Today's top news: Lebanon, Middle East, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, Sudan
#Lebanon
UN, partners deliver aid as fighting forces more people to flee
OCHA says that the United Nations, together with authorities, continues to scale up humanitarian assistance and provide food, shelter and medical assistance across Lebanon to families forced to flee their homes.
To date, the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF and humanitarian partners have distributed more than 800,000 hot meals, as well as mattresses, sleeping mats, blankets and other shelter items. Hygiene kits have also been provided across hundreds of collective shelters. Humanitarians are delivering clean water, benefiting nearly 700,000 people.
Since the start of the response, UNHCR has delivered over 182,000 essential items, such as blankets, mattresses, solar lamps, sleeping mats, and jerry cans, across more than 375 collective sites nationwide, reaching more than two thirds of those displaced in collective shelters.
The continued escalation of hostilities in Lebanon is significantly affecting civilians, essential services and infrastructure.
In just two weeks, 28 attacks against healthcare have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) - resulting in 30 deaths and 35 injuries.
Large-scale displacement continues. According to official figures, more than 830,000 people – around 14 per cent of Lebanon’s population – have registered themselves as displaced, 290,000 of whom are children. Many families have fled their homes multiple times as hostilities spread to new areas. Just 15 per cent of those displaced are in public shelters, with many others relying on host families, informal arrangements or staying on the streets, along the roadsides and seaside.
Israeli displacement orders have expanded significantly since the beginning of the current escalation and now cover an estimated 1,470 square kilometres, or around 14 per cent of Lebanon’s territory, including large parts of southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and areas of the Bekaa Valley.
According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, as of yesterday, at least 850 people have been killed and more than 2,100 injured since the escalation began. Children account for 107 of those killed and 331 of the injured.
#Middle East
UN warns civilians, infrastructure at risk as clashes escalate
OCHA says that the UN and its partners remain ready to support national authorities across the region to provide humanitarian assistance, as required.
The continued escalation continues to impact civilians and civilian infrastructure.
In Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent Society says that more than 54,000 civilian units have been damaged, including residential and commercial buildings, as well as schools.
Iranian institutions also report extensive damage to health infrastructure and emergency response assets, with more than 230 health facilities and over 30 medical vehicles reportedly been damaged or destroyed. Health workers have been killed and injured.
OCHA once again stresses that all parties must ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected at all times in line with international humanitarian law.
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
UN urges protection of Palestinians, calls for perpetrators of killings to be brought to justice
OCHA warns that people in all areas across the Occupied Palestinian Territory are exposed to lethal force and the risk of casualties, destruction of property and displacement are further deepening humanitarian needs.
Yesterday, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) condemned the killing by Israeli forces of two Palestinian families, one in Gaza and one in the West Bank. The death toll included two women, including one who was pregnant with twins, and three boys between the ages of 5 and10. OHCHR said that the killing of families raises serious concerns about a persistent trend of unlawful killings of Palestinians. Reports suggest Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into the killing of the family in the West Bank.
Also in the West Bank, OCHA says that on Saturday, settlers shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured two others.
OCHA reiterates that Palestinians must be protected and perpetrators be brought to justice.
Over the weekend, a strong dust storm swept through the Gaza Strip, damaging and destroying dozens of shelters. Site management partners estimate that more than 600 families have had their shelters or belongings damaged. The UN and partners are currently providing emergency shelter, food and hygiene support to the most-affected families.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. According to partners who manage displacement sites, thousands of people are living without any type of shelter and are sleeping outside. Many of the existing shelters have been worn out over time, following multiple storms this season.
Meanwhile, people continue to have difficulty accessing food, due to interruptions to the entry of supplies and shortages of cooking gas. WFP and partners leading on food security warned that more than half of families in Gaza burn waste to cook food. The UN reiterates that cooking gas must be allowed to enter the Strip regularly, together with supplies from the private sector to complement humanitarian aid and help improve people’s diets.
On healthcare, despite efforts to reopen facilities, only 2 out of every five health service points are currently operating, most of them only partially. Yesterday, WHO collected nearly 50 intensive care unit beds that it had offloaded at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The collection was delayed due to the Israeli authorities’ suspension of humanitarian movements to Kerem Shalom last week. The beds will now be provided to hospitals to boost ICU capacities.
More than 18,500 patients, including some 3,800 children, urgently need specialized care not available in Gaza.
#Ukraine
Weekend attacks claim more lives, damages homes
OCHA reports that continued attacks over the weekend and early this morning caused many civilian casualties and damage to schools, an ambulance, transportation and energy facilities.
According to authorities, nearly 20 civilians were killed, and over 150 were injured, including several children and three health workers.
A large-scale drone and missile attack in the Kyiv Region on Saturday caused several deaths and injuries to over 20 residents, including children, and damaged dozens of residential buildings, schools and energy facilities, disrupting gas and electricity supplies.
Repeated attacks in Zaporizhzhia City resulted in dozens of civilian injuries. While in the Kharkiv Region, a strike on an ambulance reportedly killed two and injured one health worker. Schools and transport facilities were damaged in the Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.
Following the attacks, several national and international NGOs, together with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and with support from UN agencies, provided first aid and psychosocial support, legal assistance, construction materials and cash assistance.
On 13 March, OCHA, along with UN agencies and NGOs, sent two humanitarian convoys to front-line communities near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv Region and in the Kherson Region. The supplies included electric generators, solar lamps, ready-to-eat food, dignity kits for women, blankets and diapers.
In 2026, the UN and its partners have delivered 11 convoys to assist 10,000 residents in front-line communities across Ukraine.
#Sudan
Unrelenting drone strikes drive civilian casualties across Kordofan, Darfur regions
OCHA is sounding the alarm on relentless drone strikes across the Kordofan and Darfur regions, which are driving continued civilian casualties and further constraining humanitarian access.
According to reports, two people were reportedly killed yesterday in a drone strike in the town of Al Rahad, south‑east of the North Kordofan State capital, El Obeid. A hospital was also destroyed. Two days earlier, additional casualties were reported when drone strikes hit Al Fula, the capital of West Kordofan.
Drone strikes across several parts of Darfur between Thursday and Saturday reportedly caused casualties and significant property damage. On Saturday, strikes in Wadi Sira area on the road to Al Tina, west of El Fasher, reportedly caused multiple casualties.
In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State, drone strikes on Thursday and Friday reportedly caused casualties and extensive damage in several neighbourhoods.
On 12 March, a strike on a market at Akidong in West Darfur, near the crucial Adre border crossing, triggered a large explosion. Médecins Sans Frontières reported that 23 injured civilians, include four women and seven children, were admitted to a hospital they are supporting in Adré, on the Chad side of the border.
Explosive remnants of war continue to pose grave risks to civilians. In one incident, three children were reportedly injured on Thursday when a hand grenade detonated in a yard of a home in Nyala.
OCHA calls on all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and ensuring rapid, safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access.
Meanwhile, the UN and its partners continue to provide life‑saving assistance to families affected by the crisis. In River Nile State, partners recently installed eight 2,000‑litre water tanks in displacement sites and schools in the locality of Shendi. This is helping to ease water shortages, improve hygiene conditions and reduce the risk of waterborne diseases for displaced families and host communities.