Israel / Palestine

Hostilities across Gaza reportedly continued on Wednesday, fuelling already alarming aid access problems and dire food insecurity as the main entrance routes for relief convoys remained closed or too dangerous to access, UN aid workers warned.

Arrest warrants are being sought for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in Gaza, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.

The situation in Gaza is so devastating that no words can adequately describe it, a humanitarian officer working in the besieged enclave has said. … She spoke to UN News from Rafah … .

In its final statement following a meeting in Manama, the 22-member grouping called for "international protection and peacekeeping forces of the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territories" until a two-state solution is implemented.

South Africa is asking the UN's top court to order Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza. It is presenting its case at a two-day hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Israel is to deliver its response at the court on Friday.

[…] To date, Rafah has emptied of at least 600,000 people in just the last week, and another 100,000 have been uprooted from the north of the enclave, amid fresh evacuation orders by the Israeli military.

The Secretary-General and the UN human rights chief said again on Sunday that a large-scale Israeli offensive in Rafah must be prevented at all costs, warning of catastrophic consequences in the densely populated southern area in Gaza.

The UN General Assembly convened again in New York on Friday for an emergency special session on the Gaza crisis and overwhelmingly passed a resolution which upgrades Palestine’s rights at the world body as an Observer State, without offering full membership. It urged the Security Council to give “favourable consideration” to Palestine’s request.

For the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Biden administration has paused the shipment of weapons to Israel amid mounting concern over its plan to expand a military operation in Rafah that the United States does not support.

Wednesday brought fresh calls for international pressure against an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, with Qatar and the African Union expressing concern about an escalating humanitarian crisis.