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Are sovereign wealth funds dumping Israeli investments?

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The Norwegian government on Tuesday said it would review its sovereign wealth fund’s investment in Israel after the Scandinavian country’s leading newspaper revealed that the nearly $2 trillion fund had a stake in an Israeli company aiding Israel’s war in Gaza.

The newspaper, Aftenposten, identified the company as the Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL) group, which provides parts to Israeli fighter jets that are being deployed in its devastating war on Gaza.

In recent weeks, Israeli-induced starvation deaths have caused a global outcry, with Western countries ramping up pressure on Israel to end the war that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and ravaged Gaza – home to 2.3 million people.

More than 200 people have died of starvation as Israel has obstructed the entry of humanitarian aid despite its so-called “tactical pause” in its nearly two years of war.

So, what did Norway say, and are Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestinian territory turning the tide of public opinion against it?

What did Norwegian leaders say?

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said that the investment in the Israeli firm was “worrying”. “We must get clarification on this because reading about it makes me uneasy,” Stoere told public broadcaster NRK.

Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who manages the world’s largest fund, ordered the central bank to conduct a review of the fund portfolio to make sure Israeli companies aiding the occupation of the West Bank or the war in Gaza are barred from investments.

“The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund’s investments in Bet Shemesh Engines,” Stoltenberg, a former NATO chief, said, referring to the growing public and political pressure.

The decision came weeks after Norway’s parliament rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“In light of … the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, I will today ask Norges Bank and the Council on Ethics to conduct a renewed review of the fund’s investments in Israeli companies and Norges Bank’s work on responsible management,” Stoltenberg said. Norges Bank is Norway’s central bank.

The independent ethics council, which provides recommendations on which companies should be banned from the oil fund’s portfolio, has since 2009 suggested excluding nine Israeli groups.

How much investment is at stake?

Norges Bank, which manages the $1.9 trillion wealth fund, took a 1.3 percent stake in BSEL in 2023 and raised this to 2 percent by the end of 2024, holding shares worth $15m, the latest available NBIM records show.

The fund held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95bn, its records show.

The value of its stake was more than four times higher than it was at the end of 2023, shortly after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. At least 1,139 people were killed in that attack.

The sovereign fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecom group in the last year, and its ethics council has said it is reviewing whether to recommend divesting holdings in five banks.

In May, the sovereign fund decided to divest from Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy for its involvement in supplying infrastructure and fuel to illegal Israeli settlements.

In December 2024, the fund sold all its shares in the Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the illegal settlements, which are considered the biggest impediments in the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state as part of the so-called two-state solution.

Moreover, Norway’s largest pension fund has decided to sever its ties with companies doing business with Israel.

KLP, which manages a fund worth about $114bn, said in June that it will no longer do business with two companies – the US Oshkosh Corporation and ThyssenKrupp from Germany, which sell equipment to the Israeli military that is possibly being used in the war in Gaza.

According to the pension fund, it had investments worth $1.8m in Oshkosh and almost $1m in ThyssenKrupp until June 2025.

Last year, KLP also divested from US-based Caterpillar, which makes bulldozers.

Which other funds and companies have severed ties with Israel?

French insurance giant AXA last August reportedly divested from its remaining investments in Israeli banks for funding illegal settlements, according to a report by advocacy group Eko.

Norwegian asset manager Storebrand has also sold shares in some Israeli firms.

The move came after sustained campaigning by human rights groups, who highlighted Israeli rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Another major pension fund from Denmark, its largest, divested from several Israeli banks and companies last February over fears that the investment could be used to fund the illegal Israeli settlements.

The fund has sold its stocks and shares to the tune of 75 million krone ($7.4m) in value.

Last month, Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund divested shareholdings worth more than 1 million euros ($1.2m) from two accommodation companies linked to Israeli settlements. The two companies have been identified as Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, according to media reports.

The Irish government, which has been vocal against Israel’s war on Gaza, divested 2.95 million euros ($3.43m) worth of shares from six other Israeli companies.

Amid pressure from campaigners and activists from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), several corporations have been forced to sever ties with Israel. Shipping giant Maersk was forced to cut ties with companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in June.

The BDS, a grassroots organisation inspired by the anti-apartheid South Africa movement, calls for economic pressure on the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian lands.

Several of Europe’s biggest financial firms have cut back their links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, a Reuters analysis of filings shows, as pressure mounts from activists and governments to end the war in Gaza.

Which countries have taken action against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza?

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in July, banned exports of coal to Israel until the genocide stops. “We cannot allow Colombian coal to be turned into bombs that help Israel kill children,” the left-wing president said.

He has also pledged to cease all arms trade with Israel. Under Petro, Colombia has helped set up the Hague Group of 12 countries aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Spain’s left-wing coalition government in June cancelled a contract for antitank missiles from Israeli company Rafael over the war atrocities in Gaza. The decision will affect a deal worth an estimated 285 million euros ($325m).

Few months earlier, Spain halted a controversial $7.5m deal to buy ammunition from an Israeli company, following criticism from far-left allies within the coalition government.

Madrid has also called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel over its Gaza war.

Several Western countries have sanctioned Israeli settlers in the West Bank amid record violence against Palestinians.

In July 2024, Australia sanctioned Israeli settlers, joining France, the UK.

The sanction came after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a nonbinding opinion that all Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land is illegal and must stop as soon as possible.

In June, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom formally sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for “incitement of violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

In the same month, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Sweden has also asked the European Council to adopt sanctions “against Israeli ministers who promote illegal settlement activities and actively work against a negotiated two-state solution”.

The EU provides millions of dollars in funds to Israel as part of its Horizon Europe research projects, while Western leaders have defended Israel for its war atrocities in Gaza and also shielded it from the United Nations resolutions critical of its abuses.

Western countries have also been criticised for failing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who face warrants from the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,260

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Here is how things stand on Thursday, August 7:

Fighting

  • Russian artillery shelling on a car belonging to Ukraine’s state emergency services killed three people, including an emergency worker, and injured four others in the southeastern Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.
  • Dozens of Russian drones attacked a gas pumping station in southern Ukraine, part of an LNG imports scheme from the United States and Azerbaijan, Ukraine’s&nbsp, Ministry of Energy&nbsp, said.
  • Russia struck a gas facility in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Ukraine’s gas reserves are now at their lowest in 12 years, with storage facilities currently less than a third full, according to analysis firm ExPro.

Ceasefire

  • US President Donald Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff made “great progress” in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Trump added that he updated some of Washington’s allies in Europe after the meeting.
  • Witkoff held about three hours of talks with Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
  • The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Moscow would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that the key elements of any agreement would involve territory.
  • Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said talks between Putin and Witkoff were “useful and constructive”. He said Moscow had received certain “signals” from Trump and had sent messages in return.
  • President Zelenskyy said he had discussed Witkoff’s visit to Moscow with Trump and that he had reiterated Ukraine’s support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself.
  • Zelenskyy added that it seemed Russia was “more inclined to a ceasefire” following Witkoff’s meeting. “The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US”, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
  • Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said, as the US continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions, including potentially on China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
  • Trump said he could announce further tariffs on China, similar to the 25 percent duties announced earlier on India, over its purchases of Russian oil.

Military aid

  • Ukraine’s Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the US for approving more than $200m in deals to supply arms to Ukraine, which will be funded by Kyiv’s allies. The partner-funded packages will provide technical support for howitzers and logistical services, he wrote on X.

regional changes

  • According to a draft law, Germany’s coalition government plans to reduce state benefits for newly arrived Ukrainian refugees, which could mean a 100 euros ($116) bill for each refugee.
  • A NATO spokesperson said that Vladimir Putin and the Lithuanian foreign minister had a discussion about Russian drone strikes on Lithuanian airspace.

A migrant march in Mexico continues despite scrutiny of organiser’s arrest

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A march has begun from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas northward to the central part of the country, in protest of policies that make legal immigration status difficult to achieve.

Wednesday’s march set out from the border city of Tapachula, near Guatemala, and nearly 300 migrants, asylum seekers and supporters took part.

But the demonstration was overshadowed by the arrest one day earlier of one of its leaders, prominent immigration activist Luis Garcia Villagran.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the arrest in her morning news conference on Wednesday. She alleged that Garcia Villagran had been detained for taking part in human trafficking.

“That is the crime,” she said, adding that Garcia Villagran was “not an activist”.

She added that an arrest warrant had been pending for the activist for years. But it was unclear why his arrest was carried out now.

The nonprofit Pueblo Sin Fronteras, however, disputed Sheinbaum’s characterisation of Garcia Villagran.

“The detention of Luis Villagran, director and human rights defender, is an unacceptable assault,” the nonprofit’s head, Irineo Mujica, wrote in a post to social media.

“Luis Villagrán’s only ‘crime’ is to defend those who have no money or voice, and to tell the truth, which bothers the powerful. Stop criminalising human rights defenders!”

Luis Garcia Villagran, the coordinator for the Centre for Human Dignification AC, speaks to migrants through a megaphone at a shelter in Huixtla, Mexico, on June 8, 2022 [Marco Ugarte/AP Photo]

Mujica – who was detained himself in 2019 on similar charges, only to be released – argued that Garcia Villagran’s arrest was a political distraction.

“This is a smokescreen: dirty and corrupt politics to cover up the true networks of corruption,” he said.

Mujica and Garcia Villagran have both been prominent voices in a movement to make legal immigration pathways more accessible.

They have also been among the organisers associated with the trend of the migrant “caravans” that travel from southern Mexico to the United States border in recent years.

Some of those past caravans have involved thousands of people, many of whom banded together for protection against criminal networks, corrupt officials and other threats they may face as they migrate.

Migration northwards, however, has slowed, particularly since US President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January.

Trump quickly attempted to bar asylum claims at the border, a move that has spurred a legal backlash.

Last month, a court blocked his asylum ban on the basis that it created an “alternative immigration system” without deference to Congress’s laws.

But Trump’s policies have nevertheless had a dampening effect on immigration at the border. In June, US Customs and Border Protection recorded only 9,306 “encounters” with migrants and asylum seekers at the country’s southern border – a nearly 93 percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Mothers push strollers as part of a migrant march north through Mexico.
Migrants and asylum seekers march north from Tapachula to central Mexico on August 6 [Edgar H Clemente/AP Photo]

Wednesday’s march had a different objective than those past caravans, though, particularly as migrants and asylum seekers turn away from the US and seek other destinations.

Organisers of the march sought to draw attention to the slow processing time for asylum applications in Mexico and other hurdles to achieving legal immigration status.

It also served as a demonstration against Mexican policies that have sought to keep undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in the south of the country, away from the US border.

The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to crack down on immigration into the US, including through the threat of tariffs.

Garcia Villagran’s arrest in the hours leading up to the march, however, left some migrants and asylum seekers fearful of taking part in the march.

The news agency AFP obtained one message that was circulating among participants that read, “Hide, don’t let yourselves get caught.”

A Catholic priest who took part in Wednesday’s march, Heyman Vazquez, told The Associated Press news agency that Garcia Villagran’s arrest was “unjust”.

He added that the arrest revealed a sense of insecurity in the government over the question of migration. The solution, he explained, would be to make it easier for migrants and asylum seekers to obtain legal status, thereby removing the need for such protests.

Kelsey Parker breaks silence on baby loss with heartbreaking admission

By in Entertainment News, News

EXCLUSIVE: Podcaster and Tom Parker’s widow Kelsey Parker has devastatingly shared how she told her children about the death of her baby Phoenix and how they are navigating grief

Kelsey Parker has opened up about suffering the loss of her baby(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

Kelsey Parker is “taking each day as it comes” as she opens up for the first time about the loss of her baby Phoenix. The podcast host and widow of The Wanted’s Tom Parker sadly announced her third child was born stillborn at 39 weeks in June.

She had looked forward to welcoming her first child with partner Will Lindsay, who she found love with two years after Tom’s tragic death from an inoperable brain tumor in 2022. After announcing she was pregnant in January, five months later, Kelsey broke the devastating news that the little boy who they had named Phoenix, was stillborn. A bereft Kelsey took time away from social media and from work.

Speaking out in her first interview since the tragedy,Kelsey said: “I didn’t think I’d be living a relived experience, first losing Tom and now losing Phoenix.

Tom and Kelsey Parker
Singer Tom died in 2022 aged 33 after a brain tumour diagnosis

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“But I think with any grief and loss, you have to take each day as it come and work through it.” About one in every 250 births results in a stillbirth, according to the NHS.

Kelsey is mum to children Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four, with The Wanted singer, and now the family have now experienced death again with their younger sibling.

“For the kids, it just breaks my heart for them because obviously we wanted the happy ever after and to have Phoenix but that didn’t pan out for us,” Kelsey says.

The mum said when it came to breaking the sad news to Aurelia and Bodhi so soon after they’d lost their father, she used her first encounter with grief to guide her with the latest heartbreak. “I spoke about it like I did with Tom, I just told them the truth.

“I think that’s all you can do with your children, in anything you’re going through, be honest. Because I think people underestimate their children and what their children can cope with. Children have little ears and they listen to a lot of conversations.”

Kelsey Parker with her partner Will Lindsay and children Aurelia and Bodhi Parker
Kelsey Parker with her partner Will Lindsay and children Aurelia and Bodhi Parker(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

While filming her documentary, Kelsey Parker: Life After Tom, the mum met a family who lost their dad to suicide. “The children said they felt so shut out because all the adults kept coming and having conversations in rooms and shutting the children out and I think they felt isolated. Whereas I don’t want my children to feel like that, they are very involved in the conversations.”

Kelsey revealed losing their dad Tom actually helped Aurelia and Bodhi grieve Phoenix. “I think for them it actually makes it easier because they’ve gone through loss, they understand what death is.

“We’re sort of almost like the Addams Family because we’ve gone though so much death and darkness. The children are very aware.

“Aurelia likes to tell people that her dad’s died and her brother’s died. She will openly say it, but it’s other people’s reactions. They can’t cope with how honest and open we are.

“But it’s a fact of life, we are all going to die that is one thing guaranteed. We’re going to be born and we’re going die.” Kelsey has received the love and support from her family during the devastating time, and been supported by Tom’s parents who she remains close with.

Kelsey has opened up about sharing the heartbreaking news with Aurelia and Bodhi
Kelsey has opened up about sharing the heartbreaking news with Aurelia and Bodhi(Image: OK! Magazine / Chelsea White)

“Noreen and Nige, Tom’s mum and dad, have literally been there for me every day since. We were absolutely devastated. I call Noreen all the time, we always talk.

“We’re going through grief again.” Noreen had shared her blessings when Kelsey became pregnant with Phoenix. “I knew she would [be ok with her having another child] because she wants me to be happy,” said Kelsey.

“She wants her grandchildren to be happy, that’s all we want after going through something so tragic. She’s just there for me and she’s a massive, massive support.

“We spoke to each other every day since losing Phoenix and she was just as devastated as as every family member because she wanted that happiness for me and the kids.”

Kelsey decided to announce Phoenix’s death with an emotional and touching poem, which was titled: “For Phoenix, Born Sleeping, Forever Loved.”

It read: “The world grew quiet as you arrived. So loved, so longed for, yet not alive. Our precious boy, our angel light. Born with wings, took silent flight.

“We named you Phoenix, brave and bright. A soul of love, of warmth and light. Though we never heard you cry, you’ll live in hearts that won’t ask why.”

Kelsey’s poem for her late son concluded: “No breath you drew, no eyes to see. Still, you mean everything to me. You’ll journey with us, softly near. In every sigh, in every tear.”

Sharing her decision to post the poem, Kelsey said she was feeling ‘raw’ about the loss but wanted to be honest about what had happened.

“I knew everyone was going to be so devastated for me because the messages I’ve had. [People say] ‘how can you go through this again? You’ve lost the love of your life, now you’re going through this’.”

Kelsey still finds grief in the public eye hard, but there are some aspects that add comfort. “People know on a public level what I’ve been through so if I had lost Phoenix and had to go and do the school run and people didn’t know, I think that would be really hard because people would be saying ‘where’s the baby’.”

Kelsey Parker
Kelsey is spreading the importance of keeping photos(Image: Missive)

Kelsey has decided to slowly return to work as she navigates her grief. She has teamed up with Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub for a campaign aiming to get people to revisit memories trapped in old phones, so the device can be donated to someone who needs it.

“Work gets me through hard times,” Kelsey shared. “Some people don’t like work, I love work. I am trying to take it slowly, ease myself back in.”

She has been supported by her Mum’s the Word podcast co-host Georgia Jones during her break away. “Georgia has actually been a massive support and she’s messaging me each week and checking in and making sure I’m okay,” Kelsey shared.

She also threw herself and her kids into routine following Phoenix’s death, something she is finding harder now it is the school summer break.

Sharing the reason behind her tough decision, Kelsey confessed: “I think that was important for people to see me at the school and for the kids to see that you have to be strong and you have to be brave however tough life is.

“You have to be brave and show up and that’s what I try and do. Show up for my children so they can look at me and go, you know what, my mummy’s very strong. She will get us through anything.”

Yet, not everyday is straight forward in grief. “It’s the same when I lost Tom, you have really, really s**t days that you actually can’t get out of bed and you think, am I ever going to get through this? But I have two children that need me. You can literally be one second laughing, the next minute crying. Grief hits you different times.”

Kelsey Parker is supporting Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub’s Community Calling initiative to encourage people to donate unwanted smartphones to those who need them. Through Community Calling – an initiative set up to tackle digital exclusion – unused, working devices can be rehomed to someone in need. More information can be found at https://hubbub.org.uk/community-calling.

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Love Island star Yasmin suffers heartbreak just days after leaving villa

By in Entertainment News, News

Yasmin, a Love Island star, and her ex-boyfriend Jamie found love and finished third on the ITV2 reality series, but she has since experienced heartache.

Love Island star Yasmin Pettet has been dealt with fresh heartbreak just days after finishing third with Jamie Rhodes (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

Love Island’s Yasmin Pettet has been dealt with heartbreak just days after leaving the villa. The reality star, 24, made it to the final of the latest series of the ITV2 reality dating show, and finished in third place with now-boyfriend Jamie Rhodes but just days after the programme drew to a close, she has revealed that her cat Miaow Miaow passed away while she was filming.

On Wednesday, she wrote on a black background on her Instagram story: “As I’ve spoken about her on the show I’m sure a lot of you will know I have a cat called miaow miaow who’s been by my side for 11 years now. When I was filming Love Island I had a bad gut feeling something was off and when my mum and sister came into the villa I asked them and still felt like something was off.”

Revealing that her family chose not to tell of her of the tragedy at the time and she was informed by her sister once filming had finished, she added: “Rightfully they didn’t tell me because I was still in the villa but after the final I called my sister and she told me that miaow miaow had cancer and died whilst I was away filming Love Island.” It comes after Love Island fans fume as third place couple announced as Yas and Jamie.

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Yasmin and Jamie
Despite the heartbreak, Yasmin recently spoke of her positive experience in the villa after finishing third with boyfriend Jamie (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)

The commercial banking executive assured her fans that she was trying to keep up with her social media as much as possible but also explained to her near-350,000 followers that she needs time to deal with the ‘heartbreak’ she has had to endure. She added: “I’m trying to be as active as I can on socials, but am taking time for myself to process this heartbreak., RIP to my beautiful baby girl, you were so loved and will always be in my soul.”

Fans flooded social media with messages of sympathy for Yasmin’s feline friend after she was mentioned several times in the Love Island villa. One person shared that the news that her cat had passed away while she was staying at the villa was the most heartbreaking thing she could have ever imagined and that she was so excited to see her baby who isn’t there anymore.

One viewer, who was clearly shocked by the news, said: “I’m crying because she immediately asked her parents and sisters how Miaow Miaow was when they visited the villa and they had to lieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” while another said: “Nooo Yasmins cat Miaow died while she was talking about Not the icon passing away, a second fan wrote. While Yasmin was staying at the villa, her cat from the island of love perished.

Despite the depressing news, Yasmin’s first post after leaving the villa acknowledged her positive experience on the show, and she thanked some of her co-stars throughout her time with the competition. Without Jamie, Toni, and Shakira, I really wouldn’t have been able to do it, she wrote. “My love island journey was crazy, to say the least. I’m so appreciative and blessed, and I’m eager to see what the future holds. Before Cach and Toni claimed the £50, 000 prize, she and her significant other were announced as the third-place couple, who had finished ahead of Harry and Shakira.

Continue reading the article.

One user wrote on X/Twitter, “Not my winners third,” and another, “Harry sneaks into the top two over yas and jamie someone hand me a gun.” One disgruntled fan said, “I’m lowkey shocked yas and jamie are thirds.”

“Yas and Jamie 3rd place???? Can the UK accomplish anything? “I wasn’t expecting yas and jamie to be third, actually,” one said. Angel and Ty were named the fourth-place couple in the meantime. Ty said: “It’s definitely going in the right direction,” and he said he was looking forward to the outside world with her. The two are now “exclusive.”

MSF ‘overwhelmed’ in Ethiopia’s southwest following aid cuts

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As aid cuts force other nutrition and disease prevention programs to close, according to Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym, MSF) the rise in infant hunger and malaria are overwhelming humanitarian facilities in southwest Ethiopia.

In addition to the increase in child admissions to MSF’s feeding facility in the Kule refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Gambella region, which MSF reported on Wednesday, many of the children were coming from nearby camps, an increase of 55 percent over the previous year.

According to MSF, funding cuts have resulted in the closure of nutrition services in four of the region’s seven refugee camps, which “place around 80, 000 children under the age of five at risk of life-threatening malnutrition.”

In two of its largest regions, Ethiopia, the second-largest country in Africa, has a population of 130 million people.

South Sudan, which borders Southwestern Gambella, is also in the grip of dramatic increases in violence and funding cuts for international programs that form the nation’s healthcare backbone.

Nearly 400,000 refugees are currently sheltered in seven camps, many of whom are South Sudanese, in the region.

In comparison to 2024, the Kule camp’s patient visits have increased by almost 60%.

The patient load has been increasing, and MSF is concerned that this number will likely continue to rise in the coming months, according to Armand Dirks, project coordinator for Gambella.

Nyauahial Puoch’s daughter, who was 17 months old, was being treated for malnutrition by traveling about eight kilometers (five miles) from another refugee camp.

There has been a significant decline since last year. Some of the items we used to purchase are no longer provided, according to the NGO.

Although they only get food once per month, Puoch claimed, “it always runs out before the month ends.”

MSF predicts a steep increase in the rainy season from May to October, while funding cuts have also had an impact on disease prevention, particularly malaria programs.

Nearly 24, 000 malaria patients came from nearby refugee camps, according to the NGO, who reported an 125-percent increase in the number of cases in July compared to the same month last year.