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Gaza ceasefire improves aid access, but children still face deadly conditions

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That’s the assessment of two senior officials from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), speaking on Monday to journalists in New York following a week-long visit to the enclave and the occupied West Bank.

The two agencies have brought more than 10,000 trucks of aid into Gaza since the 10 October truce between Israel and Hamas, representing some 80 per cent of all humanitarian cargo.

Three months later, “the food security situation has improved and famine has been reversed,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations.

Carl Skau, WFP Deputy Executive Director, added that most families he met “were eating at least once a day” – sometimes twice.

Commercial goods have reappeared in Gaza’s markets, including vegetables, fruits, chicken and eggs. Recreational kits to help children heal from the stress and trauma of two years of war are now in their hands.

‘These gains matter’

UNICEF and partners have provided more than 1.6 million people with clean drinking water and distributed blankets and winter clothes to 700,000.  They have also restored essential life-saving paediatric intensive care services at embattled Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The second round of a Gaza-wide “catch-up campaign” for routine childhood vaccinations is currently underway, while another 72 UNICEF-supported nutrition facilities have been established, bringing the total to 196.

“These gains matter,” said Mr. Chaiban. “They show what is possible when the fighting pauses, political commitments are sustained and humanitarian access opens.”

Hot meals and school snacks

WFP has also scaled up massively over the past 100 days, said Mr. Skau, speaking from Rome. Teams have reached more than a million people every month with full rations for the first time since the war began.

They are “serving 400,000 hot meals every day and delivering school snacks to some 230,000 children in 250 temporary learning centres,” in addition to operating hundreds of distribution points and some 20 warehouses.

Other humanitarian organizations are bringing in tents, blankets, mattresses and other essentials thanks to WFP’s shared logistics services.

The agency is also helping to facilitate more regular aid convoys and is expanding common storage facilities so that more aid can be positioned closer to the population. It has also ramped up cash support to roughly 60,000 households.

Although more aid is entering Gaza, quantities are not yet sufficient to meet the immense needs. Furthermore, “the situation also remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children,” said Mr. Chaiban.

“More than 100 children have been reported killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October.    Despite the progress with food security,100,000 children remain acutely malnourished and require long term care.  1.3 million people, many of them children, are in urgent need of proper shelter.”

Families are shivering in fabric tents and bombed-out buildings amid freezing temperatures that have killed at least 10 children this winter season.

Mr. Sklau met a young woman with a 10-day-old baby who “was sitting on a wet mattress in this cold tent on the beach,” describing their plight as “just absolutely brutal.”

Hopes for a brighter future

Yet hope blossoms in the Gaza Strip. UNICEF and partners are supporting over 250,000 children to resume learning – a critical element to mental health and psychosocial support for more than 700,000 students who have been out of school for two years.

Mr. Skau recalled a conversation with young girls at a temporary learning space who “were happy to be back learning and eating more regularly,” he said.  “They could see a future again as nurses or engineers or restaurant owners, and they seemed impressively confident and determined to build a future for themselves.”

Humanitarians need essential items – such as water and sanitation provision, as well as educational supplies – to be allowed to enter Gaza which can help jump start recovery and reconstruction.

Mr. Chaiban said WFP and UNICEF are ready to scale up operations.

“The children of Gaza and the State of Palestine including the West Bank, which is also experiencing a wave of violence do not need sympathy. They need decisions now that give them warmth, safety, food, education, and a future,” he said.   “We have an opportunity, a window, to change the trajectory for these children. We can’t waste it.”

Somalia declares drought emergency as millions face hunger after failed rains

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On 10 November, the Federal Government of Somalia formally declared a drought emergency and appealed for urgent international assistance as conditions continued to deteriorate across northern, central and southern regions, according to the UN relief coordination office, OCHA.

Puntland is among the worst affected areas, where authorities estimate that nearly one million people need support, including 130,000 in immediate life-threatening need.

A UN assessment mission to Bari and Nugaal regions earlier this month found communities grappling with acute water and food shortages, with residents warning that catastrophe could unfold in the coming months.

“We have not received rain since last year; this is the worst drought in years,” said Abdiqani Osman Omar, the mayor of Shaxda village in Bari region.

“Hundreds of displaced families moved here three months ago, and more are coming. The new arrivals are mostly women and children as the men have moved to nearby Ethiopia in search of pasture and water.”

The village has no capacity to support them, he added, stating that even host communities need water and food assistance.

Dried up water sources, abandoned settlements

Across Puntland, water points have dried up, vegetation has withered and once-inhabited pastoral settlements now stand abandoned.

In Dhaxan town, where brief Gu’ season (April-June) showers offered short-lived hope earlier this year, residents are now dependent on expensive trucked water after the local borehole was found to be contaminated.

Community leader Jama Abshir Hersi said around 150 families moved to the town after the rains.

“We used to receive food and nutrition assistance, and medical supplies for our health unit. All that assistance has dwindled,” he said.

Funding shortfalls

Funding shortfalls are compounding the crisis.

As of 23 November, Somalia’s 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan was only 23.7 per cent funded, forcing major reductions in assistance. The number of people receiving emergency food aid plunged from 1.1 million in August to just 350,000 this month.

In Puntland alone, 89 supplementary feeding sites and 198 health and stabilization centres are facing severe supply shortages.

Millions going hungry

The drought is unfolding amid an already dire humanitarian landscape. At least 4.4 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity through December, while 1.85 million children under five are expected to suffer acute malnutrition through mid-2026.

Weather forecasts indicate little immediate relief. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that dry and hot conditions are expected to persist across most of the country, particularly in central and northern regions.

“The prevailing high temperatures and poor rain are likely to exacerbate water stress and limit pasture regeneration in most areas,” the agency said.

From ruins to rebuilding: Three Jamaican mothers face the future after hurricane

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Three women in Jamaica whose lives were upended by the destructive force of a hurricane which battered the Caribbean island are looking to rebuild their future. 

Right before Hurricane Melissa swept across Jamaica in late October 2025, Rose* took her two children to a friend’s sturdy concrete home to keep them safe. When they returned the next morning, everything had vanished.

“The house was gone,” she said. “I didn’t even see the roof, just a piece of lumber.”

A school serves a temporary shelter for people whose lives were upended by Hurricane Melissa.

Entire neighbourhoods were reduced to splinters by the hurricane which left 36 per cent of houses in the western part of the country either damaged or destroyed.

Schools became shelters overnight, turning classrooms into temporary homes. Roads disappeared under water, power outages spread, and thousands were cut off for days. 

Nearly half a million people were left in precarious living conditions, facing profound uncertainty.

Among them are Rose, Sharon, and Sonia – three mothers whose lives changed overnight.

‘I have a key but no house’

For nine years, Rose lived in her small wooden home, a donated structure that had become her family’s refuge. 

Now, only the foundation remains. “I have a key to the house but no house,” she said. The air reeked of mud and decay. Nothing could be saved.

Sonia sits on a bed at a shelter for people who lost their homes due to Hurricane Melissa.

Before the storm, Rose worked as a cruise dispatcher in Negril, and her son as a hotel photographer. Both lost their jobs when the tourism industry shut down.

A few classrooms away, Sharon* faces a similar struggle. She arrived at the shelter with her two small children the same day her home, and her father’s collapsed. 

Before the storm, she worked as a gas station supervisor, now her workplace is closed indefinitely. Her children sleep on desks in the sweltering heat.

Between the rows of desks and makeshift beds, families share what little they have: a meal, a blanket, a few words of comfort. Amid loss, small acts of kindness create fragile connections.

Living in limbo 

More than 1,100 people remain in 88 shelters in Jamaica, and over 120,000 households need urgent repairs after Melissa’s destruction. 

Among them is Sonia*, who fled her coastal home carrying her grandson with a heart condition. 

“I can’t swim, so I grabbed him and ran,” she recalled.

Since the start of the emergency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) teams have supported the Government of Jamaica and the wider UN response, delivering tarpaulins, shelter repair materials, hygiene kits, generators, and other essentials to families whose homes were damaged or destroyed.

For women like Rose, Sharon, and Sonia, each day is a test of endurance and solidarity. Their homes are gone, but the support of their communities helps them move forward. 

Their lives, once far apart, are now linked by loss, uncertainty, and the slow process of rebuilding.

*Names changed to protect identities

 

Thirsty and starving, Gazans face ‘inhumane’ evacuation; UNICEF

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The development followed reports that the Israeli military has stepped up its ground offensive in Gaza City, ordering residents to leave the area.

Speaking from the south of the enclave, UNICEF’s Tess Ingram described the forced mass displacement of families as a “deadly threat for the most vulnerable”.

“It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict to flee one hellscape to end up in another,” she insisted.

150,000 go south in a month

According to the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, over the past few days, partners monitoring the movement of people in Gaza counted almost 70,000 displacements heading south, and about 150,000 over the past month. The only available route, Al Rashid Road, was “very busy” when Ms. Ingram was there on Monday, she said.

The UNICEF spokesperson described meeting a mother who had walked for more than six hours from Gaza City to the South with her five children, “all dirty, thirsty and starving”, two of them with no shoes.

They are being pushed along with tens of thousands of others to “a so-called humanitarian zone” encompassing Al-Mawasi and surrounding areas, she said.

Sea of despair

Ms. Ingram described their destination as “a sea of makeshift tents, human despair” and services which are “insufficient” to support the hundreds of thousands already living there.

Child malnutrition in Gaza is “spiralling”, Ms. Ingram continued, pointing out that according to UNICEF estimates, some 26,000 children in the enclave currently require treatment for acute malnutrition – more than 10,000 in Gaza City alone.

Famine was confirmed late last month in Gaza City by UN-backed food insecurity experts.

Feeding centres closed

UNICEF’s Ms. Ingram said that owing to evacuation orders and military escalation more nutrition centres in Gaza City have been forced to shut this week, “cutting off children from a third of the remaining treatment sites that can save their lives”.

While humanitarians remain on site and continue responding to the crisis, “it is becoming harder with every bombardment and every denial”, she stressed.

According to OCHA, last Sunday out of 17 missions that humanitarian teams coordinated with the Israeli authorities, only four were facilitated, while seven missions were denied and others were impeded on the ground or had to be cancelled.

Ms. Ingram spoke of the dilemma desperate Gazans face: “stay in danger or flee to a place that they also know is dangerous.” She recalled that Al-Mawasi came under attack some two weeks ago, when eight children were killed while lining up for water; the youngest victim was three years old.

More to follow…

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: NATO allies rally round Poland in face of Russian incursion, as drone warfare takes centre stage

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The Security Council is meeting in emergency session at Poland’s request at 3pm in New York, after some 19 Russian drones violated their and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) airspace earlier this week. It marked the most serious incursion into NATO territory since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began – and highlights the extent to which drone technology has reshaped tactics, logistics and strategy in wars worldwide. Follow the live coverage of the debate around the iconic horseshoe table below.

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Latin America and Caribbean: Millions more children could face poverty due to climate change

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Even worse, the number could triple if countries do not meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to ensure that climate financing prioritises social and climate resilience services for children.

The finding comes in a report by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), published on Thursday in Panama.

Bearing the brunt

The report examines the potential effects of extreme weather events on increasing poverty levels among children and youth, along with national efforts to reduce GHG emissions as well as strategies to adapt and reduce losses and damage caused by climate change.

The 5.9 million figure represents the most optimistic scenario. However, if governments are slow in implementing actions to address mitigation and adaptation, as well as loss and damage, the number could reach 17.9 million.

Roberto Benes, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that children and adolescents bear the greatest burden of climate change. 

Their developing bodies are more vulnerable to cyclones, heatwaves and other extreme phenomena which at the same time disrupt their families’ livelihoods and their education.

“If children and young people don’t have the resources to meet their basic needs and develop their potential, and if adequate social protection systems are not in place, the region’s inequalities will only be perpetuated,” he said.

Protect children and youth

Yet despite their vulnerability, climate finance does not prioritise the resilient services for health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation that children and young people need, to ensure their optimal cognitive and physical development. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, only 3.4 per cent of all multilateral climate finance is dedicated to children, according to the report.  This is happening at a time of funding cuts and reduced development aid amid unprecedented needs.  

The report recommends that regional governments take action, including by strengthening the climate resilience of social services and critical infrastructure to better protect children and youth, with a particular focus on the first 1,000 days of life.

Authorities are urged to increase child-sensitive climate policy financing, with actions that specifically target the needs of children at different ages.

They also must promote greater climate awareness, education, empowerment and participation of children and youth. Additionally, environmental and climate education should be included in school curricula and educational programmes.

The report further recommends that countries promote adaptive social protection and emergency response policies that account for the specific needs of children and adolescents. 

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Gazans face a future of pain and prosthetics

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At the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, a small child, Maryam Abu Alba, is crying in pain. “The neighbour’s house was bombed, and their home was hit,” says her grandmother.

“One of her legs had to be amputated, and metal plates had to be inserted into the other one, which was fractured. She is in severe pain.”

Nowhere to run

At the same hospital, young Mohammad Hassan looks down at his heavily bandaged left leg, and the stump where his foot used to be. “I was going to buy falafel,” he says. “On the way home, I looked up and saw a rocket heading towards me. I tried to run, but it was too fast. I found myself pinned to the wall, and my foot had been blown off. Then someone picked me up and took me to this hospital.”

Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita of anywhere in the world.

Palestinian child Mohammad Hassan sitting on a hospital bed in Gaza after his left leg was amputated by a strike.

Shot in search of food

In May, GHF took over aid delivery in Gaza, bypassing established routes and dramatically scaling back the number of distribution points to a handful of fortified hubs, a policy that has been criticised by the UN and NGO partners.

We were told the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had opened its doors to distribute aid. When I arrived…I was hit by an explosive bullet

On Monday, the UN human rights office described attempts to access these sites as “a deadly pursuit”. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured since May while seeking food. 

When GHF began operations, Ibrahim Abdel Nabi was one of the many Palestinians who headed to the hubs in the hope of finding desperately needed provisions for their families.

In his tent at a displacement site in the coastal Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Mr. Nabi, surrounded by his wife and children, explains how the journey ended in disaster and life-changing injuries.

“We were told that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had opened its doors to distribute aid. When I arrived at the Al-Alam area, west of Rafah, I was hit by an explosive bullet in my leg. I was bleeding for about an hour and a half, and no one came to help me. They were all trying to find food for their children.”

Eventually, a group of people came to his rescue and took him to the nearby Red Cross hospital.

“I stayed there for about a month and a half, undergoing about 12 operations. I became malnourished and lost a lot of blood. Infection spread, and more of my leg had to be amputated.”

Ibrahim Abdel Nabi, a Palestinian displaced in Gaza, sitting on a chair while his wife helps him wear the handmade prosthetic limb.

‘I made my prosthetic leg’

As Mr. Nabi was trying to recover, he was aware that his family were still in need of food. Despite the pain, he decided to make a simple prosthesis from materials he could find to allow him to get back on his feet and make fresh attempts to find food and water.

“The prosthesis injures my leg,” he said. “It causes inflammation and increases the pain. We don’t have medical care or supplies, but I will use it no matter how much it hurts.”

As he speaks, Mr. Nabi’s wife begins to cry. “God willing, we will live through this experience,” she says.

Mr. Nabi gets up on crutches and heads to a nearby tent, where his wife helps him to put on the crude prosthesis.

“Don’t strain yourself,” she repeats, over and over. “Take your time. Walk slowly.”

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‘Humanitarian work, a moral obligation’: Retired doctor returns to face the ‘silent threat’ in Gaza

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After a successful career that lasted 43 years, during which he worked in Saudi Arabia, for the Palestinian Ministry of Health and then the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Awadallah decided to retire at the end of 2021.

But, that was short-lived. As the crisis in Gaza escalated and polio reappeared, he decided to return to the field. Doing so was not just a job assignment. As he describes it, it’s a “message of loyalty” to his profession, to the children of Gaza and to the institution that gave him so much.

Dr. Awadallah’s return was driven by a “deep inner sense of responsibility and belonging”.

“I felt that my long experience and field knowledge could make a difference in these critical times,” he told UN News.

‘The Silent Threat to Gaza’

Dr. Awadallah’s story was the focus of the film The Silent Threat to Gaza, produced by UNICEF in conjunction with World Humanitarian Day, observed annually on 19 August. The organization emphasises that the film is a powerful testament to the resilience of humanitarian workers who are facing the dangers of conflict.

Named in May on Time Magazine’s TIME100 Health List for leading “a heroic vaccination campaign” that reached 600,000 children in Gaza, Dr. Awadallah was one of the lead subjects of the 32-minute documentary. The film follows him and his colleague Fairuz Abu Warda, who, during short periods of last year’s ceasefire, delivered lifesaving vaccines to children across the Gaza Strip.

Watch the full document here:

UNICEF said their courage underscores a fundamental fact that when humanitarian principles are adhered to, workers are protected and given safe and timely access, lives can be saved even in the most fragile environments. The UN agency stressed that the courage of humanitarian workers, such as Dr. Awadallah and Ms. Warda, reinforces the urgent need for principled action and international accountability.

Dr. Awadallah told UN News how exhaustion, hunger and fear were part of their daily routine under constant bombardment from the air and sea.

However, their priority was to keep vaccinations effective and reach every child, he said, remembering the moments when he would see his colleagues collapse from exhaustion and then immediately return to work.

A living testimony to willpower

Dr. Awadallah points out that every scene in the vaccination campaign, from the smile of a child to the insistence of the teams to reach the farthest house despite the security difficulties and the danger of moving, reminded him that “humanitarian work cannot be retired.”

Children received the polio vaccine as part of a Gaza-wide campaign. (file)

“I provide humanitarian work, and even if I retire, it does not apply to humanitarian work,” he said.

“The Silent Threat to Gaza was not just a film or a depiction of events, but a living testimony to the strength of will and the power of hope.”

He believes that every shot in the film was “a message to the world that despite the wounds, despite the death and the difficulty of life, Gaza is able to rise up and protect its children”.

Despite the risks to their lives, Dr. Awadallah and his fellow humanitarian workers in Gaza continue their work under constant bombardment.

Protecting humanitarian workers is ‘not a luxury’

“Fear knows no way to their hearts,” he said. “We hear the explosion and then we go to do our work. We are moving towards our goal and we are used to it.”

He said more than 350 medical personnel have been killed, hundreds injured and more than 1,300 arrested.

He appealed to the world that the protection of those who lend a helping hand “is not a luxury, but a prerequisite for ensuring that life and hope reach those in need”, and that it is a “humanitarian duty” that is as important as the provision of assistance itself.

Dr. Younis Awadallah administers a polio vaccine in Gaza.

Spreading hope

After decades of experience, Dr. Awadallah said he has learned that human beings have an incredible resilience beyond imagination.

“Resilience is not the absence of pain and suffering, but the ability to persevere and rise despite tragedies,” he said. “I saw mothers smiling and laughing at their children despite the bleeding and pain. I saw patients facing the pain with a smile and hope.”

Their role as humanitarian workers goes beyond providing treatment and material assistance to include “promoting and instilling hope in people’s hearts, supporting them psychologically and maintaining their strength in the face of problems”, he said.

Not just a profession

On World Humanitarian Day, Dr. Awadallah pays tribute to all those who choose to walk towards danger rather than away from it.

I believe in this business

“We are throwing ourselves into perdition for the sake of others,” he said.

Humanitarian workers in Gaza and everywhere in the world – regardless of their specialties – “are witnesses that mercy knows no boundaries and that human solidarity can flourish even during wars or amid the rubble”, he added.

He said he hopes he would be able to reunite with his family soon.

“My message today is that humanitarian work is not just a profession, but a moral and humanitarian obligation. I left my family and haven’t seen them for two years because I believe in this business.”

Afghan women returnees face rising risks, UN warns

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UN Women – which champions gender empowerment and equality – alongside the international humanitarian agency CARE International and partners, issued the call in a report published on Thursday that also highlights the key challenges and needs of women aid workers assisting the returnees.

The Gender Alert comes amid a surge in returnees to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has ruled for four years, implementing numerous decrees that restrict women’s rights amid economic crisis, climate shocks and immense humanitarian needs.

Strangers in a strange land

Since September 2023, more than 2.4 million undocumented Afghan migrants have returned, or were forced to return, from Pakistan and Iran.

Women and girls account for a third of returnees from Iran so far this year, and about half of those coming from Pakistan.   

Many arrive in a country they have never lived in, with no home, income or access to education and healthcare.

Women and children who have returned to Afghanistan, wait to be seen at a maternity clinic.

A myriad of risks

Like all women and girls in Afghanistan, the returnees face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation and unprecedented restrictions on their rights, movements and freedoms.  

“Vulnerable women and girls arriving with nothing into communities that are already stretched to breaking point puts them at even greater risk,” said Susan Ferguson, UN Women Special Representative in the country. 

We need a place to stay, a chance to learn and a way to earn.

“They are determined to rebuild with dignity, but we need more funding to provide the dedicated support they need and to ensure women humanitarian workers are there to reach them.” 

Housing, income and education

The report outlines urgent and long-term needs, such as safe and affordable shelter, livelihood support and girls’ education.  

As one participant in a focus group in Nangahar province put it, “We need a place to stay, a chance to learn and a way to earn.”

Currently, only 10 per cent of women-headed households live in permanent shelter, nearly four in 10 fear eviction, and all girls are banned from attending secondary school.

Impact of aid cuts

Although women humanitarian workers at border points are critical to reaching female returnees, cuts in foreign aid and movement restrictions increasingly hamper their efforts.

For example, women humanitarians are required to be accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram, when travelling.  However, “funding cuts have sharply eroded staff mahram support in the provinces of Kandahar and Nangarhar, leaving provision inconsistent, delayed, or absent altogether,” the report said.

The funding cuts have severely weakened the capacity of humanitarian organizations to respond, and women humanitarian workers at border points report that they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of arrivals and being unable to meet even their basic needs. 

‘Distressed, disoriented and without hope’

“Witnessing the volume of arrivals and the hardship faced by women, children and families – many distressed, disoriented and without hope – has left a deep impact on all of us responding to this crisis,” said Graham Davison, CARE Afghanistan Director.

He underscored the urgent need for support to provide basic services, safe spaces and protection for women and girl returnees. 

The report noted that Afghanistan is already facing one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises, driven by decades of conflict, poverty and natural disasters.

As this latest wave of returns threatens to push already fragile communities further into crisis, the partners urged the international community to act now to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls and to invest in the women humanitarians who support them.

Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Representative in Afghanistan, recently spoke about the surge in returnees from Iran.

Record number of returns

Separately, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also called for international support as Afghanistan confronts “one of the largest return movements in recent history.”

Returnee numbers are on track to increase as one million more Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Government’s decision not to extend their stay.

IOM operates four reception centres at major border crossings in Afghanistan, including Islam Qala and Milak with Iran, and Torkham and Spin Boldak with Pakistan. 

The UN agency is appealing for additional funding to scale up its response to address growing needs at the borders and in areas of return.

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Hunger in Gaza: Women and children face death in search of food

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“I used to easily receive aid distributed by the UN,” Abir Safi, a displaced person from the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, told UN News. “Now, we get nothing. I risk my life by going to the Zikim crossing and returning with an empty bag. All I want is to return to my children with some food.”

Ms. Safi said she never imagined that providing for her children would become a deadly adventure. After losing her husband in the war, she found herself alone, facing the responsibility of supporting her family amid deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

She was among thousands of citizens who gathered along Rashid Street in northern Gaza, which connects the Zikim crossing to northern Gaza, hoping to receive humanitarian aid.

A horse-drawn cart carries the bodies of more than seven Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid.

‘Bullets over my head’

Our correspondent witnessed the arrival of thousands of Palestinians returning from a journey in search of food supplies. Thousands of emaciated bodies – men, women, and children – were caught in a scene that has become a daily occurrence. Everyone is running in search of the few aid trucks that reach northern Gaza.

The United Nations has the capacity and resources necessary to distribute aid in a safe, dignified manner to all those in need in the Gaza Strip. The organization continues to call for the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on the entry and distribution of aid into Gaza.

The danger lies not only in the crowding and chaos, but also in the death that lurks around everyone. Fayza al-Turmisi, a displaced person from Shuja’iyya, described the horrific scene along Rashid Street in northern Gaza.

“They fire shells and bullets at us here. We are forced to lie on the ground. I hide among more than 200 men, and bullets fly over my head. If you raise your head, you get hit. If you stay on the ground, bullets fall around you.”

A young Gazan was injured while trying to obtain aid.

Between mourning and hunger

Mohammed Mudeiris, aged seven, said he lost his father in an airstrike just the day before. He doesn’t have the luxury of grieving for his father as he is now the sole breadwinner for his siblings.

Walking through the dense crowds, he extends his small hand, begging for a handful of flour to take back to his siblings.

“I am the eldest of my siblings,” he said. “My father was killed in an airstrike yesterday. I am trying to ask someone to give me a plate of flour or a meal from the aid that arrived today.”

Mohammed Mudeiris, a child who lost his father in an Israeli airstrike, coming to secure food for his siblings from aid trucks arriving via the Zikim crossing.

‘I risk my life to bring food to my children’

The race for food is not limited to men. Women are forced to take this risk, driven by the responsibilities of motherhood and the needs of their children.

“I throw myself into danger to bring food for my children,” said Asma Masoud, who was displaced from northern Gaza.

“We never get our fair share of aid,” she said. “My husband is paralysed, and there are widows and women like me who cannot provide food for their children.”

Highlighting that some young people take the aid and sell it at exorbitant prices that she cannot afford to buy, Ms. Masoud called on the world to ensure “a fair distribution mechanism and to allow UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestine refugees] and international organizations to do so”.

Aid should be distributed via text messages so that every person in need receives their share, as was the case before, she said.

“But now, only a few people are profiting and selling the aid,” she stated. “We cannot tolerate that. It is an injustice.”

Asma Masoud, a displaced woman from northern Gaza, returning from a search for food.

‘I don’t know how I’m going to feed my children’

Ms. Safi agreed with Ms. Masoud, complaining that “the beneficiaries now are largely thieves.”

“I’ve lost a lot of weight, and all my health is gone,” Ms. Safi said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feed my children. I want to receive aid with dignity. Aid used to come through the United Nations, and I could easily go and receive it, but now I don’t receive anything.”

I want to receive aid with dignity.

This chaotic system leaves behind widows, women, the elderly and many other complex humanitarian cases, such as Maqboula Adas, who supports her injured husband and her son who has a broken leg.

“My husband is injured and cannot move,” she explained. “My eldest son has a broken leg, and I also have three daughters. No one supports us except God. Every day I go to try to get some flour. If it weren’t for that, they would have died of hunger.”

Maqboula Adas, a displaced woman from Shuja’iyya.

Carts carry corpses

At the height of this tragedy, macabre scenes emerge. Instead of carrying bags of flour, a horse-drawn cart transports the bodies of at least seven Palestinians who were killed while trying to get aid.

While some young men carried sacks of flour on their backs, ambulances bring the wounded and dead from the northern regions. The achievement of getting food aid comes at a heavy price.

One young man was injured in the head and face while trying to collect aid.

“I came to collect aid, but today wasn’t my day,” he said. “I will come again despite my injury, and I hope God will provide for me next time.”

Thousands of Palestinians seeking aid arriving from the Israeli Zikim crossing in northern Gaza.

Risk of famine

Gaza is facing a severe risk of famine, with food consumption and nutrition indicators at their worst levels since the beginning of the current conflict, according to a warning issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). 

At least 147 deaths due to hunger and malnutrition have been reported, including 88 children. More than 28,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition have been recorded among children, according to reports from the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme.

Despite promises to facilitate the flow of aid, restrictions on the entry of food and fuel, along with ongoing attacks near the crossings, have prevented supplies from reaching those in need. In addition, the chaotic distribution of aid within Gaza has further complicated the situation and placed civilians at greater risk.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has documented the deaths of hundreds of people attempting to access aid amid ongoing gunfire and shelling near relief truck routes and military distribution points.

Abir Safi, a displaced woman from Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood.

‘If I get killed, who will take care of my children?’

Amidst this chaos, widow Enaam Siam, a mother of six, recounts her struggle for food.

“I am a widow and a mother of six orphaned children, one of whom is injured,” she said. “Every day, I go out amidst death to bring them food. I see the dead and wounded.”

She asked why aid is no longer delivered to warehouses and distributed via text message.

“If I am killed, who will take care of my children? There are thousands of women in a similar situation. We want safety, peace and a fair system that ensures aid reaches those in need.”

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UN chief ‘appalled’ by worsening Gaza crisis as civilians face displacement, aid blockades

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Multiple attacks in recent days have killed and injured scores of Palestinians at sites hosting displaced people and others attempting to access essential supplies, according to a statement from UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Thursday.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the loss of civilian life,” Mr. Dujarric said.

On just one day this week, nearly 30,000 people were forced to flee under new Israeli relocation orders, with no safe place to go and clearly inadequate supplies of shelter, food, medicine or water, he added.

Critical systems shutting down

With no fuel having entered Gaza in over 17 weeks, the UN chief is also “gravely concerned that the last lifelines for survival are being cut off.”

“Without an urgent influx of fuel, incubators will shut down, ambulances will be unable to reach the injured and sick, and water cannot be purified,” Mr. Dujarric said.

“The delivery by the United Nations and partners of what little of our lifesaving humanitarian aid is left in Gaza will also grind to a halt.”

The Secretary-General reiterated his call for safe and sustained humanitarian access so aid can reach people in desperate need.

“The UN has a clear and proven plan, rooted in the humanitarian principles, to get vital assistance to civilians – safely and at scale, wherever they are,” Mr. Dujarric said.

The Secretary-General reiterated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups. He reminded all parties that international humanitarian law must be upheld.

Displacement continues

Displacement remains relentless. On Wednesday, Israeli authorities issued a new evacuation order in parts of Gaza City, affecting some 40,000 people and including a displacement site, a medical point and one of the few neighbourhoods that had remained untouched by such orders since before the March ceasefire.

Since that ceasefire collapsed, over 50 such orders have been issued, now covering 78 per cent of Gaza’s territory.

“Add the Israeli-militarized zones and that percentage jumps to 85 – leaving just 15 per cent where civilians can actually stay,” Mr. Dujarric said, briefing reporters at the UN Headquarters, in New York.

Those areas are overcrowded and severely lacking in services or proper infrastructure.

“Imagine having just over two million people in Manhattan – which is actually slightly bigger – but instead of buildings, the area is strewn with the rubble of demolished and bombed-out structures, without infrastructure or basic support,” the UN Spokesperson said.

“And in Gaza, these remaining areas are also fragmented and unsafe.”

Afghan women face near total social, economic and political exclusion

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But recently, the level of participation has reached a new low – zero.

Zero women in national or local decision-making bodies.

Zero girls projected to be in secondary education following a December 2024 ban.

These numbers are part of the index released Tuesday by gender equality agency UN Women which is the most comprehensive study on gender inequality in Afghanistan since the Taliban resumed de facto control in 2021.

It paints a sobering picture of the state of gender equality in Afghanistan.

“Since [2021], we have witnessed a deliberate and unprecedented assault on the rights, dignity and very existence of Afghan women and girls. And yet, despite near-total restrictions on their lives, Afghan women persevere,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women chief of humanitarian action, at a briefing in Geneva.

Second-widest gender gap in the world

The report released by UN Women noted that while the Taliban regime has presided over “unparalleled” gender inequality, disparities existed long before 2021.

“The issue of gender inequality in Afghanistan didn’t start with the Taliban. Their institutionalised discrimination is layered on top of deep-rooted barriers that also hold women back,” Ms. Calltorp said. 

According to the index, Afghanistan currently has the second-worst gender gap in the world, with a 76 per cent disparity between women’s and men’s achievements in health, education, financial inclusion and decision-making.

Afghan women are currently realizing only 17 per cent of their potential, and recent policies by the de facto government — including the December 2024 ban on women in secondary education and the increasingly stringent restrictions on women’s movement — will perpetuate and perhaps worsen this under-realized potential.

Systematic exclusion and social effects

This sort of systematic exclusion of women from society at all levels not only impedes progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and gender equality but also exacerbates poverty and instability more broadly, making it harder for the economy to diversify labour sources.

“Afghanistan’s greatest resource is its women and girls. Their potential continues to be untapped,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.

Right now, only 24 per cent of women are part of the labour force, compared to 89 per cent of men. Continued protracted economic strife has led to the number of women in the workforce increasing.

“Overlapping economic, political, and humanitarian crises — all with women’s rights at their core — have pushed many households to the brink. In response – often out of sheer necessity — more women are entering the workforce,” Ms. Calltorp said.

Nevertheless, women are still predominantly working in lower-paid and less secure positions and are overwhelmingly responsible for all unpaid domestic work.

Ms. Calltorp noted that despite the “devastating” daily constraints that Afghan women face, they continue to advocate for themselves and their rights.

“[Afghan women] continue to find ways to run businesses and advocate for their rights – and the rights of all Afghans…Their courage and resilience spans generations,” Ms. Calltorp said.

Stark choices

Alongside a deteriorating gender equality landscape, the aid outlook in Afghanistan is increasingly bleak with only 18 per cent of the 2025 humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan funded.

This is having tangible impacts on the ground, leading UN agencies and partners to call for action and funds.

“Time and time again in Afghanistan, we have seen how donor support can be the difference between life and death…We make an urgent appeal to donors to increase flexible, timely and predictable funding,” they said.

Women, girls and other vulnerable groups are particularly impacted by these funding shortages — 300 nutrition sites for malnourished mothers and children have shut and 216 gender-based violence points have suspended work impacting over one million women and girls.

“The choices we make now will reveal what we stand for as a global community. If the world tolerates the erasure of Afghan women and girls, it sends a message that the rights of women and girls everywhere are fragile and expendable,” Ms. Calltorp said.

“Afghan women and girls haven’t given up, and we will not give up on them.”

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Helpless in the face of hunger: Gaza families pray for deliverance – or death

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Zeenat and her husband, Moamen Abu Asr, live with their children in a flimsy canvas tent, one of thousands that now line Gaza’s coastline. 

Once a place of rest and leisure, the beach has become a last refuge for Palestinians displaced by relentless Israeli bombardment and military operations.

As displacement orders push people into ever smaller pockets of land, the strip of coast around Gaza’s seaport has turned into a makeshift camp. Its frayed tents and overcrowded conditions reflect the gravity of a humanitarian crisis that has plunged to unprecedented depths after more than 600 days of conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas.

The seaport, once a centre of Gaza’s fishing economy, is now a wasteland. All the boats have been destroyed, and in their place stands a sprawling encampment – a harsh and barren environment with almost none of the basic necessities for survival.

Moamen Abu Asr fixing a water tank by his tent.

A family with nothing left

Moamen and his family have been living in the camp for around two months, surviving in a tent cobbled together from salvaged mats and broken utensils recovered from nearby rubble.

He sits outside with his children, scrolling through pictures on his phone – fragments of a past life left behind in Shujaiya, east of Gaza City, when residents were ordered to evacuate without warning.

“There have been times when we’ve been displaced once every two months,” he told UN News. “Every day is suffering for us. We came to Gaza port with no food, no water – not even our iron tent.”

“There is nothing of life’s basics for us,” he said. To feed his family, Moamen repairs small water tanks for five shekels – about $1.43 – barely enough for anything in a place where prices have soared. “One kilo of flour is a hundred shekels [around $28.60],” he explained. “Our situation is very difficult, and we do not know what to do. By God, this is not life. We would rather die.”

Flies hover over one of the Abu Asr family’s sleeping children in their tent in Gaza.

‘We live on water’

The humanitarian situation has worsened since March, when Israeli authorities imposed a complete blockade on aid. Though this was slightly eased in recent weeks, the limited trickle of supplies cannot meet the overwhelming demand. Desperate civilians, starving and fearful, have resorted to looting whatever aid does arrive.

In their tent, Zeenat washes a few cooking utensils – all she could find in the communal makeshift kitchen. Most days, there is no food to prepare.

“Yesterday I cried a lot about my son,” she said. “He told me, ‘Mum, I want to eat.’ I stood helpless, not knowing what to do. The food didn’t come from the charity kitchen. We now live on fresh water. I recommend it to my children to help fill their stomachs. Today, thank God, we got a plate of food and ate it.”

Zeinat Abu Asr describes the hardship her family is facing in Gaza.

‘Enough is enough’

Conditions in the tent are dire. Flies swarm everywhere, and stray dogs – thin and hungry – prowl nearby. “Yesterday, a dog came into the tent and was pulling on a tarpaulin while my son was sleeping. I thought it was pulling my baby. I screamed and my husband kicked the dog out.”

“We don’t know where to go or what to do. They uprooted us. Our hearts are extinguished. We can’t be patient anymore. Our patience has run out.”

The tents scattered along Gaza’s coastline are a stark symbol of the deepening humanitarian tragedy. The cries of hunger are louder than any voice of hope. There is no shelter left – only the sea remains.

Nothing encapsulates the despair more than Zeenat’s final plea: “Let the war end. Give us a break. Otherwise, let all countries come together and drop a nuclear bomb on us and end our misery, because we are tired of this life. Enough is enough.”

Syrians face staggering needs amid insecurity and healthcare crisis

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Wrapping up a visit to the country, Edem Wosornu, who heads operations and advocacy for the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said that she could “feel the momentum for change” on the ground after years of suffering and hardship under the Assad regime ended with its overthrow last December.

But formidable challenges remain as 16.5 million Syrians require humanitarian assistance and protection, and needs are “staggering”.

Speaking from Gaziantep, a humanitarian hub in Türkiye just across the Syrian border, Ms. Wosornu noted an “encouraging trend of returns” since last December.

Over one million internally displaced people have come back to their areas of origin, she said, and more than half a million refugees have returned from neighbouring countries according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Devastated homes and opportunities

The OCHA official cited insecurity, damaged homes, inadequate services, lack of livelihood opportunities and the threat of unexploded ordnance as “key barriers” preventing people returning.

“People say, first and foremost they want security,” she stressed.

While the level of hostilities in the country has subsided, Ms. Wosornu said, localized tensions and clashes remain a “major concern”.

Remnants of heavy fighting pose a continued threat to civilians, said Dr Altaf Musani, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s Director of Health Emergencies.

He pointed to at least 909 casualties from unexploded ordnance since December 2024, including some 400 deaths – a majority of them women and children.

“We’re starting to see the admission rates and consultation rates in emergency rooms increase… Children and women, going about their daily life, trying to get water, trying to get food, trying to rebuild,” are walking through agricultural land, roads and rivers where unexploded munitions could be hiding, he said.

Camp residents at highest risk

Diseases, such as cholera and acute watery diarrhoea, are spreading, Dr. Musani said, stressing that more than 1,444 suspect cases of cholera and seven associated deaths have been recorded.

“This is particularly in Latakia and Aleppo, particularly around displacement camps,” he said.

“We know that when cholera gets hold in camps, it can serve as a brush fire, increasing both morbidity and mortality.”

The WHO official warned that more than 416,000 children in Syria are at risk from severe malnutrition and that more than half of children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition are not receiving treatment.

“From a public health standpoint, we need to be able to watch that risk and intervene and save those children,” he said.

Boys play in an informal camp in Syria.

Pregnancy dangers

Dr. Musani also noted that half of the maternity hospitals in northwest Syria have suspended operations since September 2024 owing to financial cuts, which humanitarians are “witnessing globally” but which are “really apparent” in Syria.

Underfunding of the humanitarian operation in Syria is already severe. Earlier this week, OCHA’s Coordination Division head, Ramesh Rajasingham, told the Security Council that out of the $2 billion required for the UN and its partners to reach eight million of the most vulnerable people from January through June 2025, only 10 per cent has been received.

The country’s cash-strapped health facilities face a lack of skilled workers and equipment, said WHO’s Dr. Musani. The war had pushed some 50 to 70 per cent of the health workforce to leave the country in search of other opportunities, and the health infrastructure is in dire need of investment.

The WHO official noted that for the health system – the “heartbeat of the nation” – the sanctions imposed on the country during the Assad regime had resulted in a lack of much-needed upgrades, compromising the purchase of new MRI machines, CT scanners, laboratory equipment and software upgrades.

Over the past two weeks, both the United States and the European Union have moved to lift the sanctions. OCHA’s Ms. Wosornu expressed hope that thanks to this development “we’ll see the impact on goods and services, on the cost of doing operations in the country, on the ability to move goods quicker into the country”.

But “it will take time”, she added. “I believe the people of Syria are hopeful that this will change their everyday lives.”

Gazans face hunger crisis as aid blockade nears two months

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Both the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, and the World Food Programme (WFP) report that food stocks are now exhausted, even as supplies of lifesaving assistance pile up at border crossings waiting to be brought in.

Humanitarians continue to warn that hunger is spreading and deepening in the enclave, amid the blockage, access constraints, ongoing Israeli military operations and a rise in looting.

Scarcity, sharing and shame

UNRWA shared the testimony of a woman called Um Muhammad who is staying at a shelter in Gaza City and prepares food for 11 family members daily. Although she still has some flour, most families nearby have already run out.

“When I knead and bake, I feel very ashamed of myself, so I distribute some bread to the children who come asking for a piece of bread,” she said.

“We eat one meal a day, dividing bread among each person daily. We eat canned goods, lentils, and rice. When this stock runs out, I don’t know what we will do because what is available in the market is scarce.”

Longest blockade

Gaza has a population of more than two million people who mostly depend on aid, but no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered since 2 March when Israel imposed a full blockade on the territory.  

This is by far the longest ban on aid moving into the Strip since the start of the war in October 2023, following the deadly Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel.

The situation has led to shortages – not just of food, but other items including medicine, shelter supplies and safe water.  WFP recently noted a 1,400 per cent increase in food prices when compared to the ceasefire period, which lasted from 19 January to 18 March of this year.

Malnutrition and looting

On Friday, the UN agency delivered its last remaining stocks to hot meals kitchens, which have been a lifeline in recent weeks. The kitchens are expected to fully run out of food within days, and another 16 closed over the weekend.  Furthermore, all 25 WFP-supported bakeries are now shuttered.

There has been an increase in reports of looting incidents, the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said on Monday. Over the weekend, armed individuals reportedly ransacked a truck in Deir Al-Balah and a warehouse in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, the latest famine review analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) got underway this week.

Humanitarian partners warn that the nutrition situation across Gaza is worsening. Since January, about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified, including 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition. 

Although treatment supplies remain available in the south, accessing them continues to be extremely challenging due to operational and security restrictions.

Healthcare also affected

OCHA stressed that the depletion of critical stocks in Gaza goes far beyond food. For example, trauma-related medical supplies are running out at a time when the number of people injured in mass casualty incidents continues to increase. 

Gaza also lacks surgical supplies, including gowns, drapes and gloves.  The World Health Organization (WHO) informed that their warehouse has run out of therapeutic milk, intravenous antibiotics and painkillers, as well as spare parts for ambulances and oxygen stations. 

Partners working in health add that an increasing number of critical staff are being denied access to Gaza, with a rise in the denial of entry for emergency medical teams, particularly highly specialized professionals – including orthopedic and plastic surgeons – and a recent restriction of movement across the enclave.  

Aid awaiting entry

As the aid ban continues, humanitarians are doing everything possible to reach people with whatever supplies remain available.

They also have stocks of food and other lifesaving items ready and waiting to enter the Gaza Strip as soon as border crossings re-open.

This includes nearly 3,000 UNRWA trucks of aid, while WFP has more than 116,000 metric tonnes of food assistance – enough to feed one million people for up to four months. 

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