The UN and the crisis in the Middle East: What you need to know

12 March

Enough aid for 25,000 people has reached Gaza City for the first time in weeks, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Tuesday, in a call for daily aid missions and better access.

11 March

According to UNICEF, child malnutrition levels in northern Gaza are particularly extreme, with now at least 18 children reported to have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza. UNFPA has cautioned that “malnutrition rates amount pregnant and breastfeeding women have spiked, posing significant health risks”.

The first nine days of March saw an average of 168 aid trucks per day crossing into the Gaza Strip. This remains well below the operational capacity of both border crossings and the target of 500 per day.

7 March

Days from the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and with no ceasefire agreement in sight for Gaza, UN humanitarians reiterated deep concerns on Thursday that a growing number of children are dying of starvation.

5 March

Efforts by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver desperately needed food supplies to northern Gaza resumed on Tuesday, but were largely unsuccessful, the agency reported.

Also on Tuesday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that humanitarian personnel working on water, sanitation and hygiene in the enclave are reporting extremely challenging conditions amid high levels of displacement and overcrowding in shelters.

1 March

Thanks to support from donors like the European Union, the World Food Programme was able to provide over 1.4 million Gazans, inside UN shelters and within host communities either food parcels, wheat flour or hot meals in the first three months of the war.

29 February

The UN Secretary-General said on Thursday he was “appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict in Gaza”, where more than 30,000 people have now reportedly been killed and over 70,000 injured.

27 February

Well over half a million Gazans are just a step away from famine, said senior UN humanitarians, briefing the Security Council Tuesday on food security in the stricken enclave. The deputy head of UN aid coordination told ambassadors that famine is “almost inevitable” unless aid can be scaled up immediately.

26 February

Very little humanitarian aid has entered besieged Gaza this month, with a 50 per cent reduction compared to January, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.

22 February

Occupied Palestinian territories: first days of hearings at the ICJ

21 February

The IASC called on Israel to fulfil its legal obligation, under international humanitarian and human rights law, to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate aid operations, and on the world’s leaders to prevent an even worse catastrophe from happening.

20 February

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is pausing deliveries of life-saving food aid to northern Gaza until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.

The UN Security Council met again in emergency session in New York on Gaza Tuesday, where the United States vetoed a resolution put forward on behalf of Arab States by Algeria demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties”.

19 February

A steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza strip poses grave threats to their health, according to a comprehensive new analysis released by the Global Nutrition Cluster. In the Northern Gaza Strip, 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished. (UNICEF)