In the Middle East and beyond, humanitarian and development assistance stand at a crossroads. On the one hand, humanitarian needs are on the rise, especially in Gaza, where the threshold of famine has almost been crossed. On the other, the sector is coping with growing financial constraints. This funding crunch is also hitting development assistance, with a donor base that has sensibly narrowed over the past few years. As the gap between needs and resources widens, the urgency to rethink models of aid delivery has never been greater. This session focuses on these issues with a view to exploring policy options for the future. How to make sure that humanitarian values are upheld, specifically in Gaza? What strategies should humanitarian and development actors employ in times of shrinking budgets and when government agencies – like USAID – are shut down? And what changes are needed to make the sector robust in the face of present and future challenges?