Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Civilian atrocities by the RSF reported in Sudan’s Gezira
Brutal attacks by the Rapid Support Forces on villages and towns in Sudan’s Gezira state, south of Khartoum, have displaced around 120,000 people over the past two weeks, resembling the kind of violence used by the paramilitary group in the Darfur region last year. The attacks were triggered by the defection to the army of the RSF’s top commander in Gezira (villages under his control were reportedly targeted) and by the group’s aim to destroy popular resistance to it in the state. The UN said the attacks left at least 124 people dead and resulted in more than 27 women and girls being raped, though these numbers are likely a massive undercount given survivor testimonies, activist reports, and videos that show rows of bodies wrapped in shrouds. The attacks are among the worst to take place in Gezira since the RSF took it over in December 2023. The state is considered the country's breadbasket, but farmers have been forced to flee and cropland has been deliberately burnt.
Israel bans UNRWA as north Gaza assault grinds on
The Israeli parliament passed two bills this week that could prevent the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, from operating in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The bills ban UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil, prohibit Israeli government employees from communicating with the agency, and strip its staff of diplomatic immunities. UNRWA is the largest aid provider in the Gaza Strip, which is in the midst of a devastating humanitarian capacity brought about by Israel’s more than year-long war in the enclave. The agency also runs schools, medical clinics, and other essential services for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israel controls access to the West Bank and has illegally annexed East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israel’s devastating siege and military campaign in northern Gaza is continuing. On 31 October, Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in the north, destroying its remaining medical supplies. And an Israeli airstrike on a building in the northern city of Beit Lahia on 29 October killed at least 110 people, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel has been laying a near-total siege to the north of Gaza since 6 October while carrying out a devastating military assault.
In Lebanon, heavy bombing even as truce talks intensify
Despite a renewed US push to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah before the 5 November American election – and expressions of hope from Lebanon’s prime minister that a deal might be imminent – the bombs were still falling as the Cheat Sheet went to press. Even as talk of a truce ramped up, Israel hit Beirut’s southern suburbs late on 31 October and early the next morning with heavy airstrikes after a new evacuation order. The 31st was also the deadliest day of Hezbollah’s rocket attacks in months, killing four Thai citizens and three Israelis in northern Israel. It is unknown how many people Israel’s latest bombings have killed, but the death toll in Lebanon – more than 2,710 since last October – is clearly rising, as is the destruction of homes, as well as of healthcare infrastructure like clinics, ambulances, and hospitals. While it’s hard to tell just how bad it is yet, especially in parts of the country that Israel has invaded, an analysis of satellite imagery and video by The New York Times shows that at least 1,085 buildings have been levelled or badly damaged in six southern border villages, one of which “appears to have been virtually flattened”.
Polio eradication drive in disarray
A watchdog for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has raised numerous failings in the multi-billion-dollar programme, which is way off its objectives. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the GPEI was heavily critical of the organisation’s leadership and management, and reported that the lack of progress on polio was making donors jittery. The GPEI is made up of six major institutions: the World Health Organization; Rotary International; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; UNICEF; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But despite its organisational heft, IMB’s report, published in September, comes as the GPEI faces increasing scrutiny: A Lancet paper, entitled “Polio eradication: 25 years overdue, US$25 billion overrun”, recently claimed the initiative had “lost its way”. Further trouble could be ahead: An investigation into a vaccine recipe change (dubbed the Switch), which backfired and led to at least 3,300 children being paralysed with polio, remains unpublished. This is despite GPEI claiming it would come out in September – after reporting by The New Humanitarian flagged its mysterious absence. A draft version of the report disappeared from the GPEI website. For more, read: Where’s the missing report on polio vaccine paralysis?
Chadian military base overrun by Boko Haram faction
President Mahamat Déby has vowed vengeance for an attack by jihadists on an army base in Chad’s Lake region that killed at least 40 soldiers. The insurgents who managed to overrun the base are likely to be from Boko Haram’s “Bakura” faction, which is concentrated in the northern part of the region, on the Niger/Chad border. They’ve been involved in a long-running battle for supremacy in the region with the rival Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Their commander, Ibrahim Bakura Doro, has resisted both peace overtures and demands for assimilation by the larger ISWAP group. The night-time attack on the Barkaram base, in which weapons and equipment were also captured, follows a military sweep through the region earlier in the year by Nigerian, Cameroonian, and Chadian troops that at the time was proclaimed a success.
Killings up as Haiti security deteriorates further
New UN data shows that more than 1,200 people were killed and 522 wounded in Haiti between July and September. This represents a 27% increase in casualties compared to the second quarter. Figures could get even worse as a new wave of coordinated gang attacks is terrorising areas that had previously been spared. About 10,000 people were forced to flee parts of Port-au-Prince itself, while nearly 22,000 more were displaced in Arcahaie, north of the capital. Gangs also fired at a UN helicopter used by the World Food Programme to deliver aid and at US embassy vehicles, while a Catholic charity’s hospital clinic was vandalised and set on fire. On 31 October, a new UN report projected that 5.4 million Haitians – nearly half the population – will face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity by February 2025, including nearly 6,000 displaced people in Port-au-Prince who are already suffering catastrophic conditions. Despite the ever-rising violence, the US government continues its deportation flights. For more on the political transition and the international community’s – as of yet – ineffective efforts to help stabilise the security situation, read our coverage here.
Weekend read
Snapshots: Pets in crisis
How bonds between animals and humans can keep people going through the worst of times.
And finally…
Trump or Harris? No good choice for Palestinians
Like it or not, US election coverage is hard to avoid. As the pivotal 5 November polling day approaches, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are locked in a tight race that is predicted to come down to a small number of voters in a clutch of swing states. On a raft of global issues, from the climate crisis to Ukraine, differences between the candidates appear stark. But what about the key issue of Israel and Palestine? Harris has done little to distance herself from the Israel-supportive policies of US President Joe Biden, while Trump was once described by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu as “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House”. While recent polling suggests around two thirds of Israelis would prefer to see Trump returned to office, many Palestinians see little to no hope in either candidate. As Palestinian activist Jamal Juma told the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, in a remark that sums up what seems to be the sentiment of many Palestinians: “Both American parties have proven to be two sides of the same coin.”
