The Friday Humanitarian Scan #34

Humanitarian workers have reached Palestinian families who had been trapped for days by Israeli settlers in Qusra village in the northern West Bank, the UN said on Monday, as officials warned that the standoff must not become "the new normal."

They are operating with the support of Israel's government

Around 860,000 people displaced by the conflict in southern Lebanon have returned, but the displacement and humanitarian crisis are "far from over," the UN warned on Tuesday.

Escalating violence and movement restrictions are limiting access to physical and mental health care for communities in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine.

That is bad news for Iranians and a possible peace deal with America

MSF strongly condemns the decision by the Israeli Military Advocate General to close the cases we submitted for review.

Steve Coll, our senior editor, asks what the anniversary means in Kabul and Washington

From the frontlines of the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN World Health Organization (WHO) shared details on Tuesday of a massive push for community engagement, a day after yet another ambulance attack.

The UN is scaling up humanitarian assistance in western Colombia as needs continue to grow following last week's devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake, according to the latest update released on Tuesday.

John McDermott, our chief Africa correspondent, on what a murky vote says about democracy across the continent

Humanitarian aid is built on a simple promise: that help will reach those who need it most. Yet around the world, keeping that promise is becoming increasingly dangerous.

Ongoing violence is restricting people's access to sexual and reproductive healthcare in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The UN is warning that aid workers face a deadly and evolving threat, with armed drones reshaping battlefields worldwide – putting humanitarian teams increasingly in the line of fire.

Intensifying fighting in Sudan has displaced at least another 200,000 people since late 2025, while destructive seasonal floods are compounding the massive humanitarian emergency there, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

2026 Chatham House Prize awarded to the women of Afghanistan News release thilton.drupal 19 August 2026 The prize is presented to 'the person, persons, or organization deemed to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations'. The women of Afghanistan have been awarded the 2026 Chatham House Prize, in recognition of their courage and resilience in the face of systematic gender persecution, and for embodying the determination of a broader movement for wo

Civilian protection is often assessed by whether a person has been warned, evacuated, registered, sheltered or reached with relief. For many persons with disabilities, each measure depends on a wider chain: support persons, assistive devices, accessible communication, transport, medication, electricity, rehabilitation and local services. This post introduces the dependency-chain test and links it to existing… The post Civilian protection has a dependency-chain problem appeared first on Humanit

MSF has begun a new general and specialist healthcare project for hard-to-reach communities in East Wollega and West Wollega zones in Ethiopia.

Ten days after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, an estimated 1.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, while some communities have still received little or no aid, UN agencies said on Thursday.

President Hakainde Hichilema's image as a liberal reformer is tarnished, too

The president hopes this will bring international recognition for the would-be state

Unhappy voters need to see that political choices can make a difference

Communities are not receiving enough support to contain the Ebola disease outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Opinion: Localization must move beyond shifting money to local groups. Its next frontier is building durable hybrid institutions that combine local legitimacy with global expertise.

Economy

Germany

Glossary

Media

Reporting on hunger hot spots Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen is absent from the latest FEWS NET tracker; what we're watching at COP17 in Mongolia; and Haitian farmers fight for a voice.

The Trump administration accuses United Nations General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock of interfering in the U.N. Security Council's role in selecting the new U.N. secretary-general.

Good News

For the latest episode of our podcast series, Adva Saldinger sits down with Elissa Miolene and Jesse Chase-Lubitz to discuss the top global development stories of the week.

U.S. accuses U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock of interfering in the selection process for the next secretary-general. Plus, AI's potential to help clear minefields.

Plus, a global health data Goliath gets bigger, and will key populations reject faith-based services?

IFC's plan for small businesses, and the ticking clock for critical minerals.

In an unsigned planning document, UNICEF's vision for its recent U.S. government-funded 'macro award' begins to come into focus.

International cooperation

Germany's finalized 2027 draft budget confirms a 6% development cut – slashing crisis reconstruction by 38% even as total federal spending grows via defense-exempt borrowing.