Daily Peace and Crisis Report

Compiled Sunday, June 21, 2026

Summary

See below for detail and source

Middle East

Gaza Strip

Israeli strikes and gunfire continued across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least nine people including a child, according to Palestinian health officials. Reuters reported that the strikes occurred despite the fragile ceasefire announced on 10 October 2025. The cumulative death toll since 7 October 2023 has now surpassed 73,000, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health; over 173,200 people have been wounded since the start of the war. PBS NewsHour / AP reported the toll reached 73,001 as of 14 June 2026.

Since the ceasefire announcement on 10 October 2025, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports 1,005 fatalities and 3,157 injuries. OCHA noted that between 10 and 17 June, 18 Palestinians were killed, one body was retrieved, six died of wounds, and 53 were injured. Israeli troops have also continued to expand the so-called "Yellow Line" — a restricted-access zone — displacing dozens more families in eastern Gaza City on 12 June after placing new yellow cement blocks westward. OHCHR has warned that Israeli forces have killed Palestinians apparently for being too close to that line.

The humanitarian situation remains dire. OCHA warns that over 520 endoscopic and surgical procedures are at risk of suspension due to shortages of high-level disinfectant agents. Fuel shortages have forced humanitarian partners to prioritise only life-saving services, suspending non-critical operations. Approximately 700 dialysis patients face compounding risks as therapeutic erythropoietin has been out of stock since September 2025. Rodent and pest infestations are worsening across overcrowded displacement sites as temperatures rise. UN Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on 18 June that "Gaza is being held together by humanitarian workarounds and Palestinian perseverance," warning the situation is unsustainable.

West Bank

Settler violence in the occupied West Bank is intensifying. WAFA reported on 19 June that the Muslim World League condemned escalating attacks by Israeli colonists against Palestinian civilians, their property, and sacred sites, calling them "a grave violation of the sanctity of places of worship." WAFA's latest news feed on 20 June documented multiple settler attacks on shepherds in Masafer Yatta, homes in Burin and Jalud, and villages northeast of Ramallah.

The OCHA situation report of 19 June noted that between 9 and 15 June, 30 Palestinians were displaced due to demolitions across the West Bank. So far in 2026, over 2,200 Palestinians — including more than 1,000 children — have been displaced by escalating settler attacks, according to OCHA. By the end of May, humanitarian partners had reported 230 access incidents in the West Bank, where checkpoints, road closures, and movement restrictions continue to impede aid delivery. UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher warned the Security Council that Israeli officials' calls for Palestinian "voluntary migration" and an intensification of discriminatory policies represent a "decades-long deterioration" that is "accelerating rapidly."

Lebanon

Israeli air strikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon killed at least 32 people on Saturday, 20 June, just hours after a renewed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced on Friday. Al Jazeera reported that strikes hit Nabatieh district (killing 16), the village of Qanarit in Sidon district (killing at least 7), and the village of Barish (killing a family of four). Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli attacks since 2 March 2026 have killed at least 4,057 people and wounded 12,121 others.

Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli troops that advanced towards an area near Nabatieh overnight, while the Israeli military said Hezbollah had launched more than 50 projectiles towards its forces. The Lebanese army said in a statement that the continuation of Israeli attacks aimed to obstruct efforts to restore stability. The US Department of State announced a new round of Israel–Lebanon talks in Washington, DC, on 23 and 25 June. However, Hezbollah has ruled out a ceasefire while Israeli forces remain on Lebanese territory, with its parliamentary representative Ali Fayyad stating: "A ceasefire while the enemy continues its targeting and assassinations is meaningless." NPR

Iran–US Diplomatic Situation

US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian electronically signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 18 June 2026 at the Palace of Versailles, extending a ceasefire for 60 days and paving the way for negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme, US sanctions, and the release of frozen assets. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the agreement, announced the signing of what he called the "Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding." Al Jazeera

However, the deal came under immediate strain. On Saturday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, citing what it called "the explicit breach" of the MOU's first clause by the United States — specifically Israel's continued strikes on Lebanon. The US military denied the claim, with US Central Command stating that 55 commercial vessels had transited the strait successfully on Saturday carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil. NPR President Trump responded on social media, threatening to impose US tolls on the Strait if a final deal is not reached. US–Iran technical-level talks are scheduled for Sunday, 21 June, in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, with Pakistani and Qatari mediators participating alongside US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi.

Eastern Europe

Russia–Ukraine Conflict

Ukraine launched what Russian officials described as one of the largest drone assaults of the war on 18 June, with Russia's Defence Ministry claiming its air defences intercepted 992 Ukrainian drones, four long-range cruise missiles, and 10 guided aerial bombs in a single 24-hour period. Nearly 200 drones targeted Moscow and its region, striking the Gazpromneft Kapotnya oil refinery for the second time in a week. The refinery normally processes over 12 million tons of oil annually and supplies approximately one-third to 40% of Moscow's fuel. Russia Matters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov published an essay on 19 June rejecting the peace conditions proposed by Ukraine and its European partners on 7 June. France, the United Kingdom, and Germany had proposed an immediate ceasefire, resumption of negotiations, and freezing of the current frontline. Lavrov argued that Russia "cannot continue meaningful negotiations with Europe," accusing European leaders of using negotiations as cover for "geopolitical expansion." He also warned that a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia "could rapidly escalate into an exchange of nuclear strikes, with catastrophic consequences." ISW

Russia retaliated for the drone strikes with attacks on Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Russian strikes killed at least two people and wounded two others in Sumy, while nine people — including four children — were injured in Kharkiv from Russian guided aerial bombs. A crew member of a Panama-flagged ship was killed in a Russian drone attack in the Black Sea. The Independent

Russian state broadcaster RT (Rus) reported that Moscow's governor said an eight-year-old girl was killed in a Ukrainian drone raid on Moscow, and that President Zelensky had threatened military action against Belarus within a week unless the Russian ally removes border hardware he claims is being used against Ukraine. Minsk warned Kyiv against any provocations.

The OHCHR Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported on 12 June that May 2026 saw the highest monthly civilian casualty toll in four years: at least 274 civilians killed and 1,763 injured in government-controlled territory. The main cause was Russian use of powerful weapons — missiles and aerial bombs — in urban areas. On 5 May, aerial bombs on Zaporizhzhia killed 12 civilians; on 14 May, a missile struck a Kyiv apartment building killing 24. OHCHR also verified that 21 civilians were killed in a strike on an educational complex in Russian-occupied Starobilsk, Luhansk region, on 21–22 May. OHCHR

Russia's Central Bank reduced its key interest rate to 14.25%, the lowest since October 2023, amid concerns that Ukraine's strike campaign against Russian energy infrastructure is fuelling domestic inflation. Central Bank Chairperson Elvira Nabiullina acknowledged that the recent spike in fuel prices — a result of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries — has affected June's inflation rate. ISW

A diplomatic dispute erupted between Poland and Ukraine after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped President Zelensky of Poland's top civilian honour, citing Zelensky's decision to rename an army unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), nationalists who massacred Poles during the Second World War. Zelensky subsequently returned the decoration. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the move a "strategic error." The Independent

Africa

Sudan

The United Nations reports that more than 1,000 civilians in Sudan were killed by drone strikes in the first five months of 2026 alone, as the country's civil war transforms into a drone-dominated conflict. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that "the horrific conflict has expanded and escalated, marked by a sharp increase in the use of drone warfare." Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have carried out drone strikes; the UN documented 16 drone strikes on health centres. Al Jazeera; Democracy Now!

The conflict, which began in April 2023 when a rivalry between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo exploded into open war, has now created what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian and displacement crisis. Approximately 13.6 million people are currently displaced, more than 20 million require health assistance, and 21 million "desperately" need food, according to WHO. The war-tracking group ACLED reports approximately 56,000 people killed; other estimates range up to 150,000 or higher. Reports from multiple human rights groups and the UN document mass rape and ethnically motivated killings amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ACLED group noted in June that Sudan's war has transformed over the past year into a "drone-dominated conflict," with both sides in a "relentless race to recalibrate" technologies and tactics. Al Jazeera

Asia

Myanmar

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) reported on 19 June that the Myanmar military junta is deploying conscripts in "human wave" attacks as it attempts to send reinforcements to Shwegu in Kachin State, sustaining heavy losses. Myanmar Now reported that the regime is facing significant resistance as it tries to hold territory in the north.

A comprehensive report by Insecurity Insight, published via ReliefWeb on 19 June, documented that since the military coup on 1 February 2021 and up to 24 May 2026, at least 1,939 incidents of violence against or obstruction of access to healthcare have taken place across Myanmar — equivalent to one attack on healthcare every day for more than five years. Of these attacks, 65% were attributed to the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF). A total of 175 health workers have been killed and 931 arrested; health facilities have been damaged on at least 506 occasions. Drone-related attacks on healthcare facilities have occurred 83 times during this period.

Specific recent incidents include: on 1 June, a station hospital in Myaing Township, Magway Region, was damaged by two Myanmar military kamikaze drones; on 4 June, a functioning station hospital in Shwegu Township, Kachin State, was destroyed by three 500-pound bombs dropped by a Myanmar military fighter jet, killing at least three people. Myanmar Now also reported on 18 June that a junta airstrike killed at least seven people in Kyauktaw. The National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in Yangon had its symbols removed on 13 June in what observers described as an effort to erase the last vestiges of Myanmar's ousted ruling party.

The UN General Assembly was briefed on 20 June by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, who noted that the humanitarian emergency — compounded by the devastating earthquake of March 2025 — remains catastrophic, with more than 16 million people requiring life-saving assistance. EU Statement at UNGA

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)