HumanitarianNotes

International affairs, humanitarian aid, International humanitarian Law. Former aidworker in the Middle East and East Africa, now based in France. Facts matter.

[HumanitarianNotes @Wouter_Schaap]

Horrible, horrible situation in Sudan, where stories are starting to filter out of the carnage inflicted by the RSF on the civilian population of El Fasher, aided by arms shipment from the UAE. It is something that aid groups had been warning about for months.

In the period 2005-09, I regularly visited Darfur as an aid worker, and reading these stories now, bring back many memories of that time, which was in the aftermath of the 03/04 genocide. The burnt out homes we passed on the roads outside Kass, the stories from villagers about what was still happening in their communities. The clusters of little circles, each a destroyed village, visible from the UN helicopter as we travelled between towns. And, of course, the sprawling camps of desparate people around the main towns, the corruption and obstruction by the then authorities, and the many attacks by militia on aid agencies, including my own.

Then, it dominated the headlines in the west. Now, hardly anyone seems to care as the RSF mow down large groups of women, children, and men in El Fasher. I find myself veering between fighting back my tears and my anger about both the callousness there and the carelessness here.

[Nafisa Eltahir @nafisaeltahir]

The RSF shot civilians by the dozen, street by street, and chased others fleeing, survivors of the first two days of the al-Fashir takeover told us.

Their testimonies help explain what al-Fashir - cut off from the world - might look like now.

Our story:
https://t.co/qO9JUbnQvn

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

🚨The recent images of Dr. Hussam Abu Safyia are shocking evidence of Israel's abuse against Palestinian detainees.

Dr. Abu Safyia has been arbitrarily detained for one and a half years without charges, while being physically abused and denied healthcare.

His recent solitary confinement adds a further layer of concerns over his deteriorating health. Dr. Abu Safyia must be immediately and unconditionally released. Israel must release all Palestinians arbitrarily detained. States must pressure Israel to stop abusing Palestinian prisoners.

#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya

[HumanitarianNotes @Wouter_Schaap]

Today Elon Musk became the first trillionaire. Last year he abruptly eliminated aid to millions of the poorest people on the planet, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of mainly African children in 2025. Well done Elon. May their voices haunt you til your last breath.

[Steve Sweeney @SweeneySteve]

The south of Lebanon is not a “war zone.” Dahiye is not a “Hezbollah stronghold.”

These are the places people live. The cafés and restaurants where friends meet. The shops people rely on. Homes, schools, businesses, neighbourhoods full of life.

But as we see here, much of the media describes them in military terms, erasing the people who live there. Calling entire communities “Hezbollah strongholds dehumanises civilians and turns vibrant neighbourhoods into acceptable targets in the public mind.

This language is not neutral. It helps manufacture consent for the bombing of civilian areas by presenting them as little more than extensions of a “militant” group, rather than places where hundreds of thousands of ordinary people live their lives.

When the people are excluded from the story, the bombings become easier to justify.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Trump, Musk and Rubio slashed aid and scoffed that it was woke nonsense. Now they're seeing that it not only saved one life every 10 seconds but also protected us from diseases like Ebola. Their actions constituted a security failure as well as a moral one.
More broadly, their fecklessness contrasts with the courage and humanity of doctors and aid workers in Congo and Uganda, lacking adequate PPE but still risking the virus to care for fellow humans.
Trump, Musk and Rubio might learn something from them. https://t.co/kPKj7fqJFZ

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

In what lexicon is ethnically cleansing one quarter of a neighbouring state "taking a much tougher stance". Shameful complicity in war crimes by @SkyNews @adamparsons

[Steve Sweeney @SweeneySteve]

Children terrified as I$rael bombs the Jabal Amel hospital in Tyre, another war crime committed with Western supplied weapons with total impunity

[courtneybonneauimages @cbonneauimages]

This morning I listened to the @BBC talk about Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern occupied Palestine without once mentioning the hundreds of Israeli attacks we have been subjected to just in the last couple of days, the flattered historical cities, razed villages, massacres of families and almost 3,500 civilians killed.

Israel is committing acts of genocide in Lebanon and the @BBC is spreading propaganda.

Photo was taken a few minutes ago in Marwaniyeh.

[Wyatt Reed @wyattreed13]

BREAKING: Israel just carried out a massacre in Tyre, completely demolishing three buildings — where many remain trapped inside — and wrecking the Jabal Amel hospital.

Exact casualty figures unknown but thought to be very serious.

More footage below

[HumanitarianNotes @Wouter_Schaap]

@EUCouncil What a joke

[Sunniva Rose @Sunniva_Rose]

Luxembourg’s @Xavier_Bettel: I must reiterate that Germany and Austria saying they have an eternal debt to Israel doesn’t excuse what’s happening today. Are we going to accept a 2nd Gaza? Do we want southern Lebanon to be a field of ruins and turn a blind eye? It’s not right.

[Craig Murray @CraigMurrayOrg]

I love Tyre.
It is a truly beautiful place and you can't scrape the ground anywhere without disturbing ancient archaeology from the heart of the great Phoenician civilisation.
Israel is carpet bombing it.

[sarah @sahouraxo]

BREAKING:

Israel just carried out a horrific massacre in Maarakeh, South Lebanon.

Dropping bombs on residential buildings.

Children are being pulled from under the rubble of their own homes.

Entire families wiped out.

The scenes are devastating.

[sarah @sahouraxo]

This is Tyre in South Lebanon today.

Israel is leveling entire civilian neighborhoods in one of the most intense bombardments yet.

One of humanity’s oldest cities.

Is being systematically wiped out.

And not a peep from the complicit international community, of course.

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

Not in line with Israel’s values and norms?

That’s not true. Let´s stick to the facts.

While the hundreds of Global Sumud Flotilla activists unlawfully detained by Israel are en route back to their countries, Palestinian prisoners will have to continue to endure unspeakable abuse.

Israel has a long history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. Its systematic use of administrative detention – detaining Palestinians without charge or trial - is a cornerstone of Israel’s system of #apartheid. Torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners have been a cruel reality for decades and only increased in the last 3 years. Over 9,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are currently held in Israel’s prisons. More than a 1,000 are from Gaza and subjected to enforced disappearance or held incommunicado in military facilities and denied access to lawyers or contact with their families.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have continuously documented a pattern of Israeli authorities inflicting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against Palestinians, including through the denial of medicine, food, clothing and sleep, continuous beating, cuffing and blindfolding, dog attacks, rape and other sexual violence, among other abuses. In yet another display of double standards, third states have remained unmoved to the repeated calls to act to bring an end to Israel’s abuses against Palestinians in custody. This must end.

[Ami Dar @AmiDar]

Yes, the Ben-Gvir video is disgraceful. But that's not the issue. The (obvious) issue is that if that's how nonviolent European protesters are treated in public, any person with a brain can imagine how Palestinians are treated behind closed doors. *That* is the real scandal.

[Mohamed ElBaradei @ElBaradei]

All governments with nationals involved in the #Flotilla2026 were quick to express indignation against the despicable acts of the criminal Israeli minister #Ben_Giver. Even the Israeli government had the audacity to denounce him!

Make sure it was not humanity that motivated most of them but it was the fallout of the PR disaster.

If it was humanity we would have seen an appropriate response to the daily evil committed against the Palestinians in #Gaza and the #West_Bank

Hypocrisy has no bounds and double standards have become the new normal!

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

'Aid cuts, debt and conflict are pushing maternal and child health to breaking point. The cost of inaction is far higher than the cost of acting now.'

— #AJOpinion by @CyrilRamaphosa and @sanchezcastejon ⤵️ https://t.co/rYSAuzMNHM

[HumanitarianNotes @Wouter_Schaap]

Its a bizar title to the piece. They say 'economists' but inside its number of quoted economists is.. drumroll.. wait for it.. one. I live in France myself and here it is taxed at the moment of sales at 30pct (or marginal tax rate if lower). Most EU countries have similar capital gains rules. Bizar for Jette, who is so full of talk about EU collaboration, to go so out of step with nearly all neighbours.

[Yalda Hakim @SkyYaldaHakim]

🚨🚨EXCLUSIVE: We’ve gained rare access inside Iran to the cemetery where women and children were buried after a US strike hit a school in Minab.

Devastating stories from grieving families.

Incredible work by colleagues @skyzein @DominicWaghorn

https://t.co/MJLUvzPowu

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Ebola has broken out in DR Congo and Uganda, reaching the capitals, and @WHO has declared this a global health emergency. I traveled along the Congo/Uganda border last year, and the public health structure--especially community health workers--was being dismantled because of President Trump's demolition of USAID. This Ebola outbreak will also be harder to address because it involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine or approved therapy and for which even testing is complicated. And Trump has also withdrawn the US from @who, limiting the world's ability to work together to fight the virus. Uganda has a decent health system, but Congo's is a disaster and is complicated by war in Eastern Congo. Large numbers of Congolese are in camps in southwestern Uganda, and the US aid cuts mean that UN agencies are able to offer them less support so that the refugees increasingly are on their own and traveling more in search of food. If the Ebola spreads more broadly, then the cost in lives and money could be considerable -- so it's important to act early to contain it. I hope Trump will reconsider his moves, work with WHO, and dispatch assistance to the Uganda/Congo border area. https://t.co/J7MAf3qix1