The Friday Humanitarian Scan #30

Since October 2023, Israel's attacks on Palestinians hinders their ability to live a dignified, healthy life. A shift in policy is depserately needed.

As the United States and Iran trade deadly attacks for a second week, the UN continues to call for de-escalation while highlighting the devastation caused to civilians and critical infrastructure across the Middle East.

Thousands of people in some of Yemen's most conflict-affected communities are receiving lifesaving health care closer to home, thanks to funding from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) through the Yemen Humanitarian Fund.

MSF surgeon Dr Mohammed Obeid has been detained in Israel for more than 600 days, joining 95 Palestinian healthcare workers who remain detained by Israeli authorities since October 2023.

Food security and child nutrition have improved across the Gaza Strip largely due to a scale-up in humanitarian assistance and commercial traffic, but progress remains fragile and could quickly reverse without sustained access, funding and recovery support.

United Nations agencies have deplored a fresh Russian assault on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv which left at least one person dead and a dozen injured.

With EU support, the Marhetak project has improved the preparation and coordination of cross-border crisis management in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.

Haiti's future success depends on "security, political engagement, and humanitarian action reinforcing each other," the UN's most senior official in Haiti has told the UN Security Council which met in New York on Monday to discuss the way forward for the embattled Caribbean island nation.

Sixty-seven minutes. That is how long volunteers spent serving lunch to people experiencing food insecurity at Refettorio Harlem in New York City last week – one for every year Nelson Mandela gave to public service.  

Half a million people in El-Obeid, North Kordofan state, Sudan are facing limited basic services as drone strikes from the Rapid Support Forces intensify. Liesbeth Aelbrecht details the impact on people.

June 18, 2026

Health

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN health teams and partners are still racing to contain the rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak, despite ongoing insecurity in eastern areas where the virus has taken hold. As of 19 July, the DRC Government has recorded 2,423 confirmed cases, including 967 deaths and 469 recoveries. 

The Cité Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a prime example of the barriers to accessing healthcare.

Flash floods have killed at least 26 people across eastern Afghanistan, including 23 in the mountainous province of Nuristan, where homes, markets and roads were swept away and search teams continued looking for people reported missing.

UN partners launched the Winter Response Plan to help 2.1 million people in Ukraine survive another cold season as the country grapples with the on-going Russian invasion.

Memorialization, one of the five pillars of transitional justice, plays a vital role in preserving the memory of international humanitarian law (IHL) violations and gross human rights violations, supporting accountability, and preventing recurrence. Building an accurate and inclusive collective memory of past atrocities is a resource-intensive process, fraught with challenges ranging from limited access to… The post Memorializing IHL violations in the age of AI: opportunities and risks for tra

MSF teams have assisted the 38 survivors of an horrific boat crossing attempt to the Canary Islands, as measures to prevent deaths on the deadly Atlantic migration route are urgently needed.

In the aftermath of the earthquakes, communities are living through a complex crisis characterised by massive displacement, severe infrastructure damage, and deep psychological trauma.

In the months since Donald Trump returned to power, international aid has been completely upended. How is the INGO sector adapting to the changed environment?

Who are some of the leaders who represent the future of the INGO movement?

We bring you the inside look into how INGOs are surviving in a post-USAID world, the leaders redefining global aid, and our ranking of America's biggest NGOs in 2026.

Pursuing Poverty-Reducing Growth with more Impactful Fiscal Policy. Summer Edition, 2026. © World Bank. License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO. Cabo Verde's economy is estimated to have grown by 6.3 percent in …

Protected areas cover 17% of the world's land surface, yet credible evidence on their long-run economic and ecological impacts remains scarce. This paper estimates the effects of South Africa's …

Hungary has made significant progress in converging towards OECD living standards, but population ageing and climate change threaten to slow this trajectory. According to a new OECD report, reforms …

The European Commission has launched the second-phase consultation with European social partners on the upcoming Quality Jobs Act. This new law aims to improve working conditions, health and safety and workers' rights across the EU, while supporting innovation and competitiveness.

Latvia's Social Climate Plan is the third plan under the new Social Climate Fund. It helps make the clean transition fair. It will support low and lower middle income households that are most affected by rising energy and transport costs.

Healthcare

Development policy and the German public

A newly issued report looks at what EU countries have done since 2023 to follow the EU's advice on making the shift to a greener economy fair for everyone. It shows significant progress across the EU as well as a remaining need for continued action and monitoring.

Today, the Commission adopted a Communication on the European Pillar of Social Rights, launching a strategic process towards a renewed commitment to Social Europe ahead of the Pillar's 10th anniversary in 2027.

Young, innovative firms don't just have an impact on the economy – some also resolve social problems and step in when the state fails to deliver. For the most part, we hear virtually nothing about them. It's time their stories were told.

Start-ups

Director of Environment and Society Centre gives evidence to UK Parliament Energy Committee News release jon.wallace 23 July 2026 Ana Yang gave evidence to the UK Parliament's Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on 8 July, discussing the UK's role in international climate policy.  Ana Yang, Director of Chatham House's Environment and Society Centre, gave evidence to the UK Parliament's Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on 8 July, as part of an inquiry examining the UK's priorities a

Investor profiles are shifting, the energy sector is drawing massive capital, and African governments are increasingly focused on maximizing the returns from these investments.

The tools MacArthur used to close out a decade-long program, what happened when USAID's collapse hit the same ecosystem, and what any grantee should know before their own funder exits.

At a recent Building Bridges Foundation event, experts stressed that the tools for food systems transformation already exist, but supply chains and capital flows must be reconfigured to align with longer-term resilience.

"We're absolutely viewing it as a reduction in force in disguise," said one FAS employee, who was granted anonymity to speak without retribution. "That's how it feels to us."

The nation is betting that private capital can fill financing gaps and accelerate its path toward upper-middle-income status.

The European Commission proposes €410 310 in EU funding to help 235 workers dismissed from Valmet Automotive in Finland. The money would come from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF).

Africa

Europe's budget proposal reflects a realistic changing global landscape, experts say, but they warn that development goals will need stronger safeguards to avoid being overshadowed.