February 8, 2026 Dan Glaun, The Intercept The Department of Defense has quietly signed a $210 million deal to buy advanced cluster shells from one of Israel’s state-owned arms companies, marking unusually large new commitments to a class of weapons and an Israeli defense establishment both widely condemned for their indiscriminate killing of civilians. The deal, signed in September and not previously reported, is the department’s largest contract to purchase weapons from an I

February 7, 2026 UN News Service In a statement issued as the treaty expired at midnight GMT Thursday, he said the world was entering uncharted territory, with no remaining legally binding constraints on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russia – the two countries that together hold the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons. “ For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals ” o

February 7, 2026 UNHCR A series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.

February 2, 2026 Dan Sabbagh  The Guardian An authoritative survey of 23 armed conflicts over the last 18 months has concluded that international law seeking to limit the effects of war is at breaking point, with more than 100,000 civilians killed, while torture and rape are committed with near impunity. Sudanese families displaced from El Fasher reach out for food aid. Photograph: Marwan Ali/AP

© UNRWA The UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem is demolished by heavy machinery. January 20, 2026 UN News Service Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an “unprecedented attack” against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law. The move represents “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nati

January 18, 2026 New York Times from January 12, 2026 More than two months ago, Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement that offered Palestinians in Gaza a hope of respite after a punishing two-year Israeli bombardment that left much of their enclave in ruins. The destruction has continued. Israel has demolished more than 2,500 buildings in Gaza since the cease-fire began, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs. It says it is destr

January 16, 2026 UN OHCHR GENEVA  – UN experts* today said that the only way to restore democracy in Venezuela following the recent violation of its sovereignty and years of authoritarian rule, is to respect the will of the Venezuelan people, ensure accountability and self-determination, and guarantee the sovereign and sustainable use of their natural resources in line with international law. Demonstrators march in support of abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro durin

Jannuary 9, 2026 Prof. Juan Cole The UN Office of Human Rights, headed by Volker Türk, on Wednesday issued an  extensive report on the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank in which it for the first time described Israeli policies there as Apartheid. The executive summary says, “The report warns that Israel is violating international law requiring States to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.” Photo of predominantly Palestinian Silwan

January 9, 2026 By Vibhu Mishra Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed regret over the decision by the United States to withdraw from a number of UN entities, while underscoring that the system will continue to deliver on all its mandates.

December 25, 2025 We, States of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

December 7, 2025 By Michael Schmitt , Tess Bridgeman  and Ryan Goodman The Sept. 2 attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs has sparked widespread discussion regarding the targetability of the 11 people aboard, including two who survived the first strike, and of the drugs themselves.  Given the administration’s lack of transparency, especially from the Department of Defense, there is widespread speculation about what really happened in this first, highly controversial Operat

December 6, 2025 Seham Tantesh  in Gaza, Julian Borger  and Emma Graham-Harrison  in Jerusalem When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza . Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late

December 3, 2025 William Astore It’s been 20 years since I retired from the Air Force and 40 years since I first entered Cheyenne Mountain , America’s nuclear redoubt at the southern end of the Front Range that includes Pikes Peak in Colorado. So it was with some nostalgia that I read a recent memo from General Kenneth Wilsbach, the new chief of staff of the Air Force. Along with the usual warrior talk, the CSAF vowed to “relentlessly advocate” for the new Sentinel ICBM , or

December 3, 2025 UN News Service The President of the UN General Assembly called on Tuesday for greater action to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and a two-State solution with Israel.        Annalena Baerbock was speaking at an Assembly plenary meeting where countries debated a resolution that affirms the UN’s responsibility for the question of Palestine. “For 78 years the Palestinian people have been denied their inalienable rights – in particular, their right to

November 28, 2025 We – France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom – strongly condemn the massive increase of settler violence against Palestinian civilians and call for stability in the West Bank. Destabilising activity risks undermining the success of the 20 Point Plan for Gaza and prospects for long-term peace and security. The number of attacks has reached new heights, with 264 attacks in October according to OCHA, the largest number of settlers’ attacks in a single month

November 15, 2025 This is House Resolution 876, Introduced on November 13, 2025 Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948; Whereas the United States played a key role in drafting the Genocide Convention, ratified the convention on November 5, 1988, and remains a party to the convention today; Whereas, under the Genocide Convention, the crime of g

November 13, 2025 Oliver Milman  and Damian Carrington Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating The world is still on track for a catastrophic 2.6C increase in temperature as countries have not made sufficiently strong climate pledges, while emissions from fossil fuels have hit a record high, two major reports have found. Only 100 countries have submitted plans to slash fossil fuel emissions at this ye

November 12, 2025 Hanifa Girowal There is growing international recognition that impunity for grave human rights violations in Afghanistan cannot be tolerated. In September, I briefed the United Nations Security Council , carrying with me the voices of thousands of Afghan women whose hopes and futures have been extinguished in silence. What I told the Council remains true today: Afghanistan faces one of the most profound human rights, humanitarian, environmental, and politica

November 11, 2025 Philippe Lazzarini After two years of brutal warfare in Gaza, a fragile ceasefire – the first phase of US president Donald Trump’s 20-point plan – offers some respite to an exhausted population. For my Unrwa colleagues on the ground in Gaza, the constant fear of being killed by bombs and guns may have abated, but there is still much to worry about – access to shelter, food and clean water remains challenging, and winter is approaching fast. Palestinians rid

November 11, 2025 Patrick Wintour   A coalition of states is needed to stop the international legal order falling apart, a distinguished international academic has warned. Oona Hathaway, the president-elect of the American Society of International Law and a former Pentagon legal adviser, said the core of the postwar global order – the prohibition on taking land by force – was under unprecedented challenge in a “scary moment” for the world. Oona Hathaway, a Yale professor, sai