UN Human Rights Office

A UN Human Rights Office employee, Mohammad el Shami, died while detained by the Houthis. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the death as heartbreaking, said no explanation has been provided, and demanded an urgent independent investigation. Turk warned that 71 UN personnel remain in Houthi hands and urged their immediate release. Yemen’s prime minister Shaya al‑Zindani condemned the killing and held the Houthis fully responsible. The Houthis have not responded to the UN’s request for an investigation.

Israeli forces have demolished the homes of the gunmen who killed two Israeli soldiers at a Hebron checkpoint on 23 Oct, according to the Israeli military. The operation, ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has forcibly displaced more than 3,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, and most entrances to Hebron are closed, restricting residents' movement and access to medical care. Israel's government says the operation responds to the attack. UN human rights chief Volker Türk raised concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force and of ethnic cleansing. Palestinian officials accuse Netanyahu of seeking political gain before Israel's general election on Tuesday.

A drone strike on a market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur in Sudan, killed at least 36 people and wounded more than 100 on Monday evening, according to Doctors Without Borders, which said 36 bodies reached its hospital. Local rights groups and officials cited by The Associated Press put the toll higher, at 102 to more than 100 killed, while the RSF-aligned Tasis administration's health minister gave 102 civilian deaths and 113 injured. Sudan has been at war since April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The same week, drone attacks also disrupted power across several states, and a UN tally recorded over 300 drone deaths in the first three weeks of October.