News in Brief 25 June 2024 |

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

New famine alert for Gaza where families go days without food

Gazans are at “high risk” of famine “as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted”, food security experts warned on Tuesday.

According to the latest UN-partnered food security report known as the IPC, more than one in five households “go entire days without eating” and 96 per cent of the population face acute food insecurity at “crisis” level or higher – some 2.15 million people.

UN humanitarian worker Yasmina Guerda from the UN aid office OCHA, who has just returned from Gaza said meanwhile that there’s not even one safe centimetre left in the enclave.

Here she is now, describing the trauma Gazans face after being told to evacuate their homes by the Israeli military:

“You have 10 to 15 minutes to leave your building because it’s going to be bombed. Your kids are sleeping in the room next door. You wake them up, they whine, probably. And you have to make split-second decisions to decide what to pack, what’s essential. And how do you define “essential”? Birth certificates, IDs, baby formula?”

In a related development the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Tuesday that 10 children lose one or both legs every day in Gaza, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, also condemned an overnight attack on one of the agency’s schools in Gaza City that reportedly killed around 12 people and injured 22 more.

The strike brings the total number of UN premises “hit or damaged or targeted since the beginning of the war” to 190, which is more than half of UNRWA’s premises in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Lazzarini said.

Ukraine invasion: ICC issues arrest warrants against top Russian officials

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for two senior Russian officials for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Russian Federation’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The two men – Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov – held top positions within the Russian government and military at the time of the reported crimes, which include missile strikes on “numerous” power stations in multiple locations.

In a statement the court said that it was reasonable to consider that the harm to civilians and damage from the strikes from October 2022 to March 2023 “would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage”.

The court also noted that both individuals face allegations that they “caused excessive incidental harm to civilians” and were responsible for “inhumane acts” by either ordering the crimes to happen or through “failure to exercise proper control over the forces under their command”.

Assange’s release welcomed by independent expert on torture

The release of Julian Assange “is a very good outcome” to the long-running case, the UN independent expert on torture said on Tuesday, after reports that the WikiLeaks founder had struck a plea deal with the United States.

Mr. Assange had been sought by US lawmakers after massive leaks of classified material via the WikiLeaks platform.

Here’s Alice Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, talking to UN News:

“People should not and should never be extradited to where they may face a torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment, and that includes penalties that are disproportionate to any alleged crimes that may have been committed. Those crimes that were exposed by Mr. Assange need to be taken seriously and properly investigated and prosecuted in the United States. Impunity for war crimes and other violations of the laws of war only embolden actors to take matters into their own hands.”

Until today Mr. Assange had been fighting extradition from prison in the United Kingdom to the US, after the 2010 publication of secret military documents and diplomatic communications.

His reported deal involves a guilty plea to one count of violating the US Espionage Act, without serving additional prison time.

You can hear the full interview with Ms. Edwards on the UN News audio hub.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.