Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Protection of Civilians, Central Emergency Response Fund
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
UN dispatches vital humanitarian assistance in Gaza
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said today that truckloads of life-saving aid are finally on the move into Gaza again.
In a social media post, Fletcher said he was in close touch with the UN team in the Strip, noting that today will be crucial. “I’m in awe of courage of our humanitarians – but they continue to face huge challenges getting goods out of the crossing to where it is needed,” he added.
OCHA reports that yesterday, about 90 loaded trucks left Kerem Shalom to multiple destinations inside Gaza. They carried nutrition supplies, flour, medicines and other critical stocks that were allowed in.
OCHA stresses that this shipment is limited in quantity and nowhere near sufficient to meet the scale and scope of the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million people. Other supplies as basic as fresh food, hygiene items, water purification agents, and fuel to power hospitals have not been let in for over 80 days.
What the UN is currently allowed to bring in includes nutrition products, some food ingredients and medical supplies.
Of yesterday’s supplies, more than 500 pallets with nutrition supplies – nearly 20 truckloads – were safely offloaded in UNICEF’s warehouse in Deir al Balah. They include ready-to-use therapeutic food and lipid-based nutritional supplements. These life-saving supplies are now being unpacked and repackaged so that smaller loads can reach people in need via dozens of distribution points.
There were also shipments of flour – over 50 truckloads – to help a number of bakeries in Deir al Balah resume operations. Yesterday, humanitarians managed to provide those bakeries with fuel from supply that was already inside Gaza. Today, some of them have resumed operations, and the bread produced will be provided through community kitchens.
The latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) concluded that people across Gaza are at risk of famine, with nearly half a million people teetering on the edge of starvation.
Medical supplies have also been transported to destinations in Gaza closer to where people in need are.
OCHA underscores that it is critical for the Israeli authorities to facilitate the movement of humanitarian convoys, including from southern Gaza to the north, so that all supplies can reach people in need wherever they are across the Strip.
Regarding access to and from Kerem Shalom, reaching the crossing on the Palestinian side requires humanitarians to travel through an Israeli-militarized area. This means that humanitarian teams need to wait, often for hours, for military activities to pause – for their safety – and for a green light to be given by the Israeli authorities to proceed.
It is also critical to ensure the use of secure routes from Kerem Shalom onward into Gaza, as the UN did last night and hopes to do again going forward.
Meanwhile, military operations continue across the Gaza Strip, with reports of strikes, shelling and fresh ground incursions. In recent days, attacks have reportedly struck tents and buildings where people are sheltering, causing scores of casualties.
Yesterday, Palestinian rocket fire towards Israel was also reported.
Today, Al Awda Hospital in North Gaza caught fire, reportedly after being attacked. Through coordination with the Israeli authorities, OCHA facilitated the access of the Palestinian Civil Defense to the area, where they spent hours working to extinguish the fire. According to initial reports, the medicine warehouse was heavily damaged.
Yesterday, the hospital was hit and damaged in a separate strike, and one staff member was injured. In a social media post, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that Al Awda is the last functioning hospital in North Gaza governorate, warning that it is overwhelmed and at risk of closure due to insecurity and access constraints.
He stressed that even if health facilities are not attacked or forced to evacuate, hostilities and military presence prevent patients and staff from accessing care. These conditions also keep WHO from being able to resupply hospitals to keep them running. With other medical facilities out of service, those that are still functioning – even partially – are having to cope with a surge in trauma cases.
Water wells in some areas of Gaza are shutting down as they remain out of reach or lack fuel. OCHA reports that Israeli authorities continue to deny attempts to retrieve fuel from areas where coordination is required.
#Sudan
Hostilities, health threats imperil civilians
OCHA warns that the humanitarian situation in Sudan continues to worsen, driven by ongoing conflict, displacement, surging food prices and mounting public health risks.
In West Kordofan state, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that heightened insecurity has displaced nearly 47,000 people from Al Khiwai and An Nuhud localities this month. Many were already internally displaced and have now fled for a second time.
In North Darfur state, intensified violence also continues to uproot civilians. IOM says some 1,000 people have been displaced from Abu Shouk camp and El Fasher town in the past week alone due to insecurity.
Most sought safety in other parts of El Fasher locality, while others fled to Tawila, where the UN and partners have scaled up assistance in recent weeks.* This brings the total number of people displaced from Abu Shouk and El Fasher this month to 6,000. In total, North Darfur state is estimated to be hosting more than 1.7 million internally displaced people.
Soaring food prices are deepening the crisis. In El Fasher, staple items such as millet, sorghum and sugar are priced up to three times the national average, according to local sources. This is pushing basic nutrition out of reach for families already struggling to survive.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that food prices across Sudan rose in April compared to March, except for sorghum. The cost of WFP’s locally sourced package of essential foods designed to meet basic nutritional needs increased by 12 per cent in just one month and remains 124 per cent higher than the same period last year.
Meanwhile, OCHA is alarmed by a surge in cholera cases in Khartoum state, particularly in Karrari and Jebel Awlia localities. Nearly 2,800 suspected cases have been reported in the past month – over half the total cases since August.
The situation in Khartoum is compounded by a near-total electricity blackout during the past week, reportedly caused by drone attacks on critical power infrastructure. This has severely disrupted access to water and healthcare, including the Al Nao and El Buluk hospitals. Residents are resorting to unsafe water sources, heightening the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks.
In White Nile state, needs are increasing as more people arrive from neighbouring South Sudan, fleeing insecurity and worsening conditions. Over the past six weeks, more than 25,000 South Sudanese refugees — mostly women and children — have crossed into White Nile, according to updates from the UN Refugee Agency, based on information from Government authorities. Sudan now hosts about 842,000 refugees, the vast majority from South Sudan.
Amid ongoing conflict, access restrictions and critical funding gaps, humanitarian agencies in Sudan are doing everything possible to assist people in need. OCHA reiterates the urgent need for more access and flexible funding.
To date, just US$552 million in funding has been tracked for the humanitarian response in Sudan this year. This is just over 13 per cent of the $4.2 billion required for the overall appeal – and less than a quarter of the $2.4 billion needed to prioritize the most urgent needs.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.
#Protection of Civilians
UN Relief Chief calls for action to protect civilians, recommit to international humanitarian law
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher told the Security Council today that the world is witnessing an unraveling of the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law, despite the lessons of history and clear legal commitments.
“The scaffolding built last century to protect us from inhumanity is crumbling,” he warned. “Those who will die as a result need us to act.”
Last year, the UN recorded more than 36,000 civilian deaths in 14 armed conflicts – although the real number could be much higher. 2024 was also the deadliest year on record for humanitarians. More than 360 aid workers were killed, including at least 200 in Gaza and at least 54 in Sudan – mostly national staff.
Fletcher called on the Council and Member States to take urgent action to salvage the protection architecture that took decades to build.
This includes through compliance: “All parties must respect international humanitarian law, and all States have a duty to ensure respect for it,” Fletcher said.
The Under-Secretary-General urged steps to fight impunity, while also stressing the need to acknowledge that not all civilian harm stems from violations of the law, and even when parties comply, the scale of civilian harm can be devastating.
“This Council and every Member State must summon greater political will and courage to turn this tide,” he said. “Let us be remembered not by the warnings we gave – but by the action we took.”
#Central Emergency Response Fund
UN emergency fund supports action on cholera, climate
Emergency Relief Coordinator Fletcher has fast-tracked resources from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in recent days to support critical relief efforts in 10 countries.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, $750,000 from CERF’s Anticipatory Action programme was made available yesterday to support the response to the surge of cholera in some provinces in the country.
The funds will enable WHO, UNICEF and their partners to provide critical health, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, as well as support the timely detection and response to cholera alerts, and carry out medical treatment, risk communication and community engagement.
In a social media post, Fletcher stressed that with cholera already spreading and affecting thousands of people in the country, this swift allocation will help reinforce infection control and support affected people.
$9.5 million was also released from CERF yesterday to support climate action initiatives in eight countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Venezuela and Zambia.
These resources will not only boost initiatives for immediate life-saving responses, but also build resilience and adaptation capacities to climate-related shocks. Many of these initiatives are community-driven, involving women-led and youth organizations, among other local partners.
Meanwhile, $10 million has been released to rush life-saving aid to more than 270,000 people in South Sudan. The allocation will target vulnerable communities in Jonglei and Upper Nile state that have been affected by overlapping crises, especially conflict and displacement, as well as food insecurity and a cholera outbreak. The funds will also help people ahead of the rainy season, and humanitarian partners will provide food, seeds, tools, fishing kits, shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.