Today's top news: Global Humanitarian Overview 2026, Sudan, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Central Emergency Response Fund
#Global Humanitarian Overview 2026
UN launches US$23 billion prioritized aid appeal for next year
The UN and its partners today launched the 2026 global humanitarian appeal to save millions of lives where shocks hit hardest – in wars, climate disasters, earthquakes, epidemics and where crop failures occur.
OCHA says the immediate priority is to save 87 million lives with US$23 billion in funding. Ultimately, the aim next year is to raise a total $33 billion to support 135 million people through 23 country operations and six plans for refugees and migrants.
“This appeal sets out where we need to focus our collective energy first: life by life,” said UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher. “The Global Humanitarian Overview 2026 is grounded in reform, evidence and efficiency. We’re shifting power to local organizations, putting more money directly into the hands of the people who need it.”
The UN will now take this appeal to Member States and ask for their backing.
Brutal funding cuts this year strained and even snapped humanitarian lifelines. The funding received for the 2025 appeal -- $12 billion – was the lowest in a decade, with humanitarians reaching 25 million fewer people than in 2024.
#Sudan
Attacks on kindergarten, hospital kill scores in Kordofan
OCHA is deeply alarmed by the sharp escalation in violence across Sudan’s Kordofan region, where civilians continue to bear the brunt of intensifying hostilities.
New details regarding the multiple strikes on Thursday that struck a kindergarten and a hospital in Kalogi, in South Kordofan State, paint an even more disturbing picture of the risks civilians face. The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the death toll at 114 people – including 63 children – with 35 others injured. WHO said that paramedics and responders came under attack as they tried to move the injured from the kindergarten to the hospital.
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher described the attacks as unconscionable, stressing that these “appalling violations must stop.”
On Friday and Saturday, renewed violence displaced as many as 600 people from Kadugli locality, also in South Kordofan – while on Saturday, over 600 people fled Omran village in Ar Rahad locality, North Kordofan, according to the International Organization for Migration. At the same time, fierce clashes in West Kordofan State have further imperiled civilians.
The same day in West Darfur State, a suspected aerial strike triggered a fire near the Adré border crossing, destroying parts of Adikong market and a neighbouring village along a critical humanitarian and commercial supply route.
Clashes have also been reported in the east, in Blue Nile State, where a strike on a major electricity station over the weekend caused widespread blackouts across the capital Damazin, disrupting water and health services. OCHA stresses that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are clear violations of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately.
In North Darfur State, insecurity continues to force people to flee villages around El Fasher amid acute shortages of food, water and essential services inside the city. Humanitarian partners report that nearly 15,000 people have arrived in Tawila in recent weeks, severely straining already overstretched host communities.
Thousands escaping the violence in the Darfur and Kordofan regions also continue to arrive in Ad Dabbah locality, in Northern State. Humanitarian partners are scaling up assistance at Al Afad camp – which is now hosting some 11,000 people – by installing shelters, distributing food and other critical supplies, and expanding water, sanitation, nutrition and education services. However, critical gaps remain due to funding shortfalls.
OCHA once again calls on all parties to protect civilians and allow safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access across Sudan. The international community must urgently step up support to ensure life-saving assistance reaches people in need around the country.
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Gaza: colder weather heightens need for shelter, winter materials
OCHA reports that the UN and its partners continue to deliver aid across the Gaza Strip, where conditions remain dire. Needs far outpace the humanitarian community’s ability to respond, given persistent impediments.
These obstacles include insecurity, customs clearance challenges, delays and denials of cargo at the crossings, and limited routes available for transporting humanitarian supplies within Gaza. Such constraints are especially challenging to the UN and its partners’ efforts to bring in sufficient shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene items, as well as education supplies.
Colder weather is increasing already immense needs for shelter and winterization materials. Partners leading on child protection support have distributed winter clothes to over 217,000 children across the Strip since October.
In the ongoing effort to restore access to healthcare, 30 partner organizations are now providing services in northern Gaza, nearly double the number prior to the ceasefire. Plans are underway to add more health service points in North Gaza governorate, given the lack of accessible facilities there and repeated denials for the UN and its partners to access Kamal Adwan Hospital. Across the Strip, the number of routine vaccination sites has risen from 22 before the ceasefire to 33.
Meanwhile, partners leading efforts to improve access to water and sanitation report that work continues to repair and restore water and sanitation networks. Eleven teams are currently deployed across flood-prone areas to empty storm drains and reduce the risk of flooding.
The UN and its partners also continue to get food assistance to people in need. Since the beginning of the month, partners managed to reach an additional 100,000 people with regular food assistance, which consists of one 25-kilogram bag of wheat flour and two rations containing basic food staples.
Humanitarian partners working on improving access to education reported that as of last Thursday, 65 classrooms have been fully rehabilitated across Gaza, with repairs of another 18 classrooms nearing completion. Additional repairs are planned to enable children to restart their education after more than two years.
Meanwhile, OCHA warns that access and movement constraints within Gaza remain a serious issue. Between 13 October and 4 December, 295 contractors, 28 UN staff and 21 healthcare personnel were denied by the Israeli authorities from taking part in UN missions within Gaza – an average of nearly seven people each day.
These denials disrupt humanitarian planning and force the UN and its partners to make last-minute adjustments that can reduce their capacity or lead to missions being canceled altogether if substitute personnel cannot be identified.
OCHA continues to call for impediments to be lifted so that the UN and its partners can scale up assistance faster and reach all those in need.
West Bank: Israeli police, municipal officials forcibly enter UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem
In the West Bank, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that this morning, Israeli police and municipal officials forcibly entered the agency’s compound in East Jerusalem.
Telecommunications inside the compound were cut and assets were seized, including furniture, IT equipment and other UNRWA property. The UN flag was also pulled down and replaced with an Israeli flag. Earlier this year, UNRWA staff were forced to vacate the compound following the legislation passed by the Israeli parliament banning the agency from operating.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that there can be no exceptions to obligations under international law. He underscored the inviolability of UN premises around the world and stressed that Israel as a UN Member State must protect and respect this inviolability.
#Democratic Republic of the Congo
Deadly fighting displaces over 200,000 across South Kivu
OCHA says that fighting continues to intensify in South Kivu province – particularly around the localities of Kamanyola, Luvungi and Katogota – in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Humanitarian partners report that more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the province since 2 December. More than 70 people – mostly civilians – have been killed, and more than 80 others have been injured since the violence escalated.
Displaced families have fled with no belongings and are now contending with overcrowded shelters, heightened risks of gender-based violence, outbreaks of cholera and measles, and limited access to healthcare due to an ongoing nurses’ strike.
Civilians have also crossed into Burundi to escape the fighting. Shelling was reported in the town of Rugombo, in the province of Cibitoke in north-west Burundi, raising concerns about the conflict spilling over into Burundian territory.
UNHCR in Burundi reports that some 3,000 people are currently living in difficult and precarious conditions at the Cishemere transit centre, far exceeding its intended capacity.
The National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons in Burundi is calling for urgent action, particularly in the areas of food, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene.
OCHA is closely coordinating with local authorities and partners to prepare for and support a potential response.
Once again, OCHA urgently calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, and to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Humanitarian access must be guaranteed so that life-saving assistance can reach those in need.
Additional resources are also urgently needed to scale up the response. The Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for the DRC is currently only 22 per cent funded, with just $562 million received out of the $2.5 billion required.
#Ukraine
Hostilities escalate in front-line areas as attacks damage civilian infrastructure
OCHA warns that in recent days, an alarming pattern of intensifying hostilities in front-line areas and persistent attacks on critical civilian infrastructure has continued across Ukraine, resulting in more power outages and disruptions to vital services nationwide.
Between Friday and the early hours of this morning, authorities reported over 100 civilian casualties, including nearly 20 deaths. Two children were reportedly killed, and several more were injured. The regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia have been hardest hit.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry also reported new attacks over the weekend on critical facilities in at least eight regions in the north, east and south of the country. The strikes caused emergency outages and prolonged the duration of scheduled power cuts nationwide. The grid operator, Ukrenergo, says that repairs could take weeks.
Apart from electricity, heating and water supplies were also interrupted in the cities of Chernihiv and Kremenchuk, as well as other parts of the regions of Chernihiv and Poltava.
In Kherson City, WHO reported that an attack on Thursday damaged and disrupted water and gas supply to a maternity ward. Fortunately, no one was hurt, as patients and health workers took cover in a shelter. However, the incident reflects how people in front-line areas face worsening access to vital medical support.
Hostilities are also causing widespread damage to homes and civilian infrastructure. In the Kyiv region, an attack in Fastiv Town destroyed a railway station.
In the wake of these attacks, the UN and its partners have continued to provide emergency aid and winter-related assistance – including firewood, cash for fuel, and other support – especially in front-line areas. Yet these latest developments raise concerns about the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine as colder weather sets in. During the latest trip to the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, humanitarians reported a growing need for generators, fuel and other winter-related supplies.
#Central Emergency Response Fund
UN to host high-level pledging conference for global emergency fund
On Tuesday, OCHA will host a high-level pledging event for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in 2026. It will take place at 10 a.m. EST at UN Headquarters in New York in the ECOSOC Chamber, and it will be webcast via UN Web TV. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres will address the opening of the event, which is being co-hosted by Ireland and the Philippines. Under-Secretary-General Fletcher will also deliver remarks.
As humanitarian crises around the world outpace the funding available to address them, this pledging event for the UN’s global emergency fund – which is managed by OCHA and also marks its 20th anniversary this year – seeks to mobilize greater financial commitments so that humanitarians can keep fast-tracking life-saving support for people in need.
In 2025, CERF has allocated more than $311 million so far to enable humanitarian action in over 30 countries and territories – including Gaza after the ceasefire and for people fleeing violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.*