The United Nations' expert on Palestinian rights on Thursday denounced the US sanctions brought against her for criticising Washington's policy on the Gaza war as "mafia-style techniques" to "dirty" her reputation.
In an interview with AFP, Francesca Albanese said she would present her latest report to the UN from South Africa as sanctions from Washington prevented her from travelling to New York.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would never bow to pressure from the United States or any other country, and cautioned that the response to any strikes deep into Russia would be very serious and overwhelming.
U.S. sanctions are an "unfriendly" act and "will have certain consequences, but they will not significantly affect our economic well-being," Putin said. Russia's energy sector feels confident, he said.
Fewer than a hundred aid trucks operated by the UN and its partners have entered Gaza each day since a ceasefire earlier this month, a fraction of the total 600 trucks a day promised under the plan brokered by US President Donald Trump, data analysed by AFP shows.
Israel has authorised an average of 1,011 tonnes of aid -- or 94 trucks -- to enter Gaza each day between October 10, when the ceasefire took effect, and October 21, according to preliminary data from the United Nations.
A fragile ceasefire has brought respite to Gazans exhausted by two years of fighting, but even without the daily bombing they are struggling to live amid the catastrophic destruction wrought by the war.
The reconstruction task ahead is enormous, given that vast swathes of the Palestinian territory were flattened during Israel's military campaign and most of the population were displaced at least once.
By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) -Clearing the surface of Gaza of unexploded ordnance will likely take between 20 to 30 years, according to an official with aid group Humanity & Inclusion, describing the enclave as a "horrific, unmapped minefield".
More than 53 people have been killed and hundreds injured by lethal remnants from the two-year Israel-Hamas war, according to a U.N.-led database, which is thought by aid groups to be a huge underestimate.
(Reuters) -The World Health Organization said on Thursday the aid to Gaza is increasing, but is still only a "fraction of what's needed" as the health agency attempts to rebuild the region's healthcare system.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they are working with partners to plan for the long-term recovery and reconstruction of Gaza's health system, which is expected to cost at least $7 billion.
Many have suffered from injuries sustained during the two-year-long Israel-Hamas conflict that is now in a ceasefire under a U.S.-brokered agreement.
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -Supplies of food into Gaza are not meeting the nutritional needs of people in the enclave, some parts of which are experiencing famine, aid groups said on Thursday.
"The situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic, even two weeks after the ceasefire began,"Bahaa Zaqout, Director of External Relations at the Palestinian NGO PARC, said via video link from Deir Al Balah in Gaza.
Turkey is in talks with its other countries over its potential participation in an international Gaza peacekeeping mission with its military "ready" if needed, a defence ministry source said Thursday.
"We are continuing contact with our counterparts regarding our participation in the task force to be established in Gaza," the source said.
The World Health Organization said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza since a ceasefire took hold -- and no observable reduction in hunger.
"The situation still remains catastrophic because what's entering is not enough," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online press briefing from the UN health agency's Geneva headquarters.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10, there has been "no dent in hunger, because there is not enough food", he warned.
French magistrates this summer issued a new arrest warrant against ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad over deadly chemical attacks in 2013, a judicial source said on Thursday.
This means France has now put out three separate arrest warrants against the former dictator exiled in Russia, who ruled Syria from 2000 until he was toppled last year after more than 14 years of devastating civil war.
