Gaza worsens, sanctions eased on Syria, and the pope’s humanitarian credentials: The Cheat Sheet

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.

On our radar

Humanitarian conditions in Gaza worse now than at any other point in the war

A bag of flour now costs $300 in the Gaza Strip – with the price rising as high as $500 in the north of the enclave – following over 50 days of total Israeli siege imposed on the territory. Fresh meat, fruits, and dairy have essentially run out, and the cost of remaining products is skyrocketing, according to the NGO ActionAid. Israeli bombardment continues to kill dozens of Palestinians per day, with the recorded death toll now reaching over 51,000 – a number that doesn’t include indirect fatalities. Airstrikes regularly hit schools and tents where displaced people have sought shelter, and over 30 construction vehicles, water tankers, and sewage trucks needed for search-and-rescue operations and to try to provide a modicum of clean drinking water and sanitation to the 2.1 million people in the enclave have also been destroyed. The UN’s emergency aid coordinating body, OCHA, said the humanitarian crisis in the enclave is likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the war began. Israel has also quietly stopped designating any area of Gaza as a humanitarian zone. Previously, it had told residents to evacuate to unilaterally declared safe zones – although it frequently carried out attacks in those areas as well. Israeli-declared “no-go” zones and areas that residents have been ordered to evacuate from now cover 69% of Gaza’s territory. 

The US in crisis

The US’s rapid descent toward authoritarianism under the second Trump administration has caught many off guard. Yes, the first Trump administration was bad, but when tested, the institutions of the country largely held. And yes, during the campaign Trump did say that he would go after his political opponents, crack down on immigrants, stifle dissent, and even act as a dictator – even if only for a day. But the speed of the full-frontal assault on the rule of law – from the abduction of student visa-holders and legal permanent residents to the flouting of court orders to halt deportations and the punishment of law firms that have taken on cases opposing his agenda – has still been staggering. But perhaps it hasn’t come entirely out of the blue. At least that’s the argument a coalition of legal and advocacy groups recently put forward in a joint submission to the UN Human Rights Council. In their view, decades of disregard for international human rights obligations by both Republicans and Democrats in the US helped prepare the ground for the current attack on democratic norms and fundamental rights. In particular, the groups argue that the architecture of state repression created in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the name of counter-terrorism and national security is now being leveraged for the Trump administration’s authoritarian ends. For more, listen to our recent podcast: Is it time to declare a humanitarian crisis in the US?

Crimea becomes key stumbling block in Ukraine peace talks

The latest US peace plan being offered to Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly proposes American recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, essentially rewarding Moscow for seizing the peninsula in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the idea out of hand, stating: “There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.” Crimea was annexed by Tsarist Russia under Catherine the Great in 1783 and remained under Russian control until it was ceded by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to Ukraine in 1954. This history, Putin argues, means Crimea is rightfully part of Russia. But the peninsula holds key strategic value too, hosting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at the deep-water port of Sevastopol – from where it seeks to project power across the region. As talks intensified heading into the weekend, US President Donald Trump told Time magazine Crimea will “stay with Russia”. And what of his claim to be able to end the war on day one of his presidency? “It was said in jest,” he added.

UK and EU ease sanctions on new Syria

The UK further eased sanctions on Syria this week, ending asset freezes on some government bodies and amending regulations to “remove UK restrictions on some sectors including financial services and energy production in Syria”, in a move it said “will help the people of Syria rebuild their country and economy following the fall of Assad”. The European Union has also begun to gradually ease its sanctions regime, and the US has made some limited changes. The measures were targeted at the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad (although arguably international sanctions impeded aid and exacerbated the suffering of civilians dealing with a massive economic collapse). Removing them is a key priority for new President Ahmed al-Sharaa – the former leader of a rebel group that is itself still designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and UN – as he tries to strengthen diplomatic relationships with countries like Türkiye, and even build ties with Russia, al-Assad’s longtime ally (and current refuge).

Peace talks and mineral deals in DR Congo

The Congolese government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group have concluded their first set of direct peace talks with a pledge to halt hostilities and work towards a lasting truce. Held in Qatar over the past few weeks, the negotiations were marred by disagreements and walkouts but ended in a joint statement hailing the talks as “frank and constructive”. Kinshasa had long refused to engage in dialogue with the M23, calling it a terrorist group and Rwandan proxy. The rebels appeared more open to talks, yet their formation of a parallel administration across a vast territory suggests plans for a long-term occupation. The group is taking on an increasingly national posture, most recently receiving former president Joseph Kabila to the eastern city of Goma, a move that saw Kinshasa ban Kabila’s PPRD party. Meanwhile, the government is courting American support, offering a mineral access deal for security protection, while striking a separate agreement (reportedly to tighten mineral tax collection and prevent smuggling) with notorious private security contractor Erik Prince. Rwanda, not to be outflanked, is reportedly also discussing a mineral deal with Washington’s increasingly transactional diplomats. None of this suggests peace is imminent. 

Another restructuring at SCI

Save the Children International is aiming to cut more than 400 jobs – around a quarter of its workforce – in response to an “unprecedented” gap in funding exacerbated by US aid cuts, spokesperson Belinda Goldsmith told The New Humanitarian on 24 April. “We’ve had to make heart-breaking decisions to pause programmes that treat severely malnourished children or that provide medical care to newborn babies living in war zones,” she said. The organisation is also closing offices in Brazil, Georgia, Liberia, Poland, Senegal, and Sri Lanka. Last year, SCI carried out a previous round of layoffs to address an estimated funding gap of $15-20 million. That process, dubbed “Fit for the Future”, was marred by blunders, such as incorrect salary listings and incomplete job offers, staff said at the time. This year, the broader Save the Children umbrella organisation, which includes national member organisations, is pursuing a $40 million reduction in costs, $25 million of which will come from SCI, according to internal documents seen by The New Humanitarian. Similar cuts are being reported across the aid sector. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, informed staff on 23 April that it would reduce overall costs by 30%, and the World Food Programme, one of the largest UN agencies, informed staff the following day that it would reduce its workforce by 30%, according to Reuters.

Weekend read

“If they run out of medicine… they’ll be left at home, waiting for death.”

Local groups are struggling to cope with the scale of the disaster, while the civil war means international efforts have so far proved ineffective.

And finally…

Was Pope Francis a humanitarian?

The tributes fluttered in after the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, 21 April: “The world has lost its conscience,” one headline read. In various addresses, Francis weighed in on everything from climate change and debt justice to international humanitarian law and migration policy. Some of his musings could be ripped from a humanitarian’s talking points: “The entire international community seems to agree on the need to respect international humanitarian law, yet its failure to implement that law fully and concretely raises questions,” he told diplomats in January, in a chat in which he also riffed on artificial intelligence, Gaza, Syria, COP29 and climate funding, and debt justice. In recent months, the media microscope was often most fixed on Francis when he spoke on Gaza. “This is cruelty, this is not war,” he said in December, following an Israeli attack that killed seven children. ”According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” Francis reportedly wrote. His last public words, an Easter address the day before he died, showed a more cautious framing, appealing to “warring parties” in a “terrible conflict” and calling for a ceasefire – a false equivalence amid an unequal atrocity. It’s also more or less the extent of what most big humanitarian groups have been willing to say since 7 October 2023. As one aid organisation said after his death, Francis was “a true humanitarian on so many issues, not least Gaza.”