Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Chad, Colombia
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Gaza: UN calls for more aid to meet massive needs
OCHA stresses once again that the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip – for the first time after 11 weeks of full blockade – are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza's population is facing.
OCHA calls once again for the entry of much more vital assistance – and a larger scope of items – so that humanitarians can carry out large-scale deliveries. Their job is saving lives, and it is vital that this critical work is enabled.*
UN teams are making the most of the limited opportunity to bring in critical supplies.
Yesterday, they moved another batch of about 100 full truckloads to Kerem Shalom and picked up about 35 from the Palestinian side of the crossing to bring them closer to where people need them in Gaza.
Supplies that are collected usually reached the crossing a day or two earlier – because of the long procedures at Kerem Shalom. The truckload sizes do not exactly match: Inside Gaza, humanitarian teams stack an extra layer of pallets on each truck to make the most of the space.
Yesterday’s deliveries included more flour, nutrition items and medical supplies.
In a statement today, the World Food Programme (WFP) said 15 truckloads of critical food supplies were looted last night on their way to bakeries. WFP said hunger, deprivation and anxiety over whether food aid is coming in are all contributing to rising insecurity.
“We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire,” WFP said, also stressing that the number of bakeries and sites where Gaza’s population can access food must not be limited.
WFP and its partners must also be allowed to distribute wheat flour and food parcels directly to families – the most effective way to prevent widespread starvation.
Without immediate action, 2 million people in Gaza will continue to face extreme hunger and famine.
Even with all the challenges, humanitarian teams on the ground report that the little aid that is getting through is already reaching people in need. A handful of bakeries managed to fire up their ovens yesterday, using flour and fuel the UN provided, and partners already picked up the bread for direct distribution. In the south, a field hospital received a much-needed batch of medical supplies this week.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned yesterday that the intensification of hostilities has brought Gaza’s already weakened health system to a breaking point.
This follows yesterday’s attack on Al Awda Hospital, in North Gaza, where patient triage tents – including one provided by WHO – caught fire, with all medical supplies in the warehouse burnt and vehicles in the basement destroyed. WHO’s attempt to reach the hospital yesterday was impeded. As of earlier today, sources at the hospital reported that the fire had not yet been fully extinguished.
Over the past week alone, four major hospitals – Kamal Adwan, Indonesia, Hamad and European Gaza – have had to suspend medical services because of hostilities, attacks or displacement orders in their areas.
WHO reports that 4 per cent of nearly 700 attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October 2023 were recorded over the past week alone. This total of 28 attacks constitutes four times the average number of attacks per day.
At least 94 per cent of the hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed, and half of them are no longer operational.
WHO warns that this week’s displacement orders threaten to push even more health facilities out of service, with North Gaza governorate already stripped of nearly all healthcare.
OCHA reports that just over the past week, Israeli displacement orders have covered about a third of the Gaza Strip. Since mid-March, when hostilities escalated again, orders have covered over 60 per cent of the territory. Add to that the Israeli-militarized zones – which stretch along the borders and slice through the centre of Gaza to the sea – and what is left is less than a fifth of the territory where people can try to survive, with barely anything to survive on. Even these remaining areas are unsafe.
The number of people displaced – yet again – since the resumption of hostilities is estimated at over 610,000, including a third over the past week alone.
West Bank: Settler attacks escalate
OCHA reports that continued high levels of settler violence are having an alarming impact on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Just yesterday near Ramallah, an entire Bedouin community of more than 20 Palestinian households – about 60 adults and 60 children from Maghayer ad Deir – started dismantling their homes to move somewhere safer. This comes after Israeli settlers set up an outpost less than 50 metres away on Sunday.
Since then, attacks have escalated: Over the past week, settlers have stormed the community, threatened residents, broken into animal shelters and set fires.
In the town of Bruqin, in the Salfit area, nearly 150 masked settlers torched Palestinian vehicles yesterday. Eight residents were injured, with most of them sustaining burns while trying to put out the fires.
This comes in the wake of last week’s killing of a pregnant Israeli nearby, which was followed by a week-long Israeli operation that locked down about 11,000 Palestinians. During that time, settler attacks escalated.
Between 13 and 19 May, OCHA recorded at least 28 settler attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage or both.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory with urgent support.
#Chad
UN Relief Chief fast-tracks funds for Chad as thousands flee Sudan conflict
Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher yesterday allocated US$2.5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to urgently address the massive influx of refugees and returnees from Sudan in eastern Chad. This brings CERF's total allocation to Chad in 2025 to $16 million.
Since April of this year, more than 55,000 Sudanese refugees and 39,000 Chadian returnees have arrived in Chad’s eastern provinces, mainly to Wadi Fira and Ennedi East. The majority are women and children, many of whom are traumatized by the violence they experienced and witnessed. Many unaccompanied children, pregnant women and older people are also among the refugees and returnees.
This new CERF funding will help the UN and its partners scale up operations and provide life-saving assistance to those who have just arrived in Chad, as well as continue supporting refugees and host communities in eastern Chad impacted by the crisis in neighbouring Sudan.
#Colombia
Ongoing fighting, funding shortfalls heighten needs
OCHA reports that fighting by non-State armed groups in Colombia is affecting a growing number of people. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, 750,000 people have been impacted – four times more than during the same period last year.
As of 15 May, more than 1 million people have been newly affected by conflict, violence, mobility restrictions and natural disasters across the country.
The UN and its partners remain on the ground and continue their work, despite the serious funding crisis. In February this year, the UN allocated $3.8 million from CERF to support the response to the crisis in the Catacumbo region. The Colombia Humanitarian Fund allocated $3.5 million to local organizations to support the emergency response across the country.
The 2025 humanitarian response plan, which seeks $342 million to help 2 million people, is only 14 per cent funded, with less than $49 million received. With this amount, the humanitarian community was able to respond to less than a third of emergencies related to mass forced displacement, confinement and climate-related disasters. Due to funding shortfalls, an estimated 1.4 million people may be left without assistance this year.
Briefing Member States in Geneva today, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombia, Ms. Mireia Villar-Forner, called on the international community and donors to step up their support for Colombia, especially as needs are growing.