World
UNRWA funding must continue to avoid 'collective punishment': Lenarčič
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) must continue to receive “adequate funding” to avoid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, has said.
His warning comes as uncertainty mounts over the future of the EU’s development aid to UNRWA.
The agency is at a breaking point after Western countries suspended donations following allegations twelve of its staff members were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and sparked a war in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 29,000 Palestinians.
The serious allegations, levelled by Israel on the same day the UN’s top court ordered it to prevent genocide in Gaza, sparked fears of possible infiltration by Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the EU, into the Western-funded UN agency.
The European Commission, one of UNRWA’s largest donors, said in January it would **review**its funding in light of the steps taken by the agency to audit its recruitment procedures, bolster its internal oversight mechanisms and vet its 30,000-strong workforce.
It is not yet clear whether the next scheduled EU payment in development aid of €82 million, due this week, will be suspended or not.
But Lenarčič suggested that failing to prop up UNRWA while a humanitarian disaster grips the Gaza Strip would have “catastrophic consequences” and put regional stability at risk.
“In line with EU values – and while we are working constructively with UNRWA on the reinforcement of their internal controls, an audit carried by EU-appointed experts and the vetting system for their staff – it remains of crucial importance to provide UNRWA with adequate funding,” Lenarčič told the European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have to be clear, there is simply no substitute for UNRWA,” Lenarčič explained. “Individual accountability must be ensured. But collective punishment cannot be the answer.”
Several nations suspended payments to UNRWA in the wake of the scandal, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Others, like Spain, Ireland and Belgium, continued their support.
While the EU has not suspended deliveries of humanitarian aid, the sudden exodus of Western donors has dealt a devastating blow to the donor-reliant agency, which says its deliveries of humanitarian cargo have halved since January.
Fewer trucks carrying aid have been able to enter Gaza in February compared to January and December, and the UN has warned that pockets of famine are appearing in Gaza. Many humanitarian organisations, including the UN’s World Food Programme, have paused food deliveries to the north of the enclave given that the chaos wrought by the humanitarian crisis has made conditions unsafe for relief workers.
UNRWA’s commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said earlier this month he hoped the EU would continue to back the agency, and that his conversations with the Commission to safeguard future funding had been “very constructive.”
Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, also strongly suggested that European assistance would flow as originally anticipated given that UNRWA had launched the investigation that Brussels had called for.
MEPs split on UNRWA
But the EU and its 27 member states have consistently failed to consolidate a common position on the war between Israel and Hamas since it broke out in October, with leaders taking divergent stance on the conflict.
Those rifts were evident during a tense debate between Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the plenary chamber in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Several MEPs, predominantly from left-leaning groups, claimed Israel had failed to provide concrete evidence to back their claims that UNRWA staff had taken part in the October 7th attacks.
Lenarčič also confirmed the Commission had not yet received evidence to back the claims, and that to his knowledge neither had any other donors.
Last Wednesday, the Washington Post published a video that Israel alleges shows a UN relief worker participating in the October 7 attack. But UN leaders have continued to underline that the allegations are yet to be corroborated.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother camp of right-leaning MEPs fiercely condemned the Commission for injecting cash into an organisation they say is infiltrated by Hamas militants, and denied that its work in Gaza was irreplaceable.
Directly addressing Josep Borrell, Swedish MEP David Lega of the centre-right European People’s Party said: “You’ve said you fully trust you and leadership to get to the bottom of alleged complicity in Hamas terrorism.”
“What will it take for you to understand that your trust is frankly irrelevant if UNRWA loses the trust of parties involved?” he went on, adding that EU aid to Gaza must go to more “responsible, more neutral, more trusted partners.”
“Without UNRWA, Palestinian children will starve,” Malin Björk, from The Left, responded.
“How do we distinguish between different human lives? Why is a Palestinian life not worth anything?” she asked.
ADVERTISEMENTBarry Andrews, an Irish lawmaker from the Renew Europe group, called on member states to make decisions “not based on punitive political decisions but on evidence” and on the Commission to restore its payments to support the “irreplaceable and heroic work of UNRWA.”
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A strong, 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck in the Gulf of California on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The temblor happened at 1:45 p.m. Mountain time about 47 miles southwest of El Progreso, Mexico, data from the agency shows.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Subsequent quakes have been reported in the same area. Such temblors are typically aftershocks caused by minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Aftershocks detected
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.
The New York Times
When quakes and aftershocks occurred
Sources: United States Geological Survey (epicenter, aftershocks, shake intensity); LandScan via Oak Ridge National Laboratory (population density) | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Mountain time. Shake data is as of Tuesday, June 30 at 2:02 p.m. Mountain time. Aftershocks data is as of Tuesday, June 30 at 6:01 p.m. Mountain time.
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Emergency workers in Venezuela on Tuesday rescued a 2-year-old boy who had been trapped beneath the rubble for six days, marking the only reported rescue of a survivor on the sixth day of operations following last week’s devastating earthquakes.
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez said in a Telegram post that Jordanian emergency workers pulled the child from a collapsed building in La Guaira, an area hit the hardest by last week’s earthquakes.
The child, identified by authorities as Klieber Moran, was rescued after spending six days trapped beneath the rubble, Rodríguez said.
Moran was taken to a hospital for treatment, she added.
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A Jordanian team works to rescue a child trapped under rubble following earthquakes in Venezuela, in a location given as Caracas, Venezuela. (Jordan Public Security/Handout via REUTERS)
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said in a televised address Tuesday that officials remain hopeful more survivors will be found.
“We must hold onto the hope of continuing to find people alive beneath the rubble,” Jorge said. “Early this morning, a 2-year-old boy was rescued and is currently receiving care at a health center in Caracas.”
Rescue efforts have continued since magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela’s northern coast last Wednesday.
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Emergency workers rescued a 2-year-old boy after he spent six days trapped beneath the rubble following last week’s earthquakes in Venezuela. (Jordan Public Security/Handout via REUTERS)
The death toll from the twin earthquakes rose to 1,943 on Tuesday, with more than 10,500 people injured, according to Venezuelan officials. On Monday, the death toll stood at 1,719.
Tuesday’s rescue marked another glimmer of hope amid the disaster that has devastated the South American country.
On Saturday, the U.S. State Department shared video showing American search-and-rescue teams pulling an infant alive from beneath the rubble in Venezuela.
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A child receives emergency medical attention after being rescued by a Jordanian team from under rubble following earthquakes in Venezuela. (Jordan Public Security/Handout via REUTERS)
The infant, who is 9 months old, was rescued along with her mother, the State Department told Fox News Digital. Both suffered only minor injuries, according to the rescue team.
“Against impossible odds, hope endures,” the State Department posted on X.
On Tuesday, a shipment from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) containing 47 metric tons of humanitarian supplies arrived in Venezuela.
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Emergency workers rescued 2-year-old Klieber Moran from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Venezuela six days after the country’s devastating earthquakes, according to Venezuelan officials. (Jordan Public Security/Handout via REUTERS)
The shipment includes emergency health kits for urgent medical care, including supplies for safe births, newborn care, disease prevention and treatment, according to the United Nations.
Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams from Virginia, California and Florida were dispatched to Venezuela on Friday to help search collapsed buildings.
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According to the State Department, the three USAR teams include 312 personnel and 18 canine teams, made up of firefighters, physicians, structural engineers and canine search specialists, and deployed with more than 200,000 pounds of specialized rescue equipment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
European Union monitors say the first half of 2026 was ‘marked by sustained and exceptional ocean warmth’ and forecast more to come.
Published On 1 Jul 2026
The world’s oceans experienced their “warmest June ever observed” and could see further record-breaking highs in the months ahead as El Niño and climate change push temperatures higher, according to a new report.
The European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service said on Wednesday that “record global sea surface temperatures” of 21.0 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in June beat the previous records in the same month in 2023 and 2024.
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“The first six months of 2026 were characterised by persistently elevated sea-surface temperatures and widespread marine heatwaves across much of the global ocean,” the EU’s marine environment monitor said in a statement.
“Marine heatwaves expanded steadily throughout the period, ultimately affecting around 82 percent of the global ocean,” said Simon van Gennip, lead oceanographer for the Copernicus Marine Service.
“The Mediterranean, the central North Atlantic and the equatorial Pacific all emerged as hotspots, and these regional signals paint a consistent picture of an ocean under sustained thermal stress,” Van Gennip said in a statement.
The onset of a potentially powerful El Nino weather pattern could boost global heat in the oceans and atmosphere even further in 2026, and into next year, according to scientists.
“Current conditions could indicate the beginning of a new phase, leading, once more, to uncharted territory,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the EU’s climate monitor.
“With ocean temperatures at these levels and El Nino on the horizon, we are likely to see more temperature records fall in the coming months,” Buontempo said in a statement.
El Nino is marked by unusually warm waters in parts of the Pacific Ocean, releasing more heat into the atmosphere and influencing wind, cloud and weather patterns around the globe. This can raise the risk of weather extremes, ranging from floods in Peru to droughts in parts of Africa and wildfires in Australia.
Land and sea temperatures reached an all-time high in 2024 at the tail end of the last El Nino, and 2026 could be among the warmest years recorded with the onset of the next El Nino this year.
The Copernicus report follows a warning issued in a major UN scientific assessment last month, which declared that the world’s oceans were in a “deepening crisis” as seas were warming and rising faster.
Oceans are a key regulator of Earth’s climate because they absorb some 90 percent of the excess heat caused by humanity’s release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.
Warmer oceans increase moisture in the atmosphere, providing fuel for tropical cyclones and destructive rainfall.
Hotter seas also directly contribute to sea-level rise – water expands when it warms up – and create unbearable conditions for tropical reefs, whose corals can bleach and die during prolonged marine heatwaves.
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