Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Bombardment, blockade of Gaza worsen dire conditions
OCHA continues to warn of a deepening catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, driven by relentless hostilities and a total blockade on humanitarian and commercial supplies, which is now in its third month.
OCHA stresses that under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected, and their essential needs – including food, shelter, water and healthcare – must be met, wherever they are in Gaza and whether they move or stay.
Yesterday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that all emergency and primary healthcare centres in Rafah are now out of service due to ongoing hostilities. Across Gaza, 13 of PRCS’s 29 clinics have closed. The remaining clinics are barely functional and face severe shortages.
Access to fuel remains a critical concern. Without fuel, health, water, sanitation and communications services are at risk of complete collapse.
Today, a UN team retrieved a small amount of fuel from a station in Deir al Balah, after the Israeli authorities facilitated their efforts to reach it. This limited quantity will be distributed to desalination plants. However, OCHA notes that the Israeli authorities continue to routinely deny humanitarians access to larger, urgently needed fuel reserves in areas such as Rafah.
The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to do everything possible to attend to the needs of people in Gaza wherever they are, whether in their communities or displacement sites across the Strip.
With stocks dwindling over the past nine weeks, humanitarian partners have gone above and beyond to try and sustain life-saving support, including the distribution of hot meals, water, shelter materials, hygiene kits, and health and nutrition services and consultations.
But time is running out. Humanitarian operations are on the verge of shutting down unless Member States with influence press Israel to lift the blockade, allow the immediate entry of essential humanitarian supplies, and ensure a principled and unconditional humanitarian response – at a scale that meets the needs of all civilians and leaves no one behind.
Palestinian communities in West Bank face violence, other threats
OCHA warns of worsening conditions in the West Bank due to violence by Israeli forces and settlers, as well as coercive practices targeting Palestinian communities.
Yesterday, Israeli forces demolished more than 30 structures in Khallet Athaba, a hamlet in Hebron governorate, displacing nearly a dozen families – about 50 people. This constitutes most of the structures in the community and marks the third and largest demolition there since February. The area is designated by Israel as a military training zone.
Israeli forces also began demolishing six homes in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm yesterday, affecting 17 families. The homes are among more than 100 structures slated for demolition, following an Israeli notice issued at the start of the month.
Today, more than 50 other families in the camp were given brief windows to collect belongings ahead of imminent demolitions of their homes. There has been a strong push for Palestinians living in this area to leave their homes, once again raising concerns about the risks of forcible transfer of the population.
OCHA underscores that Israel, as the occupying power, has a legal obligation under international law to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and ensure their safety and dignity.
Humanitarian partners are mobilizing assistance for affected families in the West Bank, but urgent international engagement is needed to stop these coercive measures and protect vulnerable communities.
#Sudan
Drone attacks hit civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan
The Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said she is shocked and deeply concerned by intensifying drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Port Sudan, in the east of the country. Early this morning, drone attacks reportedly struck the airport area, a fuel storage facility and a power transformer.
In a statement issued today, Nkweta-Salami warned that such attacks will deepen humanitarian suffering and needs, as well as exacerbate the already severe access and logistical challenges that humanitarians face in delivering urgently needed aid to the rest of Sudan.
While no UN personnel or facilities were directly affected by the strikes, OCHA notes that the latest violence in Port Sudan poses a growing risk to the safety of humanitarian staff and operations.
Flights of the UN Humanitarian Air Service both to and from Port Sudan are still on hold, and the airport reportedly remains closed.
Elsewhere in the country, prolonged power outages due to drone attacks targeting power stations and facilities continue to disrupt civilian life.
In Northern State, a one-month power blackout prevented farmers from running electric water pumps, leading to the destruction of more than 84 square kilometres of wheat and other crops. Water prices are soaring, and basic services such as health and education have also been affected due to the lack of power.
In River Nile State, the targeted destruction of power infrastructure has led to severe water supply shortages, especially in Atbara and Ad Damar areas. Water prices have doubled, deepening the hardship of vulnerable civilians.
OCHA reiterates that attacks targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Despite hostilities, access constraints and funding shortfalls, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people in Sudan, including those displaced by the fighting.*
In East Darfur, humanitarian organizations are mobilizing aid for 35,000 people in the town of Ed Daein who fled there from Khartoum and Aj Jazirah states. This includes cash assistance and child protection services.
Meanwhile in Kassala State, the UN and its partners are scaling up water, sanitation and hygiene efforts and public health outreach to curb the spread of hepatitis E. As of Sunday, 94 new cases, including two related deaths, had been reported over the week prior, bringing the total number of cases in the state to nearly 900 since the start of the outbreak two months ago.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.
#Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ongoing clashes fuel displacement in eastern DRC
OCHA warns that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as armed violence drives thousands of people from their homes, particularly in South Kivu and North Kivu provinces.
In South Kivu, armed clashes continued yesterday in multiple areas of Walungu, Kalehe and Uvira territories, compounding an already dire displacement crisis.
While exact displacement figures have not yet been verified, humanitarian partners estimate that ongoing fighting has displaced more than 19,000 people in the Bunyakiri region in Kalehe territory since 23 April.
Human rights violations continue to be perpetrated in Kalehe territory. Local humanitarian sources report that four girls were abducted and raped in Bunyakiri region between 29 April and 4 May, bringing the total number of documented cases of sexual violence in this area to at least 13 since February 2025.
In North Kivu, an escalation of fighting since 2 May across Lubero territory has displaced more than 30,000 people to nearby areas, according to local partners.
Meanwhile, humanitarian partners began a three-day operation yesterday to provide food and cash assistance to nearly 15,000 displaced people in collective centres in the towns of Goma and Sake in Masisi territory.
A humanitarian assessment conducted in April among displaced households in the collective centres in Goma and Sake revealed that 90 per cent of displaced families want to return home, but they have requested guarantees of security and support for transport.
#Ukraine
Civilians killed, infrastructure damaged in latest attacks
OCHA reports that intense air strikes across Ukraine continued yesterday and today, with at least eight civilians killed and more than 40 others injured due to shelling in the north-east, east and south of the country, according to local authorities.
The attacks damaged homes, marketplaces and critical infrastructure in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odesa and Kherson.
Humanitarian teams responded swiftly following these latest attacks, providing emergency shelter materials, psychosocial support and hygiene supplies to affected families.
Attacks have also heavily impacted access to water in the Donetsk region. Shelling disrupted water supplies from two of three key water pipelines, while in Donetsk city, water reportedly remains available for only a few hours on specific days.
Aid remains critical to support access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Despite funding shortfalls, in the first quarter of 2025, humanitarian partners supported 1.8 million people across Ukraine with assistance related to these issues.