Daily Peace and Crisis Report

Compiled Saturday, June 20, 2026

Summary

See below for detail and source

Middle East

Gaza Strip

Israeli military operations in Gaza have continued despite the US-brokered ceasefire announced on 10 October 2025. According to Al Jazeera, Gaza's Health Ministry reported that at least 1,007 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, bringing the cumulative death toll since 7 October 2023 to 73,018. UNRWA Situation Report #226 (covering 10–16 June 2026) confirmed 72,996 Palestinians killed and 173,246 injured between 7 October 2023 and 14 June 2026, including 981 fatalities and 3,104 injuries since the ceasefire announcement.

On 18 June, an Israeli drone struck a vehicle near Abu Khadra Mosque in western Gaza City, killing at least three Palestinians. One victim, Abdul Jawad Abu Lebn, was due to be married the following week; wedding invitations were found in the car. A girl was also killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, and a fisherman was wounded off the coast, according to WAFA. The Israeli military now controls approximately 64 per cent of the Gaza Strip, exceeding the 53 per cent envisaged under the ceasefire agreement, according to maps shared with aid organisations.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on 18 June that "fragile gains" since the truce are "the bare minimum of what Palestinians need." He noted that denial rates for humanitarian missions had dropped from 31 per cent to 11 per cent since the ceasefire, and that Gaza is no longer classified as being in famine (IPC Phase 5), though it remains in severe crisis (IPC Phase 4). However, he warned that 70 per cent of the population still lacks proper shelter, no hospital is fully operational, and 1.1 million children face daily water uncertainty. OCHA reported that less than a quarter of the humanitarian appeal has been funded in 2026.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) announced on 18 June that it had finalised priorities for recovery and reconstruction, following a coordination meeting in Cairo with British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. The NCAG is overseen by the Board of Peace, which includes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to Al Jazeera.

West Bank

Violence in the occupied West Bank continues to escalate. According to OCHA oPt (reporting period 2–8 June 2026), Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, bringing the total killed since January 2026 to 57, including 13 children. One victim was a seven-month-old baby in Hebron, killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a vehicle. Since 7 October 2023, UNRWA reports that 1,103 Palestinians — at least 241 of them children — have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Settler violence has reached record levels, with more than 1,000 incidents recorded since January 2026, averaging six attacks per day across more than 230 communities, displacing over 2,200 Palestinians, according to OCHA oPt. On 18 June, the foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye issued a joint statement condemning attacks by Israeli settlers on the Great Mosque in Jiljilya and the Farouk Mosque in the Nubani area north of Ramallah, describing them as "a clear violation of the sanctity of places of worship" and of international humanitarian law, according to Al Jazeera.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned that more than one-third of essential medicines are out of stock, with over 11,000 scheduled surgeries postponed since the beginning of 2026, according to OCHA oPt. The Ministry attributed the shortages to the prolonged withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues.

Lebanon

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a new ceasefire effective 4 pm local time (13:00 GMT) on Friday 19 June, brokered through US, Qatari, and Iranian mediation. However, Israeli attacks continued almost immediately after the deadline, with at least 12 air raids and continuous artillery shelling hitting southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera. Lebanon's health ministry reported at least 47 people killed and 97 wounded in Israeli attacks since midnight on 19 June. A Lebanese National News Agency report cited an Israeli drone strike killing two people on a motorcycle in southern Lebanon after the ceasefire had nominally taken hold.

Four Israeli soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in combat in southern Lebanon on 19 June, prompting Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to call for Lebanon to be "burned." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel's "only interest is permanent war" and warned that ceasefire violations would fall on Washington's responsibility. The next round of Lebanese–Israeli talks is scheduled in Washington from 23–25 June, according to the US State Department. Arab News reported that the ceasefire agreement calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and for Lebanese sovereignty to be respected.

Iran–US Diplomatic Situation

US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18 June 2026 at the Palace of Versailles, following the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France. The MoU calls for an immediate end to fighting on all fronts including Lebanon, the full resumption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the US naval blockade, the waiving of US sanctions on Iran, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and a $300 billion investment fund to rebuild Iran, according to Democracy Now!. Both sides agreed to 60 days of negotiations on sanctions and Iran's nuclear programme.

The agreement has drawn sharp criticism in Israel and among some US lawmakers. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy called it the "worst foreign policy blunder in decades." US Vice President JD Vance postponed his planned trip to Switzerland for follow-on talks after intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon resumed, with Iran insisting that fighting must stop before negotiations can proceed, according to AP. Mediators from Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are due to gather in the Egyptian city of Alamein on 21 June for further consultations.

Eastern Europe

Russia–Ukraine Conflict

Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks of the war on 18–19 June, targeting Moscow and more than a dozen Russian regions. Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its air defences intercepted 992 Ukrainian drones, four long-range cruise missiles and 10 guided aerial bombs in the 24 hours to 18 June — the largest single-day interception claim of the war — with Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin reporting that 180–194 drones were shot down on approaches to the capital, according to Russia Matters. Multiple drones struck the Gazpromneft oil refinery in Moscow's Kapotnya district for the second time in a week, sparking a massive fire. Russian officials reported approximately 16–17 injured in the Moscow area, including a 10-year-old girl and a three-year-old child. All four Moscow airports temporarily closed. RT (Rus) reported that Russian air defence systems had successfully intercepted the majority of the drone swarm and that Russia was preparing a "decisive response."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as "a fully justified response" to Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory, warning that "if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn as well." Zelenskyy met with President Trump and other G7 leaders at the summit in Évian, where G7 leaders agreed to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions targeting its oil and gas sectors, according to AP. However, Trump told reporters that the Ukraine war was "no longer high" on his list of priorities and that the United States has "nothing to do with it" beyond selling weapons, according to Russia Matters.

Ukraine officially opened the first phase of EU membership talks on 16 June, after Hungary lifted its longstanding veto. Zelenskyy told the European Council on 19 June that if the war continues into winter, Ukraine will need urgent energy assistance. On the battlefield, Russia Matters analysis of DeepState OSINT data indicates that Russian forces gained a net 10 square miles of Ukrainian territory in the four weeks to 16 June 2026, a slower pace than the 20 square miles gained in the preceding four weeks.

UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission data cited by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 injured in Ukraine in May 2026, making it the month with the highest recorded civilian casualties of the war to date. The OHCHR's cumulative verified civilian casualty count stood at 62,716 as of May 2026, with the actual figure likely far higher.

Africa

Sudan

Sudan faces an imminent humanitarian catastrophe in North Kordofan state, where the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have massed troops around El Obeid, the state capital. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued an urgent warning on 18 June that an imminent RSF offensive risked "fresh commission of serious international crimes," drawing explicit parallels to the preventable atrocities documented in El Fasher and the Zamzam IDP camp in North Darfur last year, according to OHCHR. Ten consecutive days of drone strikes have killed at least 50 civilians across El Obeid and North Kordofan, targeting fuel stations and trucks and severely disrupting civilian access to basic services.

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a coalition of 29 countries — coordinated by Norway on behalf of the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan — warned that approximately 500,000 civilians are "at risk of falling victim to large-scale atrocities," according to Al Jazeera. The coalition urged all states to apply maximum pressure on both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to prevent atrocities and ensure unhindered humanitarian access.

The broader humanitarian situation in Sudan remains catastrophic. UN High Commissioner Türk told the Human Rights Council on 15 June that drone warfare has killed more than 1,000 civilians in the first five months of 2026 alone, with both the SAF and RSF rapidly expanding their use of drone strikes, according to Al Jazeera. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reports approximately 56,000 people killed since the war began in April 2023, while other estimates range as high as 150,000. Sudan has become the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis, with approximately 13.6 million people displaced and more than 21 million in desperate need of food, according to the World Health Organization.

Democratic Republic of Congo

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, security services and militias linked to President Félix Tshisekedi's government forcibly cracked down on opposition activity in mid-June 2026, according to Critical Threats / Africa File. The M23 conflict in eastern DRC continues to affect regional stability, with ongoing tensions between DRC and Rwanda.

Asia

Myanmar

Myanmar's military junta continued its air campaign against civilian areas on 18–19 June. A trio of military jets dropped nine bombs around the town of Kyauktaw in western Rakhine State on 18 June, killing seven civilians including a five-year-old child and wounding 15 others, according to local rescue worker Naing Win Lwin cited by AFP / The Daily Star. The Arakan Army (AA), which controls most of Rakhine State, reported eight civilians killed and 19 wounded in the same strikes, with approximately 30 buildings destroyed, according to BNI Online.

In a separate incident, a junta airstrike on 18 June dropped two bombs on a residential housing project built with Nippon Foundation support in Chaung Hna Khwa village, Ye Township, Mon State, destroying five buildings including four homes and a primary school. No casualties were reported as residents fled to bomb shelters upon hearing the aircraft approach, according to Mizzima (Myanmar opposition). This was the third airstrike on the Ye Chaung Phyar region in recent weeks.

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, who was formally installed as president following a junta-controlled election in April 2026 that democracy watchdogs described as a sham, is currently on a five-day state visit to China. A joint statement issued late on 18 June said China "firmly supports the Myanmar side in realizing national peace and stability, national reconciliation, social harmony and lasting peace," according to AFP. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) marked Aung San Suu Kyi's 81st birthday on 19 June with a call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, according to Mizzima. Since the 1 February 2021 coup, a total of 8,107 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been killed by the junta, according to the Burma Political Prisoners Network.

Statistics

Table 1 — Casualties (Killed / Wounded)

* OHCHR access is denied to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine; figures for civilians in occupied territory cannot be independently verified. The vast majority (96%) of verified civilian casualties occur in Government-controlled areas.

Table 2 — Numbers (non-casualty figures)