Middle East and North Africa

Regional overview

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains in the grip of interconnected and protracted crises that have been evolving into a regional poly-crisis. Since the 7 October escalation in Gaza, instability has remained high with episodes of acute intra and inter states confrontations in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Palestine and Yemen. Armed confrontations, protracted economic crises, and fragmented governance are undermining social fabrics, fueling inflation and unemployment and driving sharp increases in humanitarian needs—accounting for above 58 million people in need—while weakening national systems and humanitarian response capacities. Declining resources and politicization of the aid agenda are further constraining principled humanitarian action and limiting sustainable solutions across the region.

Despite new opportunities, including new authorities in Syria, peaceful elections in Iraq and new Government in Lebanon, conflict dynamics remain fluid. Fragile ceasefires in Gaza, Yemen, and Lebanon are repeatedly disrupted, causing civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. Regional reverberations of the Iran–Israel recent conflict persist, raising risks of renewed escalation. In Syria, fragmentation and insecurity continue to hinder recovery and in Lebanon, internal divisions and bombardment on its border continues to threaten stability. The West Bank faces rising settler violence, Iraq is experiencing governance pressures shaped by regional politics, and Libya’s political fragmentation and economic instability continue to limit human development.

Humanitarian needs continue as funding declines. In 2025, regional appeals are only 19.9% funded¹— 37.8% lower than the same time last year²—forcing agencies to scale back essential programmes in food, health, and protection. Inflation, currency depreciation, underinvestment in basic services and subsidy removals have eroded household resilience, driving millions into poverty and heightening tensions between host and displaced communities.

Several people gather around a truck loaded with crates of produce, while one person hands a bag of fruits and vegetables to another in an outdoor setting.

Akkar, Lebanon

Crisis-affected people receive in-kind dry food kits and fresh food items (including meat, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables).

Polish Center for International Aid (PCPM)/ Elie Abi Khalil 

MENA continues to host one of the world’s largest displaced populations. New displacements in 2025 have been recorded within and across borders, notably in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, Syria, and Libya. Voluntary returns continue, particularly to and within Syria, where access to basic services remains limited, and security is uncertain.

Access restrictions and insecurity continue to impede humanitarian delivery. Active hostilities, bureaucratic barriers, misinformation/disinformation, and temporary border closures disrupt supply chains and expose staff to risks, undermining timely and impartial assistance to affected populations.

Natural disaster risks compounded by climate stress are multiplying vulnerabilities. Drought-like conditions are fueling food insecurity across Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran and Libya. Rising temperatures, water scarcity, and extreme weather events are destroying livelihoods and intensifying displacement.

Looking ahead to 2026, continued instability, economic decline, and poor rainfall forecasts are expected to further increase humanitarian needs, underscoring the urgency of coordinated, flexible, and climate-sensitive regional preparedness and responses.

Aid in action

Humanitarian access under threat across the Middle East

A large group of smiling children gather closely together indoors, many forming heart shapes with their hands toward the camera. They appear joyful and energetic, filling the frame with bright expressions.

Ghobeiry, Lebanon

Vulnerable children living in Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp receive school kits, complete with bags, stationery, and supplies.

Basmeh and Zeitooneh (B&Z)/ Ibrahim Al Housseiny

Across the Middle East, access restrictions and erosion of humanitarian space continue to undermine humanitarian operations and deepen civilian suffering. In Gaza, insecurity has rendered large areas unreachable. Despite the ongoing ceasefire, the daily volume of humanitarian cargo entering Gaza continues to dwindle, in part due to unpredictable clearance processes and delays. As of late November, access to northern crossings remains denied, while humanitarian cargo is being de-prioritized at other crossings, limiting humanitarians’ capacity to upscale across the Strip. In Syria, movement constraints and insecurity persist. Hostilities in As-Sweida and Dar’a have displaced thousands and disrupted humanitarian access to communities in need. Drought-like conditions further exacerbate food insecurity for thousands. In Lebanon, insecurity and ceasefire violations continue to impact civilians, hinder humanitarian access and complicate return and recovery efforts.

Across the region, the erosion of humanitarian space is compounded by the politicization of aid, fragmented control, and recurrent violations of international humanitarian law. In Yemen, the detention of humanitarian personnel directly constrains operational presence, deepening the suffering of people in need. Humanitarian actors throughout the region face mounting challenges in conducting assessments, ensuring staff safety, and delivering principled assistance. Meanwhile, funding shortfalls and donor reprioritization have forced agencies to scale back life-saving programmes.

As conflict, displacement, and climate shocks intensify needs, sustained, predictable, and safe access remains indispensable. Upholding international humanitarian law and ensuring unhindered, principled access are both moral and legal imperatives to reach people in crisis and safeguard humanitarian neutrality.

Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

Current People in Need

3.6 million
Current People Targeted

3 million
Current Requirements (US$)

$4.06 billion

Go to plan details

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)

3.6 million

People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)

3 million

Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)

4.06 billion

People urgently prioritized

3 million

Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)

4.06 billion

Crisis overview

For more than 2 years, Gazans have experienced death, destruction, displacement, and dehumanization, stripped of their sense of place and dignity, forced to witness family members be killed, burned and buried alive.

The entire population of Gaza, estimated at 2.1 million people, requires humanitarian assistance. With famine confirmed in the Gaza governorate in August through the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, notwithstanding some recent improvements, concerns persist regarding the protracted and profound nature of the food security and nutrition crisis in Gaza, the collapse of food security and nutrition systems, and near-total destruction of the local food production system. Children have been profoundly affected; acute malnutrition among children under five more than doubled in August 2025 compared to September 2024, with 132,000 expected to suffer through mid-2026.

The health system is stretched far beyond capacity: sixty-two percent of hospitals were non-functional while the remaining facilities were overwhelmed or operating without adequate staff, fuel, or medical supplies. Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have sustained life-changing injuries, one in four are children, and more than 5,000 have undergone amputations.

Insufficient access to water and horrific sanitation conditions are exacerbating public health issues. As of August, 57 per cent of households surveyed were exposed to sewage or fecal matter within 10 meters of their homes, and 42 per cent lived near uncollected waste, leaving an estimated 900,000 people surrounded by accumulated garbage in residential areas.

A hospital structure labeled “Special Surgery Building” with large sections blasted open, walls charred, and extensive destruction throughout the façade.

Northern Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory

The Special Surgery Building of Al-Shifa Hospital stands gutted and blackened, its façade riddled with blast damage and debris from months of intense hostilities, reflecting the scale of destruction to critical infrastructure.

OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Following repeated displacement, loss of essential shelter items and the destruction of 92 per cent of housing units, as of October 2025, an estimated 1.5 million people need emergency shelter supplies. Most displaced households live in substandard conditions and lack adequate protection, privacy, and materials to ensure safety and dignity.

At the same time, the West Bank continues to witness the most sustained and destructive operations in two decades, particularly in the northern West Bank refugee camps (Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams). Since January 2025, these operations have caused mass casualties, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. Escalating Israeli settler violence, with the acquiescence, support, and in some cases participation, of Israeli forces, has worsened the coercive environment in the occupied West Bank, resulting in casualties, damage to property, and the forcible displacement of Palestinian families including entire communities. The result is that 1.5 million people require humanitarian assistance because of escalating violence, displacement, and restrictions that are eroding civilian life and shrinking humanitarian space.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

The UN and partners estimate that $4.06 billion is required to deliver life-saving assistance and protection interventions to 3 million people affected by the ongoing crisis across OPT. The 2026 Flash Appeal outlines the actions required to address acute humanitarian needs through the delivery of emergency supplies and the provision of critical services, including protection. Early recovery activities are included when they represent the most cost-effective and efficient means of delivering humanitarian assistance, or when they are essential to enabling such assistance. This includes debris clearance and the removal and disposal of explosive ordnance within the parameters defined by the scope and boundaries of the plan at sectorial level.

A line of small trucks and trailers piled high with household items and people traveling along a coastal road.

Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory

Overloaded trucks transport families and their belongings along Gaza’s coast as people continue to flee intensified airstrikes amid severe limits on humanitarian access.

OCHA/Olga Cherevko

The humanitarian system continues to work with development actors to support the shift from early recovery to longer-term recovery, ensuring coherence between immediate response and future planning. Recovery and reconstruction will be integrated into upcoming development-led processes. Delivery of the response depends on a conducive operating environment. Despite the announcement of a ceasefire on 10 October, humanitarian actors continue to face severe access restrictions, bureaucratic impediments, and anti-UN rhetoric, which collectively constrain the ability to operate at scale and in line with humanitarian principles.

2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response highlights

In 2025, humanitarian actors across Gaza and the West Bank continued delivering life-saving assistance to millions despite worsening conditions amid bureaucratic and administrative impediments, access restrictions, extreme insecurity, severe funding shortages, and a shrinking operational space.

Multipurpose Cash Assistance

In 2025, 305,000 households in Gaza received at least one Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) installment, while in the northern West Bank, 22,000 MPCA installments reached 10,200 vulnerable families.

Health

Health partners coordinated the evacuation of 2,955 patients and 5,010 companions, operating 228 service points across Gaza and providing 14.5 million consultations there and 107,000 in the West Bank. In Gaza, nearly 600,000 children were vaccinated in each of three rounds of the Polio campaign in 2025, representing between 94 and 100 per cent of targets.

Sanitation

Across OPT, approximately 1.1 million people were reached with appropriate sanitation services.

Food

During periods of improved access, partners delivered up to one million meals daily in Gaza.

A child walks barefoot down a dusty street carrying large plastic water containers, with people and collapsed buildings in the background.

Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory

Amid widespread destruction in Gaza City, a child transports jugs in search of scarce fuel and water as access constraints deepen humanitarian needs.

OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Consequences of funding cuts

Access constraints and challenges

Access restrictions, administrative and bureaucratic impediments, and security were the main factors inhibiting appropriately scaled humanitarian assistance.

Two girls smile at the camera while standing on a street surrounded by buildings showing signs of damage.

Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory

Two girls smile warmly as they walk through their neighborhood, their joy shining through despite the surrounding destruction.

OCHA/Charlotte Cans

Aid in Action

Digital Lifelines in Gaza: How E-Wallets Revolutionized Humanitarian Cash Assistance Amid Banking Collapse

Close-up of a counter displaying multiple QR code payment sheets, with a person holding a pen and a card nearby

Gaza

Shops and markets accept payments through e-wallets.

OCHA/ Paul de Carvalho -Pointillart

With no cash allowed to enter or exit and banks unable to dispense physical notes, the Cash Working Group (CWG) rapidly expanded digital cash assistance, ensuring families could still access essentials despite banks and ATMs being nonfunctional. Gaza’s communities and humanitarian partners turned severe constraints into innovation.

By late 2025, digital e-wallets had become a primary delivery channel, covering more than 60 percent of humanitarian cash transfers and redeemed by roughly 78 percent of recipients. About 69 percent of surveyed beneficiaries reported using assistance exclusively through digital transactions, while vendor acceptance of e-wallet payments increased from 30 percent in May to over 50 percent by September. CWG partners—including WFP, UNICEF, ACF Spain, and Mercy Corps—disbursed funds directly to e-wallets, supported by helpdesks and call centers handling thousands of activation and redemption requests each month.

“Even when there was no cash in the banks, my e-wallet worked—I could still buy milk for my children,” shared a UNICEF beneficiary in June 2025.

By August, 78–84 percent of beneficiaries preferred unrestricted digital cash over other aid forms. Since October 2023, roughly 85 percent of Gaza’s population has received cash assistance at least once. Digital transfers have become a lifeline for families, sustaining local markets, vendors, and financial inclusion in one of the world’s most challenging humanitarian environments.

Syrian Arab Republic

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)

16.5 million

People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)

10.3 million

Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)

3.2 billion

People urgently prioritized

8.2 million

Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)

2.1 billion

Crisis overview

Despite dramatic contextual changes, including the change of authorities in December 2024, Syria remains a major humanitarian emergency with some 70 per cent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. Nevertheless, new developments continue to exacerbate existing needs or create new needs, including sporadic conflict, climatic shocks, and large-scale returns of displaced populations.

Conflict and resulting Displacement: Sporadic hostilities have continued in eastern rural Aleppo, coastal governorates, and parts of the northeast and south. These conditions have triggered new and secondary displacements, exacerbated protection risks, and increased needs across all sectors.

Explosive Ordnance (EO) Threat: Increased population movement has revealed widespread EO contamination. Between December 2024 and October 2025, 1,498 casualties were recorded, double the number from the previous year, with 60 per cent of incidents occurring in agricultural areas, threatening livelihoods and food security.

A women standing outside a destroyed building

Sheikh Ahmed,Syria

A woman stands in front of her home where she returned to find her village destroyed and looted after years of displacement.

SARD NGO/ Sheikh Ahmed

Climatic Shocks: Syria is facing its worst drought-like conditions in 36 years³. Crop failures in key regions have reduced wheat and barley yields with FAO projecting a 70 per cent wheat production deficit, which could leave over 16 million people unable to meet their nutritional requirements. The drought-like conditions have also severely impacted the country’s main water resources, affecting access for over 10 million people already struggling to meet basic water needs. Communities are resorting to coping mechanisms such as purchasing costly trucked water, relying on unsafe sources like agricultural wells, or reducing consumption, practices that heighten public health risks, exacerbate malnutrition, and raise protection concerns. In addition, wildfires in mid-2025 further compounded these challenges, causing extensive damage to livelihoods, particularly in agricultural areas, deepening existing vulnerabilities, and worsening food insecurity.

Returns of IDPs and Refugees: Since the change in authorities in 2024, Syria has seen substantial returns of IDPs and refugees. Between 8 December 2024 and 6 November 2025, UNHCR recorded more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees who returned to Syria from neighboring countries and beyond. As of the end of July 2025, preliminary reports indicate that nearly 1.9 million IDPs were estimated to have returned to their home areas since December 2024. Many returnees face substantial challenges, including limited access to essential services, legal documentation issues, and exposure to explosive ordnance (EO) risks. Between January and September 2025, 441 IDP sites, primarily in northwest and northeast Syria, were deactivated due to returns, underscoring both the scale of movement and the urgent need for coordinated support to ensure safe and dignified reintegration. There has also been a significant reduction in the population of Al Hol camp, primarily due to the repatriation of Iraqi nationals, along with some third-country nationals, and the return of Syrian nationals. The camp’s population dropped by 41 per cent from 45,362 to about 26,000 at the end of October 2025.

Escalating Public Health Risks and Strained Health Infrastructure: Public health risks in Syria remain high, marked by rising cases of influenza-like illnesses, acute diarrhea, and lice infestations. At the same time, significant gaps in routine childhood immunization persist.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

The Syria Humanitarian Country Team is using 2025 planning figures for the GHO 2026, which will be updated once the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is finalized. Key assessments expected in mid-December will inform updated PiN, targets and funding needs. The 2026 response will be shaped by emerging trends and evolving needs, with aid directed to where it's most urgently required. Given financial constraints, discussions around prioritization continue to reinforce the commitment to the allocation formula: 50 per cent of resources for areas with severity level 3, and full coverage (100 per cent) for areas with severity levels 4 and 5. However, the data needed to apply this formula is not yet available.

The return of refugees and IDPs may be increasing the number of people in need and may shift both geographic focus and types of support. The overall reduction in conflict, and number of IDP camps/sites, and some initial steps towards advancing development, recovery and economic stabilization, may have some impact on reducing needs. Nevertheless, the scale of the crisis and the impact of the new shocks described above suggest the needs will remain extremely high in 2026.

A man wearing a backpack crouching beside a pile of sandbags on a dirt road in front of a heavily damaged, partially collapsed concrete building.

Dar’a city, Syria

A member of The HALO Trust’s explosive ordnance disposal team prepares an unexploded ordnance device for safe demolition.

The HALO Trust

Southern Governorates: The escalation of hostilities in As-Sweida, with spillover into Dar’a and Rural Damascus, has significantly worsened humanitarian conditions. A new caseload of 492,860 people has been identified as in need of assistance, adding to pre-existing vulnerabilities in these areas. The humanitarian response aims to reach 413,709 people, thereof one-third women and nearly half children, with multisectoral support. To implement this response, $194.8 million is required for the period July–December 2025⁴. These developments are expected to drive increased needs and response figures in 2026.

Coastal Governorates: Humanitarian needs have risen in Lattakia and Tartous following spikes in sectarian violence and wildfires in mid-2025. The fires caused extensive damage to livelihoods, particularly in agricultural areas, compounding existing vulnerabilities. These events are expected to result in higher needs and expanded response targets in 2026.

Explosive Ordnance (EO): Most incidents occur in agricultural and grazing areas, posing serious risks to civilians and undermining food security. This trend is expected to increase protection needs and corresponding response efforts in 2026.

Impact of Drought-like Conditions and Response: Severe drought-like conditions continue to affect large parts of Syria. Of the estimated 8.1 million people impacted, 4.4 million are targeted for assistance through the next harvest season in May/June 2026. In 2025, the response requires $336.4 million⁵, with food assistance, emergency agricultural support, and improved access to WASH services, including measures to strengthen drought resilience, accounting for 61.5 per cent of the total. Given the scale and persistence of the drought-like conditions, humanitarian needs and response figures may rise further in 2026.

2025 in review: response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response Highlights

In 2025, the humanitarian community reached an average per month of 3.36 – 32 per cent of the targeted population - with multisectoral assistance, representing an increase of 25 per cent compared to the same period last year. Most assistance prioritized those with the highest severity level of needs (level 4 and 5, 67 per cent). Of 330 active humanitarian organizations, 180 are national NGOs. In the southern governorates, 430,090 people were reached following hostilities in As-Sweida, supported by 62 partners, including 25 national NGOs. Countrywide sectoral highlights include 2.8 million reached with protection services, 985,311 children with education, 499,400 with MPC, and 5.78 million with WASH. Nutrition, food, shelter, health, and CCCM services also reached significant numbers, reflecting broad, coordinated humanitarian efforts across Syria.

Two children outdoors, one wearing a hooded jacket and the other partially visible, with a sandy or barren landscape.

Al Hol camp, Syria

A young boy poses for a portrait during a psychosocial support activity.

UNOCHA/ Sevim Turkmani

Consequences of funding cuts

As of 6 November 2025, the Syria 2025 Humanitarian Response Priorities is funded at only 26 per cent, leaving critical gaps across sectors:

Despite increasing GBV risks and needs, only 40 per cent of the targeted 1.5 million people have been reached with assistance with the hard-to-reach areas disproportionately affected. Seven per cent of GBV facilities have been permanently closed, leaving over 900,000 people with no access to GBV services.
About 2.5 million children, including those with disabilities, remain exposed to the worst forms of violence and exploitation and will not have access to timely child protection preventive and response services.
15.4 million people, or 65 per cent of the Syrian population, will continue to be exposed to the risks from EO contamination.
89 per cent of IDP sites (1,526 sites) across northwest, northeast, and southern governorates, will remain highly vulnerable to flooding, fires, and disease outbreaks during the 2025–2026 winter season.
About 2 million children and adults will not receive education assistance in 2025. With 2.5 million children (nearly half of all school-aged children) out of school, and nearly 1.6 million children at the risk of dropping out, this critical need must be urgently addressed.
One million severely food-insecure people and those at risk of severe food insecurity have been left without monthly food assistance, while only 8 per cent of the targeted families received emergency agricultural livelihood support.
The operation of 417 health facilities has been affected, with 366 (15 per cent) suspended or operating at reduced capacity, leaving 7.4 million people without access to basic health services.

Young child standing in a fire-damaged room with blackened walls and debris on the floor, holding a blue plastic object

Rural Lattakia, Syria

A young boy stands inside his severely damaged home, where his family lost everything, a powerful reminder of how urgently families need support to rebuild their lives.

UNOCHA/ Sevim Turkmani

75,828 severely malnourished children and 277,870 moderately malnourished children aged 6 to 59 months, and, 67,468 pregnant and lactating women, will lack access to quality lifesaving nutrition services.
Over 500,000 targeted people in need are at risk of being left without adequate shelter, exposing them to overcrowding, lack of privacy, and heightened protection concerns, including increased GBV risks.
More than 1,500,000 prioritised people in need will not have access to essential winterization assistance, leaving them vulnerable to harsh weather conditions and associated health complications.
Over 1,200,000 prioritised vulnerable people in need will remain without access to basic NFIs, significantly compromising their well-being and ability to recover.
WASH partners decreased or suspended the provision of the WASH humanitarian response in more than 350 camps in northeast and northwest Syria, leaving more than 250,000 IDPs with limited access to basic WASH services.
In northeast Syria, WASH partners suspended/decreased the provision of trucked water to the most vulnerable communities in Al Hasakeh, impacting access to water for more than 100,000 people.

Access constraints & attacks against aid workers/facilities

Humanitarian access in much of the country has improved since December 2024, with partners able to reach many areas more easily. Nevertheless, access challenges remain in some areas such as northeast Syria, eastern rural Aleppo, and southern governorates due to hostilities, road closures, and complex coordination requirements. Health and education services have been disrupted, with verified attacks on facilities and schools used as shelters during outbreaks of violence. GBV services are critically affected by fuel shortages, insecurity, and social norms. In As-Sweida, damage to over 85 water facilities have left 300,000 people without reliable access to safe water.

Aid in Action

Syrians Leading Syria’s Humanitarian Response

Aleppo Governorate, Syria

Amir (top row, to the right) with his siblings at Al Rahma Camp.

Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund

From displaced children and women rebuilding their lives, to humanitarian workers who continue to serve their own communities despite loss and exile, Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF) embodies local leadership, resilience, and hope.

In the camps and towns of northwest Syria, where years of conflict have left communities displaced and aid stretched thin, local organizations are at the heart of the humanitarian response. Through the Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF), local actors are not only delivering life-saving assistance but also shaping a more dignified, people-centered response while Syrians continue to rebuild their lives with determination and quiet strength being not only the recipients of aid, but its planners, implementers, and advocates.

During 2025, over 77 per cent of SCHF funding was allocated to national and local NGOs, ensuring that assistance reaches communities faster, reflects their priorities, and strengthens their resilience. Through their efforts, humanitarian support is transforming from short-term relief into long-term recovery.

In Al Rahma Camp, Batbo village, 11-year-old Amir had dropped out of school to collect cardboard for survival, a practice commonly observed among vulnerable households facing severe economic hardship When a mobile protection team from a local SCHF partner visited his neighborhood, they enrolled Amir and his parents in a programme providing psychological support, family counseling, and emergency cash assistance. Within weeks, Amir was back in school, smiling, learning, and dreaming again.

“When I wore my new clothes and saw my books on the table, I felt like a child again,” he says. “I dream of returning to our village and being a child who only goes to school, not one who collects cardboard.”

In Atmeh, Idleb, Sara*, a 54-year-old woman living with a disability, received a livelihood grant and entrepreneurship training funded by SCHF. With a new sewing machine, she established a small workshop, that now sustains her household income and is now contributing to training other displaced women and generating sustainable income for her family.

“I’m not just sewing; I’m helping build hope,” she says proudly.

Together, these intertwined stories show how local leadership, inclusion, and compassion define the SCHF approach. By empowering Syrians to design and deliver assistance, the Fund transforms humanitarian aid into something deeper, a collective act of rebuilding lives, communities, and hope from within. In 2025 alone, the SCHF will reach around 2 million people, allocating nearly US$ 48.7 million to help Syrians restore dignity and rebuild their futures.

Notably, SCHF is currently in the process of merging with the Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF) into a single, unified Fund based in Damascus. This is part of a broader transition towards an in-country-led humanitarian architecture, under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator. The shift will further empower Syrian partners and communities to lead the response, ensuring that aid reaches those who need it most, across the country.

Yemen

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)

23.1 million

People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)

10.5 million

Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)

2.5 billion

People urgently prioritized

8.8 million

Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)

1.4 billion

Crisis overview

A convergence of conflict, economic decline, and climate shocks, compounded by shrinking operational space in parts of the country and funding shortfalls, continues to exacerbate humanitarian needs. In 2026, 23.1 million people, nearly 65.4 per cent of the population, will need lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection services to meet their basic needs and safeguard their well-being.

Yemen’s economy remains extremely fragile. After reaching a historic low in mid-2025, the Yemeni Rial strengthened and stabilized following government interventions, but high prices and inflation ⁶ continue to erode purchasing power. In areas under de facto authorities, damage to Red Sea ports, sanctions and import restrictions have disrupted markets and driven shortages of food, fuel and electricity.

Hunger and malnutrition remain at alarming levels. More than 18 million people are facing acute food insecurity, including 5.8 million enduring emergency levels of hunger, and 40,000 people are expected to face catastrophic food insecurity conditions. For countless parents, skipping meals so their children can eat has become a daily reality. Yemen’s nutrition crisis is now among the worst, with 2.5 million children under five and 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women acutely malnourished, while nearly half of all children under 5 are stunted. With over 3,000 nutrition sites closed, and vital supplies set to run out by early 2026, the lives of hundreds of thousands of children are threatened.

A woman wearing a veil is holding a small child and is standing at the doorway of a shelter made from tarps.

Aden, Yemen

A displaced woman with her child outside her tent in Ash-Shab IDP site.

UNOCHA/Ahmed Haleem for YPN

Protection risks are escalating as resilience collapses. Over 16 million people require protection assistance, of which 4.7 million are internally displaced. Women and girls face heightened risks of violence, with nearly one million now cut off from safe spaces and psychosocial support following the suspension of gender-based programmes. Landmines and explosive remnants of war continue to endanger lives. In addition, an estimated 329,000 migrants, 58,000 refugees and asylum seekers are in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection support.

The provision of essential services has been declining rapidly since February 2025, due to defunding and the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation, resulting in some key partners withdrawing from DFA-controlled areas. The health system is at risk of entirely collapsing with further reduction of financing in those areas. Hundreds of health facilities have closed, leaving an estimated 8.41 million people with restricted access to even basic care, and the situation will further worsen.

Water-borne disease outbreaks are resurging amid widespread water contamination and failing sanitation systems. About 2.6 million children remain out of class, while teachers continue to work without pay.

The climate crisis, already dire, is worsening. Floods, weather events and droughts affected 1.5 million people in 2025, washing away homes, livestock, and livelihoods. Yemen, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, has almost no capacity to withstand yet another shock.

The availability of new baseline population data has enabled the review and adjustment of the people in need data and an update of the severity analysis, ensuring that the HNRP reflects current population dynamics and humanitarian needs.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

Against a backdrop of rising needs and growing access constraints, Yemen’s humanitarian response will strictly focus on saving lives and protecting dignity for those most in need. Guided by the IASC Humanitarian Reset, the HCT has therefore placed the most affected people at the centre of their work, carrying their voices, prioritizing the most lifesaving and time-critical interventions while promoting integration, inclusion, and locally led action.

Humanitarian efforts will aim to prevent famine, treat and reduce malnutrition, and contain disease outbreaks, especially in hard-to-reach and underserved areas, where needs are most acute. Partners will work toward integrated, area-based approaches that connect sectors, minimise duplication, avoid isolated interventions, and deliver more coherent and protective assistance to communities on the edge of survival.

Two aid workers carry a large white sack of wheat flour through a camp as two young men look on, one seated in a wheelchair.

Ad Dale', Yemen

Eyad is one of many beneficiaries supported with food assistance through a partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief).

WFP/Mohammed Fadhel

Building on the momentum of 2025, the humanitarian community will continue to shift power and resources to local and national actors. Local NGOs, women’s groups, and community-based organizations will take on greater leadership and implementation roles.

The Yemen Humanitarian Fund will sustain its strong support for local partners, linked with equitable partnerships and shared capacity building to strengthen the overall response architecture.

The 2026 response will be grounded in inclusion, accountability, and protection. Humanitarian action will ensure that women, men, boys, and girls, as well as people with disabilities, migrants, refugees, and marginalised groups, are not only reached but heard, with their voices shaping priorities and decisions that affect their lives.

2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response highlights

People reached

In 2025, humanitarian partners reached an average of 5.3 million people per month with life-saving assistance.

People prioritized

The HCT led a hyper-prioritization exercise to identify the most urgent, life-saving interventions. This ensured that available resources were channeled toward communities facing the highest severity levels.

Food security

Food security partners managed to reach 6.5 million people with emergency food assistance; averting further deterioration in food consumption and malnutrition in hardest-hit areas.

Nutrition

Nutrition partners reached 6 million people, including children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women, with treatment and preventive nutrition services.

Health

Health cluster partners have reached nearly 4.04 million people, including most vulnerable communities, with lifesaving primary and secondary healthcare services.

WASH

WASH partners continued to implement sustainable water management solutions, providing safe water to nearly 2.5 million people in host communities and displacement sites.

Multipurpose Cash Assistance

By August 2025, cash assistance reached 323,732 people nationwide, helping vulnerable households meet urgent needs with dignity, amid deepening economic hardship.

Localization

By mid-2025, 59% of YHF funding went to national and local NGOs (up from 44% in 2023), advancing a locally led humanitarian response.

A woman wearing a black abaya speaks with another woman in a blue UN hat beside boxes and buckets labeled.

Taiz, Yemen

Distribution of non-food items with support from the Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF).

DEEM

Consequences of funding cuts

Yemen is nearing a humanitarian breaking point. Without urgent action to stabilize food security and nutrition services, the hunger crisis will worsen. Already, 18.1 million people face acute food insecurity, including 1.6 million in emergency conditions (IPC Phase 4) and 41,000 at catastrophic levels (IPC Phase 5). Without support, famine will spread, while 2.5 million children under five risk acute malnutrition—600,000 of them severely malnourished, a life-threatening condition with mortality rates 11 times higher than among healthy children.

Health, WASH, Shelter, and Protection services are shrinking as essential systems collapse. Hundreds of health facilities have closed, leaving 8.41 million people with limited access to basic care. Water and sanitation will deteriorate for over 15 million people already water insecure. With 17.4 million lacking adequate sanitation and hygiene, preventable waterborne diseases will surge. At the same time, 2 million vulnerable people will remain without life-saving assistance, while 6.1 million need care and protection services and nearly 380,000 require urgent, specialized interventions. Meanwhile, 6.2 million people need GBV services as women and girls—especially among displaced and marginalized communities—face escalating risks of gender-based violence.

A woman wearing a veil carries a white water jug while walking through a camp with makeshift shelters.

Aden, Yemen

Seven months pregnant, Um Haitham walks a long distance through a displacement site to fetch water for her family.

UNFPA/Shamikh Ghanem

Around 1.1 million displaced people will face a sharp deterioration in their already precarious living conditions if urgent shelter and non-food items’ support is not sustained.

The future resilience of Yemen will be eroded if funding for education continues to decline. Almost 4.4 million girls, particularly those from the marginalized Muhamasheen communities and displaced families, face daily barriers to accessing safe and quality education.

Around 120,000 newly displaced people affected by conflict and climate-related disasters will be affected if funding for immediate lifesaving assistance is not received.

References

As of 26 October 2025.
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The comparison is with October 2024.
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FAO Knowledge Repository
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Of this, $68.9 million is already covered under the 2025 HRP, while $125.9 million represents new funding requirements. The financial requirements are documented in a planning document (pending release).
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The financial requirements are documented in a planning document (pending release).
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The Government of Yemen (GOY) controlled areas experienced a historic low of YER 2879/USD in July 2025. A policy-driven appreciation in August 2025 placed the exchange rate at YER 1618/USD providing some respite with a decline in food and fuel prices.
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Taalabaya, Lebanon

Global Humanitarian Overview 2026