Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Yemen, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ukraine
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Strikes cause more civilian casualties in Gaza
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that hostilities continue unabated across the Gaza Strip, with air strikes reportedly hitting tents and areas sheltering displaced families. Meanwhile, the blockade on any supplies into Gaza has gone on for more than seven weeks, further depriving people of the means for survival and undermining every aspect of civilian life.
Amid intense Israeli air strikes, scores more people have reportedly been killed and injured in recent days, including many children.
Yesterday in Khan Younis, an OCHA team carried out assessments at two locations in Al Mawasi that were hit by Israeli strikes on 20 and 21 April, reportedly killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen others, mostly children. Among the injured is a four-year-old boy who lost both of his legs. The team said nearly 20 families lost their shelter and belongings.
OCHA visited another two sites in the Mawasi area yesterday that are hosting nearly 2,500 displaced people, including many who fled after the latest displacement orders on Al Qarara in Khan Younis. The team noted acute shortages of food, water, medicine and shelter. Civilians there are traumatized and have no access to mental health support.
Both communities rely entirely on once-daily hot meals from community kitchens, which are insufficient and frequently run out. Children are going hungry, with reports of injuries during food distributions due to overcrowding and competition.
OCHA says canned food distributions, cash assistance, water storage, emergency health support and temporary learning spaces are urgently required. The presence of injured civilians, as well as people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, underscores the vulnerability of people at these sites.
Throughout Gaza, food supplies are running dangerously low, and malnutrition is rapidly worsening. Last week, one partner screened 1,300 children in northern Gaza and identified more than 80 cases of acute malnutrition – a two-fold increase from previous weeks.
Partners working in nutrition also report severe supply shortages due to the aid blockade and the challenges of moving essential items into and within the Strip. Access to key storage facilities, such as the UNICEF warehouse in Rafah, remains heavily constrained.
Two days ago, a truck carrying nutrition support successfully moved from northern to southern Gaza. The shipment can support approximately 470 children for one month and will be crucial in preventing their conditions from worsening.
Across Gaza, living conditions are appalling. More than half of the population relies on inadequate or non-existent sanitation, while over 75 per cent report exposure to sewage, open waste and rodent infestations.
The public health risks are grave, especially for vulnerable groups – particularly malnourished children under the age of 5, who are highly susceptible to waterborne diseases and infections.
As part of ongoing efforts to respond to growing environmental and public health risks, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says its sanitation teams are responding with spraying, cleaning campaigns and hygiene awareness sessions to reduce these risks and support displaced families.
Active hostilities and the ongoing aid blockade have further crippled Gaza’s health system. The World Health Organization reports that out of 99 assessed hospitals, field hospitals, governmental primary care centres and UNRWA healthcare centres, more than 30 are non-functional. Nearly 50 are operating only partially, and 18 have been destroyed. Only one is fully functional.
Two-thirds of facilities expected to provide emergency care lack sufficient bed capacity, and about 70 per cent have substandard sanitation facilities.
Despite immense challenges, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to save lives and provide whatever available aid they have inside Gaza as access allows. However, this effort is not sustainable under current conditions.
Partners on the ground are sounding the alarm: Without a massive influx of aid and restoration of safe humanitarian access, the response risks collapsing – with deadly and disastrous consequences for civilians.
OCHA calls on Member States with influence to press for an immediate end to the blockade and a permanent ceasefire – and to ensure that once supplies are let in, they can be distributed wherever people need them, with full respect for the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
#Yemen
Humanitarians step up emergency response in wake of Yemen air strikes
OCHA remains deeply concerned over the impact of ongoing air strikes on civilians in Yemen and the infrastructure they rely on, including health facilities. Since Monday, more than two dozen air strikes have been reported. In Al Hodeidah city, humanitarian partners are stepping up emergency support to meet rising needs related to the strikes.
Humanitarians continue to receive updates on the devastating effects of attacks in recent days. The UN has verified five child casualties – all boys between the ages of seven and 17 – due to an air strike in Sana'a on Sunday. Strikes on 17 April damaged a hospital in Al Bayda governorate, where humanitarian partners were running an emergency obstetric and newborn care programme. Damage to solar panels at the hospital mean that it can no longer operate around the clock.
OCHA reiterates its call for all parties to the conflict to uphold international humanitarian law.
The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to stay and deliver wherever possible and as funding allows. This year’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Yemen is currently just over 8 per cent funded, with less than US$205 million received of the nearly $2.5 billion required. The reality is that humanitarians cannot do more with less.
Yemen is caught in a horrific cycle of violence and humanitarian crisis. Although funding is no substitute for the political solution that the people of Yemen so desperately deserve – it can and will help communities survive and stabilize.
#Sudan
UN, partners mobilize support for people fleeing North Darfur hostilities
OCHA remains gravely concerned over mass displacement, civilian casualties and dire humanitarian needs in El Fasher, Tawila and other parts of Sudan’s North Darfur state where civilians have sought safety and shelter after the takeover of Zamzam camp by the Rapid Support Forces.
Humanitarian partners on the ground report that Zamzam camp is nearly empty, with almost all of its several hundred thousand inhabitants having fled to other locations. Some residents had been living at Zamzam since the beginning of the Darfur conflict in 2003.
In recent days, artillery shelling of El Fasher – including the Abu Shouk camp and Daraja Aoula areas – has reportedly caused dozens of further civilian casualties.
The massive influx of displaced people into host communities and towns where needs are already high is creating critical pressure on health services, water infrastructure and local food systems throughout North Darfur.
The UN and its humanitarian partners are scaling up operations to meet deepening needs across multiple areas in the state. However, the scale of the displacement – coupled with insecurity and rising logistical constraints that have impeded humanitarian access – are severely stretching the capacity to respond.
Despite these and other challenges, OCHA is working with partners to coordinate the movement of a humanitarian convoy to North Darfur in the coming days – carrying a broad range of vital aid for up to 40,000 people. This will be a cross-border mission via the Adre crossing from Chad, traveling via Ag Geneina in West Darfur before reaching Tawila in North Darfur. OCHA is also working with all stakeholders to try to open up sustained access for relief supplies and personnel movements into the area.
In El Fasher, local NGOs are running mobile health and nutrition clinics and have launched a water trucking project, providing 20 cubic metres of water daily to 10,000 people. The Sudan Humanitarian Fund – which is managed by OCHA – supports the work of six NGO partners in and around El Fasher.*
In light of the crisis in Zamzam and El Fasher, UN agencies and NGO partners are urgently reviewing and adjusting response priorities in the area, within the framework of the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to call on all parties to the conflict to uphold international humanitarian law, ensure safe passage for civilians, and guarantee, facilitate and enable unimpeded humanitarian access.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.
#Democratic Republic of the Congo
Forced marriage, recruitment by armed groups imperil children in eastern DRC
OCHA warns that children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to face grave violations of their rights as fighting persists in eastern parts of the country.
In South Kivu province, local humanitarian sources report that armed men abducted a girl on 18 April in the Bunyakiri area of Kalehe territory and forced her into marriage. Civil society partners warn that local armed groups have forced at least nine girls into marriages in Kalehe since February. According to local humanitarian partners, many other incidents of child marriage may be going unreported.
Partners also warn that armed groups continue to recruit children as fighters, and they are particularly concerned by active recruitments in South Kivu’s Fizi territory. Schools there have closed after teachers went on strike on Monday due to unpaid salaries – and these closures are compounding the risk of child recruitment.
Children are also missing out on school in parts of eastern DRC, where local authorities have reported the occupation of at least five schools by armed groups. This occupation is depriving more than 2,300 children of their right to education in Punia territory, in Maniema province, as well as in Kalemie territory, in Tanganyika province. A number of other schools are also being used as shelters by families who have fled violence.
Meanwhile, in North Kivu province, clashes in several villages of Masisi territory on 20 April forced many residents to flee, according to local humanitarian sources. Large numbers of people were observed moving from Kilambo and Mbui villages into neighbouring areas, including Mweso Centre and Nyamaboko. Total displacement estimates are yet to be confirmed. Partners expect further waves of displacement if the fighting continues.
An assessment completed by the UN and its partners last week found that nearly 9,000 displaced people living in some 50 collective centres around the provincial capital Goma and in the town of Sake – roughly 25 kilometres north-west of Goma – hope to return to their homes in Masisi, Nyiragongo and Rutshuru territories. These families are ready to go home if transportation is available, security is reestablished, and basic services are in place. OCHA is working with its humanitarian partners to address these issues and help enable safe, voluntary returns.
#Somalia
Tens of thousands impacted by Somalia floods
OCHA reports that deadly flash floods have affected nearly 30,000 people in different parts of Somalia. Authorities say at least four people have been in killed in the past week, including three children.
The rains come after months of extreme dry conditions that decimated water sources and grazing land, straining livelihoods and forcing scores of pastoralist families to abandon their villages.
Following a delayed start to the April to June wet season, the rains have been particularly heavy in Puntland and South West states
Authorities in Somalia are appealing for assistance, especially emergency shelter, restoration of sanitation facilities, food assistance and relocation support for affected people.
The UN and its humanitarian partners have started assessments to determine the impact of the disaster and mobilize the response – but these efforts are constrained by extremely limited resources due to recent funding cuts.
OCHA warns that humanitarian needs are rising in Somalia at a time when aid agencies are having to reduce and even suspend assistance due to dwindling resources.
In 2025, about one third of Somalia’s population – nearly 6 million people – needs humanitarian assistance. However, this year’s $1.42 billion humanitarian appeal is just 10 per cent funded, with $143 million received to date.
#Ukraine
Ongoing attacks drive humanitarian needs in Ukraine
OCHA warns that attacks have continued across Ukraine, further endangering civilians and deepening humanitarian needs. Ukrainian authorities report that yesterday and in the early hours of today, drone and glide bomb attacks struck densely populated areas throughout the country, while fighting claimed the lives of civilians in front-line regions.
In Zaporizhzhia city, a glide bomb strike yesterday killed one person and injured more than 40 others, including seven children and a pregnant woman, according to local authorities. Several apartment buildings were damaged. Despite being near the front line, the city remains home to some 630,000 people, including many displaced from other regions.
Authorities also report overnight drone strikes in the regions of Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Poltava and Odesa, damaging homes, warehouses, vehicles, a hospital, an ambulance and a critical energy facility.
The UN and its humanitarian partners – including national NGOs – are providing emergency aid, complementing the work of state responders. Affected communities are receiving hot meals, construction materials and other critical items, as well as legal and psychosocial support.