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UN reiterates call for urgent de-escalation amid Iran-Israel conflict, worsening Gaza crisis
In a joint call to de-escalate, UN agencies have warned that further conflict risks triggering new displacement in a region already strained by decades of war and instability.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) noted military strikes have led people in both Iran and Israel to flee their homes in search of safety from tit-for-tat missile strikes.
“Movements have been reported from Tehran and other parts of Iran, with some choosing to cross into neighbouring countries,” the agency stated. Meanwhile, “shelling has caused people in Israel to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and in some cases abroad.”
“This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss, and displacement – we cannot allow another refugee crisis to take root,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “The time to de-escalate is right now. Once people are forced to flee, there’s no quick way back – and all too often, the consequences last for generations.”
UNHCR urged countries in the region to respect the right to seek asylum and ensure humanitarian access to those affected, while calling on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Nuclear risks rise as Iran facilities hit
The conflict escalated sharply following Israeli airstrikes on multiple Iranian nuclear-related sites in the past week, including a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in Esfahan, according to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“This is the third such facility that has been targeted over the past week,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed, noting that the facility had been under IAEA surveillance as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015, which the United States pulled out of in 2017.
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” he said. However, Mr. Grossi warned that continued strikes on nuclear infrastructure are severely undermining nuclear safety and security.
“Though they have not so far led to a radiological release affecting the public, there is a danger this could occur.”
The IAEA has been tracking damage to sites in Esfahan, Arak, Karaj, Natanz and Tehran since the Israeli military campaign against Iran began on 13 June.
The agency has been providing regular updates to the UN Security Council, which has yet to reach consensus on a response. On Friday, ambassadors debating the escalation heard during an emergency meeting in New York UN Secretary-General António Guterres warn that if fighting escalated it could “ignite a fire no one can control.”
Gaza in ruins, Palestinians face starvation
The mounting regional crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate.
On Saturday, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, painted a grim picture of life in the enclave during an address to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.
“In Gaza, two million people are being starved,” he said bluntly. “The newly created, so-called ‘aid mechanism’ is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people. It is a death-trap, costing more lives than it saves.”
Lazzarini described a territory devastated by nearly two years of conflict, with more than 55,000 reported dead by local authorities in the Strip – the majority of them women and children.
Survivors, he said, “are shadows of their former selves; their lives forever changed by unspeakable trauma and profound loss.”
In the occupied West Bank, displacement and destruction of public infrastructure are altering the demography of Palestinian camps, he added, in what he described as an effort to erase the prospect of a Palestinian State under the UN-backed two-State solution and strip Palestinians of refugee status.
UNRWA in the crosshairs
“UNRWA has become an objective of this war,” Mr. Lazzarini warned, citing the deaths of at least 318 of the agency’s staff in Gaza since the 7 October terror attacks on Israel by Hamas and other militants, the expulsion of international staff, and a campaign of disinformation aimed at crippling its funding.
Despite these pressures, UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving services, including over 15,000 health consultations per day, waste management and shelter support.
UNRWA’s financial situation is now “dire,” the agency chief said. “Without additional funding, I will soon have to take unprecedented decisions affecting our operations across the region.”
He appealed to Member States to act urgently: “The sudden loss or reduction of UNRWA’s services will only deepen suffering and despair across the occupied Palestinian territory. It might spark unrest in the neighbouring countries. This is something that the region cannot afford, especially now.”
Media advisory – Foreign Affairs Council of 23 June 2025
Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities. Source link
“ One Earth, One Health ”: Yoga day provides a respite in a tumultuous world
This powerful message from International Yoga Day, observed every year on June 21, summed up the UN headquarters in New York on Friday while hundreds gathered to embrace the old holistic practice.
A familiar tradition now each year, the north lawn has once again transformed into an open -air yoga studio overlooking the East river. After a section of rainy and gray days, the sky was finally cleared, which makes it a brilliant and hot day.
And yoga enthusiasts, including diplomats, UN officials and staff, have fully benefited, by unfolding their carpets – bodies and flexed spirits.
Peter Rogina, founder of Project Peace Lights, was delighted to return to headquarters and recalled with emotion the 2019 event, which was moved inside to the room of the general assembly due to the rain.
“I love the opportunity to practice with such a large group of people, energy is just amplified … And I also have my son with me, so to present this experience to him, I am also very excited.”
Lama Aria Drolma is a Buddhist teacher and a meditation expert.
A monastic Buddhist lama Aria Drolma comes to the UN each year to participate in the event. His path took him from the world of companies modeling to a more thoughtful place of inner peace and meditation.
“When I was a young child who grew up in India, I practiced yoga. It touches not only the body but also the soul. It is also very meditative. I find that yoga is one of the healthiest things we can all do to take care of our health. ”
‘A family’
The emphasis on personal well-being also highlighted the advantages of yoga beyond individuals to encompass the health of the whole planet.
Organized by the permanent mission of India at the UN in collaboration with the UN secretariat, the theme of this year’s event was, Yoga for land, health.
The ambassador of the permanent representative of India, P. Harish, noted how he underlines a vital truth: personal well-being and planetary health are deeply interconnected.
“By taking care of ourselves, we start to take care of the earth, reflecting the sustainable Indian ethics of Vasudhaiva KutumbakamOr the whole world is a family.
“The 11thth The edition of the Yoga Day offers us an opportunity to think about how yoga has become a world force for well-being, affecting people through age groups, geographies and horizons, “he added.
Echoing this, Didi Ananda Radhika Acchara of the Women’s Women Center of Ananda Marga stressed that more than a simple exercise, yoga is a way to discover the feeling of unity with yourself, the world and nature.
“Outside, we are our bodies, inside this is our mind. At the end inside, there is something that always witnesses us, observing us. It is our soul. Thanks to yoga, we can reach this interior space. When we immerse ourselves in the depths of our mind through yoga, we realize how connected we are all. ”
A symbol of hope
Participants on the lawn went from experienced practitioners to the first curious thirds, engaged in basic yoga asanas (poses), breathing techniques and stretching exercises.
Marking International Yoga Day at the UN headquarters in New York. (June 20, 2025)
The main highlight of the program was a meditation session guided by the famous doctor and a leading figure on integrative well-being, Dr. Deepak Chopra.
Marta Shedletsky of Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in New York attended the session in search of a feeling of community, trust – and hope. The place had a particular meaning to him.
“What’s going on in the world these days, with all the troubles and all the wars taking place, this place looks like a symbol of hope for a better future and the possibility of peace. »»
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
The UN reiterates the call for an urgent de-escalation in the midst of Irano-Israeli conflicts, aggravating the Gaza crisis
In a joint call to defuse, United Nations agencies have warned that new risks of conflict triggering a new trip to a region already tense by decades of war and instability.
The United Nations Agency for Refugees (Hcr)) Military strikes have led people in Iran and Israel to flee their homes in search of the security of Tit-For-Tat missile strikes.
“Movements have been reported to Tehran and other parts of Iran, some choosing to cross the neighboring countries,” said the agency. Meanwhile, “the bombings led people in Israel to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and in some cases abroad.”
“” This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss and displacement – we cannot allow another crisis of refugees to take root“Said the United Nations High Commissioner for Filippo Refugees Granded.” The time to defuse is at the moment. Once people are forced to flee, there is no quick path back – And too often, the consequences last generations. “”
UNHCR has urged the countries of the region to respect the right to seek asylum and ensure humanitarian access to affected people, while calling on all parties to protect civilians and civil infrastructure.
Nuclear risks increase as Iranian installations reach
The conflict collapsed following Israeli air strikes on several nuclear -related Iranian sites during last week, including a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in Esfahan, according to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea).
“This is the third installation of this type which was targeted in last week,” confirmed the director general Rafael Mariano Grossi, noting that the installation was under surveillance of the IAEA within the framework of the Complete full action plan (JCPOA)-The nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015, from which the United States withdrew in 2017.
“We know this installation well. There was no nuclear matter on this site and therefore the attack on this subject will have no radiological consequences“He said. However, Mr. Grossi warned that continuous strikes on nuclear infrastructure strongly undermine nuclear security and security.
“” Although they have not so far led to radiological release affecting the public, there is a danger that this could happen. “”
The IAEA has followed damage to the sites of Esfahan, Arak, Karaj, Natanz and Tehran since the start of the Israeli military campaign against Iran on June 13. T
The agency has provided regular updates to the UN Security adviceWho has not yet reached consensus on an answer. Friday, the ambassadors who debate the climbing heard during an emergency meeting in New York heard the UN Secretary General António Guterres warn that If the fights intensified, it could “turn on a fire, no one can control”.
Gaza in ruins, the Palestinians face famine
The regional assembly crisis takes place in the context of the war in Gaza, where humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate.
On Saturday, the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, painted a dark image of life in the enclave during an address to the organization of Islamic cooperation in Istanbul.
“” In Gaza, two million people are hungry“He said frankly.The “so-called newly created aid mechanism” is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people. It is a death screed, which costs more lives than it saves. »»
Lazzarini has described a territory devastated by almost two years of conflict, with more than 55,000 dead by local authorities of the Strip – the majority of women and children.
The survivors, he said, “are shadows of their old self; Their lives has changed forever by an unspeakable trauma and a deep loss. “”
In the occupied West Bank, the displacement and destruction of public infrastructure modify the demography of the Palestinian camps, he added, in what he described as an effort to erase the perspective of a Palestinian state under the solution to two states not sustained and undressing the Palestinians of refugee status.
UNRWA in the reticle
“” UNRWA has become an objective of this war“Warned Mr. Lazzarini, citing the death of at least 318 of the agency staff in Gaza since the terrorist attacks on October 7 against Israel by Hamas and other activists, the expulsion of international staff and a disinformation campaign aimed at paralyzing its funding.
Despite these pressures, UNRWA continues to provide rescue services, including more than 15,000 health consultations per day, waste management and shelter support.
UNRWA’s financial situation is now “disastrous,” said the chief of the agency. “” Without additional funding, I will soon have to make unprecedented decisions affecting our operations Throughout the region. »»
He called on Member States to act urgently: “The sudden loss or the reduction of UNRWA services will only deepen suffering and despair through the occupied Palestinian territory. This could arouse unrest in neighboring countries. This is something that the region cannot afford, especially now. ”
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
Statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, together with the High Representative of the European Union
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Gaza horrors continue as the weakest succumb to injuries and disease
“I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza – I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
A recent online video featuring a dying 13-year-old Abed al-Rahman who Mr. Elder met while on mission in Gaza has been seen thousands of times since it was published on 6 June. In the clip, Abed explains that he has been asking for pain relief for his shrapnel wounds, but none is available.
Speaking to journalists from Amman, Mr. Elder explained that partly destroyed hospitals including Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis continue to treat wounded children, despite a shortage of medicine and medical supplies.
“Humanitarian aid is so much more than food in a box; it’s oxygen kits, it’s ventilators, it’s hygiene packs; it’s medicines, it’s incubators,” he explained. “It’s all those things the United Nations was doing just a couple of months ago.”
Mr. Elder added that parents whose children need oxygen have been leaving hospital “because of the fear that Nasser may come under attack again. As the doctors told me, if you have a child who needs oxygen and they leave without the oxygen, they will, over a matter of time, die in a tent.”
Desperation, starvation
The dire shortage of the most basic life-sustaining aid linked to Israeli restrictions continues to create desperation and starvation across Gaza.
“I spoke to a grandmother in tears saying, how am I possibly to get to these sites?” Mr. Elder explained. “I’ve met young men who’ve been seven times and never returned with anything. So, there’s a complete lack of equity. There’s a complete lack of sites. You cannot distribute aid in a militarised zone, in a combat zone, by one party to the conflict.”
Those most susceptible to the lack of fresh drinking water, food and fuel are the weakest Gazans: the young, pregnant women, the elderly and amputees, Mr. Elder said.
It would be impossible for them to walk the long distances required to fetch scant supplies from controversial non-UN aid hubs.
Lethal choice
“You have half a million people facing starvation with a lethal choice of being forced into very small pockets where most people can’t access into what are officially known as combat sites,” the UNICEF spokesperson explained. “We know children [who have been] killed at these sites.”
Meanwhile, malnutrition and the impact of it on people’s weakened immune systems continues to take its toll, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
“The latest reports say 610 patients have been admitted due to severe malnutrition complications,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “But what does that mean? That means these are the lucky ones who made it so far to get to a place.
“This does not count the many who were too weak to reach any point, who are too weak, who cannot be transported because the roads are blocked, because there are no ambulances, or because the hospitals, some of the health emergency centres have been shelled and bombed and are being constantly shelled and bombed.”
Statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, together with the High Representative of the European Union
Statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, together with the High Representative of the European Union
