Ceasefire

Children from displaced families are dying of starvation in parts of Yemen, according to the United Nations, as extreme hunger and malnutrition take hold. Over 17 million people in Yemen are acutely food insecure, a figure expected to surpass 18 million by February 2026 amid a critical crisis in humanitarian funding.

Humanitarian aid in Yemen has been cut by 62 percent over five years, endangering the lives and futures of the country's most vulnerable people, especially children, the international non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children International warned on Monday. The continued funding cuts come as two-thirds of Yemen’s population – 21.6 million people, including 11 million children – are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year.

Violence in Myanmar is spiraling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools, and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned Wednesday. This warning comes as the number of people in Myanmar in need of humanitarian assistance has risen to an unprecedented 22 million, following four years of fierce civil war and devastating earthquakes three months ago.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concludes in a new report released Wednesday that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity by murdering civilians with drones. The report states that the drone attacks have been widespread and systematic, and have been conducted as part of a coordinated state policy. These findings come as Russian airstrikes continue to kill and maim civilians, including children, and destroy civilian infrastructure.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is spiraling out of control, with a staggering number of people facing hunger, including extreme conditions, and the United Nations’ ability to deliver aid severely hampered by ongoing conflict, funding shortages, and arbitrary detentions. This was the stark warning delivered on Monday by UN relief chief Tom Fletcher during a briefing to the UN Security Council.

A United Nations-backed food security report has warned that the entire Gaza Strip is classified in emergency levels of hunger, and that the threat of famine persists as aid dwindles and winter approaches. As of October, some 1.84 million people across the Gaza Strip are classified in crisis levels (IPC Phase 3) or worse, including some 133,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) and 664,000 in emergency levels (IPC Phase 4).

More than one million people across Lebanon have been displaced by ongoing and deadly Israeli airstrikes across the country, with more than 1,000 killed in the past two weeks, raising fears of an imminent full-scale invasion. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), some 100,000 of those displaced have fled to neighboring Syria.

After an 11-week total blockade of humanitarian and commercial goods into the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities have temporarily allowed the resumption of limited aid deliveries since Monday. While the entry of some trucks has been welcomed as a positive development, as of Wednesday night none of the supplies had reached those in need, amid extreme deprivation throughout the territory.

The international non-governmental organization (NGO) CARE has called Monday on the international community to pay attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan and increase funding. The war in Sudan, which entered its tenth month last week, continues to cause extreme suffering for millions across the country and in neighboring states, with women and children experiencing the conflict’s impacts most acutely.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced Friday that it is facing a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward. This will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to its food assistance programs across the country in the coming months. The UN agency has already reduced live-saving programs. 

The "carnage" in the Gaza Strip has left more than 30,000 dead and must end immediately, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk told the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, after nearly five months of continuous Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the enclave. Meanwhile, Israel, which has the duty and legal obligation to ensure the provision of food and goods to the people of Gaza, continues to fail to provide or even facilitate the delivery of essential supplies for the survival of some 2.3 million people living in Gaza.

The bodies of at least 87 ethnic Masalit and others allegedly killed last month by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militia in Sudan’s West Darfur state have been buried in a mass grave outside the capital El-Geneina, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Thursday. Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called on the RSF leadership immediately and unequivocally to condemn and stop the killing of people, and to end violence and hate speech against people on the basis of their ethnicity.

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher allocated US$13.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) on Wednesday to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). In the midst of a severe funding crisis, $10 million will support the delivery of immediate, life-saving assistance for displaced people in DRC, while $3.5 million will bolster urgent refugee response efforts in neighboring Burundi.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Palestinians in northern Gaza are experiencing extreme suffering as the Israeli siege of the area continues. OCHA says there are harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in the north. Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) describe apocalyptic scenes as atrocities against civilians and attacks on hospitals intensify.

Six months of war have plunged Sudan into one of the worst "humanitarian nightmares" in recent history, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said on Sunday, calling on the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, and urging donors to step up their support. He also highlighted the growing need for humanitarian assistance in neighboring countries, to which more than a million people have already fled.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that Israeli displacement orders followed by airstrikes continue to drive panic among civilians in Lebanon, particularly in the suburbs of the capital Beirut. According to Lebanese officials, more than 3,300 people, including more than 200 children, have been killed and more than 14,000 injured by Israeli airstrikes since October 2023, most of them within the past six weeks.

As the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise following Friday's historic earthquake, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said on Tuesday that the scale and scope of the earthquake's impact is vast, spanning multiple states and regions, particularly the central part of Myanmar. The death toll is expected to rise to more than 3,000, according to the country's military junta, while thousands are reportedly injured and hundreds missing.