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Cancer patients, young students and families are among the 250,000 Palestinians – 80 per cent already living under the poverty line – who could lose access to lifesaving services in Lebanon by March amid looming funding cuts, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, country director told UN News on Tuesday.

Despite being the driving force for sustainable development, middle-income countries face unique challenges and require more international support and vision to thrive, the UN deputy chief said on Tuesday.

UN humanitarians reported on Monday that a food convoy in Gaza had been hit by shelling after a deadly weekend of hostilities in Gaza in which at least 234 Palestinians were reportedly killed, stoking regional tensions in the Middle East. 

Some of the world’s leading tech companies have signed a ground-breaking agreement with the UN to build more ethical artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

With the war in Sudan triggering widespread violence and instability, youth-driven emergency response rooms (ERRs) are among a growing number of community-led initiatives reaching vulnerable civilians with myriad assistance, from repairing damaged power lines to carving out safe evacuation routes for millions fleeing the conflict.

The UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA) plays a “critical role” in delivering aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip and it is vital to restore international confidence in the agency, the United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Friday.

The number of hungry people in Sudan has doubled over the past year, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, adding that it is already receiving reports of people dying from starvation. 

The UN and the Government of Ethiopia have appealed for urgent funding to respond to rising hunger in the northern highlands region, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Friday.

Lifesaving aid operations in Gaza are “in peril” amid ongoing Israeli bombardment because of the funding crisis impacting the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, top UN officials reiterated on Thursday.

Humanitarians will need $2.7 billion to support millions of civilians in war-ravaged Yemen this year, the UN and partners said on Thursday. 

Deadly clashes and shelling continued in Khan Younis in southern Gaza overnight into Wednesday as top UN humanitarians and NGO chiefs warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of defunding UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees facing allegations of collusion with Hamas.

The war in Gaza has resulted in an unprecedented level of destruction to its economy which will take tens of billions of dollars and decades to reverse, UN trade and development body UNCTAD said in a new report on Wednesday. 

As the UN chief prepares to meet representatives from countries who donate to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) late on Tuesday following allegations of collusion with Hamas, the UN health agency, WHO, reiterated that now was not the time to abandon the people of Gaza.

No organization can be a substitute for the UN agency assisting Palestinians, UNRWA, in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the Organization’s senior coordinator for the enclave said on Tuesday.

The UN and partners launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia on Tuesday, calling for $1.6 billion to assist 5.2 million people across the Horn of Africa nation.

Ongoing hostilities across the Gaza Strip have been “particularly intense” in the southern city of Khan Younis, UN humanitarians warned on Monday, as the UN agency for Palestinians, UNWRA, reported that its shelters were now four times over-capacity.

Secretary-General António Guterres is due to meet with major donors to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday, as major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) issued an urgent plea to keep lifesaving funds flowing.

Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to the countries that suspended funding to the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA) to reconsider their decisions, to ensure continuity of its vital humanitarian operations.

The head of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Saturday that some countries’ decisions to halt funding will jeopardize its lifesaving programmes, urging them to reconsider.

Secretary-General António Guterres has asked the head of the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees, UNRWA, to “swiftly” investigate “extremely serious allegations” that several agency staffers were involved in the 7 October terror attacks in southern Israel.

Attacks on buildings in Gaza where terrified civilians are sheltering are “abhorrent and must stop immediately”, a top UN humanitarian official insisted on Thursday following a direct hit on a United Nations training centre.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is due to issue an emergency measures order on Friday relating to South Africa’s accusations of genocide by the Israeli military in Gaza, which Israel strongly denies.

The UN Security Council will hold a second day of debate on Wednesday in search of an end to the devastating conflict in Gaza amid growing tensions in the Middle East, as UN humanitarians reiterated grave concerns for extremely vulnerable Palestinians forced once again to flee the war and evacuation orders.

Nine people were killed and 75 injured on Wednesday in a direct hit on a training centre turned shelter in southern Gaza run by UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinians, according to initial reports.

Houthi authorities in Yemen on Wednesday have ordered UN and other humanitarian staff holding US and UK passports to leave the country within a month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have delivered 19,000 litres of fuel to Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, the UN agency said late on Tuesday.  

Amid continuing heavy fighting in Gaza on Tuesday morning including reported attacks on hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, UN humanitarians expressed deep concern for patients and others seeking treatment who had “no way in and out”.

The UN and its global partners will grapple with the massive loss of animal and plant species, and how to avoid further extinction, at a major conference beginning 23 January. Here’s a primer on what, exactly, biodiversity is, and how the UN can help support efforts to enable nature to survive and thrive.

In Gaza, bombs and bullets are far from the only threat to life. Residents lack food and clean water, health facilities are practically nonexistent and communication with the outside world is patchy at best. 

“Intense” Israeli bombardment in Gaza continued on Monday along with rocket fire into Israel by Palestinian armed groups as UN humanitarians reported that more than 25,000 have died in the enclave since war began on 7 October.