Israel / Palestine

Former United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay will lead the UN’s unprecedented open-ended inquiry into “systematic” abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories, it was announced on Thursday.

The cessation of hostilities negotiated last month between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, remains “very fragile”, the UN envoy there told the Security Council on Thursday. “The UN is working closely with all concerned parties and partners…to solidify a ceasefire, allow the entry of urgent humanitarian  assistance and stabilize the situation in Gaza”, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said, … . 

Israel says it carried out air strikes in Gaza overnight after Palestinians launched incendiary balloons from the territory, in the first major flare-up since an 11-day conflict last month.

Israel's new incoming eight-party coalition government could be sworn in within the next week, bringing an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year reign.

The UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) is discussing launching an investigation into the fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas earlier this month.

The top U.N. human rights body on Thursday passed a resolution aimed to intensify scrutiny of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, after the U.N. rights chief said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and faulted the militant group Hamas for violations of international law in their 11-day war this month.

The UN Security Council on Saturday made it’s first statement on the conflict that erupted between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, calling for a “full adherence to the ceasefire” that brought 11 days of fighting to an end early on Friday morning.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that there must be an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as deaths and destruction mount.   

A ceasefire in the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be "imminent, possibly within 24 hours," Hamas officials told CNN Wednesday, as world leaders dialed up pressure on both sides to end the fighting. Israel, however, has not commented on the possibility of a ceasefire deal.

US President Joe Biden has voiced his support for a ceasefire after eight days of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Mr Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US was working with Egypt and other countries on halting hostilities. But the US again blocked a UN Security Council statement calling for a cessation of violence.