Food Insecurity

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that civilians, including humanitarian workers, are facing serious threats to their safety as hostilities escalate in northern Syria and spread to other parts of the country. The fighting also continues to cause severe damage to critical infrastructure and disrupt aid operations, while Syria is already facing one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that a snowstorm has affected thousands of displaced people in Syria, while humanitarian funding continues to shrink. Last week, the storm hit 90 displacement sites in the north of the country, affecting over 150,000 people. According to aid agencies, two infants died due to the extreme cold in Harim, a town in northern Idlib.

The United Nations says Israel continues to block aid from reaching northern Gaza, where famine is imminent and people, mostly children, are already dying of malnutrition and starvation. A senior UN official is warning of a catastrophic outcome for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in precarious conditions in the war-torn Gaza Strip unless humanitarian aid deliveries into the territory are massively expanded in the coming days.

A prominent international human rights group is calling for the deployment of a protection force in Sudan following a recent wave of attacks on civilians in Al Jazirah state, widely blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the warring sides in the country's ongoing conflict. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Sunday that the situation has become so grim that a mission is needed to protect the Sudanese population.

The United Nations says there are growing concerns for the protection of civilians in Myanmar as armed conflict continues to spread across the country. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), landmine contamination, explosive hazards, fighting with heavy weapons, and aerial bombardment continue to drive people from their homes in several states, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

As the flames of war continue to engulf Sudan, the United Nations Security Council was urged Monday to prevent the horrors of this conflict from recurring and to stop those enabling the violence from spreading instability further across the region. Escalating violence in Sudan is placing civilians at extreme risk and triggering new waves of displacement, particularly in the Kordofan region.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that ongoing Israeli airstrikes are deepening the crisis in areas of Lebanon already struggling with displacement, as casualties and the impact of the conflict mount. According to the Lebanese government, more than 2,400 people have been killed and more than 11,000 injured since October 2023, most of them in the past four weeks.

A new report published on Friday states that up to 11.6 million refugees and others forced to flee could lose access to direct humanitarian assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) this year due to major cuts to humanitarian budgets around the world. This figure represents approximately one-third of the people the humanitarian organization assisted last year.

A full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah could lead to a slaughter and cripple life-saving humanitarian work throughout the Gaza Strip, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday. The UN, governments and aid agencies have been appealing to Israeli authorities for weeks to spare Rafah, but a ground operation in Gaza's southernmost city, where more than 1.5 million people are at risk, is looming on the immediate horizon.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday adopted a resolution demanding “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, as well as “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. Resolution 2728 (2024), which also calls for "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza, passed by a vote of 14 in favor to none against, with the United States abstaining.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that persistent underfunding of the humanitarian response in Haiti - amid growing needs and rising violence - means millions of Haitians are missing out on vital assistance. OCHA said Thursday that stepped-up and sustained funding is needed to stem the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country.

The lives of more than 35 million people in the Sahel region are being affected by a complex and interdependent pattern of crises, exacerbated by deteriorating security, political instability, and the effects of climate change, leaving them in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection. UN agencies warn that lives will be at risk if aid organizations are not given the resources they need to respond to these crises and help the region's most vulnerable people.

As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Monday’s Security Council resolution paving the way for a consolidated ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, UN aid teams have expressed cautious optimism that the peace plan will improve the situation on the ground. On Monday, the Council endorsed the United States–backed “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” and authorized the establishment of a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, described South Sudan as a nation in despair. Renewed fighting has forced more than 410,000 people to flee, including 110,000 to neighboring Ethiopia. Hostilities have continued to escalate across parts of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states, with airstrikes and armed clashes reported in the past week.