War

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says critical aid lifelines to northern Gaza have been cut off, with no food or other essential supplies entering since October 1. The main crossings into the area remain closed, while the more than 400,000 people who remain there are under increasing pressure to flee southwards in response to Israeli evacuation orders.

In 2023, children living in situations of war and conflict experienced intolerable levels of violence, according to a new United Nations Secretary-General's report on children and armed conflict released this week. Children were recruited and used, including on the front lines, attacked in their homes, abducted on their way to school, their schools used for military purposes, their doctors targeted, and the horrific list goes on.

The number of people killed in several days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of former President Bashar al-Assad, followed by large-scale massacres, has risen to more than 1,000, a human rights monitoring group said on Saturday, marking some of the deadliest violence since Syria's civil war began 14 years ago. Since Thursday, escalating hostilities in the governorates of Tartus, Lattakia, Homs and Hama have also resulted in civilian injuries, displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure.

According to the United Nations, devastating Russian missile and drone strikes have killed and injured hundreds of Ukrainian civilians this month, continuing a pattern of relentless attacks far from the front lines. This comes after June saw the highest monthly number of civilian deaths and injuries in three years, with over 230 people killed and more than 1,340 injured.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations continue to scale up much-needed relief efforts in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Thursday, OCHA reiterated that maintaining the ceasefire is "crucial to keep this life-saving work going," amid reports that the truce's continuation is threatened by reported disagreements over its implementation.

South Kordofan State is now the epicenter of the war in Sudan, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, warned the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday. Civilians in this part of southern Sudan face intensified hostilities and a nearly total blockade of humanitarian supplies after a year of starvation and bombardment, said NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland at the end of his visit to South Kordofan.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday launched a Flash Appeal for more than $2.8 billion to allow UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the urgent needs of 3.1 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment of much of Gaza continues, resulting in further civilian deaths, displacement and destruction.

The United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Yemen on Wednesday, appealing for US$2.47 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million people in need. More than half of the country's population - 19.5 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year, with Yemen's most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, at greatest risk.

Amid rising global humanitarian needs, the European Commission has announced on Wednesday that its initial annual humanitarian aid budget will grow to €1.7 billion in 2023, an increase of about €200 million compared to the previous year.  In 2022, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.5 billion.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Thursday that he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan accused of crimes against humanity, citing widespread persecution of the country's female population and its LGBTQI+ population. The request comes as Afghanistan continues to suffer from one of the world's largest human rights and humanitarian crises.

The top United Nations official in South Sudan on Tuesday urged leaders in the east-central African country to accelerate implementation of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement, including holding elections late next year. Since mid-April 2023, over 117,000 women and children and men have crossed over into South Sudan from Sudan along the border areas. 93 percent of these are South Sudanese returnees.

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.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed his profound concerns about escalating violence and “bellicose rhetoric” between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line, the demarcation between Israeli and Lebanese armed forces. He warned Friday that the risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East is real - and must be avoided. The warning comes as Lebanon is already facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to socio-economic shocks, ongoing political instability and spillover from the Syrian crisis.

A senior official from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Tuesday warned that "an unimaginable humanitarian crisis" was unfolding in Sudan, with millions of people being forcibly displaced from their homes by an increasingly vicious conflict. Since the conflict started more than six months ago, over 6.2 million people have become displaced inside Sudan or have sought refuge in neighboring countries. 

The newly appointed interim Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Kristine Hambrouck, expressed alarm over the recent wave of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, noting that they represent a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. Her statement comes as the situation in Sudan is worsening amid ongoing fighting, mass displacement, and mounting health emergencies.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that aid workers in the Gaza Strip continue to face daily threats to their safety and ongoing obstruction of their efforts to reach Palestinians in need of life-saving assistance. The warning comes after a UN convoy was stopped and surrounded by Israeli forces. Soldiers pointed their weapons directly at UN personnel in the convoy, live shots were fired, and vehicles were damaged.

As civilians lining up for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip continue to be killed by Israeli forces, speakers at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday urged Israel to lift restrictions on aid operations in Gaza, called for a return to UN-led delivery mechanisms, and stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians. Among them was UN relief chief Tom Fletcher, who told members that "we are beyond vocabulary to describe conditions in Gaza."

February 1 marks three years since Myanmar's military toppled the country's democratically elected government, setting off a bloody civil war that continues to tear apart the country of 57 million people.  Some 18.6 million people in Myanmar – one-third of the population – urgently need humanitarian assistance this year – compared to one million before the military takeover on February 1, 2021.

The entire population in the Gaza Strip faces an imminent risk of famine, with more than half a million people already in catastrophic conditions, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns. Meanwhile, after days of intense negotiations on a humanitarian pause and the delivery of aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip, the United States abstained Friday on a United Nations Security Council (SC) resolution, allowing its adoption by the 15-member body.