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As winter begins, the humanitarian crises in Gaza and Darfur are escalating to alarming levels, with affected communities entering the cold season in extremely fragile conditions and facing severe gaps in shelter, food, winter clothing, and essential services. The combined impact of conflict, displacement, destruction, and harsh weather makes this winter a direct threat to life—particularly for the most vulnerable. Gaza – Palestine: Winter Above the Rubble and Renewed Waves of Displacement The Gaza Strip continues to face a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation for the second consecutive winter. Hundreds of thousands of families are living in worn-out tents or makeshift shelters offering minimal protection. Early winter rains caused significant flooding across several displacement sites, collapsing tents, soaking sleeping areas, damaging food stocks, and creating stagnant water that heightens the risk of disease outbreaks. Tens of thousands of children are enduring freezing nights without adequate blankets, while families rely on unsafe heating methods that pose risks of suffocation and fire. Severe restrictions on aid entry have led to critical shortages of weather-resistant tents, thermal blankets, winter clothing, and hygiene kits, alongside deteriorating access to clean water and sanitation. Darfur – Sudan: Massive Displacement and a Winter That Exposes Extreme Vulnerability In Darfur, large-scale displacement coincides with cold nighttime temperatures, intensifying the suffering of already vulnerable populations. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living in open areas or torn shelters that offer no protection from wind and cold. Field reports indicate rapid depletion of blankets, shelter materials, and essential health supplies, while humanitarian convoys face severe security constraints that hinder access to the most affected areas, particularly in North and Central Darfur. Respiratory infections are rising sharply among children and the elderly as health systems collapse and emergency care remains extremely limited. A Winter on the Brink of Humanitarian Catastrophe The situations in Gaza and Darfur reveal a consistent pattern: communities shattered by conflict, collapsed infrastructure, and continuous displacement entering winter completely unprepared. The widening gap between needs and response capacity increases the likelihood of deaths caused by cold exposure, malnutrition, and seasonal illnesses. The most urgent winterization needs include: • Weather-resistant tents and storm-proof shelter materials • Thermal blankets and adequate winter clothing • Ready-to-eat food supplies • Safe heating options • Clean water and hygiene items • Emergency care for respiratory illnesses • Psychosocial support for the most vulnerable Humanitarian workers warn that any delay in winter assistance will lead to a new wave of suffering with long-term consequences. In contexts stripped of coping capacity, shelter, warmth, and food are life-saving necessities—not seasonal conveniences. Despite the clarity of the threat, the international response remains painfully slow. Between a flooded tent in Gaza and a shivering child in Darfur lies a profound gap between humanitarian rhetoric and actual protection for those most at risk. How can the world welcome another winter while so many face its cold without shelter, without blankets, and without even the safety of a closed door? Delays in winter response are not administrative failures—they are moral failures that deepen suffering and heighten global responsibility. Relief Center affirms that the winter situation in Gaza and Darfur represents a critical turning point requiring rapid, coordinated, and comprehensive humanitarian action. The Center calls on all humanitarian partners and donors to accelerate the delivery of essential winter supplies, enhance coordination, and strengthen the capacities of local organizations as the first line of response. Relief Center stresses that winter protection is not a seasonal task but a shared humanitarian responsibility, and that effective response must be grounded in field-driven knowledge, preparedness, equitable distribution, and data-informed decision-making to ensure assistance reaches those most in need before time runs out.

The global humanitarian landscape in late 2025 is marked by a convergence of political, economic, and climate-related pressures that are driving needs to unprecedented levels. Protracted conflicts, coupled with recurrent climatic shocks, continue to fuel large-scale displacement and acute food insecurity across multiple regions, contributing to the largest humanitarian funding gap recorded in over a decade. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the European Commission’s allocation of an additional €143 million reflects the severity of deteriorating food security conditions, expanding conflict dynamics, and increasingly restricted humanitarian access. Concurrently, the World Food Programme warns that significant ration cuts—driven by declining donor contributions—are pushing thousands of households into severe hunger, exposing critical vulnerabilities in global humanitarian supply chains. At the same time, the sector is undergoing structural shifts that threaten the sustainability of essential humanitarian operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross’ decision to reduce its budget by 17% and cut approximately 2,900 positions—the largest downsizing in its history—illustrates the scale of donor fatigue affecting major humanitarian actors. This contraction is reshaping operational realities across crisis settings, increasing reliance on local organizations that operate with limited resources and under highly complex conditions. The widening gap between rising needs and constrained operational capacity underscores an urgent requirement to strengthen national and local systems, enhance preparedness, and build response capabilities grounded in contextual knowledge. These global trends are further compounded by the intensification of climate-driven emergencies. Extreme weather events—including floods, droughts, and storms—are occurring with greater frequency and severity, generating multi-layered crises characterized by livelihood collapse, disrupted markets, deteriorating services, and weakened social protection mechanisms. The intersection of climatic shocks and conflict dynamics is prolonging and deepening humanitarian crises, rendering traditional short-term response models insufficient. This environment demands long-term recovery approaches that prioritize resilience, alongside advanced data systems capable of providing real-time insights to guide targeted and timely interventions. In light of these developments, Relief Center underscores the need for a more integrated and data-driven humanitarian architecture—one that leverages digital platforms, early-warning systems, and coordinated decision-support mechanisms to bridge gaps across local, national, and international levels. The Center affirms that localized response, field-driven knowledge generation, and evidence-based decision-making are now essential pillars for effective humanitarian action in an era defined by rapid shifts, operational uncertainty, and escalating global risks.

The Horn of Africa is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, entering a highly fragile stage following the failure of the Deyr season (October–December), which typically provides up to 70% of annual rainfall across large parts of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. According to recent UN estimates, approximately 50.1 million people are experiencing acute hunger — representing 22% of the global humanitarian burden — in a complex emergency driven by climate change, declining rainfall, volatile food prices, and ongoing local conflicts. Over the past years, the region has endured the longest recorded drought in six decades, resulting in the death of 13.2 million livestock, the malnutrition of 7 million children, and the unprecedented collapse of traditional livelihoods. Current climate indicators show that the Horn of Africa is approaching a “tipping point,” where traditional emergency interventions are no longer sufficient to contain the growing pressure on agricultural and health systems. Kenya: Twenty Counties on the Brink of Food System Collapse: Kenya has been grappling with a severe drought since late 2024 following the failure of seasonal rains, with worsening conditions across 20 out of 23 arid and semi-arid counties. Counties such as Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir, Garissa, and Mandera are recording alarming levels of malnutrition, while Northern Baringo has been classified as IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). Data shows that 742,000 children under five and 109,000 pregnant and lactating women are suffering from acute malnutrition requiring immediate therapeutic intervention. Rangelands are deteriorating rapidly, water sources are drying up, and livestock deaths are sharply increasing — further deepening the vulnerability of pastoralist and agro-pastoral communities in northern and eastern Kenya. Somalia: Escalating Risk of Widespread Famine: Somalia’s crisis has intensified due to prolonged drought, recurrent flooding, and ongoing conflict. Today, 3.4 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). Between July and September 2025, 624,000 people were classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), while 2.8 million were in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). With forecasts indicating below-average rainfall for the Deyr season, the number of people affected could rise to 4.4 million by the end of 2025 — roughly 23% of the population. Meanwhile, 1.85 million children remain at risk of acute malnutrition, while the national humanitarian response plan is funded at only 21% of required levels. The most affected areas remain Bay, Bakool, Shabelle, and Jubba, where displacement, loss of livelihoods, and limited access to services deepen humanitarian needs. Ethiopia: Collapsing Services in Pastoral Regions: Eastern Ethiopia’s Somali Region has endured consecutive seasons of failed rainfall since 2021. The collapse of the main Gu/Genna rains in 2025 resulted in severe water shortages, deteriorating rangelands, and child wasting rates surpassing the 15% emergency threshold in several areas. Pastoralist communities are among the hardest hit as funding for health and nutrition programs declines, and families struggle to rebuild livestock herds that form the backbone of their economic and social survival. Drought has long shaped the humanitarian landscape of the Horn of Africa, yet recent years have shown a sharper escalation. Between 2021 and 2023 alone, 23.5 million people were affected, 13.2 million livestock were lost, and child malnutrition soared to catastrophic levels. Analyses from the World Weather Attribution initiative indicate that climate change has made such droughts “up to 100 times more likely.” Despite the success of early warning systems in preventing an official famine declaration, nearly 400,000 people in Somalia faced famine-like conditions in 2023 — highlighting the profound fragility of the region’s humanitarian architecture. Climate forecasts for late 2025 and early 2026 suggest that weak rainfall will persist through January 2026. As a result, the number of people in need of food assistance could rise to 6.5 million, including 2.5 million children at heightened risk of acute malnutrition. Humanitarian organizations warn of increasing outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and measles due to deteriorating water and sanitation services. Combined with soaring food prices, limited humanitarian funding, and weakened household purchasing power, pastoral and agricultural communities are facing long-term instability unless immediate action is taken. Relief Center observes that the current drought crisis is not merely a climate-related event but a structural shift reshaping the humanitarian and environmental landscape of the Horn of Africa. The repeated failure of the Deyr season and the subsequent collapse of natural resources indicate that the region has entered a prolonged cycle of drought beyond the capacity of traditional emergency responses. The Center emphasizes the urgent need to transition from short-term emergency assistance to long-term resilience systems built on data, analysis, and strong local actors. Relief Center’s assessment shows an expanding gap between needs and available resources; with humanitarian plans receiving less than a quarter of required funding, millions are at risk of sliding into unprecedented levels of hunger and malnutrition. Pastoral and agricultural zones — fully dependent on seasonal rainfall — are experiencing a collapse in water sources, rising livestock mortality, and the erosion of traditional livelihoods. Relief Center stresses that enabling communities to withstand climate shocks is central to preventing a wider humanitarian disaster. This includes supporting local organizations through analytical tools, training, real-time data, and community-based early-warning systems. The Center further highlights the importance of investing in climate monitoring, integrating field data with predictive models, and expanding water, health, and nutrition programs before conditions escalate. With forecasts indicating continued weak rainfall through early 2026, Relief Center calls for scaling up humanitarian efforts, increasing funding, and expanding community-based interventions as the most effective pathway to preventing a region-wide famine with long-lasting impacts.

In a historic relief effort reflecting Qatar’s unwavering commitment to supporting the Palestinian people in Gaza, a major humanitarian shipment comprising 29,200 emergency shelter tents arrived at East Port Said in Egypt as part of a broader Qatari initiative to deliver 75,000 tents to displaced families in the Gaza Strip. This large-scale operation marks one of the most comprehensive shelter interventions launched for Gaza since the onset of the crisis. According to the logistical arrangements announced, the shipment will be transported via the land corridor connecting Port Said and Al-Arish before entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing, where humanitarian teams on the ground will be responsible for distributing the tents to families who lost their homes amid the extensive destruction. The initiative comes as Gaza faces one of the most severe humanitarian emergencies in its history, with hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced and the winter season intensifying the hardships of already vulnerable communities. This relief shipment is the result of broad Qatari coordination involving Qatar Charity, the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), and the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), in cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Qatar and Egypt and the Egyptian Red Crescent. The operation forms part of what has become known as the “Qatari Humanitarian Sea Bridge”, a series of continuous aid shipments delivering food, medical supplies, and shelter assistance since the early months of the crisis. A central element of this initiative is the leading logistical role of Taqat, one of Qatar’s prominent companies specializing in humanitarian support and emergency response. Taqat has taken on the execution of the entire logistical chain for the 75,000-tent project, including maritime shipping, ground coordination, cross-border procedures, and operational preparation to ensure the successful and timely arrival of aid to Gaza. Through its accumulated expertise in logistics planning, supply-chain management, and field operations, Taqat has worked closely with humanitarian partners to overcome the complex on-the-ground challenges that accompany high-volume emergency operations. Taqat’s role has been instrumental in ensuring the seamless movement of the shipments—from preparation at Qatari ports, to inspections and coordination at border points, and onward to distribution hubs inside Gaza. This model demonstrates how private-sector capabilities in Qatar can significantly strengthen national and international humanitarian efforts. This sustained Qatari initiative reaffirms Doha’s pivotal role in supporting the people of Gaza during one of the most difficult periods in the strip’s history. It also underscores Qatar’s firm commitment to coordinated humanitarian action and to delivering life-saving assistance to hundreds of thousands of people who have been left without shelter or basic necessities in the midst of an escalating humanitarian crisis.