Latest news with #United Nations
Arab News
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan calls Gaza aid system ‘a death trap,' urges restoration of UN-led relief channels
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday criticized the current humanitarian aid delivery mechanism in Gaza, saying it had 'morphed into a death trap' for civilians, as hundreds of people have been killed while trying to access basic supplies like food and medicine. Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, raised alarm over the dismantling of the earlier UN-coordinated aid system and its replacement by a restricted structure under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which he said lacked both scale and neutrality. 'The current aid mechanism is clearly failing those it claims to serve,' Ahmed said. 'According to the UN Human Rights Office, 798 aid-related killings have occurred since late May, 615 of them at or near distribution sites. The prior UN-coordinated system of more than 400 well-networked distribution points has been dismantled. In its place, a heavily restricted system under the GHF now operates with just a handful of designated aid sites.' The Pakistani diplomat noted the situation was forcing desperate civilians to traverse active combat zones in search of basic necessities. 'While some aid has trickled into Gaza, the volume is vastly inadequate,' he added. 'Its implementation is flawed, and it falls far short of the standards demanded by international humanitarian law. Most gravely, the system has morphed into a death trap.' The remarks came amid growing international concern over the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands wounded since the start of Israeli military operations in October 2023. Aid groups and UN agencies have warned that fuel, food and medical supplies are nearing critical shortages, while bureaucratic hurdles and border closures continue to delay relief deliveries. Ahmed urged the Security Council to back the restoration of 'full, unhindered and impartial humanitarian access' through UN-led channels, including the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and to push for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. 'The world cannot stand by as Gaza is starved and shattered,' he said. 'Let us not grow numb to the daily toll: it is not just another headline, another ticker, another statistic. Behind each number is a life: a person with a story, a dream extinguished a family torn apart.'
Reuters
a day ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Brazil tackles COP30 hotel costs, under pressure from developing nations
SAO PAULO, July 16 (Reuters) - Brazil assured worried governments on Wednesday it has organized enough rooms to accommodate the tens of thousands of people crowding into the rainforest city of Belem for the United Nations climate summit in November, even as its listings still fell short of the country's own projections for attendance. Valter Correia, Brazil's special secretary for the summit, known as COP30, laid out a plan to prioritize the needs of developing countries and island nations whose representatives expressed outrage during a conference in Bonn, Germany, that Belem's sky-high accommodation prices might exclude them from COP30. "What we are guaranteeing is that everyone can come at accessible prices," he said. "We can't leave small countries, countries that most suffer with issues related to climate change, out of this thing, it would be absolutely unthinkable." Environmental activists from around the globe had eagerly awaited Brazil's turn to host the climate summit after three years in which the conference was held in countries without full freedom for public demonstrations. Brazil chose Belem for the climate talks to focus attention on the world's disappearing rainforests, but civil society groups have been warning for months that a lack of accommodations in the Amazonian city would create barriers for many. Authorities have already identified more than 30,000 rooms available in the city, Correia said, compared to an estimate of 20,000 that United Nations officials told their Brazilian counterparts were required to accommodate delegations, journalists and observers. Still, the figure falls short of the demand from the 45,000 attendees at COP30 that Correia had projected earlier this year. He said on Wednesday that he expects Belem to meet additional demand as more private homes, hotel rooms, and alternative options, such as repurposed schools, become available. The United Nations climate change office, UNFCCC, declined a request to confirm the number. This week, Brazil also launched a booking website with 1,500 rooms for a group of 98 developing countries and island nations, priced between $100 and $220 a night, Correia said. Another 1,000 rooms will be added to the platform soon, open to all delegations, he added, with prices of up to $600 a night. The platform will later be open to everyone else. Brazil also said it has signed a contract for 3,900 cabins in two cruise ships that will park at the port city for the COP. Correia said he also expects civil society groups to find adequate accommodations. While his office is fighting price gouging, he added, it won't be able to offer everyone rooms at lower prices.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Gazans trampled to death in latest chaos at US-backed aid sites
At least 20 people have died during a chaotic stampede at an aid distribution site in Gaza, a US-backed aid foundation has said. The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says 19 people were trampled and one person was stabbed during what it described as a 'chaotic and dangerous surge, driven by agitators in the crowd'. Palestinian health officials told Reuters at least 20 people had died of suffocation at the site. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed. GHF, whose aid distribution points have witnessed hundreds of deaths, said it had reason to believe that unrest was 'deliberately fomented' from within the crowd by Hamas. The aid organisers said the deaths come after days of 'false messages' about aid site openings on sites such as Telegram, which it says has 'fuelled confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder'. 'We mourn the lives lost today, and we remain committed to providing humanitarian aid as safely and responsibly as possible,' a spokesperson said. The GHF has come under heavy criticism in recent weeks after the United Nations said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the foundation. The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys, the UN rights office said. According to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz last month, unnamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites to drive them away or disperse them. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations 'malicious falsehoods'. The GHF uses private American security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, bypassing a UN-led system that Israel claims has let Hamas loot aid shipments meant for civilians. But leaked footage has suggested that armed US contractors at one of Gaza's aid distribution hubs appeared to fire at Palestinians, before celebrating. Video seems to show machine gun fire in the vicinity of civilians seeking aid, with an American voice shouting: 'I think he hit one.' Another voice adds: 'Hell yeah, boy!' "Hell yeah, boy!" US contractors in Gaza cheer after deliberately opening fire on aid-seeking Palestinians. Source: AP — The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) July 3, 2025 The alleged incident took place at a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US but condemned by much of the rest of the international community. A former security contractor at one of the sites told the BBC he saw a guard with a machine gun open fire from a watchtower because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving away from the site too slowly. Another contractor then opened fire, the whistleblower claimed. He said: 'A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor, who was standing there, was like 'Damn, I think you got one'. And then they laughed about it.' The GHF said the accusations were categorically false, adding that no civilians had ever come under fire at its distribution sites. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously denied that such incidents have occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation.
France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
UN expert on Palestinians says US sanctions are a 'violation' of immunity
The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories made the comments while visiting Bogota, nearly a week after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions, calling her work "biased and malicious." "It's a very serious measure. It's unprecedented. And I take it very seriously," Albanese told an audience in the Colombian capital. Albanese was in Bogota to attend an international summit initiated by leftist President Gustavo Petro to find solutions to the Gaza conflict. The Italian legal scholar and human rights expert has faced harsh criticism for her long-standing accusations that Israel is committing "genocide" in Gaza. "It's clear violation of the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities that protect UN officials, including independent experts, from words and actions taken in the exercise of their functions," Albanese said. Rubio on July 9 announced that Washington was sanctioning Albanese "for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (ICC) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives." The sanctions are "a warning to anyone who dares to defend international law and human rights, justice and freedom," Albanese said. On Thursday, the UN urged the United States to reverse the sanctions against Albanese, along with sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court, with UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman calling the move "a dangerous precedent." On Friday, the European Union also spoke out against the sanctions facing Albanese, adding that it "strongly supports the United Nations human rights system." Albanese, who assumed her mandate in 2022, released a damning report this month denouncing companies -- many of them American -- that she said "profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide" in the occupied Palestinian territories. The report provoked a furious Israeli response, while some of the companies also raised objections. Washington last month slapped sanctions on four ICC judges, in part over the court's arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, barring them from the United States. UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN human rights council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations. The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,219 people in Israel and took hostages, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. More than 58,479 Palestinians have been killed in ongoing retaliation operations, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas government, considered reliable by the UN. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged in the territory since October 2023. © 2025 AFP
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
France, UK and Germany would restore UN sanctions on Iran next month without progress on a deal
UNITED NATIONS — The United Kingdom, France and Germany have agreed to restore tough U.N. sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no concrete progress on a nuclear deal , two European diplomats said Tuesday. The three countries' ambassadors to the United Nations met Tuesday at Germany's U.N. Mission to discuss a possible Iranian deal and reimposing the sanctions. The matter also came up in a phone call Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the three countries, according to two U.S. officials.
