Six staff members with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) were killed in Gaza on Wednesday when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter and its surroundings.“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident,” UNRWA said in a post on the social media platform, X.

At least 34 people were killed in the strikes, according to media reports. UNRWA said the shelter manager and other team members were among the victims. UN Secretary-General António Guterres deplored the bloodshed.“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” he wrote on X.“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”The UNRWA school in Nuseirat, located in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.This marked the fifth time that it had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.Earlier on Wednesday the UN said the site had been previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces.UNRWA called on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes.“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target,” the tweet said.UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini lamented the “endless and senseless killing, day after day” in Gaza.Writing on X, he said at least 220 agency staff have lost their lives since the war began.“Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said.He warned that “the longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.”In a related development, the UN reported that health workers continue efforts to vaccinate young children in northern Gaza against polio, part of a wider campaign to defeat the disease, which can cause paralysis.More than 81,600 boys and girls were vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).Polio was detected in Gaza in June and UN agencies and partners launched a two-round campaign this month to provide over 640,000 children with two doses of novel oral polio vaccine type 2.So far, nearly 528,000 children have been reached in the first round. (NAN)

An Israeli drone on Tuesday fired several missiles at a flat in a five-story building in the market town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.Eight people were injured, according to an initial toll announced by the Lebanese Health Ministry.It was not immediately clear whether there were any Hezbollah members were in the targeted building.

Earlier, an Israeli drone assassinated a Hezbollah fighter riding a motorbike on the Bab Mareaa-Saghbine road in Western Bekaa and wounded two passersby. Hezbollah said that one of its fighters, Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, was killed but did not specify where and when he was killed.The Israeli army confirmed it “struck and eliminated” the terrorist Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, who served as a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander, in the area of Qaraoun,It added that the Israeli artillery struck the areas of Sawaneh and Aita al-Shaab.Since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas in Gaza last October, there have been clashes between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon in the border area.There have been casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah, which says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. (dpa/NAN)

The outgoing President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, has described the session as eventful as three resolutions on the Gaza conflict were among the achievements recorded.Francis told journalists on Monday in New York that a milestone declaration to accelerate investment in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was also one of the achievements of the session.

Speaking on the eve of the end of his mandate, Francis described his year at the helm of the UN’s main policy-making body as “an honour of lifetime”. “This has been a truly eventful session,” he said.The General Assembly comprises all 193 UN Member States, and the veteran diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago made ‘Peace, Prosperity, Progress and Sustainability’ the watchwords for his presidency.It began with the adoption of a landmark political declaration at the SDG Summit in September 2023, which the General Assembly endorsed in its first official action of the 78th session, “bringing urgency to our efforts to fulfil the SDGs,” he said.Separate High-Level Meetings on three health-related issues – pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; boosting universal health coverage, and stamping out tuberculosis – also ended with political declarations.“The High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, meanwhile, led to a resounding consensus on the need to reform the global financial architecture – with a view to matching our Sustainable Development ambitions for 2030 with the necessary resources for implementation,” he added.The General Assembly also commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December with an informal plenary meeting and award ceremony for recipients of the UN Human Rights Prize.Francis convened the Assembly’s first-ever Sustainability Week, held in April, focused on issues such as tourism, transport, infrastructure and energy, while a flagship event on debt sustainability highlighted the concerns of countries in special situations.The Week was devoted to building momentum for the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, held in May in Antigua and Barbuda, and the Summit of the Future, which begins next week in New York, and to catapulting global efforts to achieve sustainable development.“Throughout, we were reminded of the central responsibility to build sustainable peace, the lynchpin of success on any other pillar of the UN’s work,” Francis said.He added that following the horrifying escalation of violence in the Middle East, the General Assembly took bold action to resume its 10th Emergency Session.In line with the “Uniting for Peace” resolution, which the Assembly adopted in 1950, the body can convene an “emergency special session” within 24 hours should the Security Council “fail to exercise its primary responsibility” for the maintenance of international peace and security.Francis said the Assembly adopted three important resolutions in this regard.The first called for the protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations, while the second demanded an immediate ceasefire and that all parties comply with their international organizations, as well as the release of all hostages and ensuring humanitarian access.The third resolution determined that the State of Palestine is qualified for UN membership and recommended that the Security Council consider the matter favourably.“These demands by the Assembly represent the will of the international community, and – as I have routinely said on several occasions – I reiterate these demands, forthrightly, here today. It is time for the violence in Gaza to stop,” he said.Francis also expressed pride in his administration’s work on gender and youth.This included re-establishing the Advisory Board on Gender Equality and frequent engagement with young people, whether at UN Headquarters or elsewhere in the world.The outgoing Assembly president also pointed to another major achievement during his administration, namely raising greater awareness of the threat posed by sea-level rise.He said Heads of State and Government will take up the issue later this month, “with a view to giving specific directions for future work.”Asked if he was optimistic or pessimistic about the UN’s ability to be a key player, given challenges such as the Middle East crisis, the war in Ukraine and the climate emergency.“I’m optimistic about the future of the UN for a number of reasons,” he responded.“Because there is no other organisation on this planet like the UN that has the capacity or the commitment to do what the UN does. It simply does not exist anywhere else.”He highlighted the UN’s power to convene 193 countries who can discuss their problems and concerns “in a rational, civil manner” in the search for solutions.The 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79) will open on Tuesday, with the theme ‘Unity and Diversity for advancing peace, sustainable development and human dignity, everywhere and for all’.Former Prime Minister of Cameroon Philemon Yang, was elected in June to serve as President of the 79th Session of the General Assembly.Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, was elected Vice-President of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly and will represent the African Group alongside his peers elected from other regional groups.The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly marks a crucial milestone in the global effort to accelerate progress towards the 17 SDGs.(NAN)