[Updated 30 October 2012] Over 104,000 refugees from Syria are currently estimated to be in Lebanon, according to UNHCR. Approximately 8,000 displaced Palestinians from Syria - termed DPSs, and who are effectively "second-time" refugees - have approached the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

There is a total of 1,869 displaced DPS families in Lebanon, according to UNRWA (as of 16 October 21012), which are spread around the country: 459 in central camps, 440 in Saida, 401 in Beqaa, 317 in camps in the north, 242 in Tyre, and 9 whose whereabouts is unknown.

Gaza 14 June 2012: Fifty international charities and United Nations Agencies have unanimously called for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza. The organizations have published a simple three line statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the tightening of the blockade of the Strip.

It reads:

For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children. We the undersigned say with one voice: “end the blockade now.”

Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes, an international coalition of 20 leading aid agencies and human rights groups said today.

The statement comes as the Middle East Quartet meets in Jerusalem in its latest effort to revive peace talks.

The sharp rise in demolitions in 2011 has been accompanied by accelerated expansion of Israeli settlements and an escalation of violence perpetrated by settlers, the groups said.

Israel's measures to 'ease' the illegal blockade of Gaza in the face of significant international pressure[1] have done little to change the plight of Gaza's civilians, says a report published today by an international coalition of 22 development, human rights and peace-building organisations. They are calling for renewed international action to ensure an immediate, unconditional and complete lifting of the

Shortly before noon, two buses had already passed into Egypt from the Strip. The increased movement at the crossing is expected to continue for three days, officials said. The de facto government crossings committee said the first bus transferred patients into Egypt, and confirmed that it crossed at 9:30am.

The committee said it hoped the three days of open crossings would clear much of the waiting list of patients,

The conflict, which ended with the army's victory in September 2007, left more than 30,000 Palestinians and 250 Lebanese

"The baby is allergic to a particular type of milk, and a hospital in Jaffa has given his family four formulas, the last of which is nearly used up", said Ateya Basyouni, coordinator of Prisoners Committee of the National and Islamic Forces in a press statement.

In a written statement, Basyouni called

• New report accuses international community of 'betrayal'
• Only 41 truckloads of construction materials allowed to enter since January
• Homes, schools, hospitals and water networks cannot be rebuilt

Established in 1949, the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon's Akkar region has become home to more than 30,000 residents. In the summer of 2007, the camp was totally destroyed as the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fought a group of