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Money sent home by migrants abroad has surpassed foreign direct investment in boosting the gross domestic product (GDP) of developing countries, UN migration agency IOM said in the latest edition of its flagship report, released on Tuesday. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken “crucial steps” in preparation for a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, Dr. Ahmed Dahir, team lead of its office in Gaza, told UN News on Tuesday.

Amid ongoing uncertainty about a ceasefire in Gaza and an escalation of the military operation in Rafah, UN aid agencies expressed deep concerns on Tuesday that the two main access points into the enclave remained closed, while families are scared and “hanging on psychologically and physically by a thread”. 

The 19th session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF19) opened on Monday with focus on achieving Global Forest Goals and increasing progress towards sustainable development by 2030. 

UN independent human rights experts on Monday issued a stark warning about the ongoing severe violations of women and girls’ rights in Haiti, highlighting the near total impunity of armed gangs amid the ongoing crisis there. 

Donors must continue to support humanitarian efforts to assist millions in need in Yemen, UN agencies and dozens of other aid partners said on Monday. 

UPDATED: Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation there and that Hamas has accepted the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.

Trinidad and Tobago is described as one of the “frontline States”, those nations that are most severely affected by the impact of the climate emergency, and youth activists are among the most prominent voices in the country calling for stronger action to combat the crisis, both at home and abroad.

The United Nations and partners continue to support authorities across East Africa as the region braces for more of the heavy rains and severe flooding that have reportedly killed upwards of 350 people since March.

An Israeli military operation in Rafah “could lead to a slaughter” and cripple lifesaving humanitarian work throughout Gaza, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Friday.

The relentless Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has set back Palestine’s overall socioeconomic development by more than 20 years, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.

More than 10,000 people are believed buried under the rubble in Gaza after nearly seven months of devastating conflict, UN humanitarians said on Thursday, citing the enclave’s health authorities.

The ongoing year-long war in Sudan continues to spread across the country, and now El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, is surrounded by armed fighters amid the systematic burning of entire villages, escalating air strikes and blocked aid deliveries.

Camels, long known as the ships of the desert, have played an important role helping the UN from as early as the 1940s in driving up global vaccination rates and delivering lifesaving aid.

The UN and humanitarian partners have provided emergency support for over 124,000 people in Kenya, where heavy rains continue to cause chaos, the UN said on Wednesday, as the UN chief extended his condolences to countries across the region where hundreds of lives have been lost in recent days due to flooding. 

Amid growing international calls for restraint from Israel in Gaza and reports on Wednesday of further deadly strikes overnight, UN humanitarians underscored the ongoing devastating impact of the war and the need to ensure reliable aid supply lines to people in desperate need in the enclave.

With the situation in Gaza “worsening by the day”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday appealed for Israeli and Hamas leaders currently taking part in intense negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement.

The world’s leading humanitarian action forum on Tuesday said that crushing levels of violence and displacement are fuelling unprecedented civilian suffering in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Children as young as four are being forced to go to work in Lebanon amid a “massive collapse” in humanitarian funding and escalating hostilities on the country’s southern border with Israel that threaten to spiral into a “full-scale war”, UN child experts said on Tuesday.

Ordinary Gazans remain in a “constant state of trauma” over an impending full-scale Israeli attack on the enclave’s southernmost city of Rafah, amid a growing number of strikes there, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday.

A small but growing number of countries are well on their way to producing all of their electricity from renewable sources. Dominica, in the eastern Caribbean, is planning to join these pioneers and become the first small island developing State (SIDS) to stop using fossil fuels for energy generation.

Global progress towards sustainable development will continue to stall unless countries do more to bridge the gender gap and reduce poverty and inequality, the President of the General Assembly said on Monday.

The UN’s top humanitarian official in South Sudan has urged the government to lift newly imposed taxes and charges that are causing aid deliveries to be suspended, affecting tens of thousands of people.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reached one of its now-abandoned schools in Khan Younis at the weekend, where thousands of people appeared to have left at a moment’s notice, fearing further intense Israeli bombardment.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated the UN’s continued commitment to Kenya in the wake of deadly floods caused by weeks of heavy rains that continue to affect the region.

Rising violence is again restricting humanitarian aid delivery in the Darfur region of Sudan, the head of the World Food Programme said on Monday. 

Top UN officials called on Monday for swift action to combat the El Niño extreme weather events that are currently devastating southern Africa and other regions with flooding and drought.

Making Gaza safe again from unexploded bombs could take 14 years, UN demining experts said on Friday. 

As deadly attacks in Ukraine continue, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that the number of children killed so far this year has increased by nearly 40 per cent compared to 2023. 

Escalating violence in Sudan’s North Darfur state has left dozens dead and people trapped in El Fasher city, which is home to around 800,000 people, many displaced due to fighting.