The Friday Humanitarian Scan #20

Gaza is no longer seen as an “event” requiring a reaction or a solution. It has been reclassified as a “condition” to be managed.

MSF teams are responding to the war in the Middle East in Lebanon and Iran, and are preparing responses in other countries.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

Millions of Syrians are at growing risk of hunger after severe funding shortages forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halve emergency food assistance, cutting support for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country.

MSF condemns attacks on paramedics and healthcare workers in Lebanon after a drone strike killed two rescuers, warning that ongoing violence is delaying lifesaving aid.

A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.

At least six million people in Somalia are going days without enough food, UN aid teams warned on Friday, highlighting that nearly two million of this number are young children “at high risk of illness or death”.

Despite a announced ceasefire, UNHCR warns that displacement in Lebanon continues to rise as communities remain unable to return to their homes amid ongoing violence and insecurity.

The shift towards localisation is both necessary and overdue. For decades, donors, international NGOs, and intermediaries have controlled funding and decision-making in ways that have often excluded …

“The new oligarchs’ model will avoid the state altogether and hold power outside the state in technology-enabled forms that will be essentially unregulated.”

Digitalisation

AI tools

The Metropolitan City of Rome, together with its partners and in cooperation with EAfA, will host the EAfA Community of Regions and Cities’ High-Level event on apprenticeships and entrepreneurial learning for Europe’s Union of Skills.

The Public Employment Services (PES) Network has just released a Synthesis Paper capturing the outcomes of the Annual Stakeholder Conference, “Partnerships in shaping and delivering employment services”, held on 21 October 2025 in Brussels.

Eduardo Relero is an Argentinian artist who creates optical illusions. Two of his artworks are featured in the D+C March issue.

Artist of the month

Governance

The World Health Organization’s proposed process to transform the global health architecture is drawing criticism from experts. Plus, the latest on the U.S.-Kenya bilateral health deal.

At two major summits, leaders and CEOs say no to foreign plundering.

Opinion: While development organizations’ online content reaches audiences faster, their real impact remains uncertain.

Obituary: Ted Turner, founder of the U.N. Foundation, has passed away. Admirers say that never has his example of a private citizen turned development changemaker been more poignant.

Gender-based violence

We asked 11 of the most influential people in the sector, what they’re watching, what’s keeping them up at night, and where they see a way through this turning point.

Following layoffs, these development professionals set out to improve the use of AI in the sector and discovered a wider appetite for what they had built.

Malcolm Turnbull: AUKUS is ‘a huge wealth transfer from the Australian government to the US and the UK’ News release jon.wallace 15 May 2026 Speaking at Chatham House, the former Australian prime minister strongly criticized the joint Australia-US-UK submarine project. Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian prime minister, visited Chatham House on 11 May to discuss Australia’s foreign policy, its US alliance, and the role of middle powers in the context of US-China rivalry. Asked about the AUK

Millions of people face acute food insecurity and displacement due to a drought in Somalia and Ethiopia’s Somali Region, after consecutive failed rainy seasons.

More than 150,000 people have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Maila, the latest storm in the Pacific area, which continues to drive what the UN relief coordination office OCHA has described as “significant humanitarian needs” across the Solomon Islands.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Monday praised Mongolia’s recent human rights progress during a visit to the country, which recently adopted the region’s first law protecting human rights defenders.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Hatay was the silence. Not the absence of people, as the streets of the city are busy again, but the quiet gaps existing where entire buildings once stood.

After more than 24 hours of intense fighting in the Citè Soleil neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, MSF had to evacuate staff and suspend activities.

Enforced disappearances remain an issue of profound seriousness, with lasting consequences for the families of those affected. These realities continue to raise complex legal and practical questions in criminal and human rights law at national, regional, and international levels. This issue remains a priority for UN treaty bodies, Special Procedures, and the International Committee of… The post Enforced disappearances: universal responses to a worldwide phenomenon appeared first on Humanitaria

For close to 10 years, EU humanitarian aid has been funding the San Raffaele hospital boat, a floating clinic which takes medical care to the most isolated and vulnerable communities affected by the ongoing conflict.

Dr Javid, MSF’s International President, shares what he witnessed while visiting displacement camps and hospitals across Darfur, Sudan.

Nearly 12,000 individuals have been expelled over the past year, and families have been separated amid reports of punitive killings.

Editor’s note: The Intrepid Humanitarian is an occasional series of dispatches that aims to spotlight the forgotten crises of Caucasia.

Plus: The U.S. offers Cuba $100 million – but Cuba says it never happened; a new mosquito repellant aims to protect 60 million people; and at the World Bank, low- and middle-income nations push back on a climate retreat.

An additional $1.8 billion in US humanitarian funding will allow the United Nations and its partners to expand emergency relief operations reaching millions of people worldwide, as rising global needs and funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance.

Opinion: As humanitarian needs rise and funding tightens, new research highlights a critical challenge in aid delivery; collaboration in supply chains is widely recognized as essential, but making it work in practice remains complex.

The State Department’s foreign assistance head said the U.S. would continue funding the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs “year after year.”

The U.S. announces a $1.8 billion second tranche of funding for the U.N. humanitarian coordination agency and USDA opens Food for Peace applications. Plus, global health leaders share some hard truths ahead of WHA79.