Issued in March 2026, Escalation in the Middle East and Beyond: The Humanitarian Response outlines the rapidly worsening humanitarian consequences of expanding hostilities across the Middle East and neighbouring regions. Civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence through deaths, displacement, destruction of essential services, and severe constraints on humanitarian access. The escalation has triggered the most significant global humanitarian supply‑chain disruptions since COVID‑19, driving up costs and delaying life‑saving assistance far beyond the region. Humanitarian partners are responding across Iran, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Afghanistan and beyond, prioritizing life‑saving aid, protection of civilians, support to local responders, and respect for international humanitarian law, while urgently calling for de‑escalation and flexible funding to sustain the response.

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The GHO 2026 presents an analysis of global crises and needs and the humanitarian plans to address them. In 2026, humanitarian partners are appealing for almost US$33 billion to assist 135 million people in crisis, with the immediate priority being to mobilize $23 billion to save 87 million lives. The GHO presents a collective picture of humanitarians' achievements and, conversely, what happens when humanitarians are unable to deliver aid.

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"This year’s Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) is the latest diagnosis of the staggering scale of global suffering, the challenges we face in responding, the case for moral imagination and moral ambition ... It is our clarion call to the world, our plan—laser focused, stripped back, costed, rooted in solidarity but also reform, evidence and efficiency—to save 87 million lives in 2026."

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Conflict and violence have worsened ongoing crises while at the same time, critical foreign aid spending has been disrupted. With your help, relief organizations can reach crisis-affected people.

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