UN agencies warn of deepening crises in Somalia, Gaza, Ukraine and Tunisia

The United Nations (UN) on 7 May 2026 issued a series of alerts describing worsening humanitarian and human rights conditions in Somalia, Gaza, Ukraine and Tunisia, citing drought, conflict, disease risks and repression of civil society, according to a press release by UN News. The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that drought, conflict and severe funding shortfalls are pushing millions in Somalia into food insecurity. UNRWA reported sharply deteriorating conditions in Gaza, while OCHA described ongoing aid deliveries near Ukraine’s front line. UN human rights chief Volker Türk also criticized Tunisia for widening restrictions on journalists and civil society. Together, the updates highlight mounting pressure on humanitarian operations worldwide.

In Somalia’s Puntland region, dried out watering holes, animal carcasses and old pots filled with ash reflect a deepening hunger crisis. Around 6.5 million people are now experiencing crisis-level hunger or worse, nearly double the number recorded a year ago. Of those, two million face emergency levels of food insecurity, while more than 1.8 million children are expected to suffer acute malnutrition this year. Although Somalia is better positioned to respond than during the country’s devastating 2022 drought crisis, humanitarian agencies say funding shortages are forcing major cutbacks. WFP delivers nearly 90 percent of food assistance in the country.

WFP said it had provided emergency cash transfers to 380,000 drought-affected people through Government-backed systems aimed at strengthening national social protection efforts. However, the agency can now only reach one in ten people in urgent need. Emergency food assistance has already been suspended in several districts, while nutritional support for pregnant and breastfeeding women has been reduced. In Gaza, UNRWA warned that rats bite children as they sleep in tents, with repeated displacement, overcrowded shelters, lack of clean water and broken sanitation systems raising the risk of disease. UNRWA is working with the World Health Organization and local partners to track skin infections and rodent infestations.

In Ukraine, the UN and partners continue delivering aid to residents living near the front line amid Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion. This week, humanitarian convoys reached residents in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, with 20 convoys so far this year providing critical support to nearly 22,000 residents. Matthias Schmale, the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, spoke from Sviatohirsk, a former tourist destination reached by a convoy on Tuesday.

“Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, I understand there were thousands of people living in this community. Now there is close to 300 left, so you can also in those terms measure the impact of this war on the population of a place that I understand once was at the core of a touristic area… All of that is gone now,” he said.

Approximately 30 civilians were killed and 170 injured on Tuesday and in the early hours of Wednesday, according to authorities.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday urged Tunisia to halt widening repression against civil society groups, journalists, activists and opposition figures. His intervention followed court-ordered suspensions against Avocats Sans Frontières — Lawyers Without Borders — and the Tunisian League for Human Rights. Mr. Türk cited journalist Zied El Heni, arrested last month under a law criminalising online communications deemed to “harm others,” while dozens of other journalists have faced prosecution and prison sentences.

“Tunisia’s democratic and human rights gains after 2011 must be maintained, not progressively dismantled,” he insisted.

He called for the immediate release of people detained for expressing protected views and warned that limits on freedoms must remain lawful, necessary and proportionate.