DONARE FAQs presents a selection of frequently asked questions about humanitarian crises, introducing the basic features and contexts of humanitarian emergencies.
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The DONARE FAQs section offers curated responses to frequently asked questions about humanitarian action, including topics such as humanitarian aid, humanitarian crises, humanitarian actors, humanitarian funding, and international humanitarian law. Here, you will find a complete list of all the questions addressed.
As world leaders gather in New York for the 79th United Nations General Assembly and the threat of a wider regional escalation looms, the world's humanitarian leaders are demanding an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. "These atrocities must end," they said in a statement signed Monday by the heads of UN agencies and representatives of the world's non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
A humanitarian catastrophe is a humanitarian crisis (or emergency) where widespread loss of life, threat to life, and human suffering on an immense scale occur - often over a short period of time. Such events result typically from violence involving armed actors (like states and non-state armed groups), leading to hunger, displacement, disease, and lack of access to essential resources like safe water and shelter. Natural disasters can also cause humanitarian catastrophes such as famine.
In a joint appeal Wednesday, the heads of UN humanitarian agencies and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged world leaders to help prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. They also called on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation under international humanitarian and human rights law to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate relief efforts.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called Wednesday for Israel and Hamas to prolong a temporary truce, saying a “true humanitarian cease-fire” is needed in the eight-week-old war. Meanwhile, a last-minute deal was struck on Thursday between Israel and Hamas to continue their cease-fire for a seventh day.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials warn a humanitarian and health catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip as the humanitarian space for providing life-saving treatment and aid is shrinking. With no let-up in fighting across Gaza, the UN health agency pleaded on Tuesday for better access across the enclave, where aid deliveries are arriving “too little...too late”. The warning and the appeal come as 1 percent of the Gaza population has been killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in just three months.
The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Sunday issued a stark warning about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli authorities maintain a blockade on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods for more than two months. In a statement, HCT, which coordinates relief efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, also condemned Israeli efforts to dismantle the current aid system.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the devastating human rights crisis in Sudan has created the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on Thursday, Volker Türk also warned of an increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine as a result of the conflict, which began in April 2023.
Alarming new food security projections for Sudan released on Thursday show that the country is facing a devastating hunger catastrophe on a scale not seen since the Darfur crisis in the early 2000s, the heads of three United Nations agencies have warned. New data shows that more than 750,000 people are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with 25.6 million people at crisis levels of hunger and the threat of famine in several regions.
The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine’s Khersonska oblast on Tuesday has left at least 40 towns and villages partially flooded, which will likely have grave consequences for hundreds of thousands of people in southern Ukraine. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has described the destruction as a “monumental humanitarian, economic and environmental catastrophe”, resulting directly from Russia’s invasion of the country.
Leading international humanitarian organizations on Friday have expressed shock and deep concern for civilians in the Gaza Strip after Israel ordered the entire population - more than 1.1 million people - to leave the northern part of Gaza as airstrikes continue and the humanitarian crisis worsens. Fearing catastrophic consequences, they warn that neither the demand to leave nor the total siege of Gaza imposed by Israel is compatible with international humanitarian law (IHL).
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.
Nearly a year into the war in Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic. Israel's all-out war and blockade have devastated Gaza, displaced 1.9 million people who have been repeatedly forced into ever smaller areas, and cut off access to desperately needed food, water and medicine. Meanwhile, another humanitarian disaster looms in the region as Israeli security forces escalate their war against Lebanon.
Two years after launching a war against the Gaza Strip, Israel signed a ceasefire and hostage release agreement with the armed group Hamas. The agreement aims to pause hostilities in the devastated territory and raise hope for an end to the brutal conflict marked by widespread atrocities perpetrated by Israeli officials. More than 237,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, injured, or maimed in Israeli attacks.
While heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, a part of the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). The calamitous deterioration of the situation follows the complete blockade on electricity, fuel, water, and food supplies from Israel into Gaza, and after the Israeli military requested all people in northern Gaza, to flee to the south within 24 hours.
The abrupt suspension of foreign aid by the United States has fueled a global humanitarian catastrophe, according to UN human rights experts. The extreme cuts in funding are expected to cost millions of lives worldwide. On Thursday, the experts said the situation was made worse by the US administration’s failure to publish a mandatory review of contracts and disbursements by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Retaliatory attacks by Israeli security forces have killed more than 25,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip, including about 70 percent women and children, and injured more than 62,000 others. The carnage follows a large-scale attack on Israelis and foreign nationals by Palestinian armed groups on October 7 last year. Meanwhile, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea continue across much of Gaza, causing more and more civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction.
