Latest Humanitarian crises News

NYC policy on how long migrant families can stay in shelters was 'haphazard,' audit finds

May. 10, 2024 18:48 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City policy imposing 60-day limits on shelter stays for migrant families was rolled out haphazardly over the past six months — with issues such as the city failing to notify pregnant women they may be exempt, a new audit by the city's comptroller has found. ...

The Biden-Netanyahu relationship is strained like never before. Can the two leaders move forward?

May. 10, 2024 13:39 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship, but they're running out of space to maneuver as their views on the Gaza war diverge and their political futures hang in the balance. Their ties have...

UN seeks $430 million for drought-hit Zimbabwe, saying millions of people need food and water

May. 09, 2024 17:22 PM EDT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — About half of Zimbabwe’s population urgently needs food and water after the country’s worst drought in four decades, the U.N. humanitarian agency said Thursday as it launched an appeal for $430 million to help those most in need. About 7.6 million of the...

Men behind the doomsday seed vault in the Arctic win World Food Prize

May. 09, 2024 14:52 PM EDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As Cary Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin began thinking about ways to prevent starvation and protect the world's food supply, they came up with what Fowler called “the craziest idea anybody ever had” — a global seed vault built into the side of an Arctic mountain. ...

What are the latest obstacles to bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza, where hunger is worsening?

May. 09, 2024 09:02 AM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — One major land crossing into Gaza was shut down after a Hamas rocket attack, another by an Israeli incursion. And only a trickle of aid is entering through a third crossing that just opened in recent weeks. The latest developments threaten to worsen the...

Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered

May. 09, 2024 05:59 AM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel's military...

Palestinians flee chaos and panic in Rafah after Israel's seizure of border crossing

May. 08, 2024 20:11 PM EDT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of displaced and exhausted Palestinians have packed up their tents and other belongings from Rafah, dragging families on a new exodus. The main hospital has shut down, leaving little care for people suffering from malnutrition, illnesses...

Families of the victims of attacks on displaced people in Congo mourn their dead

May. 08, 2024 11:56 AM EDT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Families of the victims of last week's bomb attacks on two camps of displaced people in eastern Congo gathered to mourn their loved ones at a ceremony on Monday evening. During the ceremony in the city of Goma in the North Kivu Province, mourners sang and lit candles in tribute...

US repatriates 11 citizens from notorious camp for relatives of Islamic State militants in Syria

May. 07, 2024 11:07 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. The repatriation was the largest Washington has...

The UN says there's 'full-blown famine' in northern Gaza. What does that mean?

May. 06, 2024 13:07 PM EDT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of the United Nations World Food Program says northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas. But a formal, and highly sensitive, famine declaration faces the complications of politics and of confirming...