Among the 36 questions on the form, sent by the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and seen by the BBC, is one asking if they have any links to communism.

Some of the world’s biggest humanitarian organisations have received the questionnaire, including the UN Refugee Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Trump administration has launched a cost-cutting drive across the US government, led by billionaire Elon Musk, and has closed down much of its foreign aid.

The UN groups fear the move by the OMB is a sign the US is planning to abandon humanitarian work – or even the UN itself – altogether.

The US pulled out of the World Health Organization on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term.

And this week Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the vast majority of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) programmes had been terminated.

Surveys indicate that most Americans believe the country overspends on foreign aid.

The US spends a lower % of its GDP on aid than European countries but, because of its huge economy, still supplies 40% of global humanitarian funding

Many of the UN aid agencies who were sent the form receive funding, not just from USAID, but directly from the US government.

One question asks: ”Can you confirm that your organisation does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs?”

Another asks agencies to confirm they don’t receive any funding from China, Russia, Cuba or Iran – these countries may not be Washington’s best friends but, like all 193 UN member states, they fund the big humanitarian agencies.

Other questions ask aid agencies to ensure no project includes any elements of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) or anything related to climate change.

This could be awkward for agencies like Unicef, which supports equal access to education for girls, or the World Food Programme, which tries to prevent famine by supporting drought affected communities to transition to more climate resilient crops.

Professor Karl Blanchet, of Geneva University’s Centre for Humanitarian Studies, believes the aid agencies are being set up to fail: “The decision has already been made. It’s highly likely the US is going to stop its involvement in any UN system.

“It’s multilateralism versus America first – these are two ends of a spectrum.”

Aid agencies working on complex humanitarian operations are more blunt.

“It’s like being asked ‘have you stopped beating your child, yes or no?'” said one frustrated aid worker.

UN Human Rights has already chosen not to fill out the form.

“Given they were mostly yes/no questions with very limited room for elaboration, and that some of the questions were not applicable to the UN, we were not in a position to reply directly to the online questionnaires,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

“Instead, we provided replies by email with explanations to those questions where we could provide a response.”

Some of the questions also reflect the economic interests of President Trump’s administration.

There is a query about projects which might affect “efforts to strengthen US supply chains or secure rare earth minerals”.

A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council documents alleged violations, including rape, in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

It also says the destruction of maternity wards in Gaza and embryos at a fertility clinic could indicate a strategy to prevent births among a particular group – one of the legal definitions of genocide.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded angrily, calling the Human Rights Council “an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body”.

Instead of focusing on war crimes committed by Hamas, he said, it was attacking Israel with “false accusations”.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The three-member commission said its new report was based on testimony from victims and witnesses of sexual and reproductive violence, some of whom spoke during two days of public hearings held in Geneva earlier this week, as well as verified photos and video footage, and information from civil society and women’s rights organisations.

The commission’s chair Navi Pillay, a South African former UN human rights chief, said the evidence collected “reveals a deplorable increase in sexual and gender-based violence” that she claimed was being employed by Israel against Palestinians “to terrorise them and perpetuate a system of oppression that undermines their right to self-determination”.

The report says specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence – such as forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault – “comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces’ standard operating procedures toward Palestinians”.

Other forms of such violence, including rape and violence to the genitals, were “committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel’s top civilian and military leadership”, it alleges.

The report does not provide examples of explicit orders from commanders or senior officials. But it does cite statements from Israeli ministers who defended soldiers who were accused of severely mistreating a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman military base last year.

Commission member Chris Sidoti, an Australian human rights lawyer, told the BBC: “Sexual violence is now so widespread that it can only be considered systematic. It’s got beyond the level of random acts by rogue individuals.”

Israel has rejected accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of Gaza detainees, and insisted it is fully committed to international legal standards.

The report says the commission also found that Israeli forces had systematically destroyed sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities across Gaza during the 17-month war there.

It concludes that women and girls have died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth due to conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities which have denied access to reproductive health care, and says they amount to the crime against humanity of extermination.

The commission also alleges that Israeli authorities have “destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group” through the “systematic destruction” of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities, including maternity hospitals and maternity wards of hospitals and Gaza’s main in-vitro fertility clinic, Al-Basma IVF Centre in Gaza City.

This amounts to “two categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention, including deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and imposing measures intended to prevent births”, it concludes.

According to the report, the embryology laboratory at Al-Basma was hit in early December 2023, reportedly destroying around 4,000 embryos as well as 1,000 sperm samples and unfertilised eggs.

It says the commission determined through visual analysis of pictures that the damage was caused by a large calibre projectile, most probably an Israeli tank shell, and that it was intentionally attacked by Israeli forces. However, the Israeli military told ABC News at the time that it was not aware of a strike on the clinic. The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment.

“The deliberate destruction of a health facility is one serious issue for international humanitarian law and human rights law. But it does appear from our analysis of the attack on this clinic, that it was knowingly and intentionally directed towards the destruction of reproductive services,” Mr Sidoti said. “The consequence of this is the prevention of births.”

In a statement, Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva said the report was “a shameless attempt to incriminate the [Israel Defense Forces] and manufacture the illusion of ‘systemic’ use of [sexual and gender-based violence]”.

It criticised what it called the commission’s decision to use “information from second-hand single uncorroborated sources”, which it said was inconsistent with established UN standards and methodologies.

The statement also stressed that the IDF had “concrete directives, procedures, orders, and policies, which unequivocally prohibit such misconduct”, as well as mechanisms to investigate any incidents of alleged sexual violence.

Israel’s prime minister also rejected the report’s findings and called the Human Rights Council an “anti-Israel circus”.

“Instead of focusing on the crimes against humanity and the war crimes that were perpetrated by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the worst massacre carried out against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the UN has again chosen to attack the State of Israel with false accusations, including baseless accusations of sexual violence,” Netanyahu said.

The International Court of Justice is hearing a case bought by South Africa that accuses Israeli forces of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel has vehemently denied the allegation.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 48,520 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has also been displaced multiple times. Almost 70% of buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.

Speaking in Geneva, Philippe Lazzarini warned of a renewed hunger crisis if aid supplies did not resume.

Israel stopped the entry of all aid at the beginning of the month, accusing Hamas of rejecting a US proposal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

It also cut off electricity over the weekend – a move the UK and Germany have condemned – with Energy Minister Eli Cohen saying the move aimed to “bring back all the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after [the war].”

When the truce began, aid supplies increased tenfold, easing food shortages and restoring some health services.

Now those supplies have been blocked and electricity to a major water desalination plant has been cut.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesman said this would substantially reduce the availability of drinking water in Gaza.

“The Secretary-General is very concerned about Israel’s decision to limit the electricity supply going into Gaza. This latest decision will substantially reduce the availability of drinking water in the Gaza Strip,” said Stephane Dujarric.

“Starting today, the facility is set to run on backup generators, which will reduce water production capacity. Restoring this connection is vital for tens of thousands of families and children.”

The Israeli government has further said it has not ruled out cutting off water supplies.

Mr Lazzarini also criticised Israel’s move to cut off aid and electricity, saying an increasing impact on the population could be expected.

“Obviously, the risk is that we go back to a situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

“Whatever the intent is, it’s clearly a weaponisation of humanitarian aid into Gaza. We have seen the situation is deteriorating very, very quickly.”

Israel has banned Unrwa amid claims some of its staff support Hamas and says other aid agencies should step in. But they too are being blocked from Gaza.

Mr Lazzarini said the only viable alternative to the agency was “capable Palestinian institutions… in a Palestinian state”.

Unrwa was continuing to operate in Gaza and the West Bank, he said, adding that the Israeli ban had left it facing “serious operational challenges”.

Israeli negotiators were due in Qatar for talks on extending the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel wants Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire.

But Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza, withdrawal of Israeli forces and a permanent end to war.

Hamas is believed to be holding 24 living hostages as well as the bodies of 35 others.

Hamas’s attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and saw 251 people taken hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters.

Assets like oilfields were already factored in under the rules – last updated in 2008.

This update aims to capture areas that have grown since then, such as the cost of using up natural resources and the value of data.

The changes come into force in 2030, and could mean an increase in estimates of the size of the UK economy making promises to spend a fixed share of the economy on defence or aid more expensive.

The economic value of wind and waves can be estimated from the price of all the energy that can be generated from the turbines in a country.

The update also treats data as an asset in its own right on top of the assets that house it like servers and cables.

Governments use a common rule book for measuring the size of their economies and how they grow over time.

These changes to the rule book are “tweaks, rather than a rewrite”, according to Prof Diane Coyle of the University of Cambridge.

Ben Zaranko of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calls it an “accounting” change, rather than a real change. He explains: “We’d be no better off in a material sense, and tax revenues would be no higher.”

But it could make economies look bigger, creating a possible future spending headache for the UK government.

For example, Labour has committed to allocating fixed percentages of the size of the economy on defence and aid.

If the new rules increase the estimated size of the economy by 2-3% in 2030, it might add £2bn to defence spending.

That is a tiny share of the total government budget, but large compared with the cuts to overseas aid (£6bn) that are currently funding extra defence spending or the headroom that the government has left to meet its self-imposed fiscal rules (£10bn).

The government spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), will not be including the impact of these new rules on the government finances in their assessment of the government finances this March.

This makes the new rules a possible future headache for the Chancellor rather than an immediate one.

Egypt and Qatar said the Israeli move on Sunday violated a ceasefire deal, while UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described it as “alarming”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country acted because Hamas was stealing the supplies and using them “to finance its terror machine”.

He also accused the Palestinian group of rejecting a US proposal to extend the ceasefire in Gaza, after it expired on Saturday. Israel said it had approved the proposal.

A Hamas spokesman said Israel’s blockade was “cheap blackmail” and a “coup” against the ceasefire agreement.

The ceasefire deal halted 15 months of fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military, allowing the release of 33 Israeli hostages for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

In a statement on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the Israeli decision, describing it as “a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement” and “international humanitarian law”.

In Egypt, the foreign ministry accused Israel of using starvation as “a weapon against the Palestinian people”, the AFP news agency reported.

Both Qatar and Egypt helped to mediate the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia expressed its “condemnation and denunciation” of the Israeli aid blockade, the foreign ministry said.

Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, wrote in a post on X: “International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed access to deliver vital lifesaving aid.”

Netanyahu said Israel had decided to act “because Hamas steals the supplies and prevents the people of Gaza from getting them.

“It uses these supplies to finance its terror machine, which is aimed directly at Israel and our civilians, and this we cannot accept.”

Hamas has previously denied stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Netanyahu also said Hamas was refusing to accept a temporary extension of the ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.

The first phase of the ceasefire came into force on 19 January and expired at midnight on Saturday.

Negotiations on phase two, meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire, the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, were due to have started weeks ago – but have barely begun.

There are believed to be 24 hostages alive, with another 39 presumed to be dead.

Phase three is meant to result in the return of all remaining bodies of dead hostages and the reconstruction of Gaza, which is expected to take years.

Hamas has previously said it will not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from the mediators that phase two will eventually take place.

As the first phase of the deal expired on Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed to Witkoff’s proposal for the ceasefire to continue for about six weeks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods.

If, at the end of this period, negotiations reached a dead end, Israel would reserve the right to go back to war.

Witkoff has not made his proposal public. According to Israel, it would begin with the release of half of all the remaining living and dead hostages.

Witkoff is said by Israel to have proposed the temporary extension after becoming convinced that more time was needed to try to bridge the differences between Israel and Hamas on conditions for ending the war.

Aid agencies confirmed that no aid trucks had been allowed into Gaza on Sunday morning.

“Humanitarian assistance has to continue to flow into Gaza. It’s very essential. And we are calling all parties to make sure that they reach a solution,” Antoine Renard from the World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC.

Thousands of trucks have entered the Gaza Strip each week since the ceasefire was agreed in mid-January.

Aid agencies have managed to store supplies, which means there is no immediate danger to the civilian population.

Also on Sunday, medics said four people had been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza. The Israeli military said it had attacked people who were planting an explosive device in the north of the territory.

Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.

Israel responded with an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

First the two countries opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which was passed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Then they backed a US-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an end to the conflict but containing no criticism of Russia.

The Security Council resolution was passed but two key US allies, the UK and France, abstained in the vote after their attempts to amend the wording were vetoed.

The competing resolutions were tabled as French President Emmanuel Macron visited President Donald Trump at the White House in an attempt to address their sharp differences over the war.

On Thursday, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will likewise visit the new American leader.

Trump’s White House has upended the transatlantic alliance, currying favour with Moscow and casting doubt on America’s long-term commitment to European security.

That rift was laid bare on the floor of the 193-member UNGA on Monday as US diplomats pushed their limited resolution mourning the loss of life during the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” and calling for a swift end to it.

European diplomats tabled a more detailed text, blaming Russia for its full-scale invasion, and supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We need to reconfirm that the aggression should be condemned and discredited, not rewarded,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa.

UNGA members backed the European resolution by 93 votes but, extraordinarily, the US did not abstain but actually voted against it, along with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Sudan, Belarus, Hungary and 11 other states, with 65 abstentions.

The UNGA also passed the US resolution but only after it was amended to include language supporting Ukraine, which led to the US abstaining.

At the much more powerful 15-member UN Security Council, the unamended US resolution – which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of Russia – was passed by 10 votes, with the UK, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia abstaining.

America’s acting envoy to the UN, Dorothy Camille Shea, described the US resolution as a “simple historic statement… that looks forward, not backwards. A resolution focused on one simple idea: ending the war”.

Rarely has the US been so at odds with its supposed European allies.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, the Security Council has been deadlocked by the power of Russia, one of its five permanent members, to veto any resolution there.

For this reason the UNGA has been the main forum for debating the war. But its resolutions are not legally binding for member states, unlike those of the Security Council.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said in a statement that the convoy was taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport when it was targeted and one of its vehicles set on fire.

Protesters have been blocking the road to the airport following a decision by the Lebanese government to bar two Iranian planes from landing.

Both Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and the country’s army condemned the attack on Unifil, and said they would work to arrest those involved.

Several videos shared online show one white UN vehicle alight, as a group of young men, carrying yellow flags, chase and beat what appear to be peacekeepers as they attempt to flee.

Separate footage shows a group of men shouting as they kick, hit and climb onto a convoy of three UN vehicles along a dark road.

Unifil’s injured deputy commander, who was not named, was returning home after ending his mission, according to a statement from the United Nations.

“We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it added.

“Attacks on peacekeepers are flagrant violations of international law and may amount to war crimes. We demand a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice.”

Aoun said the attack was “unacceptable” and “cannot be allowed to be repeated”.

In a social media post from the presidency, he added: “The security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to destabilize and undermine civil peace in the country.”

Supporters of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have gathered outside Beirut’s airport since Thursday over a stand-off between Lebanon and Iran that saw two Iranian planes barred from landing in the Lebanese capital.

It has left dozens of Lebanese nationals stranded in Iran.

The measure was put in place after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that Iran’s Quds Force had been “exploiting” international flights to “smuggle” funds to arm Hezbollah.

The IDF’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said it was in contact with the committee monitoring the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, but alleged: “Despite the efforts made, we estimate that some of these money smuggling attempts have succeeded.”

The Amal movement, a group allied to Hezbollah, said “the attack on Unifil is an attack on southern Lebanon”, and described it as “a stab at civil peace”.

Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Al-Hajjar told state media he would convene a security meeting on Saturday in light of the attack, calling it a “crime against peacekeeping forces”.

Unifil was created to monitor a buffer zone created near the border with Israel following the end of the 2006 Lebanon war, and has posts throughout southern Lebanon.

UN human rights investigators accused the deposed government of a brutal response to mass opposition last year, in which they said up to 1,400 people had been killed, mostly by security forces.

The UN team said “an official policy to attack and violently repress anti-government protesters” had been directed by political leaders and senior security officials.

Hasina, who had been in office for 15 years, fled by helicopter to India shortly before crowds stormed her residence last August.

The unrest began as student-led protests against quotas in civil service jobs and escalated into a countrywide movement to oust Hasina and her Awami League Party following a deadly police crackdown. Thousands more were injured in the worst violence Bangladesh has seen since its war of independence in 1971.

The UN investigators’ findings show the then government, including Sheikh Hasina, “were aware of and involved in very serious offences”, UN human rights chief Volker Türk told a news conference in Geneva.

“Among our key findings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that officials of the former government, its security and intelligence apparatus, together with violent elements associated with the former ruling party, committed serious and systematic human rights violations,” Mr Türk said.

The UN investigators documented the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of others, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Children, too, were targeted – the report estimates up to 13% of the 1,400 people killed between between 1 July and 15 August were children.

“The brutal response was a calculated and well-co-ordinated strategy by the former government to hold onto power in the face of mass opposition,” Mr Türk said.

He said the evidence gathered by his office painted “a disturbing picture of rampant state violence and targeted killings”.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture, were carried out with the knowledge, co-ordination and direction of the political leadership and senior security officials as part of a strategy to suppress the protests.”

The report was requested by Bangladesh’s caretaker leader, Muhammad Yunus, who said he and his interim government remained “committed to transforming Bangladesh into a country in which all its people can live in security and dignity“.

The overall number of deaths given by the UN team is far higher than the 834 most recently estimated by his government..

The UN team that compiled the report included human rights investigators, a forensics physician and a weapons expert. Their findings are mainly based on more than 230 interviews with survivors, witnesses and others. They were given access to medical case files, photos, videos and other material.

“Former senior officials directly involved in handling the protests and other inside sources described how the former prime minister and other senior officials directed and oversaw a series of large-scale operations, in which security and intelligence forces shot and killed protesters or arbitrarily arrested and tortured them,” the report said.

It “found patterns of security forces deliberately and impermissibly killing or maiming protesters, including incidents where people were shot at point-blank range”.

While the report attributes most of the violence to government security forces, it also raises concerns about attacks on those perceived to be supporters of the former government, and against some religious and ethnic groups.

These must be investigated too, the UN Human Rights Office said.

The fate of the economic and trading hub Goma is still unclear. UN officials have said the situation is chaotic with fighting continuing in parts of the city.

A Congolese government official has said the army is still in control of most of the regional capital, but M23 rebels who have attacked the city dispute that.

Reports say at least 17 people have been killed and close to 400 wounded.

On Tuesday, South Africa said that four more of its soldiers, who are in DR Congo as part of peacekeeping efforts, had died as a result of clashes with the M23.

This brings the total number of South African casualties to 13. Malawi and Uruguay have also lost peacekeepers.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday spoke to his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, with the two agreeing on an urgent need for ceasefire and resumption of peace taks

The African Union is also set to host an emergency meeting later on Tuesday.

Late on Monday, DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi held a meeting with leaders of some state institutions to evaluate the situation in the city.

“Our soldiers and the [pro-government militia] Wazalendo continue to hold certain positions in the city” said Vital Kamerhe, the speaker of the National Assembly after the meeting.

He said the president would address the nation later on the matter, without giving specific details.

Since Friday, Goma has been cut off from electricity and water, and Mr Kamerhe said the government was working hard to restore them to the city.

He said the government was also seeking diplomatic and political solutions to the crisis.

It came as the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the M23 attack in a call with Tshisekedi.

In a statement, the US State Department said the Congolese leader agreed on the need to restart peace talks “as soon as possible” with Rwanda, which is accused of backing the rebels.

Mr Rubio also spoke to Kenya’s President William Ruto, agreeing to push forward peace talks. A meeting called by the Kenyan leader between Tshisekedi and Kagame has been scheduled for Wednesday.

The Congolese government has also asked for another meeting of the UN Security Council – demanding that this time it take tough action against Rwanda

During an emergency UN meeting on Sunday, DR Congo demanded sanctions against Rwanda, saying its forces had crossed into its territory in what amounted to a “declaration of war”.

Following the meeting, the UN condemned M23 advances and the “ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DR Congo”, including the presence of “external forces”.

Rwanda has in the past denied direct support for the M23, but the UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has said there is no doubt its troops were supporting the rebels.

“There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered,” Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, warning that a military escalation could be “catastrophic”.

The remarks come after the Syrian National Army (SNA), a group of fighters backed by Turkiye, has battled with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the wake of al-Assad’s removal.

The SDF is the main ally in a United States-led coalition against ISIS (ISIL). It is spearheaded by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed group that it outlaws and that has fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Last week, SNA fighters seized the northern city of Manbij from the SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River as a US-mediated ceasefire came into effect.

Shortly after Pederson addressed the UN Security Council, a US State Department spokesman said the ceasefire in northern Syria had been extended until the end of this week.

We continue to engage with the SDF, with Turkey about a path forward,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding it was not in the interest of any party to see increased conflict in Syria.

“We don’t want to see any party take advantage of the current unstable situation to advance their own narrow interests at the expense of the broader Syrian national interest.”

Pedersen also called on the UN’s Security Council to ensure that Israel “cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan”.

Pedersen noted Israel has conducted more than 350 strikes on Syria following the departure of the former regime, including a major strike on Tartous.

“Such attacks place a battered civilian population at further risk and undermine the prospects of an orderly political transition,” he said.

The UN envoy warned against plans announced by Israel’s cabinet to expand settlements inside the Golan, occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that Israel seized earlier this month.

“Israel must cease all settlement activities in the occupied Syrian Golan, which are illegal. Attacks on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must stop,” said Pedersen.

Rob Geist Pinfold, a professor of peace and security at Durham University, told Al Jazeera that “Israel is looking to launch as many strikes [as possible] while it still has the freedom to do so.”

He suggested that “Israel is adding to the instability [due to their] fear power vacuums and ungoverned spaces on their borders.”

Geist Pinfold also said that the “international community’s response has certainly been lacklustre so far.”

Pederson also called for “broad support” to end the Western-backed sanctions imposed on Syria in order to allow for reconstruction in the war-ravaged country.

“Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs,” Pedersen said.

“The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations, too, and full reconstruction.”

Western countries are wrestling with their approach to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the takeover of Damascus, and is a former al-Qaeda affiliate.

Despite moderating its rhetoric in recent months, HTS has been designated as a “terrorist” group by many Western governments.