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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Famine – and an 83% civilian death toll – in Gaza
An “entirely man-made” famine has been declared in parts of the Gaza Strip for the first time by the world’s foremost authority on hunger. While the entire population is facing crisis levels of food insecurity, or worse, the UN-backed IPC confirmed that famine is occurring in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City, and is projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the coming month. Without an immediate ceasefire to allow in an influx of aid, “deaths will increase exponentially”, the IPC warned. Already, several people are dying every day from starvation and malnutrition, with 138 people having died so far in August alone. There is widespread evidence that Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war – a crime under international law – throughout its campaign in Gaza. Meanwhile, leaked Israeli military data published by the Guardian reveals that – according to the Israeli military’s own count – 83% of people killed between October 2023 and May this year have been civilians. During that time period, at least 53,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks. The only overall conflict with a higher civilian death rate in recent decades was the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The death toll from direct violence in Gaza currently stands at over 62,000. Despite the famine declaration and unprecedented civilian death rate, Israel is pushing ahead with plans to invade and take control of Gaza City. For more, read this urgent dispatch from Rasha Abou Jalal: Will we ever return? Facing down Israel’s invasion of Gaza City.
Zero clarity on Ukraine peace progress
A week of high-level meetings convened by US President Donald Trump has done little to provide clarity on what the future might hold for the 3.5-year-long Russia-Ukraine war. Alarm bells were initially set off as Trump dropped his demands for Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire after rolling out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin in an unusual meeting on 15 August in Alaska. Ukraine’s European allies were so concerned by the optics and outcome that the leaders of some of the most powerful European countries and institutions rushed to Washington DC to attend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House meeting with Trump. This meeting was smoother than a previous one in February that went off the rails, but it ended with few concrete details. To agree to a peace deal, Ukraine wants security guarantees from Europe and the US to deter future Russian attacks. The US said such guarantees could be on the table, but nothing was set in stone. It is also entirely unclear if Putin is actually interested in peace. Meanwhile, Russia has continued to launch drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.
Burkina Faso expels UN official after child conflict death report
Not for the first time, Burkina Faso’s military regime has expelled a top UN official – this time, it’s the resident coordinator, Carol Flore-Smereczniak. She was declared persona non grata after the UN published a report on children affected by conflict, covering mid-2022 to mid-2024. The findings are grim: nearly 2,500 violations against around 2,200 children. While 65% of these were linked to armed groups, including al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated insurgents, roughly 20% were attributed to the Burkinabè defence forces and allied volunteer militias. Many children were killed during airstrikes and shelling, and the report also confirmed that the army used schools for military purposes. Flore-Smereczniak’s predecessor Barbara Manzi was also expelled in late 2022 by the ruling junta, which recently suspended a dozen international NGOs, citing administrative non-compliance. The data analysts at Insecurity Insight say the government actions are designed to assert national sovereignty, feeding into a broader populist narrative espoused (some feel cynically) by junta leader Ibrahim Traoré.
Sudan: Where gold flows even while emergency aid doesn’t
In Sudan, humanitarian aid often gets blocked by the warring parties – even in places that are facing famine. Gold, on the other hand, seems to move around just fine, flowing throughout the country and propping up a burgeoning war economy. A series of reports and media articles (including one this week from our friends at Ayin Media, the Sudanese news service) lay bare how the billion-dollar trade is working, and how it has become the biggest source of income for both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Most of Sudan’s gold, including from SAF-held areas, ends up in the UAE – no small irony given the UAE’s massive backing of the RSF. Indeed, the largest gold producer in the country is in SAF territory and is owned by a UAE-based company. Both sides are also cashing in on oil, gum arabic, livestock, and agricultural goods – and, closer to our beat, they even take rents from humanitarian aid. We dig into that in more detail in a recent long-read.
World Humanitarian Day flags disturbing aid worker killing trend
This week’s World Humanitarian Day 2025 marked an increasingly dangerous world for aid workers, with data released showing 383 professionals were killed in 2024 – almost all local staff. Research from Humanitarian Outcomes, a consultancy, showed Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to conduct relief work. By June 2025, more than 500 aid workers had been killed in Gaza since Israel’s invasion in October 2023. Violence against aid workers globally is increasing, and Humanitarian Outcomes recorded twice as much violence in the first six months of 2025 than in most full years prior to 2021. The increasing violence is not just due to wars getting worse, but also because of declining political support for humanitarian norms, and massive aid budget cuts. With the reduction in services provided by international NGOs, local groups have been left to fill the gaps, but “often do not have the resources for the security functions they need”, according to the report. The cuts have also caused job losses of security professionals and degraded humanitarian response standards and resources, which undermined operational security, it said, adding that the impacts of the cuts risked “a return to a time when security was treated as an afterthought”. The trends highlighted “point to a future where humanitarian aid operations are scarcer, more dangerous and less effective”, the report concluded.
Civilian toll of Sweida siege still emerging in Syria
More than a month after severe violence erupted in the southern Syrian province of Sweida, residents of the majority-Druze area say they continue to lack decent shelter, food, safe drinking water, and healthcare. More than 162,000 people have been unable to return home since fleeing the clashes, which devolved into sectarian-based killings, abductions, and sexual violence against Druze. The scale of what happened is still being uncovered, with UN experts reporting this week that more than 1,000 people – including at least 539 Druze civilians – were among the dead, with some people reportedly abducted by forces affiliated with the Syrian government still missing. While a ceasefire has mostly held since late July, security forces have heavily restricted entry to Sweida, which many Druze consider a siege on the city. Aid convoys are now entering, but there are still shortages of basic goods and medications, and the memories of what happened – and is still happening to the minority population – are not going anywhere. For more on how it all unfolded, read this take from Sweida-based Druze filmmaker Adnan Mansour Azzam.
Weekend read
Outcry as aid sector risks normalising the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
“This is an existential threat for a sector that is already facing a crisis in legitimacy.”
There are fears criticism of the GHF will be toned down after a secret meeting that led to outrage and disbelief in wider humanitarian circles.
And finally…
Shrinking oases
Heat waves are longer and hotter because of climate change, and in Morocco, which has had years of consecutive droughts, desert oases are shrinking. Photographer M'hammed Kilito has captured the unique ecosystems, and the people who live in and around them, in a series published in part this week by The Guardian. The pictures are visually stunning as well as a stark warning of what Morocco – and the world – is losing.
