WEF panel discusses crises beyond Gaza, Ukraine, questions the ‘crisis of crisis management’

Conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated international attention, while other crises — such as those in Sudan, Myanmar and Venezuela — continue to affect millions. (WEF)
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Updated 23 January 2025
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WEF panel discusses crises beyond Gaza, Ukraine, questions the ‘crisis of crisis management’

  • WEF draws attention to world’s flashpoints

DUBAI: More than 300 million people around the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025, according to the Global Humanitarian Overview.

The conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated international attention, while other crises — such as those in Sudan, Myanmar and Venezuela — continue to affect millions.

The World Economic Forum in Davos drew attention to these crises, bringing together Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of International Crisis Group; Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF; and Ricardo Hausmann, founder and director of the Growth Lab at Harvard University. The panel they attended was titled “Crises Beneath the Headlines” and moderated by Ishaan Tharoor, the foreign affairs columnist at The Washington Post.

Ero said that it was the first time in the group’s 30 years of operations where its work was dominated by “big power rivalry and major power competition,” which “infects” and influences many conflicts.

Although there are fewer conflicts, particularly in Africa, it does not mean there are not any conflicts, she added.

Ero said: “I do not necessarily think that these conflicts are off the radar; they have been deprioritized because of the bandwidth and the capacity, and because there’s just an inordinate amount of conflicts on the rise at the same time.”

Russell said that UNICEF, too, was struggling to respond to the sheer number and scale of crises.

She said: “We estimate that more than 213 million children live in 146 countries and territories and will need humanitarian assistance. The numbers are just overwhelming.”

Crises in Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria are also on UNICEF’s agenda, but the organization faces funding issues with 50 percent of the humanitarian funding it receives going to only five emergencies, Russell said.

She spoke about the massive numbers of children affected in Haiti and Sudan.

Some 700,000 people, including 365,000 children, are displaced because of violence perpetrated by armed gangs, and 6 million people need humanitarian assistance, with serious food insecurity an added issue in Haiti.

In Sudan, 19 million children are school-aged and 17 million of them are out of school and have been for more than a year.

While Syria has had a recent moment of triumph, its infrastructure has completely collapsed and millions of children are out of school and living in areas with landmines, which have become a leading cause of death and injury, she added. 

“Attention draws resources, and so not having a lot of attention (drawn to these issues) is a problem,” Russell said.

Latin America is not free of issues either, with Venezuela being in the midst of a political and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by Nicolas Maduro, its president, remaining in office despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside, and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.

Hausmann described the country’s downfall as “poetic in some dark sense.”

Despite Venezuela sitting on top of the largest oil reserves in the world, its gross domestic product has collapsed by 75 percent — “that’s three Great Depressions” — and 8 million people have left the country, he said.

Hausmann added that “Venezuela’s biggest obstacle is the government,” which has become an “international criminal organization” involved in “narco trafficking, money laundering, (and) the finance of terrorism.”

He said: “We have a situation where you have a government that has a deep internal sense of illegitimacy, and in the process of trying to survive it has destroyed the legitimacy of all other organizations (such as) the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the attorney general, the army, etc.”

Looking to the future, he said, Venezuela was receiving mixed messages from the US with some people, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, “showing a willingness to be helpful in re-establishing democratic order,” while others, like Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, were “more or less normalizing Maduro.”

Tharoor asked the panel how the work of international groups had been affected at a time when countries were shaping their messaging for a “Trumpist world” and becoming more “nation-first.”

Ero said that we “can’t divorce ourselves” from the nation-first approach or from “national interest.”

But, she added: “There is a serious question mark about the crisis of the crisis management system itself, where it’s very hard now to see who the key mediators are that have the influence and leverage to change the dynamics in a country like Sudan. We are in a crisis of peacemaking.”

Organizations like UNICEF and other humanitarian aid agencies are doing what they can but Russell described them as a “band-aid” that arrives due to political failures.

She said: “We save millions and millions of lives, but we’re not the answer. The answer is to stop the conflict in the first place. We have no power to do that, and so we are at the mercy of this really dysfunctional political system.”

She added that the countries that make up the UN Security Council “have to come together and decide that they’re going to put their own interests aside, hopefully, and try to look out for what’s best for their countries and their regions and the world at large.”


Israel is not committed to any ceasefire or prisoner release with Hamas

Updated 10 sec ago
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Israel is not committed to any ceasefire or prisoner release with Hamas

DUBAI: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel did not commit to any ceasefire or prisoners’ release with Hamas in a statement early on Monday.

The agreement only stipulates a safe corridor that would allow Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander’s release he said.

 


Israel’s blockade means Gaza’s hospitals cannot provide food to recovering patients

Updated 12 May 2025
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Israel’s blockade means Gaza’s hospitals cannot provide food to recovering patients

  • Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves, with Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory now in its third month

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: It cost a fortune, she said, but Asmaa Fayez managed to buy a few zucchinis in a Gaza market. She cooked them with rice and brought it to her 4-year-old son, who has been in the hospital for the past week. The soup was his only meal of the day, and he asked for more.
“It’s all finished, darling,” Fayez replied softly. Still, it was an improvement from the canned beans and tuna she brings on other days, she said.
Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves, with Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory now in its third month.
With hospitals unable to provide food, families must bring whatever they can find for loved ones.
“Most, if not all, wounded patients have lost weight, especially in the past two months,” Dr. Khaled Alserr, a general surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told The Associated Press. Nutritional supplements for intensive care unit patients are lacking, he said.
“Our hands are tied when it comes to making the best choice for patients. Choices are limited,” he said.
Hunger worsens as supplies dwindle
Malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza, aid groups say. Thousands of children have been found with acute malnutrition in the past month, but adults as well are not getting proper nutrients, according to the UN It estimates that 16,000 pregnant women and new mothers this year face acute malnutrition.
Since Israel’s blockade began on March 2, food sources have been drying up. Aid groups have stopped food distribution. Bakeries have closed. Charity kitchens handing out bowls of pasta or lentils remain the last lifeline for most of the population, but they are rapidly closing for lack of supplies, the UN says.
Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising. Local production of vegetables has plummeted because Israeli forces have damaged 80 percent of Gaza’s farmlands, the UN says, and much of the rest is inaccessible inside newly declared military zones.
Fayez’s son, Ali Al-Dbary, was admitted to Nasser Hospital because of a blocked intestine, suffering from severe cramps and unable to use the bathroom. Fayez believes it’s because he has been eating little but canned goods. She splurged on the zucchini, which now costs around $10 a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Before the war it was less than a dollar.
Doctors said the hospital doesn’t have a functioning scanner to diagnose her son and decide whether he needs surgery.
Israel says it imposed the blockade and resumed its military campaign in March to pressure Hamas to release its remaining hostages and disarm.
Hamas ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage, most of whom have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
Concern over Israeli plans to control aid
Israeli officials have asserted that enough food entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire earlier this year. Rights groups have disputed that and called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Now Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, using private contractors to distribute supplies. The UN and aid groups have rejected the idea, saying it could restrict who is eligible to give and receive aid and could force large numbers of Palestinians to move — which would violate international law.

Those under care at hospitals, and their families who scrounge to feed them, would face further challenges under Israel’s proposal. Moving to reach aid could be out of the question.
Another patient at Nasser Hospital, 19-year-old Asmaa Faraj, had shrapnel in her chest from an airstrike that hit close to her tent and a nearby charity kitchen in camps for displaced people outside Khan Younis.
When the AP visited, the only food she had was a small bag of dates, a date cookie and some water bottles. Her sister brought her some pickles.
“People used to bring fruits as a gift when they visited sick people in hospitals,” said the sister, Salwa Faraj. “Today, we have bottles of water.”
She said her sister needs protein, fruits and vegetables but none are available.
Mohammed Al-Bursh managed to find a few cans of tuna and beans to bring for his 30-year-old son, Sobhi, who was wounded in an airstrike three months ago. Sobhi’s left foot was amputated, and he has two shattered vertebrae in his neck.
Al-Bursh gently gave his son spoonfuls of beans as he lay still in the hospital bed, a brace on his neck.
“Everything is expensive,” Sobhi Al-Bursh said, gritting with pain that he says is constant. He said he limits what he eats to help save his father money.
He believes that his body needs meat to heal. “It has been three months, and nothing heals,” he said.
 


Trump hails US-Israeli hostage release as ‘monumental news’

Updated 12 May 2025
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Trump hails US-Israeli hostage release as ‘monumental news’

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Sunday celebrated an announcement by Hamas that it would release US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander from Gaza, with the US president saying he hoped all hostages would be released and fighting ended.
“I am grateful to all those involved in making this monumental news happen,” Trump said in a post on social media, describing the release as a “good faith gesture,” adding: “Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict.”
 

 


Israel attacks Yemen’s Hodeidah after evacuation warnings, Houthis say

A charred tank truck stands at an oil storage facility after Israeli strikes in Yemen’s Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah.
Updated 11 May 2025
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Israel attacks Yemen’s Hodeidah after evacuation warnings, Houthis say

  • Strikes came shortly after Israel warned residents of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif to leave, saying the ports were being used by the Iranian-backed Houthis

HODEIDAH: Israel attacked Hodeidah in Yemen after the Israeli army said it had warned residents of three ports under Houthi control to evacuate, the Houthi interior ministry said on Sunday.
The strikes came shortly after Israel warned residents of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif to leave, saying the ports were being used by the Iranian-backed Houthis.
There was no immediate comment on the attack from Israel.
The strikes came a few days after a missile launched toward Israel by the Houthis was intercepted.
The attack came ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week.
Trump, who had launched an intensified military campaign against Houthi strongholds in Yemen on March 15, agreed to an Oman-mediated ceasefire deal with the group, who said the accord did not include Israel.
The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones at Israel as well as attacking vessels in global shipping lanes, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has carried out numerous retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.


Hamas, Trump envoy say last living US hostage in Gaza to be released in truce efforts

US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander has been held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war. (File/AFP
Updated 12 May 2025
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Hamas, Trump envoy say last living US hostage in Gaza to be released in truce efforts

  • Envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed that Hamas had agreed to release Edan Alexander as a good will gesture toward Trump
  • Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the United States
  • Trump has frequently mentioned Alexander, now 21, by name in the past few months

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials told The Associated Press they expect the release in the next 48 hours.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed late Sunday in a message to AP that Hamas had agreed to release Alexander as a good will gesture toward Trump.
The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel shattered a ceasefire in March comes shortly before Trump visits the Middle East this week. It highlighted the willingness of Israel’s closest ally to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages’ families and Gaza’s over 2 million people under the new Israeli blockade.
Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in New Jersey. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that ignited the war in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the US informed it of Hamas’ intent to release Alexander “without compensation or conditions” and that the step is expected to lead to negotiations on a truce. Netanyahu’s government was angered by US direct talks with Hamas earlier this year — which led to a Hamas offer to release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to a stalled ceasefire deal. Days later, however, Israel resumed the war.
Witkoff told the AP that Hamas’ goal in releasing Alexander was to restart talks on a ceasefire, the release of additional hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza before Israel carries out a threatened total takeover of the territory.
Khalil Al-Hayyah, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group has been in contact with the US administration over the past few days.
Al-Hayyah said in a statement Hamas is ready to “immediately start intensive negotiations” to reach a final deal for a long-term truce, which includes an end to the war, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and the handing over of power in Gaza to an independent body of technocrats.
Indirect talks between Hamas and the US began five days ago, an Egyptian official and a senior Hamas official told the AP, with both describing the release of Alexander as a gesture of goodwill.
The senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Alexander is expected to be released on Monday. Hamas was advised to “give a gift to President Trump and in return he will give back a better one,” the official said.
Another Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations, said Alexander’s release is expected in the next 48 hours, adding that it requires Israel to pause fighting for a couple of hours.
The Egyptian official involved in ceasefire negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said Hamas received assurances from the Trump administration through Egyptian and Qatari mediators that Alexander’s release “will put all files on the negotiating table” including an end to the war.
Alexander’s parents did not immediately return requests for comment.
Trump and Witkoff have frequently mentioned Alexander, now 21, by name in the past few months. Witkoff was traveling to the region on Monday ahead of Alexander’s expected release.
“Every time they say Edan’s name, it’s like they didn’t forget. They didn’t forget he’s American, and they’re working on it,” Edan’s mother, Yael Alexander, told The Associated Press earlier this year.
Hamas released a video of Alexander in November during the Thanksgiving weekend, his mother said. The video was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see the latest sign that he was alive, she said.
Fifty-nine hostages are still in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The Hostages Families Forum, the grassroots forum representing most hostage families, said Alexander’s release “must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement” that will free everyone.
Trump, whose administration has voiced full support for Israel’s actions, is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour.
Bombardment continues
Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday killed 15 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.
Two strikes hit tents in the southern city of Khan Younis, each killing two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another seven people were killed in strikes elsewhere, including a man and his child in a Gaza City neighborhood, according to hospitals and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths in the 19-month-old war because the militants are embedded in densely populated areas.
Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports, including food, medicine and emergency shelter, for over 10 weeks in what it says is a pressure tactic aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages. Israel in March shattered the ceasefire that had facilitated the release of more than 30 hostages.
Aid groups say the humanitarian crisis is worse than at any time in the war, with food running low.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory and displaced some 90 percent of its population.
Israel recovers remains of soldier killed in Lebanon in 1982
In a separate development, Israel said it retrieved the remains of a soldier killed in a 1982 battle in southern Lebanon after he had been classified as missing for more than four decades.
The Israeli military said Sgt. 1st Class Tzvi Feldman’s remains were recovered from deep inside Syria, without providing further details.
Netanyahu visited Feldman’s surviving siblings and told them that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad late last year led to an “opportunity” that allowed the military and the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, to gather additional intelligence and locate and retrieve the body, according to video released by his office.
Feldman went missing, along with five other Israeli soldiers, in a battle with Syrian forces in the Lebanese town of Sultan Yaaqoub.