UN agency chiefs have demanded an end to impunity for widespread international law violations in the Middle East, as casualties pile up six weeks into the war unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

In a joint statement, the heads of multiple United Nations agencies said they were “alarmed by the sustained violations of the rules of war and international humanitarian law” in the region.

“Even wars have rules, and these rules must be respected,” the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee said.

“In just the last month across the Middle East, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, many multiple times,” it said.

Read more here.

 Members of a Red Crescent rescue team hold a doll, at the site of a building that was damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, on March 17, 2026. — Reuters
Members of a Red Crescent rescue team hold a doll, at the site of a building that was damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, on March 17, 2026. — Reuters

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