World News in Brief: Deadly Myanmar strikes as Malaysia begins deportations, new emergency funding released, Gaza and West Bank update

Stranded Rohingya people sit on the deck of an abandoned smugglers’ boat drifting in the Andaman Sea in 2015.

The UN chief on Tuesday strongly condemned an airstrike that reportedly killed at least 50 people at a market in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and called for those responsible to be held to account.

Women and children were among the dead and at least 58 people were injured, many critically. The toll is expected to rise.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said the attack raised serious concerns about respect for international humanitarian law, describing Myanmar as a country “wracked by extreme violence”.

He highlighted abuses against the Rohingya in particular by both the army and the opposition Arakan Army armed group.

The strike came hours before Malaysia began implementing a plan to deport some 5,000 Myanmar nationals.

The plan follows a reported agreement between Myanmar’s military rulers and Kuala Lumpur, which Malaysia has said would involve only voluntary repatriations.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR , says it has not been involved in identifying those being returned, who have reportedly been held in detention centres.

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