Access to supplies for distribution to hungry Gazans and security risks for aid workers are putting relief operations under severe strain, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.
Relief workers face significant security risks. Supply crossings remain unreliable and critical supplies are routinely delayed or blocked. The amount of aid that has been entering Gaza is a trickle compared to the immense needs, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"Israel must enable safe and unimpeded aid delivery, allow the entry of critical equipment and fuel, open all crossings, and restore movement along key supply routes," OCHA said. "Humanitarian staff must be able to operate safely, people must be allowed to move freely, and supplies, including from the private sector, must reach all parts of Gaza."
Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a third round of peace talks here on Wednesday evening at the Ciragan Palace, during which the two sides agreed on another prisoner exchange.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky and Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov led the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, respectively.
After the talks, Medinsky told reporters that Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners of war each.
Russia has returned the bodies of 7,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers and is ready to return 3,000 more, he said.
Sporadic clashes, drone strikes, and ground fighting continued in southern Syria's Sweida province and surrounding areas despite a declared truce, with the number of displaced reaching over 145,000, the United Nations said Wednesday.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the violence between July 20 and 22 has included mortar attacks and aerial surveillance, further injuring civilians and forcing thousands to flee. Most of the displaced have remained within Sweida province, while others have sought safety in neighboring Daraa and Rural Damascus governorates.
Access to basic services remains severely disrupted across Sweida. The UN reported widespread outages in electricity, water, fuel, and telecommunications, while food insecurity is worsening due to market disruptions and the closure of bakeries.
A proposed new round of tariffs by the United States could result in a 38-billion-euro (44.4 billion U.S. dollars) loss in Italian exports and reduce the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.8 percent by 2027, Italy's largest industrial association said Monday.
The findings were published in a report by the research unit of Confindustria, Italy's main business lobby, amid concerns over rising protectionism and its spillover effects on the global economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to triple a basic tariff on imports from the EU to 30 percent if Brussels does not cut a deal by the end of the month.
Tanzania's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday instructed election officials to begin consultations with political party leaders to ensure that candidate nominations are conducted by the law ahead of the October general elections.
Jacobs Mwambegele, chairperson of the INEC, issued the directive while closing a training session for election officials in the Shinyanga Region.
"You are expected to translate this training into your daily election duties by initiating meetings with political parties, distributing nomination forms, and conducting nominations for parliamentary and council seats in strict adherence to legal procedures," said Mwambegele.■
