In famine-stricken Sudan, soup kitchens that feed hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in a war zone have shut down. In Thailand, war refugees with life-threatening diseases have been turned away by hospitals and carted off on makeshift stretchers. In Ukraine, residents on the frontline of the war with Russia may be going without firewood … Read more
President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said. The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria … Read more
Treating H.I.V. across dozens of nations. Stopping the forced labor of Chinese workers. Training Mexican and Colombian police in anti-narcotics enforcement. Those are just a tiny sample of aid programs around the world operating with grant money from the U.S. government that could be permanently shut down under an executive order President Trump signed last … Read more
After Rwanda-backed rebels seized the Congolese city of Goma in 2012, powerful nations across the world registered their disapproval, announcing sanctions against Rwanda and other measures that led to the rebels’ defeat a year later. When those same rebels battled to capture Goma on Sunday, several nations once again voiced their criticism, but they have … Read more
The Trump administration placed several dozen senior officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave in response to what an official characterized as resistance to President Trump’s policy. An email on Monday to USAID staff from the agency’s acting administrator, Jason Gray, said that Trump officials “have identified several actions within USAID … Read more
A sudden and sweeping halt to U.S. foreign aid by the Trump administration does not apply to weapons support to Israel and Egypt and emergency food assistance, according to a memo issued by the department to bureaus and U.S. missions overseas on Friday. The same day, the White House told the Pentagon it could proceed … Read more
Israel told the United Nations on Friday that its relief agency known as UNRWA, a critical lifeline to two million Palestinians during the 15 months of war in Gaza, had six days to stop all operations in East Jerusalem. Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said in a letter addressed to the U.N. secretary … Read more
Outside a warehouse in southern Gaza one day this week, a small crowd of men and boys waited their turn for a bit of the humanitarian aid that Gaza — sick, starving, freezing Gaza — has desperately needed. They walked away with sacks of flour and cardboard boxes of food, many dragging their precious cargo … Read more
The amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza surged dramatically on Sunday, with more than 630 trucks entering the impoverished and hungry enclave on the first day of the cease-fire, according to United Nations officials — the highest figure since the start of the war more than 15 months ago. The truce allowed the U.N. World … Read more
The sounds of celebration replaced those of explosions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday as a fragile cease-fire came into effect after 470 days of war, allowing some hostages to return home to Israel and displaced Palestinians to search for what was left of their homes. Under the terms of the laboriously reached deal, fighting … Read more