After a 15-months devastating war, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic in the Gaza Strip. Most children have lost access to quality healthcare, education, water and other vital services.
At the end of 2024, the Strategic Steering Group (SSG) in Syria agreed to publish a document highlighting the humanitarian response priorities for 1 January-31 March 2025, aiming to address the most urgent humanitarian needs across the country.
Internally Displaced Population (IPs) in camps had the highest percentage of households in need across Northeast Syria (NES), with 100% of households experiencing a gap in at least one sector.
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.
For our part, the United Nations will do all we can to advance these efforts — in particular, to scale up humanitarian aid across Gaza, fully aware of the significant obstacles, challenges and constraints that we still face.
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.
Coordinated in Northwest Syria by the Assessment and Analysis Working Group (NWS AAWG) and cochaired by UNOCHA, REACH and IRVD (Al-AMEEN), Rapid Needs Assessments (RNAs) constitute vital initiatives to address the immediate humanitarian needs arising from sudden crises and emergency situations.
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.
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.
