Violence Spurs Displacement In Syria, Israeli Forces Cross The Blue Line In Lebanon, Mall Fire Kills Dozens In Iraq
As of Thursday, nearly 2,000 families have been displaced from violence-affected areas in Sweida governate and are currently sheltering in a dozen collective sites. Many are unable to return home due to damage, looting or destruction of their homes.
The health systems in Sweida and neighbouring Dar'a governorate remain under critical strain, operating without power and facing severe supply shortages. Reports also suggest that at least two doctors were killed in the recent clashes, and some armed groups have occupied health facilities, putting patients and staff at risk.
Mobilisation amid constrained access
The UN and its partners are mobilising humanitarian assistance as security allows and working with authorities to facilitate access.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched 35 trauma and emergency surgery kits for 1,750 interventions, but many remain undelivered because of constrained access.
'We urge all parties to protect people caught up in the violence, including by allowing them to move freely to seek safety and medical assistance,' said Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephanie Tremblay at Thursday's daily press briefing in New York.
She also stressed that security forces must respect applicable international law, norms and standards throughout their operations.
Lebanon: UN peacekeepers observe unauthorised Israeli activities
Ms. Tremblay also reported that peacekeepers at the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continue to observe Israeli military activities in its area of operations.
On 16 July, Israeli soldiers crossed north of the Blue Line to conduct military exercises.
UNIFIL peacekeepers have also heard several explosions, including one on 17 July near the Mission Headquarters in Naqoura.
The 'blue helmets' have additionally discovered unauthorized weapons and ammunition caches at one site, rocket launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and ammunition boxes.
Commitment to Lebanon
In response to recent observations the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Diodato Abagnara, met with the Lebanese Army's South Litani Sector Commander Brigadier General Nicolas Tabet in Tyre on 17 July.
'Ms. Hennis-Plasschaert and General Abagnara underlined our commitment to supporting the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, including strengthening State authority and helping restore stability in southern Lebanon,' Ms. Tremblay said.
As part of UNIFIL's support, peacekeepers trained with Lebanese Armed Forces personnel in Tyre on 16 July, enhancing the operational competency of the Lebanese Army personnel.
Fire in Iraqi shopping mall
The United Nations has expressed condolences to the families of the victims of a tragic fire in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Wednesday.
According to news reports, the fire tore through the shopping centre – which opened only a week ago – leaving at least 61 people dead.
'We express our strong solidarity with the people of Wasit Governorate in this profound loss,' Ms. Tremblay said.
She also emphasised that the UN and its partners are ready to provide humanitarian assistance to help mitigate the tragedy's impact.
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RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
US-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France, sources say
By Ammu Kannampilly , Jennifer Rigby and Jonathan Landay , Reuters The logistics warehouse in Geel, Belgium, where millions of condoms and other contraceptives have been stored by the US development agency USAID. Photo: LUC CLAESSEN / Belga / AFP US-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters. The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump's decision to freeze US foreign aid in January. They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction. The US government will spend $160,000 (about NZ$265,000) to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, according to four of the sources with knowledge of the matter, following Trump's decision to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the negotiations to save the contraceptives from destruction or the plans to incinerate them. US lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the incineration. The Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with US authorities and "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation". "Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome," it said in a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday. "Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints ," it added. The supplies, worth $9.7 million (NZ$16.07m), are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources. Sarah Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Reuters the non-profit organisation had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the US government. "MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that... We were told that the US government would only sell the supplies at the full market value," said Shaw. She did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump's administration's more restrictive stance on abortion and family planning. "This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women." She added that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa had relied on USAID for access to contraception and that the aid cuts would lead to a rise in unsafe abortions. The United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives outright, three sources told Reuters, without disclosing the financial terms of the proposal. However, negotiations broke down, a source with knowledge of the talks said, in part due to a lack of response from the US government. UNFPA declined to comment. One of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated US participation in January. The pact forbids the US government from contributing to or working with organisations providing funding or supplies that offer access to abortions. The source said there was no way for the US government to ensure that UNFPA would not share the contraceptives with groups offering abortions, violating the Mexico City policy. The source also said the matter was complicated by the fact that the contraceptives in Belgium were embossed with the USAID trademark and Washington did not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted elsewhere. UNFPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the concerns raised by the source. MSI, which says on its website that it fights for a future where everyone can access contraception and abortion, accused the State Department earlier this month of being "hellbent on destroying life-saving medical supplies, incurring additional costs for the US taxpayer in the process." The State Department declined to comment. Abortion is a divisive issue in US politics and was a major issue in the 2024 election won by Trump. In 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion, leaving abortion laws to each of the 50 states. One of the two sources who told Reuters the stocks of contraceptives were being trucked to France said it would likely take dozens of truckloads and at least two weeks to move the supplies out of the Geel warehouse, with a third source also confirming the scale of the operation. The French government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chemonics, the contractor managing the supply chain for USAID's family planning programme, declined to comment on the plans to destroy the supplies. An internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a large quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be "immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs". - Reuters
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
‘We have no energy left' - AFP journalists explain what it's like covering and living through Gaza war
Witnesses and Gaza's civil defence agency, however, have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing on aid seekers, with the UN saying the military had killed more than 1000 Palestinians trying to get food since late May. 'We have no energy' Bashar Taleb, 35, is one of four AFP photographers in Gaza who were shortlisted for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize earlier this year. He lives in the bombed-out ruins of his home in Jabalia al-Nazla, in northern Gaza. 'I've had to stop working multiple times just to search for food for my family and loved ones,' he said. 'I feel for the first time utterly defeated emotionally. 'I've tried so much, knocked on many doors to save my family from starvation, constant displacement and persistent fear but so far to no avail.' Another Pulitzer nominee, Omar al-Qattaa, 35, is staying in the remains of his wife's family's home after his own apartment was destroyed. 'I'm exhausted from carrying heavy cameras on my shoulders and walking long distances,' he said. 'We can't even reach coverage sites because we have no energy left due to hunger and lack of food.' Qattaa relies on painkillers for a back complaint, but said basic medicines were not available in pharmacies, and the lack of vitamins and nutritious food have added to his difficulties. The constant headaches and dizziness he has suffered due to lack of food and water have also afflicted AFP contributor Khadr Al-Zanoun, 45, in Gaza City, who said he has even collapsed because of it. 'Since the war began, I've lost about 30 kilos and become skeletal compared to how I looked before the war,' he said. 'I used to finish news reports and stories quickly. Now I barely manage to complete one report per day due to extreme physical and mental fatigue and near-delirium.' Worse, though, was the effect on his family, he said. 'They're barely hanging on,' he added. 'Hunger has shaken my resolve' Eyad Baba, another photojournalist, was displaced from his home in Rafah, in the south, to a tent in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, where the Israeli military this week began ground operations for the first time. But he could not bear life in the sprawling camp, so he instead rented an apartment at an inflated price to try to at least provide his family some comfort. Baba, 47, has worked non-stop for 14 months, away from his family and friends, documenting the bloody aftermath of bullets and bombs, and the grief that comes with it. Hardest to deal with, though, is the lack of food, he said. 'I can no longer bear the hunger. Hunger has reached my children and has shaken my resolve,' he added. 'We've psychologically endured every kind of death during our press coverage. Fear and the sense of looming death accompany us wherever we work or live.' Working as a journalist in Gaza is to work 'under the barrel of a gun', he explained, but added: 'The pain of hunger is sharper than the fear of bombing. 'Hunger robs you of focus, of the ability to think amid the horrors of war.' 'Living the catastrophe' The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, warned today that Gaza was heading towards 'alarming numbers of deaths' due to lack of food, revealing that 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the last three days. AFP text journalist Ahlam Afana, 30, said an exhausting 'cash crisis' - from exorbitant bank charges and sky-high prices for what food is available - was adding to the issue. Cash withdrawals carry fees of up to 45%, said Zanoun, with high prices for fuel - where it is available - making getting around by car impossible, even if the streets were not blocked by rubble. 'Prices are outrageous,' said Afana. 'A kilo of flour sells for 100–150 shekels (US$30-45), beyond our ability to buy even one kilo a day. 'Rice is 100 shekels, sugar is over 300 shekels, pasta is 80 shekels, a litre of oil is 85–100 shekels, tomatoes 70–100 shekels. Even seasonal fruits now - grapes, figs - cost 100 shekels per kilo. 'We can't afford them. I don't even remember how they taste.' Afana said she keeps working from a worn-out tent in intense heat that can reach more than 30C but going days without food and only some water makes it a struggle. 'I move slowly, unlike before,' she said. 'The danger isn't just the bombing. Hunger is slowly killing our bodies and threatening our ability to carry on. 'Now, I'm not just reporting the news. I'm living the catastrophe and documenting it at the same time.' 'I prefer death over this life' Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on July 8 that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Video journalist Youssef Hassouna, 48, said the loss of colleagues, friends, and family had tested him as a human being 'in every possible way'. But despite 'a heavy emptiness', he said he carries on. 'Every frame I capture might be the last trace of a life buried beneath the earth,' he added. 'In this war, life as we know it has become impossible.' Zuheir Abu Atileh, 60, worked at AFP's Gaza office, and shared the experience of his journalist colleagues, calling the situation 'catastrophic'. 'I prefer death over this life,' he said. 'We have no strength left; we're exhausted and collapsing. Enough is enough.' -Agence France-Presse
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Gaza: UN Staff Now Fainting From Hunger, Exhaustion; WHO Worker Detained
22 July 2025 'Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them UNRWA staff, are hungry … fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,' said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA. Speaking from Amman, she stressed that seeking food 'has become as deadly as the bombardments'. The development comes as the UN human rights office, OHCHR, announced on Tuesday that more than 1,000 Palestinians have now been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food in the Strip since the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operating on 27 May. 'As of 21 July, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food,' said OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. '766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organizations' aid convoys.' Mr. Al-Kheetan noted that the finding came from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground, including medical teams, humanitarian and human rights organizations. It is still being verified 'in line with our strict methodology.' The foundation's hubs are supported by the US and Israeli authorities and started operating in southern Gaza on 27 May, bypassing the UN and other established non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Aid relief is not a job for mercenaries 'The so-called GHF distribution scheme is a sadistic death-trap,' UNRWA's Ms. Touma said. 'Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they're given a license to kill.' Quoting a statement by UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, Ms. Touma called the scheme a 'massive hunt of people in total impunity'. 'This cannot be our new norm. Humanitarian assistance is not the job of mercenaries,' she added. The UNRWA spokesperson insisted that the UN and its humanitarian partners have the expertise, experience and available resources to provide safe, dignified and at-scale assistance. 'We have proven it time and again during the last ceasefire,' she said. Living conditions in the Strip have reached a new low as prices for basic commodities have increased by around 4,000 per cent. For Gaza's inhabitants who have lost their homes and been displaced multiple times, they have no income and find themselves completely deprived of essentials. $200 for a bag of flour Ms. Touma highlighted the testimony of a colleague on the ground who had to walk for hours to buy a bag of lentils and some flour, paying almost $200 for it. On Monday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that a quarter of Gaza's population faces famine-like conditions. Almost 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need treatment as soon as possible. Vital everyday items such as diapers are scarce and costly, at about $3 each. Mothers have resorted to using plastic bags instead while one father 'said that he had to cut one of his last shirts to give his daughter sanitary pads', Ms. Touma said. 'We at UNRWA have stocks of hygiene supplies, including diapers for babies and for adults waiting outside the gates of Gaza,' Ms. Touma stressed, insisting that the agency has 6,000 trucks loaded with food, medicines and hygiene supplies waiting in Egypt and in Jordan to be allowed into the enclave. Urgent ceasefire call She reiterated the UN's calls for 'a deal that would bring a ceasefire, that would release the hostages, that would bring in a standard flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza under the management of the United Nations, including UNRWA.' Humanitarian operations in the enclave are being pushed into an 'ever-shrinking space', said World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jašarević. Briefing journalists in Geneva, he condemned three attacks on Monday on a building housing WHO staff in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza as well as the 'mistreatment of those sheltering there and the destruction of its main warehouse'. 'Staff and their families, including children, were exposed to grave danger and traumatised after airstrikes caused a fire and significant damage,' Mr. Jašarević said, adding that Israeli military entered the premises, 'forcing women and children to evacuate on foot' towards the coastal shelter of Al Mawasi amid active conflict. Our interview with WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, has more details Screened at gunpoint The WHO spokesperson said that staff and family members were 'handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint'. Two staff and two family members were detained and while three were later released, one WHO employee remains in detention for reasons unknown to the organization. Mr. Jašarević called for the release of the detained staff member and insisted that 'no one should be held without charges and without due process.' The latest evacuation order for the area has impacted several WHO premises and compromised its presence on the ground, 'crippling efforts to sustain a collapsing health system,' Mr. Jašarević added, and 'pushing survival further out of reach for more than two million people'. The Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah on Monday also caused an explosion and fire inside WHO's main warehouse, which is located within the evacuation zone in the central Gazan city, 'part of a pattern of systematic destruction of health facilities', the agency's spokesperson said. According to Gaza's health authorities, since the start of the war in October 2023, some 1,500 health workers have been killed in the Strip. Some 94 per cent of all health facilities have been damaged and half of Gaza's hospitals are 'not functional at all', Mr. Jašarević said. 'The chance to prevent loss of lives and reverse immense damage to the health system slips further out of reach every day,' he stressed. Visa denials Spotlighting further challenges to the humanitarian operation in Gaza, the WHO spokesperson pointed to an increase in the denial of visas by Israeli authorities for emergency medical teams seeking to enter the Strip since the breakdown of the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on 18 March. He said that 58 international staff for the emergency medical teams, including surgeons and critical medical specialists, have been denied access. UNRWA's Ms. Touma highlighted the fact that ever since the agency's Commissioner-General was denied entry to Gaza in March 2024, he has not been allowed back into the Strip. He has also not received a visa from Israel to enter the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for more than a year. The UNRWA spokesperson also deplored the lack of access for international media to the enclave. 'It certainly is time, if not long overdue, for international media to go into Gaza precisely to look into the facts and to help with reporting first-hand information on the horrors that people in Gaza are living through,' she said. Rapid collapse of critical lifelines UN humanitarians continue to highlight the rapid collapse of critical lifelines in Gaza amid ongoing hostilities. Local authorities said more than a dozen children and adults died from hunger in the past 24 hours, UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 'Hospitals have admitted people in a state of severe exhaustion caused by a lack of food, and others are said to be collapsing in the streets,' it said. 'This is on top of continued reports of people being shot, killed or injured while simply trying to find food – food that is only being allowed into Gaza in quantities that are far too small.' Furthermore, in many cases where UN teams are permitted by Israel to collect supplies from closed compounds near border crossings, civilians approaching the trucks come under fire, despite repeated assurances that troops would not be present or engage. OCHA said 'this unacceptable pattern is the opposite of what facilitating humanitarian operations should look like,' underscoring that 'absolutely no one should have to risk their life to get food.'
