Hunger

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is spiraling out of control, with a staggering number of people facing hunger, including extreme conditions, and the United Nations’ ability to deliver aid severely hampered by ongoing conflict, funding shortages, and arbitrary detentions. This was the stark warning delivered on Monday by UN relief chief Tom Fletcher during a briefing to the UN Security Council.

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.

Amid escalating violence in Haiti, United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher made an impassioned plea for international support to ease immense suffering. Fletcher spent three days in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, meeting with people in urgent need, government officials, humanitarian partners, and diplomats. Meanwhile, the UN is fast-tracking support for displaced and host communities in Haiti, in light of the dire situation and massive funding shortfalls.

A high-level, independent investigation into the crisis in Sudan on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that civilians had been deliberately targeted, displaced and starved. The Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, created by the UN Human Rights Council, also drew attention to the devastating humanitarian emergency resulting from the war.

Six days after a devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, the full extent of the damage is coming to light, particularly in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar. According to the United Nations, more than 2,200 people have been confirmed dead, at least 3,640 have been injured, and over 6,750 houses have been destroyed, which has affected at least 500,000 people, according to the European Union. As the situation unfolds, however, these figures are likely to rise, as unofficial figures communicated by the Taliban already indicate.

A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released on Friday accuses all parties involved in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) eastern provinces of North and South Kivu of committing severe violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report comes as continued violence in the eastern part of the country continues to claim civilian lives and cause new displacement.

Severe flooding continues to wreak havoc in South Sudan, affecting nearly 270,000 people in 12 counties across four states: Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile, and Central Equatoria, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday. These floods come at a time when the country is already facing an alarming humanitarian crisis, with 9.3 million people in need of assistance and 7.7 million experiencing acute hunger.

A new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) paints a grim picture of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State. Civilians there continue to suffer killings, torture, forced displacement, and destruction reminiscent of the 2017 atrocities committed by the military against the Rohingya. The report comes as 21.9 million people in Myanmar require humanitarian assistance, the third-highest number worldwide.

A devastating earthquake hit Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan on Sunday, near the Pakistan border. The 6.0-magnitude quake, whose epicenter was located in Kama district, caused widespread destruction and loss of life. According to preliminary reports, at least 800 people have been killed and more than 2,800 injured across four provinces: Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, and Nuristan.

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, United Nations aid agencies reiterated their urgent warnings about the ongoing famine and rising preventable diseases linked to the catastrophic living conditions in the war-torn enclave. Famine is currently occurring in the Gaza Governorate and is expected to spread to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.

In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres painted a devastating portrait of Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. He described the nation as caught in a "perfect storm of suffering" and urged the international community to act before time runs out, stressing that Haiti remains "shamefully overlooked and woefully underfunded."

August 25 marked the eighth anniversary of the beginning of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State in 2017, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.  Eight years later, Rohingya people — both refugees and those remaining in Myanmar — face a further deterioration of their bleak circumstances.

The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have carried out brutal attacks on the besieged city of El Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sudan’s North Darfur State which hosts some 25,000 children, women, and men. These attacks resulted in the killing of at least 89 civilians over a ten-day period until Wednesday.

After 22 months of relentless conflict, more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are in the grips of famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released Friday. Projections indicate that famine conditions will spread from Gaza Governorate to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warns that urgent action is needed to save lives in Nigeria, where the malnutrition crisis is escalating. Without immediate intervention, 1.8 million children could die from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS) reports that 84 percent of healthcare facilities in six northern states have insufficient supplies of lifesaving ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF).

Severe humanitarian funding shortfalls have cut off hundreds of thousands of Somalis from safe water supplies in recent months, putting entire communities at heightened risk of deadly disease outbreaks, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Monday. Meanwhile, the United Nations reported that the ongoing severe drought in northern Somalia has affected an estimated 2.5 million people across 26 districts.

Children from displaced families are dying of starvation in parts of Yemen, according to the United Nations, as extreme hunger and malnutrition take hold. Over 17 million people in Yemen are acutely food insecure, a figure expected to surpass 18 million by February 2026 amid a critical crisis in humanitarian funding.

More than 100 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) joined forces on Wednesday to demand an end to Israel’s weaponization of aid, which exacerbates the appalling suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. While famine unfolds in the territory, with people dying daily due to malnutrition and starvation, the Israeli government's threat to ban major aid organizations from operating in Gaza worsens the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe even further.

On Wednesday, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk condemned the recent surge in deadly attacks by the Rwandan-backed M23 and other armed groups against civilians in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), at least 490 civilians were killed in these attacks in July alone.

Despite the tactical pauses that Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered the Gaza Strip remains vastly insufficient for its starving population. United Nations aid trucks continue to face impediments on their way to deliver aid, while UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) continue to face obstructions that prevent them from bringing in and distributing aid at scale.

One year after famine was first confirmed in Sudan's North Darfur state, and 843 days after the war erupted, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that families trapped in the besieged state capital of El Fasher face starvation. The town is cut off from humanitarian access, leaving the remaining population with little choice but to fend for survival with whatever limited supplies are left.

According to reports from the humanitarian office of the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 50,000 people have been forced to flee in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province following escalating attacks by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and heightened fear of violence. The province is the epicenter of an ongoing armed conflict, and internal displacement is prevalent.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that ongoing armed violence in Somalia's Hiraan and Gedo regions has displaced more than 100,000 people over the past two months. The recent escalation of clashes has severely impacted parts of Hirshabelle State in the center, as well as Jubaland State in the south, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — the world’s leading authority on acute food security — says that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where access to food and other essential goods and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels. An IPC alert published Tuesday highlights that two out of three famine thresholds have been exceeded in parts of the territory.

As conflict continues to rage across parts of Sudan, including North Darfur State and the Kordofan region, pockets of relative safety have emerged over the past four months — spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to return home, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Since last year, a further 320,000 refugees have returned to Sudan, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, some to assess the current situation before deciding to return.

As the Israeli government’s ongoing siege starves the people of Gaza, 115 humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm on Wednesday, urging governments to act. The organizations demand decisive action, including opening all land crossings and restoring the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled United Nations–led mechanism. They also demand an end to the siege and a ceasefire now.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that it will be forced to halt all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people – including hundreds of thousands of children – in north-east Nigeria by the end of July. Critical funding shortages following brutal cuts by leading donor countries are the reason for this suspension, which comes at a time when violence is escalating and hunger in the country has reached record levels.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, as of Sunday, at least 93,000 people have been displaced due to escalating hostilities in Syria’s Suweida Governorate, both within Suweida and towards the neighboring governorates of Dara and Rural Damascus. Credible reports detail widespread atrocities perpetrated by different actors in the governorate.

While civilians are being targeted or indiscriminately attacked in several regions of Sudan, with hundreds reportedly killed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Sudan's humanitarian crisis continues to intensify as cholera spreads throughout the country, flooding displaces communities, and thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) return to areas with little to no support.

The United Nations warns that the lack of humanitarian funding is endangering the lives of millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Many aid agencies have been forced to scale back their operations, which has disrupted critical services for those in desperate need. The UN humanitarian office is calling on the international community to take urgent action to address these severe funding gaps and "stave off a humanitarian tragedy."

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.

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."

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that deadly hostilities in the Suweida Governorate of Syria continue to endanger civilians, with ongoing reports of significant displacement and damage to critical infrastructure, including water, electricity, and telecommunications networks. According to media reports, the hostilities have claimed hundreds of lives.

Since October 2024, escalating gang violence outside Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has claimed over 1,000 lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee, threatening to destabilize Haiti and other Caribbean countries, according to a UN human rights report. The report comes as Haiti teeters on the brink of collapse, and at least half of the population, or 6 million people, including 3.3 million children, require humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its humanitarian partners are urgently preparing to assist up to 150,000 Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, over the past 18 months. Targeted violence and persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, as well as the ongoing war in the neighboring country, have forced thousands of Rohingya to seek protection in Bangladesh.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the situation in Sudan's North Darfur State remains alarming as fighting continues to displace families and people face severe shortages of food and clean water. North Darfur has been an epicenter of clashes since the beginning of Sudan’s brutal conflict over two years ago.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that aid shortages are taking a growing toll on Somalia's most vulnerable people, leaving them without access to vital healthcare, nutritional support, and safe water. The brutal funding cuts are devastating for severely malnourished children, who have already lost or will soon lose access to life-saving treatment.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun airdropping emergency food assistance to thousands of families in South Sudan's Upper Nile State, where conflict has surged since March, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and pushing some communities to the brink of famine. According to a recent UN report, South Sudan is one of the world’s top five hunger hotspots, where people face extreme hunger, starvation, and death.

Amid growing hopes for a Gaza ceasefire and an end to the war, United Nations humanitarian officials revealed disturbing details on Friday about the ongoing killing and injuring of Palestinians desperately seeking food. Israeli forces continue to target and kill people attempting to access food supplies at militarized distribution centers, UN distribution sites, and near aid convoys.

Amid the catastrophic human rights situation and dire humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean country, the UN human rights expert for Haiti has called on all states not to forcibly return anyone to Haiti. This statement comes as more than 121,000 women, children, and men have been deported to Haiti between January and June of this year.

Those impacted by the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) need much more international assistance than they are currently receiving, the United Nations' top aid official said on Thursday. Speaking from the Goma region, whose main city was overrun by Rwanda-backed rebels from the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) in January, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher explained that people have suffered "decades of trauma."

Violence in Myanmar is spiraling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools, and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned Wednesday. This warning comes as the number of people in Myanmar in need of humanitarian assistance has risen to an unprecedented 22 million, following four years of fierce civil war and devastating earthquakes three months ago.

The United Nations has issued an urgent warning to the international community. Escalating funding shortfalls are crippling humanitarian operations in Afghanistan and placing millions at risk, as the country grapples with hunger, displacement, climate shocks, and the ongoing marginalization of women and girls. This warning comes at a time when 22.9 million people, including 12.3 million Children, require humanitarian assistance and protection.

The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $5.9 million to support the rapid response to urgent humanitarian needs in Burkina Faso, particularly those of displaced people. This allocation comes amid the ongoing global funding crisis, and Burkina Faso being one of the most neglected displacement crises worldwide driven by insecurity and climate-related factors, such as drought and flooding.

While the world’s attention is diverted to Iran following the Israeli government’s launch of another war, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip continue unabated, resulting in more deaths, maiming, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. At the same time, Israel continues to hinder United Nations–coordinated aid based on universal humanitarian principles from reaching those in need by the scale necessary.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the ongoing conflict and spreading disease outbreaks are having a devastating impact on children in Sudan. Separately, independent human rights investigators report that the civil war in Sudan is intensifying, marked by an increased use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and a sharp rise in sexual and gender-based violence. Countless civilians caught in the conflict face devastating consequences.

A new joint United Nations report warns that people in five hunger hotspots — Sudan, Palestine (Occupied Palestinian Territory), South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali — face extreme hunger, starvation, and death in the next five months unless urgent humanitarian action is swiftly taken to de-escalate conflict, stop displacement, and provide full-scale aid.