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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Gaza’s critical shelter crisis
Four out of five households in the Gaza Strip are facing critical or catastrophic living conditions in their current shelters, according to a new report from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Two thirds of households are living in makeshift shelters or tents that are not fit for long-term habitation; 89% reported rodents inside their shelters; 79% reported the presence of mosquitos, ticks, or lice; and 71% said they were affected by flooding during last winter’s rains. Due to Israeli restrictions and funding gaps, only 10% of households received shelter aid in the month before the survey was carried out. The report paints a damning picture of the consequences of Israel’s continued obstruction of aid efforts and stalled progress on reconstruction nearly a year after Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire last October. Since then, Israel has continued to carry out attacks throughout Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people. Israeli troops are still deployed in nearly 70% of the enclave, where the vast majority of Palestinians are barred from entering. And Israel is still blocking the entry of critical humanitarian supplies, including materials needed for shelter, while reconstruction plans by the US-led Board of Peace have failed to get off the ground.
Yemen heads in a dangerous direction
Fighting is spreading in Yemen on front lines new and old, threatening to rekindle a war that never really ended but has been much quieter since a 2022 truce. This time around, the sides are more or less the same but the violence itself is different, with ground combat largely replaced by drones and long-range missiles. The impetus for the conflict has changed somewhat too, with Saudi Arabia arming its allies on the ground and stepping back into the fray following the Houthi rebels’ decision to support Iran in its war with the US by blockading Saudi shipping. The Houthis, meanwhile, have seized the opportunity to mobilise and extract concessions from the Yemeni government and its Saudi allies. As ever, the stakes are high. Yemen is already an incredibly dangerous place for local aid workers and remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Attacks on ports and airports are a particularly worrying sign in a country that depends heavily on imports for its food supply.
Syrian air base bombing a sign of rising Israel-Türkiye tensions
Israel bombed an air base in northwest Syria on 18 August, bringing into sharp relief the simmering rivalry between Israel and Türkiye. The attack reportedly came shortly after a Turkish delegation visited the Abu Duhur base in Idlib. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel had attacked the base because Syria was on the verge of breaching the agreed “status quo in security matters” by allowing in Turkish troops. Turkish officials condemned the Israeli bombing and seemed to deny it was planning to deploy at Abu Duhur, which it has reportedly been rebuilding. The two countries are increasingly at odds over each other’s regional presence and power, sometimes out in the open. A campaign billboard for Netanyahu’s Likud party, for example, places Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan alongside the leaders of Iran, Hezbollah, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (the last of whom is clearly the odd man out, more on that here). “They want Netanyahu to lose,” it says. “Don’t let them win.”
The wider cost of a $50 million JNIM ransom in Mali
A recent UN report highlights how ransom payments can aid JNIM’s war chest in Mali. The al-Qaeda-linked Sahelian group received roughly $50 million from the United Arab Emirates last year for kidnapped nationals, and then spent much of it on financing a massive offensive in April that saw fighters attack Bamako, and assassinate Defence Minister Sadio Camara. Kidnappings in Mali usually target locals, and are often less about money-raising than enforcing JNIM’s rule by punishing dissenters as the group expands territory. Still, high-profile kidnappings of foreign nationals increased significantly last year, boosting JNIM’s revenues, which are otherwise mostly derived from taxing areas it controls and influences. The eye-watering UAE payment has attracted plenty of attention and is reportedly a record ransom, but tens of millions of dollars, mostly from European states with captured nationals, have also flowed to jihadists in Mali since the early 2000s.
Colombia, Venezuela earthquakes threaten access to education
While aid for the displaced continues to arrive in Colombia and Venezuela, it remains unclear how longer-term effects will be addressed, particularly their impact on children’s education. In Colombia, where 319 people were reported dead as of 20 August, nearly 800 schools were affected, leaving 75,000 children without classrooms. More than 200 are in Chocó, a geographically isolated and historically neglected department. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced remote education plans, but poor internet access makes them largely impractical. In Venezuela, the 24 June earthquakes that killed more than 6,400 people have compounded infrastructure and teacher shortages. In La Guaira alone, 115 schools were affected, 14 collapsing completely. Some teachers have started using improvised classrooms, while extra concerns remain for those left disabled by the quakes and over the lack of psychosocial support. For more, read this news feature from Colombia and this in-depth analysis from Venezuela.
Two deadliest years in a row for aid workers
World Humanitarian Day, which recognises aid workers and calls for their protection, typically comes with grim statistics about the dangers they face, and sadly this year’s commemoration on 19 August was no different. The latest Aid Worker Security Report found that violence against humanitarian personnel rose again last year, with Gaza and Sudan the two places most affected. Fatalities did fall slightly from 2024, but the number of kidnappings and serious injuries pushed overall violence higher than before. As ever, national staff make up the overwhelming majority of those affected, yet a recent report from the Humanitarian Advisory Group’s flagship research programme finds that they still have less access to resources and protections than international personnel. One case in point is Yemen, where dozens of local UN staff have been detained by the Houthis for two years and now face death sentences. In a piece we published this week, three authors sharply criticise the UN’s response, and argue that those detained deserve far more than statements of concern. Read the full piece – timed for World Humanitarian Day – by clicking on our weekend read below.
Weekend read
When aid institutions fail to protect their own: The moral test exposed by Yemen
On World Humanitarian Day, is the UN ready to re-evaluate its approach and fully commit to protecting those who risk their lives in its service?
And finally…
Influencing public opinion an age of genocide and AI
How much does it cost to influence the answers AI large language models (LLMs) like Chat GPT spit out when prompted with certain questions? Apparently as little as $100,000. That’s how much the Israel Government Public Advertising Agency has spent on a recent campaign to “educate the US public regarding Israel”. At least some of that money has gone to the creation of a dubious think tank called the Hanover Institute of Public Policy, which is pumping out articles with headlines that appear designed to be used as “training” material for LLMs, Politico recently reported. The articles have headlines like “Is Anti-Zionism a Fig Leaf for Antisemitism?”, “Who Is the Aggressor in the Israel-Palestine Conflict?”, and “Is the IDF the World’s Most Moral Army?” Tests run by Politico showed that Chat GPT and Preplexity, another AI chatbot, both cited the Hanover Institute’s papers in response to neutrally worded questions. Beyond Israel, the implications in terms of the ability of wealthy and powerful countries, corporations, and individuals to influence the responses produced by the LLMs are also concerning – especially as more and more people rely on chatbots as sources of information.
