Food security

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.

Interview

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

Speaking exclusively to Al-Monitor, UNRWA’s Tamara Alrifai said the upcoming Turkey office would help the agency to expand its operations not only in Gaza but also in Syria.

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.

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

The Israeli ground invasion of Gaza City has caused massive waves of displacement and intensified struggles to survive with little or no water, shelter, food, or sanitation.

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.

Exclusive

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

Gulfsands Managing Director John Bell outlines his company’s plans and Syria’s energy prospects in an exclusive interview.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Yemeni boys walk on a flooded road during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa on Aug. 1, 2025.

Yemen: Flash floods injure 10+ in Aden as climate toll mounts

Yemen has experienced deadly flooding in recent years, further impacting the ongoing displacement crisis in the country.

Latest News

Culture

Meet Nadeen Ayoub, first Palestinian woman to compete for Miss Universe

Nadeen Ayoub

Sudan’s army chief meets Trump adviser amid US peace push: Reports

Sudan's army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

After Hamas ban and deadly ambush, Gazans wary of GHF aid jobs

People carry boxes of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as displaced Palestinians return from an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025.

Interview

Israel’s former Germany envoy: Arms embargo 'warning sign' of growing isolation

JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Jeremy Issacharoff

Jeremy Issacharoff

Former Israeli ambassador to Germany

A volunteer serves food to needy children at a kitchen set up by charity groups in Lebanon's southern city of Sidon on Dec. 7, 2019.

Culture

Economic meltdown in Lebanon leaves schoolchildren hungry

Lebanon's struggling households are finding it increasingly challenging to afford school lunches for their children due to financial constraints.

An Egyptian farmer harvests wheat on Qursaya Island, Cairo, Egypt, May 16, 2022.

Egypt hopeful after Russian return to Ukraine grain deal

Russia’s return to the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine will help North African countries secure their wheat needs, as they heavily rely on the two warring countries for their imports.

A Lebanese worker carries a bag of harvested olives as he walks through a field in the town of Batroumin, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 20, 2017.

Culture

Olive oil prices hit record high as Lebanese currency collapses

As the local currency continues to deteriorate, Lebanese are having trouble supplying olives and olive oil this year.

The Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zante en-route to Belgium transits the Bosporus carrying 47,270 metric tons of rapeseed from Ukraine.

Russia returns to Ukraine grain deal, easing food crisis fears

Russia announces its return to the Ukraine grain deal after intense diplomatic traffic between Ankara and Moscow, mitigating concerns over a food crisis until the deal expires late November.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey seeks to coax Russia back into Ukraine grain deal

Russian and Ukrainian monitors have reportedly suspended the inspections required by a grain-exportation deal that Moscow insists is unfairly benefitting Kyiv.

Ships, including those carrying grain from Ukraine and awaiting inspections, are seen anchored off the Istanbul coastline on Oct. 14, 2022, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkey calls on Russia to reconsider Ukraine ‘grain deal’ suspension

The Russian personnel stationed at a coordination center set up for the Ukraine grain deal in Istanbul have yet to leave their posts, Turkey says, calling on Moscow to resume the deal.

Panelists including Jordan’s Finance Minister, Emirates NBD’s Chief Economist, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Middle East and Central Asia Department Director, discuss the IMF’s newly released Middle East and North Africa outlook report on October 31, 2022.

Middle East countries must do more to recover, say IMF event panelists

While oil producing countries are projected to benefit from a windfall due to high energy prices, for others the coming years "will be more challenging than ever."

A worker carries a bale of wheat during the harvest in the village of Bamha near al-Ayyat in Egypt's Giza province.

Egypt to plant wheat in Congo amid water shortage

Egypt plans to cultivate 20,000 hectares of land in Mossendjo city in the Republic of Congo with strategic crops such as wheat.

The AgrIsrael Sea the Future Conference, Eilat, Oct. 19, 2022.

Israel pushes aquaculture cooperation in answer to global food security

Israel’s Agriculture Minister Oded Forer talks with Al-Monitor about the first-ever international summit on food grown in the sea and the desert, held this week in Eilat.

An Iranian Turkman worker packages beluga caviar.

Iran renews ban on sturgeon fishing

The endangered fish is used to make caviar. Israel also has a strong caviar export industry.

Egyptian farmers harvest wheat in Bamha village near al-Ayyat town in Giza province, Egypt, May 17, 2022.

Egypt claims wheat self-sufficiency despite Ukraine war

Over the past three months, Egypt has bought 3.5 million tons of wheat from local farmers as it works to achieve self-sufficiency and weather the effects of the global crisis caused by the Russian war on Ukraine.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz

Israeli defense minister fosters security ties in Azerbaijan

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz traveled this week to Azerbaijan on the backdrop of growing tensions with Iran and Jerusalem’s desire to deepen strategic, security and economic ties with Baku.