Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Israel floats “concentration camp” plans as starvation, aid killings continue
The Israeli military has been ordered to draw up plans to construct a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza to house the enclave’s forcibly displaced population. Legal scholars have said that “concentration camp” is a more accurate term. The facility would be built in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, which Israel has systematically razed to the ground. According to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, the military would eventually transfer Gaza’s entire population to the facility and then allow people to “voluntarily” emigrate, raising concerns about forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. The plan was floated as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington DC meeting with US President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Trump proposed removing Gaza’s population from the enclave and building a “riviera”. While in DC, Netanyahu told Trump he had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. The US has provided Israel with weapons, diplomatic cover, and other support throughout its military campaign in Gaza, which numerous scholars and human rights groups have said is a genocide. Currently, nearly one in three people in Gaza are going entire days without eating because of a shortage of food caused by Israeli blockade, and dozens of people continue to be killed while trying to get aid from the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At least 10 children were killed in an Israeli strike on 10 July as they waited in line to receive nutrition supplements. The EU has reportedly struck a deal with Israel to allow more aid to enter Gaza. Meanwhile, the latest round of ceasefire talks appears to have run into bumpy ground. For a perspective on all of this from Gaza, read: My family received flour without having to face down bullets. In Gaza, this is now news.
Big Aid’s relations with BCG in the spotlight amid Gaza row
Save the Children International has suspended its longstanding relationship with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) amid revelations about the company’s role serving Israeli war aims in Gaza. US-based BCG helped set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US- and Israeli-backed food distribution scheme that has been decried by humanitarians as dangerous and militarised. BCG was also involved in modelling the costs of displacing Palestinians from Gaza. The company’s leadership has now denounced both projects. In an internal email obtained by The New Humanitarian, Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing acknowledged that BCG helped Save with “organisational design, digital transformation and ways of working”. Ashing described BCG’s work in Gaza as “utterly unacceptable” and “devoid of humanity”, while announcing that all “ongoing work” with the US management consultancy was suspended “pending the outcome of their external investigation”. Save is not unique among aid organisations in working with BCG. The consultancy has worked with the World Food Programme, the UN’s emergency aid coordination agency (OCHA), the International Rescue Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Welthungerhilfe, among others: The World Health Organization reportedly has a $4.2 million contract pending with BCG.
Warnings of worsening situation in Sudan’s Kordofan
Sudan’s Kordofan region is facing a “devastating” humanitarian situation, according to Mercy Corps, which warns that rapidly shifting front lines are driving mass displacement and choking off access for the few humanitarian groups on the ground. The NGO said the situation is especially bad in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, which is controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and is under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and a local armed group called the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) – now allied after joining forces earlier this year. Mercy Corps said supply lines have collapsed in Kadulgi, residents are walking miles to search for salt or matches, and the limited food available is being sold at exorbitant prices. The SAF has also been blocking food aid to SPLM-N-held parts of South Kordofan, some of which are in famine. See our rare report from the region from last month for more: Aid blocked as “unimaginable suffering” grips Sudan’s Nuba Mountains.
Deadly Texas floods collide with US political crisis
At least 120 people are dead and over 160 unaccounted for in the US state of Texas following flash floods that began on 4 July. An intense storm dropped 30 centimetres (12 inches) of rain over a short period of time on a part of central Texas already prone to flooding, causing waters in the Guadalupe River to rise eight metres (26 feet) in under an hour. Nearly 30 of the dead were children and staff at a sleepaway summer camp along the river. As rescue crews continue to look for the missing, the disaster is also becoming a flashpoint in the maelstrom of American politics. The Trump administration has slashed funding and staff from federal agencies that track extreme weather, issue warnings, and respond when disasters strike. Experts also say the devastation in central Texas is exactly the kind of disaster the US and the rest of the world can expect to see more of as climate change intensifies extreme weather. The Trump administration roundly rejects climate science and is rolling back US efforts – already insufficient under past administrations – to combat global warming, directing resources instead toward a draconian crackdown on migration and undocumented people living in the US. In perhaps one bright spot, a team of firefighters from northern Mexico joined in search and rescue efforts along the Guadalupe River. “When it comes to firefighters, there’s no borders,” one of its members said.
Cash-strapped Loss and Damage Fund to start disbursing
Despite a chronic lack of money, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage – seen by vulnerable countries and campaigners as a climate justice necessity because it is largely the richer nations that caused global warming – could approve its first projects as early as February 2026. The first spending from the nascent Fund’s meagre cash supply – intended to help lower-income countries pay for the impacts of climate disasters – would be “extremely significant” and follows an “incredible multilateral journey”, Board member Richard Sherman told a press briefing on 9 July. But despite being unanimously approved at the COP28 UN climate summit in November 2023, the Fund has been a controversial project to implement. Critics and supporters alike have likened loss and damage spending to reparations — and donations have been slow: Two years on and the Fund is worth just $348 million, despite its high profile. Meanwhile, the estimated costs of loss and damage in 2025 alone are estimated at $395 billion. Even these limited first disbursements in early 2026 will depend on the Fund’s meetings – including the pivotal call for proposals in October – running smoothly until then.
Kenya’s opposition in a bind over popular uprising
“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.” This quote, often attributed to a 19th century French politician, perhaps best captures the reaction of Kenya’s opposition to youth-led anti-government protests that have claimed over 50 lives in the last three weeks alone. Opposition politicians are struggling to find relevance after being largely sidelined by the youth movement that erupted last year and upended traditional politics in Kenya. This week, after President William Ruto suggested police should shoot protesters in the leg following the killing of 31 demonstrators on Monday, they threatened to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where Ruto has previously faced charges of crimes against humanity. They have also called for a boycott of businesses linked to the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition. But there continue to be major schisms linked in part to a push for unity against Ruto in elections in 2 years’ time. There is even desperate talk of rehabilitating the career of longtime opposition doyen, Raila Odinga, whose party is today helping to prop up Ruto in return for seats in cabinet. For now, however, it appears that Kenya’s youth, not its leaders, will continue to determine the direction the country’s politics will take.
Weekend listen
Rethinking Humanitarianism | An interview with UN relief chief Tom Fletcher
“It’s not just a financing crisis. It's a crisis of morale and legitimacy.”
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher talks about his reset, what blocks reform, mental health, and whether he should be the last Brit to have his job.
And finally…
Remembering Srebrenica, and questioning today’s inaction
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in which more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys were killed by the Bosnian-Serb army. Thousands of civilians had taken refuge in the eastern Bosnian town believing they were under the protection of UN peacekeepers. Yet instead the Blue Helmets stood aside and allowed systematic murder to take place. More than 50 individuals have been convicted of genocide and other crimes – but the pursuit of accountability remains far from complete. In majority-Serb Republika Srpska, political leaders repeatedly deny any genocide took place and glorify the convicted men. The distortion of memory and narrative is a mechanism of control. It happens both domestically and internationally. In Bosnia, Western governments supported the international courts that convicted the war criminals. Yet justice can be selective – with Gaza, currently, a painful case in point. So, although 30 years ago the call was “Never again”, there has been inaction and denial by the same governments that demanded accountability for Srebrenica: They have effectively responded with silence over the 60,000 Palestinians killed so far.
