News of the Week 30 November to 6 December 2025 : Tom McDermott

 

Sudan's Civil War Creates Expanding Regional Crisis

The regional impact intensifies: on Darfur's western border Chad now hosts 880,000 Sudanese refugees, overwhelming water supplies and the capacity of health facilities. On Darfur's southern border South Sudan has absorbed 1.3 million refugees while 2.1 million of its own children face malnutrition risk.

Despite RSF claims it would observe a US-called ceasefire, the war has spread from Darfur into neighboring Kordofan. A December 5 RSF drone strike killed 79 civilians including 43 children when missiles hit a kindergarten and hospital UN documentation shows at least 269 civilian deaths in Kordofan since late October from aerial strikes, artillery shelling and summary executions. 

Gaza Ceasefire Violations Continue Amid the Misery of Winter 

Israel has committed 591 ceasefire violations since October 10, killing over 70 children and injuring 909 others. Nearly 60% of Gaza remains under Israeli military control beyond agreed withdrawal lines. Partly as a result, only half of required food aid reaches Gaza. Winter malnutrition screenings found 9,300 children under five acutely malnourished while winter supplies remain blocked at borders. 

A dispute continues over the possible opening of the Gaza Egypt border.  On the one-hand, an opening of the border would allow the evacuation of many injured people who cannot be treated in Gaza.  But on the other hand, Egypt and other Arab states suspect that Israel will use the opportunity to push many Gazans out of the territory permanently.   Israel plans one-way Rafah opening exclusively for Palestinians to exit while Egypt and other neighbor countries insist the crossing must operate in both directions per Trump's peace plan and thus allow Palestinians to bring in supplies for rebuilding Gaza. 

West Bank Violence Reaches Record Intensity

Reduced Israeli operations in Gaza have been matched by intensified attacks in the West Bank by both settlers and the IDF. Israeli forces killed 227 Palestinians in 2025. Raids, curfews and bulldozer destruction displaced families and cut water to 17,000 people. OCHA documented 1,680 settler attacks across 270 communities—averaging five per day—with widespread assaults on farmers during the olive harvest season. 

Children Trapped in Violence Across Multiple Fronts

While Gaza, the West Bank and Sudan have captured most media attention, children elsewhere have suffered greatly. In northern Mozambique, an Islamic State-linked insurgency that has plagued Cabo Delgado since 2017 displaced over 100,000 people since late November. In Afghanistan four children died from cold weather in earthquake-affected camps and 270,000 children in northern and eastern regions face life-threatening risks as winter approaches. Nearly 6 million children across Southeast Asia were affected by severe flooding and landslides.  The storms and floods have forced governments and aid agencies to re-examine their approaches to disaster preparedness in general and in particular to the safety of schools and health facilities.