UN News Today 30 October 2026 |

Yemen war makes reaching assistance too dangerous for many 

More than 280,000 people have now been displaced by fighting in Yemen and many of the most vulnerable are unable to access lifesaving relief because it is too dangerous to do so, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

In an alert, the agency said that tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers are struggling to survive. 

It comes amid intensifying conflict between Houthi opposition fighters and Government forces which escalated last month and ended a four-year ceasefire.

UNHCR described a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis for more than 65,000 refugees and asylum seekers, as “escalating insecurity, economic collapse, depleting resources and severe humanitarian access constraints leave tens of thousands with nowhere to turn”.

Here’s spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh:

“When access allows, we do move in that assistance but it has been challenging; we’ve been hearing a lot that a number of displaced people have been unable to get to places where we have our supplies and our assistance. And in many cases, it’s been too dangerous for us to get to them.”

Aid teams are particularly worried about the situation in Kharaz refugee camp in the southwestern governorate of Lahj, close to the front line.

The camp shelters around 9,500 refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia in a Government-controlled area. 

$50 million appeal to help nine million people survive winter 

Staying with UNHCR which launched a $50 million appeal on Friday to help nine million people survive winter across Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria and Lebanon.

The funding will help people like Svetlana in Dnipro, Ukraine, whose apartment was targeted and heavily damaged in a drone strike last winter. 

Moments before the attack, Svetlana grabbed her son and ran to the basement. When they emerged, they no longer had anywhere to live, said UNHCR’s Dominique Hyde:

“A donation means something very tangible. A heater, blankets, warm clothes, cash to pay for fuel, or tarpaulin and tape to repair a blown out window. For some, it may avoid taking on more debt or keep their children off the streets and safe in school.”

The agency highlighted equally dramatic needs in Afghanistan, which has seen an estimated 6.5 million people returning in recent years, most of them involuntarily. 

Many of the new arrivals have very little and need to build their lives from scratch, Ms. Hyde said. 

She noted that in Syria, around 3.6 million refugees and internally displaced people have returned to what remains of their homes since December 2024, while 15.6 million inside the country need humanitarian assistance.

The refugee agency provides assistance to the most vulnerable who include families forced to live under plastic sheeting in all weathers. Last year, UNHCR repaired almost 5,000 homes in Syria.

Israel’s ‘yellow line’ in Gaza has become a ‘kill zone’

To Gaza, where the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that concerns about ethnic cleansing remain, as Israeli forces continue to push Palestinians into an ever-smaller area of the Strip.

The OHCHR alert also warns that Gazans face repeated displacement while the Israeli military destroys what remains of civilian infrastructure in the devastated enclave.

Displacement sites continue to be attacked and any Palestinian found close to the so-called “yellow line” controlled by Israel risks being killed, said spokesperson Mayy El Sheikh:

“There is no single line. Instead, Israeli forces push the population inwards from all sides along lines that are not known to Palestinians. Meanwhile, they apparently, the Israeli forces, apparently treat the so-called yellow line as a kill zone where hundreds of Palestinians have already been shot.”

Monitoring over the past two weeks has confirmed that the Israeli military continues to expand its control westwards in Gaza. 

This has triggered new displacement in several locations including Al Shujaiyeh  in Gaza City, accompanied by “at least two Israeli attacks” on makeshift camps, along with detonations “of the few buildings left standing”, OHCHR said.

Daniel Johnson, UN News