KHAN YOUNIS: At a hospital in Gaza, wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March. Last month, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from operating in Gaza from March 1 for failing to provide detailed information on their Palestinian staff. &quot;They stood by us throughout the war,&quot; said 10-year-old Adam Asfour, his left arm pinned with metal rods after he was wounded by shrapnel in a bombing in September. &quot;When I heard it was possible they would stop providing services, it made me very sad,&quot; he added from his bed at Gaza&#39;s Nasser Hospital. Israel&#39;s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, which oversees NGO registrations, has accused two MSF employees of links to Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, allegations MSF vehemently denies. The ministry&#39;s decision triggered international condemnation, with aid groups warning it would severely disrupt food and medical supplies to Gaza, where relief items are already scarce after more than two years of war. Inside the packed Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the territory, MSF staff were still tending to children with burns, shrapnel wounds and chronic illnesses, an AFP journalist reported. But their presence may end soon. The prospect was unthinkable for Fayrouz Barhoum, whose grandson is being treated at the facility. &quot;Say bye to the lady, blow her a kiss,&quot; she told her 18-month-old grandson, Joud, as MSF official Claire Nicolet left the room. Joud&#39;s head was wrapped in bandages covering burns on his cheek after boiling water spilled on him when strong winds battered the family&#39;s makeshift shelter. &quot;At first his condition was very serious, but then it improved considerably,&quot; Barhoum said. &quot;The scarring on his face has largely diminished. We need continuity of care,&quot; she said. &#39;We will continue working&#39;&nbsp;AFP spoke with patients and relatives at Nasser Hospital, all of whom expressed the same fear: that without MSF, there would be nowhere left to turn. MSF says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in Gaza and operates around 20 health centres. In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations and over 10,000 deliveries. &quot;It&#39;s almost impossible to find an organisation that will come here and be able to replace all that we are doing currently in Gaza,&quot; Nicolet told AFP, noting that MSF not only provides medical care but also distributes drinking water to a population worn down by a prolonged war. &quot;So this is not really realistic.&quot; Since the start of the war in October 2023, triggered by Hamas&#39;s deadly attack on southern Israel, Israeli officials and the military have repeatedly accused Hamas of using Gaza&#39;s medical facilities as command centres. Many have been damaged by two years of bombardments or overcrowded by casualties, while electricity, water and fuel supplies remain unreliable. Aid groups warn that without international support, critical services such as emergency care, maternal health, and paediatric treatment could collapse entirely, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without basic medical care. Humanitarian sources say at least three international NGO employees whose files were rejected by Israeli authorities have already been prevented from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. &quot;For now, we will continue working as long as we can,&quot; said Kelsie Meaden, an MSF logistics manager at Nasser Hospital, adding that constraints were already mounting. &quot;We can&#39;t have any more international staff enter into Gaza, as well as supplies... we will run into shortages.&quot;

A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (AFP)

Middle East

Wards are filled with patients fearing they will be left without care if Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is forced out under an Israeli ban due to take effect in March.

Patients cling to medical organization in Gaza hospital as Israel orders it out

NEW YORK: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was &quot;deeply concerned&quot; at the development. Guterres &quot;calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,&quot; his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. &quot;This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,&quot; he added. Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials. The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories &mdash; the majority of whom are in Gaza. NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1. Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence. Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories. On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying &quot;the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.&quot; A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out. Nearly 80% of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated. About 1.5 million of Gaza&#39;s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.

Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence; Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.

UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza

PARIS:&nbsp;Revelers around the world toasted the start of 2026 on Thursday, bidding farewell to a volatile year when temperatures soared, US President Donald Trump upended global trade, and the brutal conflict in Ukraine raged on. While a fragile truce took hold in devastated Gaza, violence in Sudan continued unabated.&nbsp; A new American pope was installed at the Vatican, the world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, and Labubu dolls sparked a worldwide frenzy. In Sydney, partygoers paused for a minute of silence to remember the victims of the mass shooting on Bondi Beach before fireworks lit up the skies at the stroke of midnight. Heavily armed police patrolled the shoreline, packed with hundreds of thousands of people, barely two weeks after 15 people were gunned down at a Jewish festival in Australia&#39;s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years. Bathed in white lightThe famed Sydney Harbour Bridge was bathed in white light to symbolize peace. Pacific nations, including Kiribati and New Zealand, were the first to see in 2026, with Seoul and Tokyo following Sydney in celebrations that spread around the globe with each passing hour. In Hong Kong, a major New Year fireworks display was cancelled&nbsp;in homage to 161 people killed in a fire in November that engulfed several apartment blocks. &lsquo;10 percent&rsquo; awayUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was &ldquo;10 percent&rdquo; away from a deal to end the fighting, which soon reached the four-year mark. Russia&rsquo;s Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, used his traditional New Year address to urge his compatriots to believe that Moscow would deliver a victory in Europe&#39;s deadliest conflict since World War II. In the Ukrainian city of Vyshhorod, beauty salon manager Daria Lushchyk said the war had made her work &ldquo;hell&rdquo; but that her clients were still showing up. &ldquo;Nothing can stop our Ukrainian girls from coming in and getting themselves glam,&rdquo; Lushchyk said. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Tariff blitz and fragile truce&nbsp;</h2>This year has brought a mix of stress and excitement for many, war for others still -- and a daring jewel heist at the Louvre. Pop megastar Taylor Swift got engaged to her American football player boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and K-pop heartthrobs BTS made their long-awaited return. Trump returned as US president in January, launching a tariff blitz that sent global trade and world stock markets into meltdown. As he prepared to host a New Year&#39;s party at his lavish Florida home, the Republican president launched a broadside at Oscar-winning actor George Clooney. After two years of war that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, pressure from Trump helped land a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October -- though both sides have accused each other of flagrant violations. &ldquo;We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,&rdquo; said Gaza City resident Shireen Al-Kayali. &ldquo;We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.&rdquo; Optimism in Syria&nbsp;In contrast, there was optimism despite abiding internal challenges in Syria, where residents of the capital Damascus celebrated a whole year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. &ldquo;There is no fear, the people are happy, all of Syria is one and united, and God willing &hellip; it will be a good year for the people and the wise leadership,&rdquo; marketing manager Sahar al-Said, 33, told AFP as bells rang in Damascus. Fireworks in DubaiIn Dubai, thousands of revelers queued for up to nine hours for a spectacular fireworks and laser display at the Burj Khalifa, the world&rsquo;s tallest building. Revelers popped champagne near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Bulgaria adopted the euro, and huge crowds danced at Edinburgh&#39;s Hogmanay street party. More than 2.5 million people were expected to pack Rio de Janeiro&#39;s Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world&rsquo;s biggest New Year&#39;s Eve party. Crowds packed the city&#39;s expansive coastline for concerts and fireworks, mostly dressed in white, a tradition related to Iemanja, the goddess of the sea in Afro-Brazilian faiths. In the US capital, the Washington Monument was lit up to kick off America&#39;s 250th birthday celebration year. And in New York, thousands gathered in freezing temperatures amid tight security for the traditional ball drop in Times Square. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Sports, space and AI &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space, and questions over artificial intelligence. Athletes will gather in Italy in February for the Winter Olympics. And for a few weeks in June and July, 48 nations will compete in the biggest football World Cup in history in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. NASA is planning a crewed mission to orbit the Moon during a 10-day flight, more than 50 years after the last Apollo lunar mission. And after years of unbridled enthusiasm, AI is facing scrutiny, and nervous investors are questioning whether the boom might now resemble a market bubble.

Americas

Australasia

Europe

The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space, and questions over AI; in February, athletes will take part in the Winter Olympics, and in June and July, 48 nations will compete in the football World Cup.

World welcomes 2026 with fireworks after year of Trump and turmoil

GAZA CITY: As 2025 draws to a close, Palestinians in Gaza are marking the new year not with celebration, but with exhaustion, grief and a fragile hope that their &quot;endless nightmare&quot; might finally end.&nbsp;For residents of the battered territory, daily life is a struggle for survival.&nbsp;Much of Gaza&#39;s infrastructure lies in ruins, electricity remains scarce and hundreds of thousands of people live in makeshift tents after being repeatedly displaced by the two years of fighting that began with Hamas&#39;s attack on Israel in October 2023.&nbsp;&quot;We in the Gaza Strip are living in an endless nightmare,&quot; said Hanaa Abu Amra, a displaced woman in her thirties living in Gaza City.&nbsp;&quot;We hope that this nightmare will end in 2026 ...The least we can ask for is a normal life-- to see electricity restored, the streets return to normal and to walk without tents lining the roads,&quot; she said.&nbsp;Across Gaza, a territory of more than two million people, scenes of hardship are commonplace.&nbsp;Children queue with plastic containers to collect water, while rows of tents stretch across streets and open spaces, sheltering families who have lost their homes.&nbsp;What were once bustling neighbourhoods now bear the scars of bombardment, with daily activity reduced to the bare essentials.&nbsp;For many, the end of the year is a moment to mourn as much as to hope.&nbsp;In Gaza City, a teenager painted &quot;2026&quot; on his tent, while an AFP journalist observed a local artist sculpting the same in sand in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.&nbsp;The outgoing year brought relentless loss and fear, said Shireen Al-Kayali.&nbsp;&quot;We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.&quot;&nbsp;Hope for 2026&nbsp;Her experience reflects that of countless Gazans who have been forced to flee repeatedly, often with little warning, taking with them only what they could carry.&nbsp;Entire families have been uprooted, livelihoods destroyed, and communities fragmented as the war dragged on for two years.&nbsp;Despite the devastation, some residents cling to the belief that the new year might bring an end to the fighting and a chance to rebuild.&nbsp;For many Gazans, hope has become an act of resilience, particularly after the truce that came into effect on October 10 and has largely halted the fighting.&nbsp;&quot;We still hope for a better life in the new year, and I call on the free world to help our oppressed people so we can regain our lives,&quot; said Khaled Abdel Majid, 50, who lives in a tent in Jabalia camp.&nbsp;Faten al-Hindawi hoped the truce would finally end the war.&nbsp;&quot;We will bid farewell to 2025, leaving behind its pain, and we hope that 2026 will be a year of hope, prayer, determination and success stories.&quot;&nbsp;Such hopes are shared widely across Gaza, even as conditions on the ground remain dire.&nbsp;Humanitarian agencies have warned that shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies persist, while winter conditions are worsening life in overcrowded displacement camps.&nbsp;Amid the rubble and the tents, many Gazans say their aspirations are modest: safety, stability and dignity.&nbsp;&quot;I hope the reconstruction of Gaza begins in 2026. Gaza was beautiful, and we hope it returns to being beautiful again.&quot;

As 2025 ends, Gazans face exhaustion and loss after years of war, displacement and destruction, but many hold onto fragile hope that 2026 will bring peace, basic services, rebuilding and a chance to live normal lives again.

Hoping for better year ahead, Gazans bid farewell to 2025 nightmare

LONDON: The foreign ministers of 10 nations on Tuesday expressed &quot;serious concerns&quot; about a &quot;renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation&quot; in Gaza, saying the situation was &quot;catastrophic&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,&quot; the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland said in a joint statement released by the UK&#39;s Foreign Office.&nbsp;&quot;1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support. More than half of health facilities are only partially functional and face shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies. The total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding,&quot; the statement added.&nbsp;The ministers said they welcomed the progress that had been made to end the bloodshed in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages.&nbsp;&quot;However, we will not lose focus on the plight of civilians in Gaza,&quot; they said, calling on the government of Israel to take a string of &quot;urgent and essential&quot; steps.&nbsp;These included ensuring that international NGOs could operate in Gaza in a &quot;sustained and predictable&quot; way.&nbsp;&quot;As 31 December approaches, many established international NGO partners are at risk of being deregistered because of the government of Israel&rsquo;s restrictive new requirements,&quot; the statement said.&nbsp;It also called for the UN and its partners to be able to continue their work in Gaza and for the lifting of &quot;unreasonable restrictions on imports considered to have a dual use&quot;.&nbsp;This included medical and shelter equipment.&nbsp;The foreign ministers also called for the opening of crossings to boost the flows of humanitarian aid into Gaza.&nbsp;While welcoming the partial opening of the Allenby crossing, they said other corridors for moving goods remained closed or severely restricted for humanitarian aid, including the Rafah crossing.&nbsp;&quot;Bureaucratic customs processes and extensive screenings are causing delays, while commercial cargo is being allowed in more freely,&quot; the statement said.&nbsp;&quot;The target of 4,200 trucks per week, including an allocation of 250 UN trucks per day, should be a floor, not a ceiling. These targets should be lifted so we can be sure the vital supplies are getting in at the vast scale needed,&quot; it added.

Foreign ministers say Gaza’s humanitarian situation is catastrophic as winter arrives, with severe shortages of shelter, healthcare, and sanitation; urge Israel to allow NGOs and the UN to work freely, open crossings, and increase aid deliveries.

10 countries warn of 'catastrophic' Gaza situation

KHAN YUNIS: It only took a matter of minutes after the heavy overnight rain first began to fall for Jamil al-Sharafi&#39;s tent in southern Gaza to flood, drenching his food and leaving his blankets sopping wet.&nbsp;The winter rains have made an already precarious life worse for people like Sharafi, who is among the hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian territory displaced by the war, many of whom now survive on aid provided by humanitarian organisations.&nbsp;&quot;My children are shivering from cold and fear... The tent was completely flooded within minutes,&quot; Sharafi, 47, said on Sunday.&nbsp;&quot;We lost our blankets, and all the food is soaked,&quot; added the father of six, who lives in a makeshift shelter with his children in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi.&nbsp;A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place since October 10, following two years of devastating fighting.&nbsp;But despite the truce, Gazans still face a severe humanitarian crisis, and most of those displaced by the war have been left with little or nothing.&nbsp;Families are crowded into camps of tents hastily erected from tarpaulins, which are often surrounded by mud and standing water when it rains.&nbsp;&quot;As an elderly woman, I cannot live in tents. Living in tents means we die from the cold in the rain and from the heat in the summer,&quot; said Umm Rami Bulbul.&nbsp;&quot;We don&#39;t want reconstruction right now, just provide us and our children with mobile homes.&quot;&nbsp;Nighttime temperatures in Gaza have ranged between eight and 12 degrees Celsius in recent days.&nbsp;Insufficient aidNearly 80 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to United Nations data.&nbsp;And about 1.5 million of Gaza&#39;s 2.2 million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.&nbsp;Of more than 300,000 tents requested to shelter displaced people, &quot;we have received only 60,000&quot;, Shawa told AFP, pointing to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory.&nbsp;The UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said the harsh weather had compounded the misery of Gazans.&nbsp;&quot;People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents &amp; among ruins,&quot; UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.&nbsp;&quot;There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.&quot;&nbsp;COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said in mid-December that &quot;close to 310,000 tents and tarpaulins entered the Gaza Strip recently&quot; as part of an increase in aid under the ceasefire.&nbsp;Earlier this month, Gaza experienced a similar spell of heavy rain and cold.&nbsp;The weather caused at least 18 deaths due to the collapse of war-damaged buildings or exposure to cold, according to Gaza&#39;s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority.&nbsp;On December 18, the UN&#39;s humanitarian office said that 17 buildings collapsed during the storm, while 42,000 tents and makeshift shelters were fully or partially damaged.&nbsp;&quot;Look at the state of my children and the tent,&quot; said Samia Abu Jabba.&nbsp;&quot;I sleep in the cold, and water floods us and my children&#39;s clothes. I have no clothes for them to wear. They are freezing,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;What did the people of Gaza and their children do to deserve this?&quot;<figure class="fr-media"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic"> </figcaption></figure>

Winter rains in Gaza flood tents of displaced families, compounding the humanitarian crisis. Limited aid, destroyed homes, and freezing temperatures leave hundreds of thousands struggling for shelter, food, and basic survival.

'Shivering from cold and fear': winter rains batter displaced Gazans

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV on Thursday urged Russia and Ukraine to find the &quot;courage&quot; to hold direct talks and spoke of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza in his first Christmas message. The US pope, who was elected by fellow cardinals in May after the death of his predecessor pope Francis, also condemned the &quot;senselessness&quot; of war and the &quot;rubble and open wounds&quot; it leaves behind. Speaking to a crowd of some 26,000 people in St Peter&#39;s Square, the pope called for &quot;solidarity with and acceptance of those in need&quot; in Europe -- a possible reference to growing anti-immigration sentiment on the continent. &quot;Let us pray in a particular way for the tormented people of Ukraine,&quot; he said. &quot;May the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,&quot; he added. Russian and Ukrainian officials have spoken separately in recent weeks to US negotiators about proposals to end the war started by Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Tens of thousands have been killed, eastern Ukraine decimated and millions forced to flee their homes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week outlined key points of a plan to end the conflict after US talks. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far shown no willingness to compromise, doubling down on his hardline demands. &#39;Return of life&#39;In his first Christmas homily as pontiff, Leo addressed the dismal conditions in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are still living in temporary shelters in wintry conditions weeks after a fragile ceasefire took hold. &quot;How... can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold,&quot; the pope said, adding that the territory&#39;s inhabitants &quot;have nothing left and have lost everything.&quot; The UN has said an estimated 1.3 million people currently need shelter&nbsp;assistance in Gaza and has warned of the increasing risk of hypothermia as temperatures dip. &quot;The war, in all its forms, has been harsh on everyone living on this land,&quot; Elias al-Jalda, a Palestinian Christian from Gaza, told AFP after attending a Christmas mass at Gaza&#39;s only Roman Catholic Church late on Wednesday. &quot;We hope this year will mark the beginning of a new phase -- one defined by a complete end to the war and the return of life to Gaza,&quot; said Jalda, one of dozens attending the mass. &#39;Compassion and reconciliation&#39;Sarah Mullally, who becomes head of the Church of England next month, addressed the issue of immigration directly in her Christmas sermon Thursday. &quot;Our national conversations about immigration continue to divide us, when our common humanity should unite us,&quot; &nbsp;said the future archbishop of Canterbury. &quot;We who are Christians then hold fast to joy as an act of resistance,&quot; she added. Britain&#39;s King Charles III called for &quot;compassion and reconciliation&quot; at a time of &quot;division&quot; across the world in his annual Christmas Day message broadcast. &quot;With the great diversity of our communities, we can find the strength to ensure that right triumphs over wrong,&quot; he said. &quot;It seems to me that we need to cherish the values of compassion and reconciliation the way our Lord lived and died.&quot; As well as being king of the United Kingdom, Charles is head of the 56 countries that make up the Commonwealth. Joy in BethlehemIn Bethlehem, the Christian community celebrated its first festive Christmas in more than two years as the occupied West Bank city emerges from the shadow of the war in Gaza. Hundreds of worshippers gathered for mass on Wednesday night at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. In Syria, Christmas lights illuminated Damascus&#39;s Old City despite the Christian community&#39;s fears of violence after a deadly attack in June. Around the district, home to several important churches, red baubles hung from trees, shopkeepers put up Christmas decorations and street vendors peddled warm chestnuts. &quot;Syria deserves joy and for us to be happy, and to hope for a new future,&quot; said student Loris Aasaf, 20. Trump&#39;s Christmas messageIn the United States, President Donald Trump issued a starkly different message to those of religious leaders. He wished a Merry Christmas &quot;to everyone, including the radical left-wing scum&quot;, referring to Democrats. In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a sombre message after the deadly attack during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14. &quot;After the terror inflicted on Jewish Australia celebrating Hanukkah and Bondi Beach, we feel the weight of sorrow in our hearts,&quot; he said&nbsp;

Pope Leo XIV urged Russia and Ukraine to find the "courage" to hold direct talks and spoke of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza in his first Christmas message

Pope urges Russia, Ukraine dialogue in Christmas blessing

MIAMI: The United States was joined Saturday by Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey in urging parties in the Gaza ceasefire to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint, the chief US envoy said after talks in Miami. Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump&#39;s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10. &quot;We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President&rsquo;s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,&quot; said a statement posted by Witkoff on X. Their meeting came amid continuing strains on the agreement. Gaza&#39;s civil defense said six people were killed Friday in Israeli shelling of a shelter. That brought to 400 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect. Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the truce, with the military reporting three of its soldiers killed in the territory since October. Saturday&#39;s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals, and a reduction in hostilities. It called for &quot;the near-term establishment and operationalization&quot; of a transitional administration, which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation. Under the deal&#39;s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilization force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.

The US, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey urged restraint in Gaza after Miami talks, reaffirming commitment to the ceasefire, citing progress but warning of ongoing violations and rising casualties.

US, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey urge restraint in Gaza after Miami talks

ROME: A famine declared in Gaza in August is now over thanks to improved access for humanitarian aid, the United Nations said on Friday, but warned the food situation in the Palestinian territory remained &quot;critical&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;No areas are classified in Famine,&quot; said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises.&nbsp;But it warned &quot;the situation remains critical: the entire Gaza Strip is classified in Emergency&quot;.&nbsp;A US-sponsored ceasefire has halted the fighting in Gaza that began after Hamas&#39;s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.&nbsp;But the deal, in effect since October 10, remains fragile as Israel and Hamas accuse each other almost daily of violations.&nbsp;

The UN says famine declared in Gaza in August has ended due to increased aid access, but food conditions remain critical, with all areas in emergency status, amid a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

UN declares famine over in Gaza, says 'situation remains critical'

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, along with Muslim-majority countries, has reiterated its firm support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), warning that any weakening of the agency&rsquo;s operations would lead to serious humanitarian and political repercussions across the Middle East.&nbsp;In a joint statement issued late Friday by Pakistan Foreign Office, the foreign ministries of Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, T&uuml;rkiye, and the United Arab Emirates emphasized UNRWA&#39;s &quot;indispensable role&quot; in providing critical services to Palestinian refugees.&nbsp;The statement, which came amid escalating humanitarian challenges in Gaza, highlighted UNRWA&rsquo;s unique mandate, established by UN General Assembly Resolution 302 in 1949, which allows the agency to provide vital protection, education, healthcare, social services, and emergency assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees.&nbsp;The ministers also welcomed the UN General Assembly&rsquo;s recent decision to extend UNRWA&rsquo;s mandate for another three years, underlining continued international confidence in the agency&rsquo;s ability to meet the needs of refugees.&nbsp;They stressed that the agency&rsquo;s operations in Gaza are vital, particularly during the ongoing humanitarian crisis, as UNRWA&rsquo;s distribution network has been delivering food, relief supplies, and other essential aid in a fair and efficient manner in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2803.&nbsp;&ldquo;UNRWA schools and health centers remain a lifeline for Gaza&rsquo;s refugees,&rdquo; the statement noted, praising the agency&rsquo;s staff for providing essential education and healthcare services in extremely challenging conditions.&nbsp;The ministers further stated that no other entity possesses the infrastructure or expertise necessary to meet the needs of Palestinian refugees, adding that any weakening of UNRWA&rsquo;s capacity would have &ldquo;grave humanitarian, social, and political consequences across the region.&rdquo;&nbsp;The joint statement also called on the international community to ensure predictable and sustainable funding for UNRWA, urging that the agency be given the &ldquo;political and operational space&rdquo; to continue its work in all five of its mandated fields.&nbsp;Supporting UNRWA, the ministers stated, is crucial for maintaining regional stability, preserving human dignity, and upholding the rights of Palestinian refugees until a just and lasting solution is achieved in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions, including General Assembly Resolution 194.&nbsp;The statement also condemned the recent Israeli forces&rsquo; storming of the UNRWA headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.&nbsp;Terming the assault a &ldquo;flagrant violation of international law,&rdquo; the ministers called it an unacceptable escalation and a direct violation of the inviolability of UN premises.&nbsp;They further cited the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which affirmed that Israel, as an occupying power, is obligated to facilitate, not hinder, UNRWA&#39;s operations.&nbsp;The ministers underscored the importance of continued international support for UNRWA to ensure that it can continue its vital work for Palestinian refugees, emphasizing the agency&rsquo;s irreplaceable role in the region&rsquo;s stability and the preservation of Palestinian rights.

Pakistan and seven Muslim nations reaffirmed support for UNRWA, warning its weakened capacity would worsen Gaza’s crisis, urging sustained funding and condemning Israel’s raid on the agency’s East Jerusalem headquarters as a violation of international law

Articles tagged with "Gaza"

Patients cling to medical organization in Gaza hospital as Israel orders it out

UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza

World welcomes 2026 with fireworks after year of Trump and turmoil

Hoping for better year ahead, Gazans bid farewell to 2025 nightmare

10 countries warn of 'catastrophic' Gaza situation

'Shivering from cold and fear': winter rains batter displaced Gazans

Pope urges Russia, Ukraine dialogue in Christmas blessing

US, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey urge restraint in Gaza after Miami talks

UN declares famine over in Gaza, says 'situation remains critical'

Pakistan, Muslim world urge sustained UNRWA support amid Gaza crisis

Patients cling to medical organization in Gaza hospital as Israel orders it out