Israel / Palestine

Talks on advancing the fragile Gaza ceasefire have begun in Cairo between mediators and Palestinian factions, a Palestinian source familiar with the meeting told AFP. … The talks bring together mediators Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, along with representatives of several Palestinian factions, as efforts continue to push forward negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinian civilians are trapped between escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank and fear-based Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, investigators appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Tuesday in a new report.

A cyber-attack targeting the World Food Programme has exposed sensitive personal information belonging to some 600,000 households in Gaza, the UN’s food agency has confirmed, in what may be the largest-known breach of humanitarian beneficiary data to date.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli army withdrew to a demarcation line which gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory. Since then, Israeli forces have advanced their positions westward into the Hamas-controlled half of the strip, and declared an ever-expanded no man’s land west of that, within which they claim the right to decide who can enter and open fire on anyone perceived as a threat. 

The joint statement argued that Israel is 'undermining stability,' noting that settler violence toward Palestinians is at 'unprecedented levels.' 

[…] Nickolay Mladenov — who was formerly the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process — briefed the 15-member Council on the occasion of the release of the Board’s first report (document S/2026/418), and six months since the parties signed onto the United States-brokered “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” — widely known as the Washington Accord.

Gaza is in a grim limbo more than seven months after Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire deal: no reconstruction is under way, the so-called Board of Peace is struggling with funding and Palestinian technocrats chosen to run the strip are sidelined in Egypt.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday strongly condemned Israel’s decision to establish military facilities at a seized UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem, calling the move “wholly unacceptable”.

Civilians across Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon continue to face mounting hardship as conflict, displacement and ongoing military operations deepen humanitarian needs and strain already limited aid efforts, according to the latest updates from UN agencies.

Nickolay Mladenov, the senior representative of the Board of Peace, warned of the humanitarian and security situation in the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military has struck almost daily. He emphasized that dismantling Hamas' arsenal is essential before any progress can be made.