Food security

Janti Soeripto helps at a community kitchen serving hot meals to displaced families arriving from El-Fasher.

Interview

As Sudan war drags on, US-Iran conflict compounds humanitarian crisis in Darfur

Save the Children US President and CEO Janti Soeripto said delivering aid in Sudan remains extremely difficult, with supply trucks often delayed for weeks or months even after entering the country.

Janti Soeripto

President and CEO of Save the Children US

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

Pistachio prices rose to around $4.57 a pound in March, their highest since 2018, according to data company Expana.

Children and families gather to receive free meals shortly before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan at a displacement camp in central Gaza City, on Feb. 27, 2026.

Iran war deepens Gaza crisis as prices soar, aid falters

Gazans fear that Israel could exploit the wider regional war to reenter Gaza, especially as buffer zones along the border continue to expand and civilians are targeted to keep them away.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Latest News

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Tamara Alrifai

Water 'more precious than gold': Palestinians fleeing Gaza City face perilous journey south

Tents sheltering Palestinians from Gaza City displaced by the Israel-Hamas conflict are pitched by damaged buildings at the Qatari-built Hamad City residential complex, northwestern Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, Sept. 22, 2025.

Exclusive

UK-based oil firm victim of standoff between Damascus, Syria’s Kurds

This picture shows pumpjacks in an oil field and smoke plumes rising in the background, following reported Turkish drone strikes near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on Nov. 23, 2022.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer attend a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in Washington, on July 9, 2025.

Israel's Dermer in Washington for Gaza ceasefire, Iran talks: What to know

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who serves as Israel's chief negotiator in talks with Hamas and on the Iranian file, arrived in Washington to discuss both issues with the Trump administration.

Women and children extend their arms with empty pots in Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza City, Gaza, on May 19, 2025.

UN decries ‘astonishing’ Gaza hunger crisis as truce talks stall

As aid groups sound the alarm on Gaza's hunger crisis, President Donald Trump said Hamas “didn’t want to make a deal" to end the war.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey closes livestock markets amid foot-and-mouth disease outbreak: What to know

The Agriculture Ministry has closed all livestock markets to prevent spread of the disease while vaccination efforts are underway.

Palestinians wait in a queue to receive food outside a distribution center south of Khan Younis, on Dec. 6, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Over 170 global NGOs call for end of US-backed GHF operations in Gaza

More than 170 major nongovernmental organizations called for the immediate end to the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, amid the rising death toll near its distribution centers in Gaza.

A hungry young boy eats raw noodles as dislocated Palestinians carry the humanitarian aid they have received from a United Nations distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025, following a chaotic incident in which Gazans stormed the aid center, leading to the withdrawal of the American company overseeing the operation after losing control of the situation. The scene underscores the desperation and urgency surrounding the humanitarian crisis as

Why a US-backed Gaza plan is sparking accusations of weaponizing aid

Humanitarian experts say an obscure paramilitary contractor led by a former CIA official may be aiding Israel’s military in using food as a weapon of war in Gaza.

AFP via Getty Images

US-backed Gaza aid body launches as Witkoff pans Hamas truce proposal: What to know

Hamas said it accepted a US proposal on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, which both Israel and the US denied, as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is quickly deteriorating.

A truck carrying humanitarian aid drives through the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, on May 22, 2025

US-backed aid group begins controversial relief operation in Gaza

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has faced controversy since its establishment over its plan to deliver aid to Gazans through a limited number of distribution points, without the involvement of UN agencies.

EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images

29 in Gaza die from starvation says PA; UNICEF warns 9,000 children malnourished

Under international pressure, Israeli has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza as Palestinian officials report starvation-related deaths.

Voladymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, on Feb. 17, 2025.

Analysis

Amid US rift and Saudi rivalry, UAE offers Zelenskyy economic lifeline

Gulf countries find themselves in a difficult position as they navigate placating Trump, maintaining good relations with Russia, and engaging with Ukraine while also providing mediation and humanitarian aid.

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Sudanese army soldiers patrol an area in Khartoum North, on Nov. 3, 2024.

Battle for Khartoum at tipping point as Sudan military advances

After years of fighting between Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, the two groups’ battle for the capital city of Khartoum could be coming to a head.

Iraqi men unload humanitarian aid supplies provided by USAID to displaced Iraqis who have fled clashes between Islamic State group jihadists and Peshmerga fighters on Oct. 2, 2014, in the town of Daquq.

‘People are anxious’: USAID staff rattled by Trump's foreign aid freeze

Humanitarian organizations were bracing for foreign aid cuts but were taken aback when President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing assistance for the next 90 days.

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain delivers a speech at the first meeting of the Global School Meals Coalition, in Paris, on Oct. 18, 2023.

Interview

WFP chief McCain urges funding to alleviate Syria's hunger crisis

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain warned of donor fatigue after nearly 14 years of civil war in Syria.

Cindy McCain

Cindy McCain

WFP Executive Director