The Syria crisis entered its fourteenth year in March 2024. The UN estimates that 16.7 million people need humanitarian assistance across the country – a 9 per cent increase from 2023.
Since October 7, 2023, hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have escalated to unprecedented levels, resulting in immense humanitarian needs in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).
In less than one week, Israel’s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will come into effect, marking a critical moment for Palestinian refugees.
As the ceasefire violations persist and the needs remain high, it is vital to ensure timely assistance for the vulnerable people returning to their destroyed villages and those still displaced.
While Lebanon made significant political strides with the election of a new president on 9 January, ending more than two years of presidential vacancy, and the designation of a new prime minister, humanitarian needs and response challenges remain extensive.
This year represents an extremely precarious moment in Lebanon’s history, with crisis upon crisis affecting the country’s social, economic, and environmental stability.
The security situation remains volatile in parts of Syria, with reports of hostilities, conflict-related violence, movement restrictions and other incidents in Aleppo, Coastal Areas, Dar’a, Hama, Homs, Quneitra and other governorates over the past week.
Children and families in Gaza have faced five attacks on schools-turned-shelters by Israeli forces in the first week of the new school year, with at least three children reported killed and scores of children injured, said Save the Children.
The Syria HNS is used by humanitarian organizations to strengthen the likelihood of facilitating humanitarian access and/or to reduce the likelihood and severity of harm to humanitarian workers, sites and/or assets.
In less than three weeks, eight newborns reportedly died in the Gaza Strip from hypothermia because of the cold winter weather, lack of shelter and winter supplies.
Lebanon is grappling with a severe humanitarian crisis following 14 months of escalating violence. Over 4,000 people have been killed, including 290 children and 790 women, while nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
Several UNRWA schools have been impacted by conflict-related incidents over the reporting period. In an Israeli Forces strike on an UNRWA school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis, at least 13 people have been reportedly killed and 48 injured.
Following the collapse of the Syrian government on 8 December, the country has experienced a mix of optimism and disorder. It is now grappling with unstable security, an escalating humanitarian crisis, and widespread displacement.
Following more than a year of conflict at least 175,000 people remain displaced across the country, while those who have returned to their areas of origin are confronted with destroyed homes, devastated infrastructure, and disrupted essential services.
Some 59 Palestinian-run schools, serving approximately 6,600 students and at least 715 teachers, face partial or full demolition orders or stop-work orders.
At this historic moment of opportunity for Syria, many refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) are considering returning home, and thousands of people are now arriving from neighbouring countries every day – but after almost 14 years of violent crisis many have little or nothing to return to.
MAG teams in Lebanon have launched an emergency response to address new contamination arising from two months of intensive aerial bombardments and more than a year of sustained lower level conflict in the south of the country.
