News Links - 28 February 2026

 

Gaza

Israel's Supreme Court issued a temporary freeze on Friday on the government's ban against 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza and the West Bank, pending a final ruling. The organizations — including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and CARE — had been ordered in December to provide Israeli authorities with lists of their Palestinian staff or cease operations by March 1. The NGOs refused, saying disclosure would endanger employees and violate European data protection law. The court acknowledged "a genuine legal dispute" but aid groups cautioned that the injunction does not automatically restore access or operational capacity. International NGOs provide more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60% of field hospital operations, and all inpatient treatment for severely malnourished children.

Gaza's children speak for themselves in a new UNICEF initiative called "The Gaza We Want," in which over 11,000 children across all five governorates shared their vision for recovery through drawings, poems, and surveys. Their message was consistent: safety and shelter first, then real schools — not tents — then calm, clean hospitals with mental health support. Fourteen-year-old Mayar told facilitators: "The Gaza I want is a beautiful place with hospitals, schools, and safe buildings." UNICEF called the findings a child-authored recovery roadmap that decision-makers cannot ignore.

Somalia

Somalia crisis deepens as the UN and Somali government warn that 6.5 million people now face crisis-level hunger — nearly double from a year ago — with over 1.8 million children under five at risk of acute malnutrition, nearly half a million of them severely so. Four consecutive failed rainy seasons have devastated crops and livestock, with cereal harvests 83% below the long-term average. Funding cuts are forcing aid agencies to scale back food, nutrition, health, and water programs at the worst possible moment.

Guinea-Bissau

A controversial Guinea-Bissau trial of the hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine — led by Denmark's Bandim Health Project and partly funded by the US CDC — remains in limbo after Africa CDC confirmed it is suspended, not canceled as earlier reported, pending review of its protocols. WHO has condemned the trial on ethical grounds. A Rolling Stone investigation revealed that the Guinean ethics approval letter was signed by a former committee president who had resigned three years earlier and was unaware his name had been used, while US funding of $1.6 million was reportedly approved in ten days under pressure from the CDC director's office. The University of Southern Denmark, which sponsors the trial, has launched its own validity investigation.