Agency pushing to raise funds as research shows 44 years of development in health and education could be erased by the war

Rebuilding homes in Gaza destroyed during Israel’s seven-month military offensive could take until 2040 in the most optimistic scenario, with total reconstruction across the territory costing as much as $40bn (£32bn), according to United Nations experts.

An assessment, which is to be published by the UN Development Programme as part of a push to raise funds for early planning for the rehabilitation of Gaza, has also found that the conflict may reduce levels of health, education and wealth in the territory to those of 1980, wiping out 44 years of development.

The European hospital is crammed with severely injured and dying children – a military offensive here will be catastrophic

• James Elder is Unicef’s global spokesperson

The war against Gaza’s children is forcing many to close their eyes. Nine-year-old Mohamed’s eyes were forced shut, first by the bandages that covered a gaping hole in the back of his head, and second by the coma caused by the blast that hit his family home. He is nine. Sorry, he was nine. Mohamed is now dead.

Over three visits to the European hospital’s ICU in Rafah, Gaza, I saw multiple children occupy the same bed. Each one arriving after a bomb had ripped through their home. Each one dying despite doctors’ immense efforts.

James Elder is Unicef’s global spokesperson

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Report to United Nations security council says remnants of Hwasong-11 violate arms export embargo on Russian ally

The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 2 January was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, UN sanctions monitors told a security council committee in a report seen by Reuters.

In the 32-page report, the UN sanctions monitors concluded that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 2 January 2024 derives from a DPRK Hwasong-11 series missile” and is in violation of the arms embargo on North Korea.

Signs of renewed truce talks come as UN warns ‘famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within six weeks’

Hamas has said it is studying the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from Egypt had arrived in Israel in an attempt to jumpstart stalled negotiations.

The signs of renewed truce talks come as the UN warned that “famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks” unless massive food assistance arrives.

Panel of nearly 100 countries to draw up guidelines for industries that mine raw materials used in low-carbon technology

A UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for “critical minerals”.

Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage .

Enlarge / A meeting of the UN Security Council on April 14. (credit: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images )

Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution Wednesday that would have reaffirmed a nearly 50-year-old ban on placing weapons of mass destruction into orbit, two months after reports Russia has plans to do just that.

Russia's vote against the resolution was no surprise. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia has veto power over any resolution that comes before the body. China abstained from the vote, and 13 other members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution.

If it passed, the resolution would have affirmed a binding obligation in Article IV of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which says nations are "not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction."

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Moscow described the security council resolution, which would have called on countries not to deploy weapons of mass destruction in outer space, a ‘dirty spectacle’

Russia has vetoed a UN resolution calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, describing it as “a dirty spectacle”.

The resolution, sponsored by the United States and Japan , would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, which are already banned under a 1967 international treaty.

Tit-for-tat attacks have breached taboo of direct strikes on each other’s territory but Tehran has no ‘immediate’ plans to retaliate

• Middle East crisis – live updates

World leaders urged calm on Friday after Israel conducted a pre-dawn drone sortie over Iran following a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks that crossed an important red line that has for decades held the Middle East back from a major regional conflict.

There were tentative hopes late on Friday that the apparent strike attempt against an airbase near the city of Isfahan was sufficiently limited to fend off the threat of a bigger Iranian response and an uncontrolled spiral of violence between a nuclear power and a state with the capacity to develop nuclear weapons quickly.

Ministers warn an offensive would be catastrophic for people in Gaza’s southernmost city

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Foreign ministers from the G7 countries have said they remain opposed to a full-scale military operation in Rafah by Israel on the grounds that it would have catastrophic consequences on the civilian population there.

Ministers from Italy, the UK, US, France, Germany, Japan and Canada also criticised the “unacceptable” number of civilians killed in Gaza during Israel’s military offensive.