Today's top news: Protection of Civilians, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine and Sudan
#Protection of Civilians
UN, NGO leaders call for on Member States to uphold international law
The principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which brings together UN agencies and NGO partners, today warned of growing and blatant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in conflicts around the world.
A statement issued during Protection of Civilians Week, said civilians – including children – are being killed, injured and displaced at an alarming scale, while sexual violence, attacks on hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure, as well as the denial of humanitarian access, continue with impunity.
The principals warned that conflict-driven hunger and famine are spreading, often linked to siege tactics and the deliberate starvation of civilians. They also highlighted the unprecedented toll on aid workers, with more than 1,000 humanitarian personnel killed in the past three years.
The principals stressed that the laws of war are clear and apply to all parties and called on Member States and the Security Council to uphold their responsibility to protect civilians.
Meanwhile, Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), briefed the Security Council at an open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.
She warned that that civilians are “all too often, they are not collateral damage. They are the target.” Citing a stark rise in documented civilian deaths, attacks on health care, hunger, sexual violence, and threats to humanitarian workers, she stressed that these trends are not inevitable, but the result of deliberate choices.
She echoed the IASC principals’ concern that “food has become a weapon of war.” Urging Member States to uphold international humanitarian law without exception, she concluded that “protecting civilians requires genuine commitment that translates into concrete action.”
#Lebanon
Civilian deaths rise despite ceasefire extension
OCHA reports that hostilities are still being reported across south Lebanon, despite the extension of the ceasefire.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, at least 22 people were killed and 28 were injured across southern Lebanon yesterday alone. This brings the total to more than 3,000 deaths and 9,301 injuries nationwide since March 2nd. One strike yesterday reportedly hit a residential building in the Tyre district of South Governorate, killing at least 10 people, including three children.
People are still being forced from their homes, with humanitarian needs still very high. Despite the ceasefire, more than one million people – about one fifth of Lebanon’s population – are displaced.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says about 13,000 pregnant women are currently displaced. Some 1,500 of them are expected to give birth in the next month and urgently need access to life-saving healthcare.
Humanitarian and health partners are continuing to expand their support in close coordination with the Government. Since March 2nd, UNFPA has provided sexual and reproductive health services and gender-based violence support to more than 80,000 displaced people in health facilities, mobile teams and safe spaces in shelters and host communities. Partners have also supported the Ministry of Public Health to provide more than 66,000 primary health care consultations and medicine for acute diseases to nearly 90,000 people.
#Occupied Palestinian Territory
Airstrikes, aid delays worsen suffering in Gaza
OCHA reports that continued Israeli strikes in the Gaza strip are affecting residential areas and makeshift shelters.
On Monday, an airstrike hit Jabalya Camp damaging 30 families’ tents and tarpaulins. Humanitarian teams on the ground are in touch with those affected to assess their needs and ensure they get adequate response.
OCHA stresses that civilians and civilian facilities must always be protected.
Meanwhile, aid workers report continued impediments to their movements in areas where Israeli forces require humanitarian teams to coordinate their movements with them.
Yesterday, a convoy was delayed for about an hour at a congested Israeli holding point. Another mission to collect supplies requiring refrigeration had to be cancelled because of significant delays in opening the route to Kerem Shalom. And a third mission could not proceed after the allocated road was found to be impassable.
These constraints have made it challenging for aid groups to provide assistance and essential supplies to people.
Still, humanitarian partners continue responding. For example, the UN and its humanitarian partners have recently scaled up the delivery of housing units with more durable walling compared with tents. Since January, the UN Development Program has taken 2,500 of these units into Gaza and partners have installed more than half of them across several sites. These will serve as clinics, classrooms and homes.
As a reminder, 900,000 people across the Strip urgently need shelter assistance and durable housing solutions.
On food security, the UN is supporting the production of about 130,000 bread bundles every day, each weighing 2 kilograms. These are distributed free of charge in more than 300 shelters and community sites or sold at subsidized prices through roughly 170 shops.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Gaza and the West Bank with urgent support.
#Ukraine
Two people killed in missile strike hitting UN-backed aid warehouse in Dnipro
The UN Refugee Agency and OCHA are speaking out against an attack last night on Dnipro, Ukraine, in which a UNHCR-contracted warehouse was struck by a ballistic missile.
The UNHCR Representative in Ukraine, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, sent her deepest condolences to the families of two warehouse workers who were killed in what she called a “horrific attack,” as well as to the families of all civilians killed in attacks across the country in the past 24 hours.
Significant amounts of aid – including blankets and hygiene kits – valued at more than $1 million were destroyed. UNHCR and its NGO partners were intending to distribute these supplies to evacuees and others in collective sites and transit sites, as well as to people whose homes have been damaged by attacks.
Castel-Hollingsworth stressed that it is absolutely abhorrent that, once again, humanitarian premises and aid items have been damaged in air strikes, amid repeated incidents in which aid workers are harmed while delivering aid to those most in need.
Authorities say that at least 12 civilians were killed and more than 90 were injured across the country, including four children. According to Ukrainian authorities, the northern and north-eastern Chernihiv and Sumy regions were among the most heavily affected.
Humanitarian organizations provided immediate emergency assistance following the attacks in Chernihiv and Sumy, including emergency shelter materials, as well as psychological and legal support.
The attacks continue to damage civilian infrastructure, including gas facilities, with parts of six regions still without electricity, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy,
#Sudan
Attacks on civilians, funding shortfalls deepen humanitarian crisis
OCHA is deeply concerned about the growing impact of drone attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure across Sudan.
Local sources say that at least 28 people were killed and dozens more injured yesterday in a drone strike on a crowded market in Ghubaysh town, in West Kordofan State. Additional drone strikes were reported in the cities of Al Fula, Babanusa and Abu Zabad, reportedly causing further civilian casualties and damage to civilian property.
Despite insecurity and limits on access, the UN and its partners continue to provide life-saving aid to people across Sudan. Across the country, humanitarian organizations reached 9 million people between January and April this year. In South Darfur State, about 170,000 people received food rations for April, and distributions for May are now under way.
The UN and its partners are also supporting aid convoys in the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State, after the reopening on Monday of a crucial road linking North and South Kordofan following months of disruptions caused by fighting and insecurity.
Humanitarian partners have started using the road to move medical and other life-saving supplies to the city of Dilling, where shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies have increased humanitarian needs.
However, security conditions along the route remain unstable. Local sources say that drone strikes today hit Dilling and nearby areas, reportedly striking a commercial truck and causing civilian casualties.
OCHA once again calls on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to allow aid to reach people quickly, safely and without obstruction, for as long as needed.
Meanwhile, rising economic hardship and funding shortfalls are increasing humanitarian needs. The World Food Programme reports that the cost of its local food basket rose by nearly 18 per cent in April compared with March, driven by sharp increases in the prices of sorghum and wheat flour.
In West Darfur State, funding gaps have forced more than 50 nutrition centres serving about 200,000 vulnerable people to suspend activities.
OCHA is appealing for more funding to expand life-saving assistance. The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which calls for $2.9 billion to reach more than 20 million people across Sudan, is only 21 per cent funded, with $602 million received so far.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Sudan with urgent support.