UN News Today 24 March 2025 |

In Gaza, UN humanitarians condemn more Israeli attacks on medics, hospitals

One week since Israeli bombing started again in Gaza, UN humanitarians have described deadly attacks hitting health workers, ambulances and hospitals.

Senior UN humanitarian in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jonathan Whittall, said that hundreds of children and adults have been killed since the ceasefire broke down between Hamas and Israel.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, also said on Monday that 124,000 people in the enclave have been forced to flee what it called “relentless bombardment”.

“Families carry what little they have with no shelter, no safety, and nowhere left to go; the Israeli authorities have cut off all aid,” UNRWA said in an online statement – warning that food is scarce and prices are soaring as the Israeli blockade goes on.

UNAIDS chief warns of surge in deaths unless US restores funding

The head of the UN agency coordinating the fight against HIV-AIDS has warned that an addition 6.3 million people will die from AIDS-related deaths in the next four years, unless US funding support is reinstated – or other countries step up.

Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, pointed to a “tenfold increase” in AIDS-related deaths from the 600,000 recorded globally in 2023.

Here she is speaking in Geneva on Monday:

“We will see a resurge of this – a real surge in this disease – will see it come back and we see people dying the way we saw them in the 90s and in 2000s… And for Africa, the closing down all of a sudden of drop-in centres for girls and young women will be disastrous because more than 60 per cent of new infections on the continent are amongst girls and young women.”

Ms. Byanyima noted that the funding freeze announced by the White House on 20 January was due to end next month, after a 90-day review.

Already, drop-in centres where HIV patients can pick up the anti-retroviral medicines they need are not reopening, “for fear that this might not be consistent with the new guidelines”, she said.

‘Don’t cut the aid’: Insecurity worsens for stateless Rohingya, says UNHCR’s Grandi

To Bangladesh, where the UN has appealed for more than $930 million to help around one million mainly Muslim Rohingyas, who’ve fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

In a joint appeal on Monday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged all countries to step up to support the displaced Rohingya – the world’s largest stateless population.

The humanitarian situation in the massive Cox’s Bazar refugee camp which is home to them continues to worsen, said IOM Director-General Amy Pope.

“This is not a place where people want to live; if you are a young woman, you do not leave your tent at night.”

The joint UNHCR and IOM Joint Response Plan aims to help the Rohingya and host communities.

Its projects include tackling rising cross-border recruitment into terrorist organizations, which reflects the lack of job opportunities for the camp’s many young residents.

Daniel Johnson, UN News

Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved.