more supplies into the Palestinian enclave amid a growing humanitarian crisis. File Photo by Mahmoud Issa/UPI | License Photo Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Israeli forces intensified a major aerial assault on Gaza City, killing at least 12 people and causing extensive damage overnight, ahead of a planned military operation to take control of the city, according to Palestinian authorities. The city's residential districts of Zeitoun and Sabra had been hit by airstrikes for the third straight day, sustaining "massive damage to civilian homes," the Hamas-run Gaza civil defense agency said. The fatalities, which occurred on Wednesday morning in an airstrike on a house in the east of the city, were among 39 killed across the Gaza Strip, including 19 people who were seeking humanitarian aid, medical sources told Al Jazeera. The latest casualties came as the foreign ministers of Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and Switzerland joined the European Union in condemning the use of lethal forces at aid distribution sites and calling for urgent action to address famine "unfolding before our eyes" in Gaza. Warning that international NGOs might be forced to leave Gaza any day due to new restrictive registration measures being imposed by Israel, which would further exacerbate the humanitarian situation, the countries said in a statement that "urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation." "We call on the government of Israel to provide authorization for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating. Immediate, permanent and concrete steps must be taken to facilitate safe, large-scale access for the U.N., international NGOs and humanitarian partners," the statement read. They demanded all crossings and routes be opened to facilitate a "flood of aid" into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water and medicine and medical equipment. "We need a cease-fire that can end the war, for hostages to be released and aid to enter Gaza by land unhindered," the statement added. Israel blames the United Nations and Hamas for the humanitarian situation, accusing the world body of refusing to distribute aid trucked into Gaza and Hamas of stealing supplies and reselling them to fund its military operations. The Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff confirmed Monday it was embarking on a new phase in the fighting after the war cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved his plan to seize control of remaining Hamas "strongholds," including Gaza City. "We are at the start of a new stage in the fighting in Gaza. We will do everything to protect the hostages and bring them home," Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in an apparent U-turn after earlier backing a less drastic alternative proposal. Zamir was reported to have opposed Netanyahu's plan on the grounds his forces were exhausted and doubts over IDF's ability to free the hostages through military force alone, pitching instead an incremental strategy involving laying siege to Gaza city. That idea was rejected because it was deemed less effective in achieving the goal of defeating Hamas.
31 minutes ago
Turkey says Israel and Kurdish fighters should stop destabilizing Syria
ANKARA -- Israel and Kurdish fighters should stop threatening the security and stability of Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Ankara with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, Fidan accused Israel and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, of undermining the country's efforts to reestablish itself after more than a decade of civil war. He said Israel had 'fueled certain difficulties' in Syria and warned that Israeli security "cannot be achieved through undermining the security of your neighbors." 'To the contrary, you should make sure your neighboring countries are prosperous and secure. If you try to destabilize these countries, if you take steps to that end, this could trigger other crises in the region.' Since Islamist-led insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December, the new interim government in Damascus has struggled to maintain stability and heal the wounds of the nearly 14-year civil war. Most recently, hundreds were killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between government forces and local Bedouin tribesmen on one side and fighters from the country's Druze minority on the other. Meanwhile, tensions have also risen between the central government and the U.S.-allied SDF that controls northeastern Syria. Implementation of an agreement reached in March to merge the SDF with the new Syrian army has stalled and there have been scattered outbreaks of violence between the two sides. Fidan accused the SDF of trying to turn instability in Syria into an 'opportunity for themselves.' Ankara views the SDF with hostility as the group is spearheaded by the People's Protection Units, or YPG, affiliated with the Kurdish group that recently entered a peace process with Turkey after more than 40 years of fighting. The SDF has said it is not party to the deal between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. 'The upper echelons of the YPG need to stop stalling because the chaos they're waiting for (in Syria) will not take place, and even if it does, it will not be to their advantage,' Fidan said. He added: 'They shouldn't take us for fools. We have good intentions, but that doesn't mean we will turn a blind eye to your mischievous or devious ways.' Turkey has been supportive of Syria's new administration, which is formed largely by rebels that Ankara backed during the civil war. 'Every actor in the region is not as constructive as us,' Fidan said. 'There are certain people who have been meddling in the affairs of Syria, chief among whom is the Israeli administration.' Al-Shibani, meanwhile, said Israel's actions 'undermine the security of our citizens,' adding that 'certain countries want Syria to disintegrate based on ideologies, based on ethnicity, and obviously we are against all these efforts.'
NBC News
44 minutes ago
- NBC News
Myanmar junta is detaining and torturing children as young as 2, U.N. report says
U.N.-backed investigators say they have found significant evidence of 'systematic torture' at Myanmar detention centers, where the military government is holding children as young as 2 years old as proxies for their parents. The Southeast Asian nation of about 54 million people has been mired in turmoil since 2021, when democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown by the military. The coup set off mass protests across the country that were violently suppressed, followed by a nationwide armed resistance movement that has displaced millions of people. Investigators said Tuesday there was evidence of 'a continued increase in the frequency and brutality of atrocities' across Myanmar, with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by government security forces and affiliated militias as well as armed opposition groups. That includes an increase in crimes committed against those in detention, many of whom are being held without due process, said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. 'We've documented torture against those in detention, including beatings and electric shocks, strangulations, pulling out fingernails, gang rape, burning of sexual body parts and other forms of sexual violence,' he told reporters in Geneva as his team released its annual report. Koumjian said investigators had seen evidence that children as young as 2 years old were being detained, often in place of their parents if they are accused of being associated with the opposition and cannot be found. 'Some of the detained children have been subjected to torture, ill-treatment or sexual and gender-based crimes,' the report says. Myanmar's military government has detained about 30,000 people in the past four years, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group that tracks arrests in the country. The Myanmar military could not be reached for comment. It has denied any atrocities are taking place and blamed 'terrorists' for unrest. The 16-page report, which covers a one-year period up to June 30, draws on more than 1,300 sources, including nearly 600 eyewitness testimonies, photographs, videos, documents, maps and forensic evidence. Koumjian said the Myanmar military appeared to be increasing its use of airstrikes as it loses control of more territory. They continued even after a devastating earthquake in March, he said, often against 'blatantly civilian targets' such as schools, hospitals and places of worship. 'Often there's no military target that we can identify anywhere in the area that could have been the intent of the airstrike,' he said. Koumjian said investigators were working to determine how the airstrikes were ordered, who was in the chain of command and who flew the planes. In addition, he said, there is growing evidence of crimes committed by opposition forces, including summary executions of captured fighters from other armed groups. The team is also still investigating the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis, during which more than 700,000 people from the mostly Muslim ethnic minority fled a military crackdown in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh. Along with other ethnic groups, the remaining Rohingya population is again in danger as they are persecuted by the Arakan Army rebel group that now has effective control of Rakhine state, their ancestral home. Koumjian said investigators had made progress in identifying some of the people responsible for crimes in Myanmar, including commanders overseeing detention facilities, and that 'we stand ready to support any jurisdictions willing and able to prosecute these crimes.' 'We are working towards the day when the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions in a court of law,' he said in a news release. The work of Myanmar investigators is already being used in cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice and in Argentina. In November, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar's military government, for crimes committed against the Rohingya. Min Aung Hlaing tightened his grip on power last month in an administrative restructuring as the junta said it was ending the state of emergency it declared in 2021. A general election is planned for December but faces a widespread boycott by critics who say it will be neither free nor fair.
