Save the Children

Leading United Nations agencies and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have jointly issued a warning about a rapidly intensifying hunger emergency in Somalia, which is pushing 6 million people — nearly a third of the population — towards critical levels of acute hunger. The country now has one of the world's worst malnutrition crises, affecting around 1.9 million children, of whom 493,000 face severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Acting UN relief chief Joyce Msuya says what Israeli forces are doing in the besieged northern Gaza Strip cannot be allowed to continue. In a statement on Saturday, she warned that "the entire population of north Gaza is at risk of dying". The urgent call and warning come after Israeli troops reportedly stormed one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, and as civilians, including children and the disabled, face increasingly horrific conditions in the war-torn territory.

In a rare joint statement on Wednesday, the world's humanitarian leaders strongly condemned the growing and blatant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in conflicts across the globe. They warned that the problem lies not in the absence of legal rules, but in the failure to uphold them, the erosion of accountability, and the refusal to act, even in the face of atrocities.

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.

Amid the worst malnutrition crisis to hit north-east Nigeria in five years, the United Nations relief chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has released $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the region. In a statement on Monday, Fletcher stressed the need to deliver food to those in urgent need and establish systems to mitigate the risk of future crises.

Three years of war in Sudan have created the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis. Tens of thousands of children, women and men have been killed, starved, and maimed. With no signs of the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan and its regional impacts abating, United Nations leaders expressed alarm on Wednesday at the insufficient funding and diplomatic attention being given to the conflict and its consequences.

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.

Twenty months into the war in Sudan that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, the country continues to slide into a widening famine characterized by widespread hunger and a significant surge in acute malnutrition. According to a report released on Tuesday, the IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) has identified famine in at least five areas, four months after famine was first confirmed in the Zamzam camp for displaced people in Sudan's North Darfur State.

A top United Nations official has expressed grave concern over the rapid expansion of the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), particularly in North Kivu province and its spillover into neighboring South Kivu province. Briefing the UN Security Council on Monday, Bintou Keita, the UN special envoy to the DRC, described the situation as "one of the most serious, complex and neglected humanitarian crises of our times."

As Israel’s latest military assault escalates, the situation in the Gaza Strip, where a man-made famine has been confirmed, continues to deteriorate, with more than two million civilians facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Earlier this week, Israel ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians to evacuate Gaza City.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Monday of a sharp deterioration in the situation in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State. This warning comes amid reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the Sudanese army headquarters in the city on Sunday. In light of the situation, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has called for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, across Darfur, and throughout Sudan.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the UN and its partners are continuing to deliver critical aid across Ukraine, despite the increasing risks to humanitarian workers. On Wednesday, a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse was damaged in a drone attack on the city of Dnipro.

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.

Briefing the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday on the catastrophic reality in Gaza, the top UN relief official urged those present to consider what they will tell future generations when asked what they did to stop the "21st century atrocity" taking place daily before the eyes of the world. The statement comes as every one of Gaza's 2 million surviving Palestinians faces famine, with one in five on the brink of starvation.

Millions of people in Syria remain at risk of death from unexploded ordnance, disease and malnutrition, and urgent assistance is needed, United Nations humanitarian officials said on Friday. Despite some progress, humanitarian needs in Syria remain immense as years of conflict have pushed 90 percent of the population into poverty, with nearly 7.5 million people displaced inside Syria and more than six million living as refugees.