Despite generous support from our donors, 50 per cent of UNICEF’s response remained unfunded in 2025. Urgent additional support is needed in 2026 to sustain and scale lifesaving services for the most vulnerable children.
In 2025, the MENA region faced overlapping crises including conflict, displacement, economic collapse, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks, placing children at risk and disrupting access to services.
Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, hit southwestern Jamaica on 28 October as a Category 5 system—the worst hurricane to hit the area since 1988—before crossing into eastern Cuba as a Category 3 the following day.
As the extent of the damage becomes clearer, the impact continues to grow in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma — the two most severely hit by Hurricane Melissa.
More than 54,000 people remain evacuated, 7,500 of them in state centers.
• One week after Hurricane Melissa passed through, more than 50 communities in the eastern region remain cut off due to flooding and infrastructure damage, according to Civil Defense reports.
Despite urgent needs, 62 per cent of UNICEF’s response remains unfunded. Without timely support, the most vulnerable children risk missing access to critical, lifesaving services.
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).
UNHCR is engaging with thousands of refugees in neighboring countries, often with daily contact through helplines, surveys, focus group discussions, and other communications channels, listening to their concerns, providing up-to-date information, and understanding their perceptions and intentions around return.
Over the past 14 years, more than 13 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, and 90% of people inside Syria require some form of humanitarian assistance. The recent developments across Syria will impact millions of people’s lives both inside the country and within the region.
Over the past 14 months, more than 44,000 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed in Gaza. Nearly all of Gaza’s residents have been displaced — many multiple times.
On 18 October 2023, IFRC launched the Middle East Crisis Emergency Appeal to support the coordination and scale-up of response to the crisis, in addition to the readiness activities in neighbouring countries.
