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Polio in Gaza, protests in Bangladesh, and crisis in the US: The Cheat Sheet

A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.

Louise O'Brien/TNH

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.

On our radar

Polio detected amid a deadly week in Gaza

Polio has been detected in sewage water samples in the Gaza Strip, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning of a high risk of the spread of the virus, which can cause deformities and paralysis. Coupled with widespread malnutrition, aid agencies have been warning for months that conditions in the enclave are ripe for disease epidemics. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been forcibly displaced, with most living in drastically overcrowded shelters and camps. Israel’s military campaign has made clean water for drinking and bathing increasingly scarce, according to Oxfam International, and has severely damaged wastewater treatment systems and solid waste collection services. Garbage has piled up and sewage water is flooding the streets amid scorching summer heat. Israeli leaders have been saying for nearly two months that the most intense phase of the military campaign in Gaza is drawing to an end. However, the 9-15 July period saw some of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the war began. At least 470 people were killed, according to Gaza health officials, and six UN-run schools-turned-shelters were hit. One airstrike on an Israeli-declared ‘safe’ area in al-Mawasi killed at least 90 people. Israel said it was targeting Mohammed Deif, a senior Hamas military commander who helped plan the 7 October attacks. Whether Deif was killed is still unclear. Human Rights Watch released a report, concluding that “Hamas-led armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the October 7 assault”. Meanwhile, the US announced it was shutting down the problem-plagued pier it constructed to deliver aid. For more on that, read: US Gaza pier to close after costing $230m for a day’s worth of aid.

Dozens killed as Bangladeshi PM cracks down on student protests

It’s not just Kenya (see below) that is witnessing anti-government Gen Z protests. Dozens of people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in days of clashes between police and student protesters in several cities across Bangladesh, where authorities shut down internet services and cut off mobile data as they tried to quell the unrest. The demonstrations began on 1 July in opposition to a quota system that would reserve at least 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans of the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan – seen as allies of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party. The protests are the largest since Hasina, who has ruled the country since 2009, was re-elected earlier this year, and tap into widespread discontentment at high levels of youth unemployment. The response to marches across the nation’s universities and schools turned more violent this week as pro-government groups were accused of attacking the student protesters, and as police intensified their crackdown, firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. On the evening of 18 July, demonstrators stormed the headquarters of state broadcaster BTV, setting fire to parts of the building in the capital, Dhaka.

Arms heist in Somalia

An ambush by local militia on a weapons convoy in central Somalia has been described as the country’s “single most serious incident of arms proliferation”. The looted weapons included assault rifles, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. The convoy had crossed from Ethiopia on 15 July when it was attacked near the border town of Abudwaq. The consignment is believed to have been destined for one of the clans in the area that is allied with government forces waging a stalled offensive against the jihadist group al-Shabab. The price of an AK-47 has since dropped by one third on the local market. The weapons are not only likely to fuel inter-clan conflict, but they could also be bought by a resurgent al-Shabab or by bandits in northern Kenya. As al-Shabab wins back territory, it’s prioritising its rural political message, while continuing its bombing campaign in the capital, Mogadishu. In the latest attack, nine people were killed outside a restaurant as they watched the Euro 2024 football final.

The continuing fallout of Syria’s forgotten war 

News of Syria’s war often makes it feel like the conflict is in the past. Take the announcement this week that US officials had recently arrested Samir Ousman, a military official who ran a prison infamous torture and later governed a part of the country that was a centre of revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Ousman was arrested for immigration violations, and has not been charged with war crimes, although activists allege he supervised abuses in the prison and in a violent crackdown on protesters. But the war is ongoing, and rights groups say that different types of collective punishment against people who oppose (or once opposed) al-Assad are still happening now, including the recent seizure of assets in a Damascus neighbourhood. A newly released report from ESCWA looks at sanctions targeted at al-Assad, which some have argued are actually not that targeted at allimpacting civilians across the country, effectively becoming another form of collective punishment. The vast majority of people ESCWA surveyed said that sanctions had impacted their lives in negative ways. Most said they were against unilateral sanctions, although notably – and perhaps unsurprisingly – attitudes differed depending on where respondents live inside Syria (and who controls that part of the country). 

Mixed picture on democracy in Africa

Soldiers have toppled elected governments in six African countries since 2020, but most Africans still prefer democracy and want more democratic governance than they are getting, according to the latest report from the respected research and survey group Afrobarometer. The report found that Africans are increasingly dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in their countries, with opposition to military rule weakening in several countries over the past decade. More than half of Africans are willing to tolerate military intervention if elected leaders abuse power to further their own interests, and even well-established democracies such as Botswana and Mauritius are failing to live up to the expectations of their citizens. That said, support for democracy remains robust across 39 surveyed countries, with 66% of Africans saying they prefer democracy to any other system, and 78% rejecting one-party rule. 

COP29 letter offers a taste of climate finance battles to come

Agreeing a “fair and ambitious” new climate finance goal is the “top negotiating priority” of Azerbaijan, hosts of the UN COP29 summit in November. That’s according to the first public letter from COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev, the country’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, and a former oil executive. “The needs and priorities of developing country Parties” will be taken into account in negotiating the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, he wrote. Abbreviated to NCQG, this will replace the $100 billion per year that Global North countries promised in 2009 to transfer to the Global South to tackle climate change (roundly criticised as insufficient). Striking a new finance agreement – as governments struggle through a global economic downturn – is expected to be the standout challenge of COP29. Campaigners also face an uphill battle to get loss and damage finance included in the NCQG, even as the real world consequences of climate disasters continue to mount. Earlier this week, UN climate chief Simon Stiell spoke from his grandmother's destroyed neighbourhood in Grenada, recently battered by Hurricane Beryl: “Standing here, it's impossible not to recognise the vital importance of delivering climate finance, funding loss and damage, and investing massively in building resilience, particularly for the most vulnerable.”

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In case you missed it

AFGHANISTAN: At least 40 people have been killed by floods and storms in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. In May, the northern province of Baghlan was hit by devastating flooding that led to hundreds of deaths. Elsewhere, officials in northeastern Badakhshan said aid cuts by the WHO have forced them to shut the OB-GYN department of the provincial hospital. 

AID TRANSPARENCY: The UN’s humanitarian aid coordination arm, OCHA, is among the organisations given high marks on the latest ranking of aid transparency from the Publish What You Fund campaign. Those judged to be “poor” or “very poor” include the foreign ministries of Germany and Australia, and the international development agencies for Spain and China.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: A militia known as Mobondo, which claims to defend the Yaka people, has killed at least 70 people in the village of Kinsele, which is the Kwamouth territory of western DRC. Conflict between local Yaka and Teke communities has flared since mid-2022, claiming hundreds of lives. See our recent reporting for more.

GERMANY: After a year of deep cuts, one of the world’s biggest humanitarian donor governments will slash some more. Germany’s draft 2025 budget would cut the money available for humanitarian aid to a decade low of around one billion euros, according to the Berlin-based Centre for Humanitarian Action.

HAITI: A second contingent of 200 Kenyan police officers flew in to the capital, Port-au-Prince, as part of a UN-backed and US-bankrolled stabilisation mission aimed at taking back the streets from rampant gangs. After a relative lull, violence is spiking again, and UN and EU aid officials have called for urgent international action to address Haiti's humanitarian catastrophe. Over 900 schools have closed since January and nearly 40% of the capital’s in-patient health facilities are inoperative, they said.

ISRAEL/PALESTINE: The building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – as well as Israel’s construction of infrastructure and exploitation of natural resources in those territories – is illegal under international law, according to the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice. The 19 July advisory opinion is non-binding and separate from a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

KENYA: As anti-government youth protests carried into a fourth week, the High Court in Kenya has suspended an attempt by police to ban marches in the capital Nairobi. Demonstrations in towns and cities across the country have forced President William Ruto to withdraw new tax proposals and fire his cabinet. The protesters have rejected appeals for dialogue that have split the opposition. At least 50 protesters have been killed and more than 400 injured since the protests erupted on 18 June, according to Kenya’s state-funded National Commission on Human Rights. For the latest from the ground, watch this short video dispatch from Kenyan journalist Anthony Langat:

MALARIA: A new malaria vaccine has been rolled out in Côte d’Ivoire and South Sudan. The R21 vaccine costs under $4, less than half the price of previous malaria jabs. It was developed by scientists at the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India.

MALAWI: The government has declared the end of the country’s worst cholera outbreak, which killed nearly 2,000 people and lasted for more than two years. No new cases have been reported over the past four weeks, but health experts have warned the country needs to tackle the underlying sanitation problems that caused the outbreak.

OMAN: rare attack in the Gulf sultanate – claimed by the so-called Islamic State – killed five worshippers at a mosque in the capital, Muscat, as they marked the Shia mourning festival of Ashura. The attackers, three Omani brothers, were shot dead by police in the ensuing gunfight.

SUDAN: The number of people displaced by the war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the regular army has now passed 10 million, which is roughly 20% of the population, according to the International Organization for Migration. The displacement crisis is the largest in the world.

VENEZUELA: Threatened by rival Edmundo González’s popularity, President Nicolás Maduro's government has detained more than 70 people linked to the opposition since the beginning of the campaign for the 28 July election. Arrests include the head of security of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who also denounced a targeted attack against herFor more on Venezuelans’ hopes and fears ahead of this pivotal election, read here.


Weekend read

Why these 10 humanitarian crises still demand your attention

Beyond Gaza and Ukraine, emergency aid needs are going unmet in these neglected hotspots around the globe. 

And finally…

When ‘the West’ falls into crisis

The International Crisis Group has turned its early warning eye back toward the United States, weighing in on the country’s “dangerous turn” following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. “The shooting remains an important reminder of how quickly the politics of this polarised nation, awash in guns, could go off the rails,” the think tank opined, offering the sort of armchair assessments it usually saves for crises in the Global South. There are warnings of deepening polarisation, the “siloing of political media”, “incendiary rhetoric”, and the “vast quantities of weapons... easily accessible” around the country. Of course, no nation is immune to humanitarian crises, despite what media reporting may suggest. The US first appeared on Crisis Group’s conflict tracker in 2020 amid the high-profile police murders of Black Americans and the country’s disastrous COVID-19 response. The US remains on the think tank’s “standby monitoring” list ahead of November’s presidential elections. Another analysis outfit, ACLED, is continuing its US crisis monitor to track political violence trends in the election run-up.

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