Against this backdrop, the United Nations (UN) Secretary\u2011General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, has issued a strong condemnation of the latest attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The incidents, he said, are exacerbating an already volatile situation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cNear\u2011daily attacks by Israeli settlers have become increasingly severe, resulting in deaths, injuries and significant property damage, and the displacement, sometimes of entire communities,\u201d UN Spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric told journalists on Monday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres reiterated that Israeli settlements and related infrastructure \u201chave no legal validity\u201d and remain \u201cin flagrant violation of international law, including applicable UN resolutions\u201d. He called for an \u201curgent de\u2011escalation\u201d in the West Bank and an end to all attacks on civilians and their property.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres urged the Israeli government to implement concrete measures to reverse the current trajectory, warning that unchecked violence threatens to deepen the crisis across the region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Briefing the media on Monday, Ted Chaiban, UN Children Fund\u2019s (UNICEF) Deputy Executive Director, warned that an expansion of the conflict would be devastating for children across the Middle East. \u201cA further descent into a wider and more protracted conflict would be catastrophic for millions more children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Since the latest escalation began, more than 2 100 children have been killed or injured across the region. This includes 206 children in Iran, 118 in Lebanon, four in Israel and one in Kuwait. UNICEF has also reported soaring displacement, interruptions to health services and increasing risks of trafficking, exploitation and long\u2011term trauma.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The conflict has also shaken global energy markets. Oil prices remain above $100 a barrel as attacks on key infrastructure disrupt output in Kuwait and threaten liquefied natural gas exports from Qatar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29712,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-29711","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The war in the Middle East has entered its fourth week, fuelling a deepening humanitarian emergency and triggering a global energy crisis as attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf continue to disrupt supply routes.","published_date":"","news_description":"The war in the Middle East has entered its fourth week, fuelling a deepening humanitarian emergency and triggering a global energy crisis as attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf continue to disrupt supply routes.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29713,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29711\/revisions\/29713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}