Making Gaza safe again from unexploded bombs could take 14 years, UN demining experts said on Friday. 

The war in Gaza continues to cast a dark shadow over the wider Middle East region, in particular Syria where a series of strikes and attacks are exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Thursday.

Unexpected blistering temperatures across Gaza have added to the daily misery faced by the enclave’s people and sparked new fears of disease outbreaks amid a lack of sufficient clean water and waste disposal, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.

A new mechanism for getting lifesaving aid into Gaza will start in the coming days, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator Sigrid Kaag announced in a briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday.

The UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, launched a $1.2 billion appeal on Wednesday to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip and to respond to needs in the West Bank as violence there increases. 

The head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, on Tuesday reiterated that he welcomed the recommendations of a much-awaited report on its efforts to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they arise. 

Book by book and page by page, Türkiye’s booklovers are bringing life back to cities ravaged by the deadly 2023 earthquakes through the power of reading, with help from cash grants from the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

Disturbing reports continue to emerge about mass graves in Gaza in which Palestinian victims were reportedly found stripped naked with their hands tied, prompting renewed concerns about possible war crimes amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

An independent panel released its much-awaited report on Monday about the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), providing 50 recommendations and noting that Israeli authorities have yet to provide proof of their claims that UN staff are involved with terrorist organisations.

UN chief António Guterres issued an appeal on Monday to “actively support” the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, adding that he accepted the final findings of an independent probe into the organisation, launched amid serious unconfirmed allegations of UNRWA collusion with Hamas fighters and as part of efforts to assess whether the agency was doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality.

Following reports of alleged Israeli strikes inside Iran near a nuclear power station early Friday, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a new appeal to all parties to “stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East”.

The Security Council rejected Palestine’s request for UN membership on Thursday, with the United States casting a veto.

UN independent human rights experts on Thursday raised alarm over the “systematic destruction” of the Palestinian education system in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s military operation continues unabated.

What will it take for Palestine to become a full UN Member State? As the Security Council takes up the matter while the devastating war in Gaza enters its seventh month, we looked at Palestine’s current status and what it takes to become a UN Member State.

Recent escalations in the Middle East make it even more important to support efforts towards lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Thursday. 

The Commissioner-General of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) briefed the Security Council in New York on Wednesday as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsened, telling ambassadors that lifesaving deliveries are being blocked by Israel as part of an "insidious campaign" to push it out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

UN and partner agencies insisted on Wednesday that “critical changes” are needed to improve aid access into Gaza, as they launched a $2.8 billion appeal to provide urgent assistance for millions of people in the devastated enclave, but also in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been targeted by increasing settler violence.

Scaling up assistance in Gaza remains a challenge in the face of continued access denials, delays and other impediments, the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories said on Tuesday. 

Nearly 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since war erupted six months ago and one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes, UN agencies warned on Tuesday, amid spiralling violence in the West Bank and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict following Iran’s missile and drone strike on Israel. 

As tensions worsen across the Middle East region, Yemen’s plight has become increasingly intertwined with wider geopolitical dynamics, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Monday.

As UN chief António Guterres on Monday reiterated his appeal for “maximum restraint” in the Middle East following Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, independent human rights experts said that the alleged use of artificial intelligence on targets in Gaza by the Israeli military had taken an “unprecedented toll” on civilians, housing and services.

The people of the Middle East are facing a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict, António Guterres said on Sunday, urging “maximum restraint” across a region on the brink hours after Iran launched attack drones and missiles against Israel overnight Saturday. 

Strongly condemning the “large-scale attack” launched on Israel by Iran, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged maximum restraint by all parties and warned that “neither the region nor the world can afford another war.”

The situation for Gazans remains dire despite hopes stemming from recent commitments by Israel to boost assistance, the UN’s top aid official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Friday.

People in Gaza are struggling to survive, said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who was part of a team carrying out an assessment mission on Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis following the Israeli military withdrawal last week.

UN-coordinated food convoys are three times more likely to be denied access to north Gaza than other aid convoys, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 

The Security Council on Monday referred the application of the observer State of Palestine for full UN membership to the specialized committee set up to vet new members.

The President of the UN General Assembly appealed on Monday for “all those with leverage” to use their power to bring an end to the six-month-long war in Gaza. 

The UN’s overriding mission in Gaza to ‘flood the place with food’ and avert famine has moved forward this week thanks to Israel’s public pledge to increase the flow of aid, despite signs on Sunday that the feared invasion of Rafah is imminent.