The New Humanitarian

The aid sector’s localisation agenda is falling short. This is hardly a secret. Years of underfunding, systemic power imbalances, and frustration from local humanitarians are proof. But what if the very processes meant to localise aid are part of the problem, rather than the solution?. For years, the international...

Localisation doesn’t shift power. It deepens international dominance.

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe. Polio has been detected in sewage water samples in the Gaza Strip, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning of a high risk of the spread of the virus, which can cause deformities and paralysis. Coupled with widespread malnutrition, aid agencies have been warning for months that conditions in the enclave are ripe for disease epidemics. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been forcibly displaced, with most living in drastically overcrowded shelters and camps. Israel’s military campaign has made clean water for drinking and bathing increasingly scarce, according to Oxfam International, and has severely damaged wastewater treatment systems and solid waste collection services. Garbage has piled up and sewage water is flooding the streets amid scorching summer heat. Israeli leaders have been saying for nearly two months that the most intense phase of the military campaign in Gaza is drawing to an end. However, the 9-15 July period saw some of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the war began. At least 470 people were killed, according to Gaza health officials, and six UN-run schools-turned-shelters were hit. One airstrike on an Israeli-declared ‘safe’ area in al-Mawasi killed at least 90 people. Israel said it was targeting Mohammed Deif, a senior Hamas military commander who helped plan the 7 October attacks. Whether Deif was killed is still unclear. Human Rights Watch released a report, concluding that “Hamas-led armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the October 7 assault”. Meanwhile, the US announced it was shutting down the problem-plagued pier it constructed to deliver aid. For more on that, read: US Gaza pier to close after costing $230m for a day’s worth of aid.

Polio in Gaza, protests in Bangladesh, and crisis in the US: The Cheat Sheet

The political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated today in a pre-dawn strike on his residence while he was visiting Iran’s capital Tehran. It is widely believed that Israel carried out the assassination, although the Israeli government and military have declined to comment. Haniyeh’s killing comes as fears...

Hamas leader assassination raises fears of regional war

Governments and the UN have so far stopped short of declaring that a famine is taking place in the Gaza Strip. But for Palestinians in the enclave – and some food security experts – whether the deprivation and hunger they are experiencing meets the technical definition is besides the point. “No word better describes what we’re experiencing than ‘famine’,” Diana Harara, a 30-year-old mother of three, told The New Humanitarian by phone from Gaza City.

Famine or not? Palestinians in Gaza say an official declaration is besides the point

At least 89 people have died and as many as 72 are still missing following the latest deadly shipwreck on the Atlantic Ocean migration route between the west coast of Africa and the Spanish Canary Islands. The boat – a traditional fishing vessel – set sail from near the Senegal-Gambia...

160 dead or missing in Atlantic migrant crossing

When the Israeli military issued evacuation orders on 13 October last year, telling 1.1 million Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip to head south, Mahmoud Shalabi decided he wasn’t going to leave. “I would rather die in my home than in a tent,” Shalabi told The New...

What is life like in northern Gaza?

New York City, NY

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Cheryl E Preston

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

Just a few kilometres from President Gustavo Petro’s palace in downtown Bogotá, hundreds of mostly Emberá Indigenous people live in a makeshift tent community in one of the Colombian capital’s most iconic parks. Fire smoke wafts from shelters fashioned from tarps and from signs that once...

When Colombia’s conflict-displaced come to the capital

Chicago, IL

Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

Orange County, CA

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Corcoran, CA

NewSantaAna

CORCORAN – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating the July 28, 2024, death of an incarcerated person at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility as a homicide.

Pimp arrested in Orange County killed by an inmate at a state prison

South Carolina State

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Explore Beaufort SC

The mantis shrimp is one tough customer. Beautiful and deadly are two words you don’t typically use to describe shrimp, but the mantis shrimp is definitely in a class of its own; earning a reputation as the ‘savage boxer of the sea’ and one of the most fearsome creatures in the ocean. And, they're right at home here in South Carolina.

Savage Boxer of the Sea: The Deadly Beauty of Mantis Shrimp

Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville Today

A former Jacksonville police officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Josue Garriga III, 34, faces a mandatory penalty of 10 years to life in federal prison and must register as a sex offender. A sentencing date has not been set.

Former cop pleads guilty to enticing 17-year-old girl

Colorado State

David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

A man died in police custody Sunday after he was arrested when he scuffled with firefighters and police, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said. Joseph Lawson, 43, was the second person to die in the past week while in police custody. Both were hospitalized at the time they died, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Suspect dies in custody; he’s the second in six days

An operation to rescue 93 asylum seekers and migrants onboard a wooden fishing boat off the coast of Libya took a dangerous turn on 9 July. As workers from the search and rescue NGO SOS Méditerranée were evacuating people from the vessel, two dinghies carrying armed, masked men arrived on the scene. Two of the men boarded the fishing boat, prompting the remaining asylum seekers and migrants onboard to jump into the sea.

Armed men disrupt Mediterranean migration boat rescues

Los Angeles, CA

L.A. TACO

Last month, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released video footage that shows a veteran LAPD officer chasing a young man through a Pacoima housing project before fatally shooting him in the back as he ran away.

20-Year-Old Fatally Shot in The Back By LAPD Officer in Pacoima Projects

A 68-year-old man is behind bars on $1 million bail in connection with multiple sexual assaults in the mid- to late 1990s — years after he was released from prison in another rape.

Suspected serial rapist arrested after three decades

The Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have inflicted “horrendous violence” on people across Sudan, according to a new report by the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The report draws on medical and operational data, highling patterns of violence observed by...

MSF report flags ‘horrendous’ Sudan violence

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe. Netanyahu visits DC, as Palestinians pushed out of 83% of Gaza. All eyes this week have been on events outside of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress on 24 July, giving a factually dubious speech that downplayed and misrepresented the staggering humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s now nearly 10-month-long war. US Vice President Kamala Harris also gave her first comments about the war as the likely Democratic Party nominee in November presidential elections after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris vowed her “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security while also calling on Netanyahu’s government to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas. Ceasefire talks are ongoing, but Netanyahu has so far resisted global pressure to strike a deal to end the war. Instead, he has laid out a vision for indefinite, lower-intensity fighting against Hamas until Israel achieves “total victory” – something many experts say is not possible. On the ground in Gaza, Israel issued a fresh round of evacuation orders for parts of the southern city of Khan Younis – including parts of the Israeli-designated ‘humanitarian zone’ in al-Mawasi. More than 150,000 people have since fled those areas, according to the UN. The Israeli military has been heavily bombarding and redeploying ground troops in parts of Gaza it previously withdrew from, saying that it is pursuing Hamas militants that have regrouped. According to the UN, nearly 83% of Gaza’s territory is now under evacuation orders or has been designated as ‘no-go zones’ by the Israeli military. Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million Palestinians has been forcibly displaced – many multiple times – and the recorded death toll is nearing 40,000, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Venezuela’s election, Sudan peace talks, and Netanyahu’s DC visit: The Cheat Sheet

NewsBreak

Local journalists are indispensable. It’s time to stop exploiting them.

Recently, a group of more than 70 news media and civil society organisations signed an open letter urging Israel to allow foreign journalists “independent” access to...

Local journalists are indispensable. It’s time to stop exploiting them.

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