Latest news with #humanitarianCrisis
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Thousands from Tehran have fled their home. Those who've stayed say they feel 'constant anxiety'
As Iran and Israel continue to trade strikes, human rights organisations have warned of the humanitarian toll of the conflict on both sides. Credit: Middle East Images / ABACA / PA/ Alamy / SBS Persian Columns of "black smoke" rising from different corners of the city, "loud explosive sounds", the constant noise of "gunfire", and empty streets — this is how some in Iran's capital of Tehran are describing their city, a week into the country's conflict with Israel. "I'm in constant anxiety," one citizen told SBS News, hours before the latest internet blackout in Iran. "When I want to sleep in the evening, I think to myself, should I tell my wife, 'I love you'? Should I tell her 'I had a good life with you'? What if this is the last moment?" Another person from Tehran said: "If I say I'm not scared, I'd be lying. We were all scared, we're all anxious. The future is uncertain for all of us." The conflict between Israel and Iran erupted on Friday, 13 June, after Israel launched an aerial assault that it said was aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Nuclear facilities, military sites and residential buildings were hit, while Iranian media said military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians were killed. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel, and the two countries have continued to trade deadly attacks since. As of Friday, at least 25 people have been killed in Iranian strikes, according to Israel. Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, but authorities have not issued an updated toll since. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a Washington-based Iranian human rights group, has said at least 639 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Iran. Human rights groups are urging Israeli and Iranian authorities to protect civilians. "What we are seeing in both of these countries is a pattern of indiscriminate and unlawful attacks," Kyinzom Dhongdue, advocacy manager at Amnesty International Australia, told SBS News. "These are not just morally unconscionable, these are a direct breach of human rights law." Iran's capital has been one of the main targets of Israel's attacks in the past seven days. Eyewitnesses from Tehran told SBS News that many had left their homes in recent days. "Many people have left the city to save their lives. The city is almost empty. Most shops are closed. Right now, life in Tehran is not in a good state," one person said. Another person from Tehran said "the usual sound of the city has disappeared". Living in a state of uncertainty, Tehranis say they are concerned for their city, which is completely different from just a week ago. "I'm seeing my city just from the window," a person from Tehran said. "On one hand, I want to go and see up close what's happening," they said. "I want to see it with my own eyes. "But I can't, because I'm scared." Evacuating Tehran has come at a cost for some of its people. Iranian Australian Ramak Bamzar worries for her father in Iran. The Tehran resident was diagnosed with colon cancer a few weeks ago and was receiving urgent treatment at a hospital in the capital. Bamzar said her father was forced to evacuate Tehran amid strikes, as an area near the hospital was bombed. This has meant he has had to stop chemotherapy. "They shot the spot near the hospital, not exactly the hospital, but the shock was really massive," she told SBS News. "He was on the bed in the hospital to start the chemo[therapy] and the nurses, they fainted." Bamzar said her father is now living in limbo. 'We don't know when he can start doing treatment, and it could be very dangerous for him if he doesn't do it as soon as possible. "It's really serious — having cancer and war, it's just like which one is more important?" Amir Ali Savadkoohi, an ICU doctor in Tehran, told SBS News there is dwindling medical support in the city. "Many people have left Tehran, and we're facing a shortage of nurses and doctors," he said. "We've mostly tried to merge departments to make the most of the limited medical staff we have." While Bamzar has not been able to contact her father in the last two days, as many Iranians have lost access to the internet, the distance between father and daughter is being felt more than ever before. "If I was there, maybe I could do something. Here, you are just desperate. You feel like you have no power to do anything to help," she said. While some have decided to flee Tehran, others have decided to stay. Iranian Australian Fariman Kashani's 72-year-old mother is one of them. "She's very strong. She decided to stay at home. She said, 'If they're gonna bomb me, I choose to stay and die in my house,'" he said. Separated by thousands of kilometres, Kashani says he feels "helpless". "I can feel how damaging war can be," he said. "I can feel it with my whole body and my heart."
Associated Press
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
UN: Violence against children in conflict reached 'unprecedented levels' in 2024, with Gaza worst
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Violence against children caught in multiple and escalating conflicts reached 'unprecedented levels' last year, with the highest number of violations in Gaza and the West Bank, Congo, Somalia, Nigeria and Haiti, according to a United Nations report released late Thursday. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' annual report on Children in Armed Conflict detailed 'a staggering 25% surge in grave violations' against children under the age of 18 from 2023, when the number of such violations rose by 21%. In 2024, the U.N. chief said, 'Children bore the brunt of relentless hostilities and indiscriminate attacks, and were affected by the disregard for ceasefires and peace agreements and by deepening humanitarian crises.' He cited warfare strategies that included attacks on children, the deployment of increasingly destructive and explosive weapons in populated areas, and 'the systematic exploitation of children for combat.' Guterres said the United Nations verified 41,370 grave violations against children — 36,221 committed in 2024 and 5,149 committed earlier but verified last year. The violations include killing, maiming, recruiting and abducting children, sexual violence against them, attacking schools and hospitals and denying youngsters access to humanitarian aid. The U.N. kept Israeli forces on its blacklist of countries that violate children's rights for a second year, citing 7,188 verified grave violations by its military, including the killing of 1,259 Palestinian children and injury to 941 others in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry has reported much higher figures, but the U.N. has strict criteria and said its process of verification is ongoing. Guterres said he is 'appalled by the intensity of grave violations against children in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel,' and 'deeply alarmed' by the increase in violations, especially the high number of children killed by Israeli forces. He reiterated his calls on Israel to abide by international law requiring special protections for children, protection for schools and hospitals, and compliance with the requirement that attacks distinguish between combatants and civilians and avoid excessive harm to civilians. The U.N. also kept Hamas, whose surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on the blacklist. Israel's U.N. Mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In Congo, the U.N. reported 4,043 verified grave violations against 3,418 children last year. In Somalia, it reported 2,568 violations against 1,992 children. In Nigeria, 2,436 grave violations were reported against 1,037 children. And in Haiti, the U.N. reported 2,269 verified grave violations against 1,373 children. In the ongoing war following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations kept the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups on its blacklist for a third year. The secretary-general expressed deep concern at 'the sharp increase in grave violations against children in Ukraine' — 1,914 against 673 children. He expressed alarm at the violations by Russian forces and their affiliates, singling out their verified killing of 94 Ukrainian children, injury to 577 others, and 559 attacks on schools and 303 on hospitals. In Haiti, the U.N. put a gang, the Viv Ansanm coalition, on the blacklist for the first time. Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. They are now estimated to control 85% of the capital and have moved into surrounding areas. In May, the U.S. designated the powerful coalition representing more than a dozen gangs, whose name means 'Living Together,' as a foreign terrorist organization. Secretary-General Guterres expressed deep 'alarm' at the surge in violations, especially incidents of gang recruitment and use, sexual violence, abduction and denial of humanitarian aid. The report said sexual violence jumped by 35% in 2024, including a dramatic increase in the number of gang rapes, but stressed that the numbers are vastly underreported. 'Girls were abducted for the purpose of recruitment and use, and for sexual slavery,' the U.N. chief said. In Haiti, the U.N. reported sexual violence against 566 children, 523 of them girls, and attributed 411 to the Viv Ansanm gang. In Congo, the U.N. reported 358 acts of sexual violence against girls — 311 by armed groups and 47 by Congo's armed forces. And in Somalia, 267 children were victims of sexual violence, 120 of them carried out by Al-Shabab extremists. According to the report, violations affected 22,495 children in 2024, with armed groups responsible for almost 50% and government forces the main perpetrator of the killing and maiming of children, school attacks and denial of humanitarian access. The report noted a sharp rise in the number of children subjected to multiple violations — from 2,684 in 2023 to 3,137 in 2024. 'The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball — but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings — should keep all of us awake at night,' said Virginia Gamba, the U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict. 'We are at the point of no return,' she said, calling on the international community to protect children and the parties in conflict 'to immediately end the war on children.'
CNN
15 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Scores killed in Gaza in latest Israeli strikes
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than 70 people on Thursday, with multiple children dying. Injured children, screaming in pain, were brought to Baptist Hospital in Gaza City and other children appeared lifeless as they were carried into the ward.
CNN
15 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Scores killed in Gaza in latest Israeli strikes
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed more than 70 people on Thursday, with multiple children dying. Injured children, screaming in pain, were brought to Baptist Hospital in Gaza City and other children appeared lifeless as they were carried into the ward.
Times of Oman
a day ago
- Health
- Times of Oman
Murder toll from Israeli aggression on Gaza rises to 55,706
Gaza: The murder toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, has risen to 55,706 martyrs, in addition to 130,101 wounded. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 69 martyrs and 221 wounded arrived at hospitals in the Strip over the past 24 hours. The murder toll since the occupation violated the ceasefire agreement on 18 March 2025 has risen to 5,401 martyrs and 18,060 wounded. The ministry noted that the murder toll among those waiting for aid since this morning has reached 12, in addition to more than 172 injured, who were transported to hospitals by civil defense crews. The ministry said that the murder toll from the aggression reached 55,706 martyrs and 130,101 wounded, stressing that these figures remain unofficial due to the presence of thousands of other victims under the rubble of destroyed buildings, as rescue teams cannot reach them. The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly complex due to the Israeli occupation's intransigence in preventing the entry of humanitarian aid to the population, and the continued bombing of all areas, including the remaining medical and service facilities, and the tents of the displaced.
