Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
With situation “beyond vocabulary”, EU walks away from Gaza action
The quid pro quo of a recent deal on humanitarian access in Gaza struck between the EU and Israel has become clear. At a meeting of EU foreign ministers on 15 July, the bloc opted not to take punitive action against Israel over widespread evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed in Gaza. For weeks, the EU had been discussing a range of potential actions, including: suspending its free trade agreement with Israel; an arms embargo; banning the import of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank; and ending visa-free travel for Israeli citizens. Instead of taking any of these measures – which advocates argue are necessary to avoid complicity in serious violations of international law – EU ministers pointed to an aid deal struck on 10 July as justification for inaction. The details of that deal remain vague, and it has so far shown little on-the-ground impact. The EU’s inaction follows a pattern that has existed throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza whereby the United States and European countries have pushed for improvements in aid access that have time and time again proved to be temporary and incremental, rather than using their substantial diplomatic, economic, and military leverage over Israel to reel in violations and end the war. Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza is “beyond vocabulary to describe”, according to UN relief chief Tom Fletcher. Fuel is running short due to Israel’s near-total blockade, crippling hospitals and exacerbating water shortages amid soaring summer heat. Aid groups are seeing the highest malnutrition rates yet among children and pregnant women at health facilities, leading to deaths. And daily Israeli attacks on people attempting to access aid through the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are continuing. For more, read the latest in our “Don’t look away” series: Under fire for flour: A night of survival in Gaza.
For more evidence of tough words and no action
Even as the GHF causes worries at the highest levels of the UK government – the shady outfit was slammed as “egregious and unconscionable” by UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in a hearing with MPs this week – leaders have so far avoided doing anything about it. Lammy said the GHF “must not set a precedent” for aid distribution and it goes against “global norms and rules that we all signed up to after the Second World War.” Critics say the GHF is a militarised food distribution scheme that has dangerously instrumentalised aid and displaced established humanitarians at the behest of Israel. For more on the fallout over the role played by one of the aid sector’s favourite management consultants, read: Big Aid sticks with Boston Consulting Group despite Gaza scandal.
Israel bombs Syria amid clashes between Bedouin and Druze
Heavy fighting continued in the southwestern Syrian province of Sweida, despite two short-lived ceasefires and a promise from interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa to protect the country’s Druze citizens. Violence broke out between Bedouin and Druze communities on 13 July, leading government forces to intervene. The fighting took on a sectarian dimension – not for the first time since last December’s ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad – with the reported executions of Druze civilians, who form the majority in Sweida but are a minority in Syria as a whole. The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that nearly 600 people had been killed, including civilians and soldiers, although this toll could not be independently verified. Israel bombed military and government targets in Damascus mid-week, in a move it said was to protect Israel and the Druze minority; Al-Sharaa characterised it as an attempt to sow internal discord. By the end of the week, there were unconfirmed reports that Syrian troops were planning to return to Sweida, as thousands of families fled the area.
Will gang violence take a whole country down?
Calls for greater international attention to be paid to the rapid deterioration of security in Haiti have been growing in volume since the beginning of the year. They are now reaching a crescendo, amid new warnings that giving carte blanche to Haitian gangs could destabilise the wider Caribbean. More than a year after an underfunded and poorly staffed Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) was deployed with the UN’s blessing to help the woefully outgunned Haitian police fight the gangs, the armed groups have tightened their vice-like grip on the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are seizing other strategic parts of the country seemingly at will as the violence spreads. According to a new UN report, more than 1,000 of the nearly 5,000 people killed between October 2024 and June 2025 were in the Artibonite and Centre departments, and in regions east of the capital. In those regions, the report registered “a sharp increase in killings, kidnappings, sexual violence”, as well as in “incidents involving self-defence groups”. On 3 July alone, nearly 27,500 people were forced from their homes in the Centre department after a series of attacks, prompting the establishment of 23 new spontaneous displacement sites. Another report by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) notes that weapons and ammunition continue to enter the country and that the government’s decision to hire private military contractors to confront gangs is leading to more civilian deaths, even as “humanitarian assistance has been precipitously cut” largely due to the end of US foreign aid. For a lot more, read our coverage.
Violence, displacement on the rise in northern Mozambique
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned of an upsurge in violence in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, and has called for greater protection of health workers and medical facilities. Since the beginning of the year, 43,000 people have been displaced by the Islamic State-backed insurgency. In May, more than 134,000 people were affected in the most significant rise in violence since June 2022, overwhelming an already fragile health system, MSF said. The districts of Macomia, Mocímboa da Praia, Muidumbe, and Meluco have been the worst affected. The insurgents are also targeting the key N380 north-south highway, setting up roadblocks and demanding ransom payments of between $780 to $2,240 from travellers. Meanwhile, the French multinational TotalEnergies has called for greater security guarantees from the government before it lifts its force majeure and restarts work on its $20 billion liquified natural gas project on the Afungi peninsula. The new measures include ending all land access to the peninsula. The company is already working with the Rwandan military – called on for help by Maputo in 2021 – on drone and naval protection.
US deports five convicted criminals to Eswatini
The United States has deported five people it described as “criminal illegal aliens” to the kingdom of Eswatini. The five were from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba, and Yemen and had been convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to murder, according to the US government. Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, acknowledged the “widespread” domestic concern over the inmates’ arrival. It said the men would be held in its correctional facilities while it worked with the US and the UN’s migration agency, IOM, to return them to their countries of origin. Eswatini has not confirmed if it received any payment over the arrangement. In late June, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the resumption of so-called third-country deportations. On 5 July, eight deported men arrived in South Sudan after being held in a converted shipping container in Djibouti. Rwanda has confirmed discussions have taken place, while Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Moldova have also been named as potential recipient countries. Nigeria, however, has said it will not accept detainees – despite threats from Washington to restrict visas and hike tariffs. El Salvador and Costa Rica have also received hundreds of deportees from the Trump administration.
Unpicking the EU’s new aid budget proposals
The European Commission is proposing to earmark $200 billion for external action, including humanitarian aid, in its next long-term budget. Good news for emergency responses after months of cuts? As usual, the devil is in the details – or in this case, the budget line items. While some see a boost in external spending as “potentially game-changing”, they’re also looking for specifics. Voice, a network of European NGOs, says the proposed EU budget seems to be missing “a clear, dedicated budget line” for humanitarian aid. “Merging budget lines risks undermining the EU’s leadership, and treating humanitarian action as a ‘policy tool’,” the group said in a statement. While one budget door creaks slightly open, another is slammed shut and boarded up. In the wee hours of 18 July, US Congress approved the Trump plan to “rescind” billions in previously approved funding – including some $8 billion in aid. Some of the money had been approved to be sent to UN agencies.
Weekend read
I will never find home: A Sudanese photographer’s wartime journey
A story of displacement, belonging, and a past that won’t let go.
And finally…
A decade on, the legacy of a brutal crackdown in Burundi
Human rights groups have been reflecting on the 10-year mark since a political crisis erupted in Burundi, when the late president, Pierre Nkurunziza, secured a disputed third term in office. The move sparked violent protests and a brutal crackdown that forced hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Nkurunziza’s sudden death in 2020 saw Évariste Ndayishimiye come to power. While he introduced some reforms and restored diplomatic ties, rights groups say his government continues to commit abuses, particularly against political opponents. Just last month, during parliamentary elections, key opposition leaders and their parties were barred from participating, and the ruling CNDD-FDD claimed victory with over 96% of the vote. Meanwhile, more than 250,000 Burundians remain in exile, and the country’s economy is fragile, with high inflation and chronic fuel shortages. “The impunity that followed Burundi’s 2015 crisis has emboldened authorities to continue repressing peaceful dissent and violating other human rights with little consequence,” Amnesty International’s regional director for east and southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, said in a statement. For our latest on Burundi, read this piece from May on the Congolese refugees seeking shelter there from the M23 insurgency – or dive into this archival long read exploring the lasting legacy of the country’s civil wars and episodes of mass violence.
