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FILE PHOTO: Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint, as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, February 19, 2024.

REUTERS/Kosay Al Nemer/File Photo

As Gazans face starvation, aid organizations struggle to help

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war is dire, and it’s being exacerbated by the convoluted array of logistical and political obstacles that aid organizations are facing.

With nearly two million people displaced from their homes and the specters of starvation and disease looming, here’s a look at the challenges aid organizations face to save lives.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the day of a public hearing to allow parties to give their views on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories before eventually issuing a non-binding legal opinion, in The Hague, Netherlands, February 19, 2024.

REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Israeli occupation on trial at ICJ

Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Monday delivered an opening statement before the International Court of Justice at the Hague in a case about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories since 1967. The UN-backed court will hear from more than 50 countries and three multinational organizations – the largest case in the ICJ’s history – but a decision could take months, and it would be non-binding.

This is separate from South Africa’s case alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

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Wild geese fly over the Elbe meadows in the light of the setting sun on November 4, 2020, in Brandenburg, Wittenberge.

Soeren Stache/REUTESR

Hard Numbers: Migratory species face extinction, Dutch court halts shipments of F-35 parts to Israel, RFK’s Super Bowl ad debacle, Suspected separatist attack in Cameroon

22: A new report from the UN warns that over a fifth (22%) of the world’s migratory species are at risk of extinction due to climate change and human encroachment. The report, which focuses on 1,189 kinds of animals, emphasized that 44% have already declined in number.

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The office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City back in 2018.

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

US cuts aid as UNRWA staff accused of Oct. 7 involvement

The International Court of Justice isn’t the only UN body in the news regarding Gaza today.

The White House on Friday suspended funding for the UN Refugee Works Administration, aka UNRWA, due to allegations that an unspecified number of the agency’s employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.

UNRWA is the main UN agency supporting the roughly 6 million Palestinian refugees who live in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. (Here’s a map of where they live.) It provides humanitarian aid and runs schools, medical facilities, and other social services.

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Israeli soldiers walk as they operate, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza, January 8, 2024.

REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Explainer: South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

South Africa has formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and began making its case against the Jewish state before the International Court of Justice on Thursday.

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Yael Richert speaks during special event to address sexual violence during Hamas terror attack on October 7 held at UN Headquarters in New York on December 4, 2023. During the event, speakers described their personal experience seeing women violated during terror attack and condemned women’s advocacy groups, specifically UN Women, to be silent on this.

Photo by Lev Radin/Sipa USA via Reuters

Tensions between Israel and UN reach boiling point

As the Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza, the Israeli government and the UN are locked in an escalating feud of their own. Israel has accused the UN of anti-Israel bias in the past, but the tensions have reached new heights in recent days. Here’s what’s going on:

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Singapore sets an example on AI governance
AI governance: Singapore is having a critical discussion | GZERO AI

Singapore sets an example on AI governance

Marietje Schaake, International Policy Fellow, Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and former European Parliamentarian, co-hosts GZERO AI, our new weekly video series intended to help you keep up and make sense of the latest news on the AI revolution. In this episode, she reviews the Singapore government's latest agenda in its AI policy: How to govern AI, at the Singapore Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

Hello. My name is Marietje Schaake. I'm in Singapore this week, and this is GZERO AI. Again, a lot of AI activities going on here at a conference organized by the Singaporese government that is looking at how to govern AI, the key question, million-dollar question, billion-dollar question that is on agendas for politicians, whether it is in cities, countries, or multilateral organizations. And what I like about the approach of the government here in Singapore is that they've brought together a group of experts from multiple disciplines, multiple countries around the world, to help them tackle the question of, what should we be asking ourselves? And how can experts inform what Singapore should do with regard to its AI policy? And this sort of listening mode and inviting experts first, I think is a great approach and hopefully more governments will do that, because I think it's necessary to have such well-informed thoughts, especially while there is so much going on already. Singapore is thinking very, very clearly and strategically about what its unique role can be in a world full of AI activities.

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A general view of the UN Security Council.

Reuters

UN’s footprint in Africa shrinks again, courtesy of Sudan

With Russia abstaining, the UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to wind down its 245-person Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, aka UNITAMS, starting Dec. 4. Over the next three months, tasks will transfer to other UN agencies “where feasible,” and financial arrangements will be made with the UN Country Team remaining on the ground.

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