Lebanon’s ever-rising toll, M23 talks, and the new UN relief chief: The Cheat Sheet
Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Israel strikes central Beirut; Lebanon toll passes 1,300
Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut on 10 October killed at least 22 people and injured over 100 others, and two members of the the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured when an Israeli tank opened fire at an observation tower at the mission’s headquarters in the city of Naqoura on the same day. The attack was one of several by the Israeli military on the UN mission in recent days and has drawn international condemnation. The overnight strikes in central Beirut were reportedly targeting a senior Hezbollah leader and hit densely populated residential areas that previously had not been bombed. A family of eight, including three children, who had fled Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon were among the dead. Hezbollah, meanwhile, continued to launch rockets into Israel, injuring several people and killing two – the first civilian fatalities inside Israel since the Israeli military escalated its attacks on Lebanon in mid-September. More than 1,300 people have been killed and nearly 4,000 wounded in Lebanon since 23 September, according to the country’s health ministry. Around 1.2 million people (about one fifth of Lebanon’s population) have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Several hundred thousand people – mostly Syrians who had sought refuge in Lebanon from their country’s civil war – have crossed the border into Syria in recent weeks. For more, watch this video report from northwest Syria, where some of those fleeing the escalating war in Lebanon have gone:
Israel renews assault on northern Gaza Strip
Israel launched a new offensive this week focusing on the three northernmost cities in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be trapped in Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia Refugee Camp. The areas were hit hard early in Israel’s war last year and are once again under siege and heavy bombardment. On 6 October, the Israeli military ordered an estimated 400,000 people in the north to evacuate to the so-called humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, further south along the coast. Many remaining residents in the north refused to leave, and some who have tried to escape reported being shot at by Israeli tanks and drones. Israel also ordered three hospitals in the area to evacuate patients and staff. The Israeli military says it is targeting Hamas members who have been regrouping in the northern areas. But in the weeks before the operation began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu was reportedly reviewing proposals by Israeli ministers, generals, and academics calling for the north of Gaza to be completely emptied of people and turned into a closed military zone. Intensive bombing and shelling has also continued elsewhere in the enclave. At least 28 people in a school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah were killed in an Israeli airstrike on 10 October.
Rwanda, DRC at odds over why M23 deal not signed
Prospects for quelling the renewed M23 insurgency in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have hit a snag after more recriminations between the Congolese government and Rwanda, which is supporting the rebels with troops and weapons. The two countries participated in talks in late August as part of a long-running Angolan meditation, but several disagreements have since arisen. Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said Kinshasa refused to sign an agreed-upon deal that would have seen Rwanda withdraw its “defence measures” from DRC after Congolese efforts to neutralise the FDLR, a DRC-based militia founded by exiled Rwandan Hutus behind the 1994 genocide against Tutsis. Nduhungirehe said Kinshasa objected to the sequencing of the plan, and wanted the Rwandan withdrawal to happen at the same time as the anti-FDLR operations, not afterwards. By contrast, Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said Rwanda was responsible for obstructing the negotiations, promising to withdraw from DRC but "with no guarantees or concrete details". The M23 conflict reignited in late 2021, and has displaced around 1.7 million people, according to the UN. Check out our in-depth reporting on the conflict and humanitarian fallout for more.
What’s in store for the UN’s new relief chief
Who is the new UN relief chief, Tom Fletcher? The UN picked the former diplomat to be its head humanitarian in a brief 9 October announcement. Fletcher will bring media savvy, a TEDx sheen, and a well-groomed public image to his role, whenever he begins (there’s no official word on that yet). But can he be an effective humanitarian? Some worry Fletcher could be starting from scratch on key policy issues, or the realities of navigating the crisis response machinery. There’s also clear frustration, from many corners of the humanitarian world, that the UN has appointed a sixth consecutive Brit to the job. “It again shows the kind of world order we have,” said Mohamed Yarrow, head of the Somalia-based Centre for Peace and Democracy. The New Humanitarian spoke with aid leaders, analysts, and former colleagues for a sense of what Fletcher faces – and what his priorities should be. Read more: What lies ahead for the UN’s new relief chief
UK offers new ‘detention facility’ to Diego Garcia asylum seekers
With conditions among the asylum seekers on Diego Garcia growing dire and the island set to be ceded to Mauritius, the UK is under pressure to relocate the 56 Sri Lankan asylum seekers stranded there, plus eight receiving medical treatment in Rwanda. On 8 October, the UK offered to transfer 36 of them to a UN-run transit centre in Timișoara, Romania. After six months there, if they do not accept repatriation or resettlement in another country, they will be accepted to the UK. The offer reverses years of insistence by UK officials that none of them would be brought to the UK. However, lawyers are trying to have the group brought to the UK directly, arguing that they will end up there anyway, and forcing them to spend six months in a Romanian “detention facility” with barred windows would “cause them to suffer further avoidable harm”. One British official said the reason for the six-month detour was to ensure that coming to Diego Garcia does not “provide a direct route to the UK”. The lawyers say the transfer of sovereignty to Mauritius negates that concern. The Romania plan has also upset the 28 men who did not receive the offer and have been told they will stay on the island indefinitely if they do not accept repatriation. At least two staged a hunger strike after they heard the news, according to one of the asylum seekers in Rwanda. For more on the fast-developing events involving the group on Diego Garcia, read The New Humanitarian’s coverage here.
Grand Bargain 3.01?
Marking your own paper is a surefire way to ace a pop quiz. How else to explain the gaping difference in measuring funding for local humanitarians? Analysts say about 4.4% of funding from signatories of the Grand Bargain reforms went to local aid. In unverifiable “self-reports”, however, many big agencies claim they pass along at least 25%. That’s the kind of gulf to be bridged as Grand Bargain signatories meet in Geneva on 16 and 17 October. The annual meeting is the first since the sector’s once-sprawling reform package was slimmed down to a version 3.0, focused on improving local aid, quality funding, and accountability to people who use aid. The pact’s signatories – local civil society networks to big NGOs and UN agencies – are meant to plot a path forward and figure out how to make long-stalled transformations a reality. But as the funding issue shows, moving from policy to practice can be glacial. A recent survey from A4EP, a network of local groups, found a third of their respondents received zero ($0) humanitarian funding last year. A statement from a group of major international NGOs to be released before the meetings warns that accountability for localisation is “weak or absent”. Others say the so-called localisation agenda has been stripped of its decolonial mandate. “One of the things I’m hoping to see is not continued rhetoric but clear commitments,” said Hibak Kalfan, head of the civil society network, NEAR.
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In case you missed it
COLOMBIA: Twelve people, including two social leaders and three children, were killed in a spate of 5-6 October attacks in the northeast, raising already heightened concerns over violence by non-state armed groups. Since last month’s deadly attack on a military base, President Gustavo Petro has suspended his “Total Peace” plan, aimed at ending conflict through negotiations. For more on the fallout on Colombian civilians, read this report.
EU/TUNISIA: Tunisia is not a safe place for people rescued in the Mediterranean Sea to be returned to, and EU support for Tunisian migration control efforts is contributing to human rights abuses in the country, according to a joint letter signed by 63 human rights and humanitarian organisations. The EU and Tunisia signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 aimed at reducing migration towards Europe despite widespread evidence of Tunisian security forces abusing asylum seekers and migrants.
GUATEMALA: Police raided five offices of Save the Children as part of an investigation into alleged child trafficking to the United States. The organisation has denied the accusations. Police previously raided Save the Children’s Guatemala headquarters in April. The organisation said the earlier raid found no “evidence of irregularities”.
HAITI: At least 115 people were killed and dozens injured in a massacre in the small town of Pont-Sondé, in the central Artibonite region. Gang members stormed homes, executing people, and setting houses and vehicles on fire, forcing over 6,000 more to flee. The massacre, one of the worst in recent Haitian history, comes as a new Human Rights Watch report suggests that hunger and poverty have forced hundreds, if not thousands, of children to join Haiti’s rampant gangs in recent months.
HURRICANE MILTON: At least 18 people (16 in the United States and two in Mexico) have been reported killed after Hurricane Milton. The storm was the second most intense ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, and slammed into Florida, bringing tornadoes, high winds, and deadly floods. Last month’s Hurricane Helene was the deadliest storm to strike the US mainland in almost 20 years, claiming hundreds of lives in a disaster that experts attributed, at least in part, to unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico linked to climate change.
MEXICO: At least four Mexican mayors have requested federal protection after the remains of Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos were found in a pickup truck on 6 October, with his severed head on the roof. Wars between drug gangs are raging across the country. Four mayoral candidates were killed in the state of Guanajuato in June, while residents in Sinaloa are observing a self-imposed curfew to avoid violence between two factions of the local cartel.
MOZAMBIQUE: Votes are being counted in Mozambique's national election, which the ruling Frelimo party is widely expected to win. Frelimo has spent half a century in power and is often accused of rigging polls. The party has failed to end a long-running jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado, as our reporting this week from the country’s northernmost province explores.
MYANMAR: The military junta has been accused of killing 17 civilians, including 10 children, in airstrikes that hit a displacement camp controlled by an armed opposition group. UNICEF said the unborn child of a pregnant woman was among those killed in the attack. Most of the victims were from the Chin ethnic minority. The military denied responsibility for the strikes in Shan state, but the junta has faced repeated accusations of killing scores of civilians in airstrikes it says are targeting armed insurgents.
NOBEL: The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo – a group of survivors of the atomic bombings, almost 80 years ago, of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – recognising their work in pushing to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
PAKISTAN: The government has placed a ban on the activities of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, a grassroots organisation that advocates for the rights of the Pashtun minority, which has been subjected to decades of abuse. On 6 October, the government listed the PTM as a “proscribed organisation”, essentially labelling them a terrorist group. The order came days before the PTM was slated to hold a large demonstration. Amnesty International described the action as “part of a systematic and relentless clampdown by the Pakistani authorities on peaceful protests and assemblies by dissenting groups.”
UNRWA: The headquarters of the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem will be turned into a settlement with over 1,000 housing units, an Israeli government body announced on 10 October. Israel, which has been waging a campaign to dismantle UNRWA, ordered the agency to vacate the property in May. In July, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, found that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories – including East Jerusalem – is illegal and ordered it to end.
Weekend read
It has been eight years since more than 700,000 Rohingya started fleeing military violence in Myanmar, and the crisis is far from over. In the years since the exodus, the plight of the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar has only become more dire. The February 2021 military coup in the country and an escalating civil war involving several armed ethnic resistance groups have only made the situation worse. Since late 2023, the Arakan Army, an armed opposition group based in Rakhine State, has also been accused of arson attacks, forced disappearances, and the targeted killing of Rohingya civilians. Meanwhile, the situation in the overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh is also worsening, with fires, gender-based violence, and gang activity all on the rise. Read this in-depth for more.
And finally…
Is a different conversation about migration possible?
It is becoming increasingly rare to see politicians in Europe and North America championing the benefits of migration. Regardless of the political party in power, a consensus has taken hold: migration – particularly irregular migration – needs to be stopped, and the best way to do that is by increasing border security and incentivising (or coercing) countries that asylum seekers and migrants come from and pass through to do the same. The racist, fear-mongering rhetoric of the far-right has set the parameters of both the conversation and policy when it comes to migration. Bucking this trend, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told Spain’s parliament on 9 October that the country faces a choice between being open and prosperous or closed-off and poor. “Migration has been one of the great drivers of the development of nations while hatred and xenophobia have been – and continue to be – the greatest destroyer of nations,” Sánchez said. Spain’s own policies when it comes to stopping migration from North Africa have often come in for criticism. But the speech offered a ray of hope that there might be room for a saner conversation about migration that focuses on how to manage it better to maximise its benefits rather than one that primarily peddles racism and fear.
