The sounds of the explosions increase as we get closer to the Italian base in Al Mansouri one January morning. The firefights along the Blue Line have grown more intense. When the exchanges of fire are close like this, all UNIFIL personnel, military and civilian, must stay inside UN bases. So, the scheduled patrol by Italian peacekeepers this morning has to wait until the situation gets calmer. After two hours, the patrol gets the permission to start and we accompany them on a patrol in their area of operations, the southernmost area along the Lebanese coast.

Patrolling to Restore Stability (Part 2)

•	Uncertainty in Gaza amplified by closure of key border crossings
•	Russia: UN rights chief troubled by increasing crackdown on journalists
•	DRC: more than 80,000 newly displaced people amid new fighting in Kivu

Audio Credit: Matt Wells, UN News
Audio: 3'58"
Photo Credit: Ziad Abu Khousa

News in Brief - 7 May 2024 - Gaza, Russia and DRC

Despite the risk of new strikes in Rafah, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners continue to establish field hospitals and get services back online at the shattered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.

 Dr. Ahmed Dahir, Team Lead with the WHO office in Gaza, told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that conditions have reached an “unprecedented emergency level”.

Dr. Dahir is currently in Rafah and has been describing the “crucial steps” being taken to prepare for any large-scale Israeli military operations in the coming hours.

Audio Credit: Khaled Mohamed , UN News
Audio: 7'8"
Photo Credit: UN News

‘Patients are afraid’: Top WHO official in Rafah describes rising alarm amid Israeli strikes

•	Gaza: No aid is coming through the south, confirms @UNRWA 
•	Unprecedented flooding displaces hundreds of thousands across east Africa: IOM
•	No respite in sight for Brazil suffering flood emergency: WMO

Audio Credit: Shanaé Harte, UN News
Audio: 3'23"
Photo Credit: UN News / Ziad Taleb

News in Brief - 8 May 2024 - Gaza, East Africa and Brazil

Amid intensified settlement building and the increased use of war tactics by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the number of casualties and injuries in the West Bank are now the highest on record, said the head of the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Wednesday.

Ajith Sunghay, told Anton Uspensky of UN News that “whatever happens in Gaza has a massive impact on the West Bank” while violations of Palestinians’ rights have intensified at the hands of “emboldened” settlers.

Audio credit: Anton Uspensky, UN News
Audio: 15'12"
Photo credit: UN OPT

UN rights office: Gaza conflict having ‘massive impact’ on West Bank

A vast array of weaponry has been used in the last seven months of conflict in Gaza, so much so that UN mine action experts say that land potentially contaminated with unexploded ordnance will take years to make safe.

Patrick McCabe is a UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) veteran whose job is to help civilians move around Gaza as safely as possible, now and when the fighting ends.

He spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, about what he’d seen in the shattered enclave so far.

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Audio: 12'29"
Photo credit: © UNRWA

Unexploded weapons: One of many existential threats in Gaza

•	Gaza: 80,000 flee Rafah amid Israeli military escalation fears, say UN humanitarians 
•	Former Guantanamo Bay detainee faces re-victimisation in Algeria, right experts warn 
•	Early data on vaccine ‘patches’ is welcome news in battle against measles: WHO

Audio Credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Audio: 4'5"
Photo Credit: © UNOCHA/Ismael Abu Dayyah

News in Brief - 9 May 2024 - Gaza, Algeria and Measles

Welcome to UNFICYP's monthly podcast Out Loud, in this edition, we interview the Mission's newly arrived Force Commander, Major General Erdenebat Batsuuri, of Mongolia.

This year the United Nations is marking 76 years of UN peacekeeping, and here in Cyprus, UNFICYP, which is one of the longest running peacekeeping missions, is marking 60 years in the service of peace. Tune in and listen to Major General Batsuuri talk about his experiences in other peacekeeping operations, his first impressions of Cyprus and learn more about the work of our peacekeepers on the island.

Presenter: Ersin Öztoycan

Podcast with UNFICYP Maj Gen Erdenebat Batsuuri

•	Gaza: As exodus from Rafah continues, ceasefire calls grow 
•	Myanmar spike in fighting fuels humanitarian emergency: OCHA  
•	Belarus probe finds torture of detainees is systematic: rights experts


Audio Credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Audio: 3'48"
Photo Credit: Gazans pack their possessions and leave the east of Rafah in search of a safe place

News in Brief - 10 May 2024 - Gaza, Myanmar and Belarus

Two arson attacks which followed weeks of protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its compound in East Jerusalem on Thursday. 

The developments are part of a wider campaign to undermine the agency, said Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler. 

UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri asked him about these incidents, intimidation of UNRWA staff, and their commitment to stay and deliver amid the war in Gaza and rising violence in the occupied West Bank.

Audio credit: Ezzat El-Ferri
Photo caption: UNRWA staff continue to support communities in Gaza. (file)
Photo credit:© UNRWA

Fiery rhetoric sparks ‘real flames’ at UNRWA East Jerusalem office

Two arson attacks which followed weeks of protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its compound in East Jerusalem on Thursday.

The developments are part of a wider campaign to undermine the agency, said Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler.

He spoke to UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri about these incidents, intimidation of UNRWA staff, and their commitment to stay and deliver amid the war in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank.

Audio credit: Ezzat El-Ferri, UN News
Photo caption: As the largest humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA continues to provide aid to displaced people.
Photo credit: © UNRWA

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Patrolling to Restore Stability (Part 2)

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