Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Deadly Israeli airstrikes end Gaza ceasefire
The tenuous ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came crashing down on 18 March when, with US backing, Israel re-launched widespread airstrikes across the besieged territory. Nearly 600 people have been killed in the attacks, as of the time of publication. Over 130 children were killed during the first day alone, according to UNICEF. Israel is also redeploying ground troops into Gaza and threatening to annex parts of the territory. At the beginning of March, Israel abandoned the framework of the three-phase ceasefire deal it agreed to in January with Hamas. Instead, it imposed a total siege on Gaza – blocking the delivery of all humanitarian aid – to pressure Hamas into accepting a temporary extension of the first phase of the deal. Amid a major domestic political storm, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the resumption of the war to ratchet up the pressure on Hamas. The UN’s agency for Palestine refugees warned that it only has enough flour left to distribute for six days, and nearly half of the Palestinian Red Crescent’s emergency vehicles are out of use due to fuel shortages because of the aid blockade. Several aid workers – both local and international – have also been killed and wounded in Israel’s renewed bombing.
US bombing campaign kills more than 50 people in Yemen
The US launched a bombing campaign in Yemen that President Donald Trump says is aimed at stopping Houthi rebel attacks on Red Sea shipping as well as at curtailing Iranian support for the rebels (formally called Ansar Allah), who control most of northern Yemen. At least 53 people (including at least two children and five women) were killed in this major escalation, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. This is significantly more than the 34 fatalities recorded after the US and UK struck Houthi targets in 2024 – also in response to the Red Sea attacks. Almost 100 more people were wounded in the latest US strikes, the health ministry said. The Houthis began sending missiles at ships as a gesture of solidarity for Palestinians in Gaza. After pausing with the January Israel-Hamas ceasefire, they threatened a resumption when Israel blocked aid into Gaza, and then sent missiles and a drone at a US naval ship in retaliation for the US strikes. The tit-for-tat attacks have many worried about what’s to come for civilians in Yemen who have already lived through 10 years of war and humanitarian crisis. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned that rising numbers of malnourished children are outstripping the country’s capacity to treat them. For more on what it has been like to live through a decade of war, check out The Yemen Listening Project.
Trump cuts start to hit home for UN agencies
Two months after President Trump re-took office and started gutting American aid, it feels like the sense of urgency is ramping up for some of the big UN agencies that were a bit slow out of the gate compared to their NGO counterparts. The UN’s migration agency, IOM, took the rare step of acknowledging that some 6,000 staff could be hit by cuts (albeit after extensive media reporting). UNHCR’s footprint will shrink and its workforce will see “a significant reduction”, boss Filippo Grandi warned the refugee agency’s staff in a 20 March email. Even Secretary-General António Guterres is talking about budget cuts: see this Ramadan speech he gave in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. This more-public voice mirrors a growing anxiety as the impacts of the cuts evolve. Tuberculosis drug and supply chains are failing in nine countries, the World Health Organization said ahead of World Tuberculosis Day on 24 March. Some 4.4 million people are at risk of hunger in Sudan. Health facilities in Afghanistan could shut down in the coming months. How are the humanitarian system’s other big donors responding? With their own funding cuts, of course. What happened at a closed-door 20 March meeting of government donors from mostly Global North countries – the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee – remains private for now. What’s a worried humanitarian to do? A few are gathering in Geneva for Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week from 24-28 March, where the usual mix of technical panels and chat sessions seems likely to take on a more urgent tone.
M23 gains continue despite DR Congo peace efforts
Parties to the M23 conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were supposed to meet for breakthrough talks this week in Angola, but days of topsy-turvy diplomacy saw the Rwanda-backed rebels back out of discussions, and the Congolese and Rwandan presidents instead sit down for a surprise face-to-face encounter in Qatar that ended in calls for a ceasefire. The Angola meeting would have been the first direct discussions between DRC and the M23, but the rebels (having complained bitterly about Kinshasa snubbing dialogue over the years) pulled out to protest EU sanctions that targeted several of its leaders and were announced just ahead of the meeting. Angola’s foreign ministry expressed "astonishment" about Qatar hijacking its platform, and said that while all efforts to resolve conflicts are welcome, “African problems should have an African solution”. The M23 said it wasn’t aware of the Qatar talks and wasn't concerned about their outcome. They continued their offensive in the east, seizing the town of Walikale, which puts them close to Kisangani, the country’s fourth largest city. Read our new in-depth briefing on the conflict for more.
Deadly airstrikes raise war fears in South Sudan
South Sudan’s military has carried out airstrikes on the town of Nasir, killing civilians and deepening fears of a return to all-out war in the country. The border town in Upper Nile state was seized earlier this month by the White Army, a militia group that fought alongside current Vice President Riek Machar during the 2013-2018 civil war that saw his forces battle troops loyal to President Salva Kiir. The government accuses Machar’s party, the SPLM-IO, of collaborating with the militia during the Nasir takeover, though the SPLM-IO denies involvement. The party withdrew this week from certain aspects linked to the post-war peace process in protest against its officials being detained. Officials in Nasir said victims of airstrikes included women and children, while residents shared photos of civilians with shocking burn wounds. The violence has displaced 50,000 people, including 10,000 who have fled to Ethiopia. See last week’s Cheat Sheet for more on the risk of civil war.
Haitians protest as insecurity hits new low
With Port-au-Prince set to fall under the full control of gangs – and after a months-long wave of relentless attacks in different neighbourhoods – thousands of Haitians took to the streets of the capital on 18-19 March to protest against the increasingly dire situation. Carrying signs, megaphones, and sticks, they urged the transitional government to act. Several people were wounded in clashes with the police. Despite the deployment of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission – approved by the UN to tackle rising insecurity – both the force and the Haitian authorities have failed to curb rampant gang violence. According to IOM, a record 60,000 people were displaced in just one month. A new report by Plan International shows that 52% of them are children. In 90% of cases, they have no access to education, and 5% of those surveyed said they wanted to join the gangs for money. An estimated six million people (more than half the population) are now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, but – given the level of insecurity – aid groups are finding it very challenging to access communities and provide aid. On 15 March, four MSF vehicles were shot at, forcing the organisation to suspend activities in one of its hospitals yet again.
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And finally…
Asian cities dominate pollution rankings
A new report says 19 of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities are on the Asian continent. India, the world’s most populous country, has 13 entries on the list, including six of the top 10. Delhi ranked second, earning it the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted capital, for the sixth time. The report, released by iqAir, a Swiss organisation that monitors global air quality rates, says Byrnihat, India, which lies along the border between the states of Assam and Meghalaya, is the single most polluted city in the world. In third place was Karaganda, a city in Kazakhstan. Although the Asian continent has an oversized presence on the cities list, the world’s most polluted country was Chad, in Central Africa. Bangladesh and Pakistan came in second and third, respectively. iqAir says three countries, Afghanistan, Iran, and Oman, lacked proper data to be counted in the global lists.
