This protection brief focuses on the heightened risks older persons face as a result of ongoing hostilities in Gaza. Older people have had essential roles in Gaza— leading communities, caring for relatives, and helping sustain collective memory.
The food security situation across all available outcome indicators (see below) deteriorated markedly in the four governorates (Aden, Lahj, Marib, and Taizz), with IDPs in camps experiencing a disproportionate level of hardship compared to those living within host communities.
UNOCHA reports that over 9.3 million children are expected to suffer from high levels of acute malnutrition between June 2024 and May 2025 in Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
Since the start of 2025, 493 EO incidents took place across Syria resulting in 390 deaths including 108 children and the injury of 536 civilians including 205 children.
The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza, launched one month ago, is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies. With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled.
In May 2025, WFP reached the highest number of people since the conflict began, assisting an estimated 5.1 million people across all modalities. This included reaching 1.7 million people in famine and risk of famine (RoF) areas in Sudan.
After 20 months of conflict, the protection environment for children has almost collapsed, as ongoing hostilities, repeated displacement, and limited humanitarian access continue to have a devastating impact on the safety, security, rights and well-being of children.
Since 8 December 2024, over 1,000 casualties from unexploded ordnance (UXO) have been reported, including hundreds of deaths and injuries, one-third of them children, highlighting the urgent need for protection and risk education.
The current volume and pace of deliveries remain critically insufficient to meet the needs of Gaza's entire population, which is facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
In 2022, the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Foundation began a new activity at the Haydan hospital in northern Yemen to integrate pediatric rehabilitation into medical care. The initiative aimed to support children with neuromotor challenges, most of which are linked to malnutrition—a widespread consequence of prolonged conflict and food insecurity that has severely impacted child development in the region.
This gender analysis examines the differentiated impacts of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon on women, men, girls, and boys, with a specific emphasis on education, child protection, and access barriers across key sectors including WASH, education, nutrition, shelter, and livelihoods.
The number of malnourished children in the Gaza Strip is rising at an alarming rate, with 5,119 children between 6 months and 5 years of age admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in May alone.
According to the report, released last June 12, an estimated 2.3 million children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 714,000 facing severe cases, and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women requiring immediate treatment and care.
A deadly mix of conflict, climate change and poverty have pushed 2.3 million children aged under 5 in South Sudan into life threatening acute malnutrition, with rates soaring just months after foreign governments announced the slashing of funds to the world’s poorest countries, Save the Children said.
The report shows that one in five people in Lebanon – around 1.17 million individuals – are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity between April and June 2025.
Footage of the newly opened Israeli-backed, US-supported aid distribution centers in Gaza is horrifying: Palestinians clamoring to get food; crowds being turned away; gunfire ringing out.
According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), more than 664,800 Palestinians in Gaza were displaced between 18 March and 11 June. With no safe place to go, many people have sought refuge in every available space, including overcrowded displacement sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, streets and open areas.
Since the limited resumption of humanitarian assistance into Gaza on 19 May, WFP has only been able to bring in small amounts of life-saving food and aid. This is largely due to delays or denials of permission for humanitarian movements due to expanded military operations.
