UNITED NATIONS: Yemen faces its best chance to strike a peace deal since the country’s civil war started over eight years ago, although much work remains to be done, UN envoy Hans Grundberg said Monday.
“One year on since the parties agreed to a truce under UN auspices, Yemen is again at a critical juncture,” Grundberg, the secretary-general’s special envoy for Yemen, told the United Nations Security Council via video-link.
“The truce has continued to deliver well beyond its expiration six months ago. And the parties are engaging on next steps.”
“I believe we have not seen such a serious opportunity for making progress toward ending the conflict in eight years,” Grundberg added.
The Arabian Peninsula country is one of the poorest in the Middle East, and has been devastated by the war, which started in 2014.
The conflict is between pro-government forces — backed by the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen — and the Houthi militia, supported by Iran.
The government and the Houthis have exchanged nearly 900 prisoners in recent days, as hopes grow for peace amid a war that has plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Last week, a Saudi delegation, accompanied by Omani mediators, traveled to the Yemeni capital Sana’a for talks aimed at reviving the truce and laying the foundations for a more durable cease-fire.
Grundberg welcomed the “constructive dialogue,” noting that “a supportive regional environment will reinforce peace efforts in Yemen.”
“But the tide could still turn unless the parties take bolder steps toward peace,” he warned.
“Let us be under no illusions. There is a lot of hard work to be done to build trust and make compromise.”
Grundberg added that the parties “must not allow this moment to pass without coming to agreement.”
Best chance for peace in Yemen in eight years: UN envoy
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Best chance for peace in Yemen in eight years: UN envoy
- “One year on since the parties agreed to a truce under UN auspices, Yemen is again at a critical juncture”: Grundberg
- Grundberg added that the parties “must not allow this moment to pass without coming to agreement”
Medical charity ‘may have to halt Gaza operations in March’
- MSF called this demand a “scandalous intrusion” but Israel says it was needed to stop extremists from infiltrating into humanitarian structures
PARIS: Banned from the Gaza Strip with 36 aid bodies, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Saturday it will have to end its operations there in March if Israel does not reverse its decision.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Israel confirmed on Thursday that it was barring 37 major international humanitarian organizations from entering the Gaza Strip, accusing them
of failing to provide the list of their employees’ names, which is now officially required for “security” reasons.
FASTFACT
MSF has approximately 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and employs 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals.
MSF called this demand a “scandalous intrusion” but Israel says it was needed to stop extremists from infiltrating into humanitarian structures.
“To work in Palestine, in the occupied Palestinian territories, we have to be registered ... That registration expired on Dec. 31, 2025,” said Isabelle Defourny, a physician and president of MSF France, on France Inter.
“Since July 2025, we have been involved in a re-registration process, and to date, we have not received a response. We still have 60 days during which we could work without being re-registered, and so we would have to end our activities in March,” if Israel maintains its decision, she said.
MSF has approximately 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and employs 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals.
“We are the second-largest distributor of water (in the Gaza Strip). Last year, in 2025, we treated just over 100,000 people who were wounded, burned, or victims of various traumas. We are second in terms of the number of deliveries performed,” the president of MSF France said.
According to her, the Israeli decision is explained by the fact that NGOs “bear witness to the violence committed by the Israeli army” in Gaza.
The UN chief “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in the statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
