Arab Coalition to Launch UN-Sponsored Initiative for Children Affected by Yemen War

Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (Reuters)
Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (Reuters)
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Arab Coalition to Launch UN-Sponsored Initiative for Children Affected by Yemen War

Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (Reuters)
Arab Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. (Reuters)

The Saudi-led Arab coalition will launch a UN-sponsored global initiative to support children affected by the war in Yemen, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that efforts are underway between Saudi Arabia, the UN and some members of the alliance to launch the initiative this month.

It will focus on reintegrating children affected by war into society, he told a press conference in Riyadh.

Moreover, he underscored the memorandum of understanding signed last month between the Arab coalition and UN to protect children affected by Yemen’s war.

Maliki said that the agreement was a product of the cooperation between the alliance and UN to protect Yemen’s children.

He stressed that the coalition was still taking the necessary measures to avoid children being dragged into the armed conflict. The Iran-backed Houthi militias, on the other hand, are recruiting children by force or by luring them in return for material rewards.

According to UN rights reports, the Houthis are accused of recruiting more than 24,000 children, he charged.

He revealed that 113 children affected by the Yemen war have been rehabilitated by the coalition and returned to their families through the legitimate Yemeni government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.



Israeli Fire Kills 23 People in Gaza, Many at Aid Site

Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israeli Fire Kills 23 People in Gaza, Many at Aid Site

Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, local health authorities said.

Medics at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in central Gaza areas, where most of the casualties were moved to, said at least 15 people were killed as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near the Netzarim corridor.

The rest were killed in separate attacks across the enclave, they added. There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli military or the GHF on Saturday's incidents, Reuters reported.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.

The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza.

Later on Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Abassan and Bani Suhaila in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head west towards the so-called humanitarian zone area, saying it would forcefully work against "terror organizations" in the area.